Saturday, November 11, 2006

A matter of priorities

Stay with me now - don't let the numbers put you to sleep. And read 'em all the way through.

In 1997, CAST, the Child Abuse Services Team, opened its doors.

In 1997
There were 137 CAST Child Interviews
There were 56 cases of alleged child abuse RECEIVED by the DAs office
There were 37 child abuse cases FILED by the DAs office

In 1998
There were 142 CAST Interviews
There were 52 cases received by the DAs office
There were 37 cases FILED by the DAs office

In 1999
There were 194 CAST Interviews
There were 81 cases received by the DAs office
There were 49 cases FILED by the DAs office

In 2000
There were 194 CAST Interviews
There were 66 cases received by the DAs office
There were 48 cases FILED by the DAs office

In 2001
There were 196 CAST Interviews
There were 65 cases received by the DAs office
There were 46 cases FILED by the DAs office

In 2002
There were 215 CAST Interviews
There were 66 cases received by the DAs office
There were 47 cases FILED by the DAs office

In January of 2003, Paul Gallegos took office

In 2003
There were 205 CAST Interviews
There were 67 cases received by the DAs office
There were 40 cases FILED by the DAs office

In June of 2004 Paul Gallegos fired our top child abuse prosecutor, Allison Jackson.

In 2004
There were 146 CAST Interviews
There were 50 cases received by the DAs office
There were 23 cases FILED by the DAs office

In 2005
There were 155 CAST Interviews
There were 35 cases received by the DAs office
There were 17 cases FILED by the DAs office

In the first four months of 2006
There were 40 CAST Interviews (on track for 120 interviews)
There were 4 cases received by the DAs office (on track for 12 cases received)
There was 1 case FILED by the DAs office.

ONE.

ONE child abuse case filed. January to April of this year.

It's now November.

While Paul Gallegos has been busy working on the Palco appeal, what has been happening to the children in Humboldt County?

RELATED STORIES:
ER - Former deputy DA speaks out
ER - Candidates spar over child abuse team
ER - DA's Office yet to respond to request for child abuse records
ER - CAST established with child victims in mind
ER - CAST needs support Gallegos is not providing

UPDATE:
A decrease in child abuse cases?
I'll say. You decide

26 comments:

  1. Well there you have it! Gallegos has done such a great job preventing crime by preventing crime. He's rid the county of child molestors. He's cured them! What a guy. Maybe he should share his secrets to success with other counties, states, and even countries. Of course the reduction has to be cause GAG's is the man and he just cures people with his prevention and ????????????????????

    The decline in statistics really is apPAULing! And now Yougofree.com is handling those cases !!!!! Even John Wayne Gacey would be safe here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Note: The question often comes up why the Eureka Reporter stories are linked to more than the other papers. The simple answer is that the Eureka reporter stories are online and stay online. The Times Standard recently apparently agreed to keep their stories online, so recent stories will be linked to. Older ones, unless captured via e-mail or transcribed and posted are not available. The North Coast Journal's stories are online and are linked to. Some Arcata Eye stories are online and are linked to. The McKinleyville Press and Independent stories are not online, and are included here if captured via e-mail or transcribed. Any one wishing to have a story included here or in the watchpaul ARTICLES archives, please feel free to submit them via email.

    In this case, however, the Eureka Reporter is the only one who has investigated these alarming statistics.

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  3. Well thank goodness for competition, perhaps the Times-Standard will catch on.

    I miss Connie Rux!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey, lighten up, the Dear Leader is doing his best.

    If this keeps up people like
    Christina Albright and Steve
    Schechtman may actually figure out
    they could get elected.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gags is in Mexico.

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  6. 7:58 a.m.:

    I recently saw a documentary on the leader of North Korea, and interestingly enough, there are some parallels on a small scale.

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  7. STOP!!!! I beg you....Please stop dragging the CAST office through the mud...if you are going to compare statistics compare them for the WHOLE office and not just CAST. I am sure you will find the same if not worse, stats for the "ordinary" crime such as petty theft, driving without a license, driving under the influence, domestic violence, possession of marijuana (I mean let's face it, you have to have a freaking crap load just to get a slap on the wrist, regardless of age) and possession of a controlled substance. The CAST office is STILL doing the job they were set up to do. It is not their fault they no longer have the support that was once there. Does that make it the fault of CAST?? I think not. Let's keep the focus where it belongs and refrain from doing any more harm to CAST. There are some who still are largely invested in the concept of CAST regardless of what the LAZY District Attorney is doing. Please STOP punishing the CAST office with your negative comments.

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  8. CAST is still doing their job. The number of interviews has not really declined if you look at those numbers, What has declined is the support you need. CAST works best when you have your team together at the ready from the inception of a case, so that someone from the DAs office is there to make sure the law enforcement officers collect the proper evidence in the manner needed in order to make a strong case. When the prosecutor is not being given the support - and TIME - they need, everyone suffers - And that is just for starters.

    And you are right - it is not just CAST - it is the drunk drivers being given reduced charges, it is people being sidelined into drug court, it is plea bargaining everything in sight, it is letting people go free because there isn't enough staff to file holding charges. It's dismissing nine felony charges in one fell swoop, and calling that routine - and that's just for starters. I will get to that.

    But child abuse is something people can relate to - can understand is important, and they need to start paying attention. It is something people profess to care about.

    The problem is the DA's lack of priorities, his fundamental lack of understanding what his job entails - which is proven by his putting Jeff "yougofree.com" Schwartz on to child abuse prosecution. It is proven by his shuffling people out of their area of expertise, and making everything less effective across the board. It is proven by his firing and losing the experienced prosecutors that made the system work - and made him look good for far too long. It is proven by his going on vacation for the third time in 6 months when the office is so woefully short-staffed

    Bear with me - AND BLESS YOU. But don't read for the next week or so, because it going to get very graphic. People need to understand what is at stake here.

    What it means when the kids are sent home with their abusers.

    ReplyDelete
  9. CAST is the most amazing important thing - it needs to be SAVED! It needs to be a priority. People need to stand up and demand that this DA do his job. Protect the victims. Put the bad guys away. Quit playing political games.

    That is what i am saying.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yes. All of these points are true. But, what I am saying is...that sometimes GOOD intentions backfire on the best of us. The Community needs to know that Paul and Co. are not meeting the standards expected by the voting public. However, sometimes the negative comments are not as well received as one would hope. I do think that with the negative comments you will see a decline in the amount of interviews...Law enforcement lacks the confidence in the office and it's responsibilites and duties that they are seeking...therefore declining to send a child who has been abused, hurt or violated to the CAST office because some people are out there telling them that nothing will happen. This must stop. Do not FOCUS on one entity that is STILL trying to help. "BAD GUYS" don't always have to be the wolf in sheep's clothing that is doing bad things to kids. They are doing them to themselves and Society in General. Do you have any idea how much of a cost the repeat drunk is to the taxpayers? They get drunk arrested and relased then return in a matter of hours. What happens to them?? How much money is the public wasting on them? How many times can the above average drunk have their probation revoked?? When will somthing happen to them. Let's face it most bad guys who are into abusing children have been doing it long before they are caught and will continue doing it after they are caught because it is a sickness of the soul like alcoholisim and drug abuse. All need to be equally prosecuted.

    Under the sage advise of yourself I will stop reading for a bit, but do not drag the CAST office down further. There needs to be some HOPE!!! I believe that HOPE lies in the hearts of children and those who help to heal them. Do not soil their chances of HOPE and HEALING prematurely.

    sincerely,
    H.A.H.I.T.C.O.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Staying silent is what has allowed it to get this bad. And staying silent is only going to allow it to get worse.

    The other night someone said that "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to stand by and do nothing."

    The voters would have done the right thing IF they had known. The way it happened, Gallegos' people managed to portray the truth as nothing more than negative campaigning.

    There is no campaign now.

    SPEAK OUT!

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  12. CAST is dead.

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  13. I'm not surprised gallegos went on vacation rather than show up for any kind of proclamation for CAST.

    Can you imagine showing his face with what he has done to that program? To the Victim Witness Program?

    So, Phil Crandall carried the water for Gallegos again.

    Question is, can anyone fix the problem?

    ReplyDelete
  14. 12:23 and 1:46 - it does not seem to me that Rose is dragging "the CAST office" thru the mud. It does seems that she is calling it like it is. If you are in that office, you evidently have not spoken up and the latent effect of that choice is to make sure the problem there will not go away. Additionally, if you do not separate yourself from Paul and his misdeeds, you inadvertently become part of them.

    It is not fair and it is very sad...but by not speaking up before the election you and others made sure that the problem continues and that children fall through the system.

    I cry for you because you evidently do care deeply. I just believe you made a bad choice.

    ReplyDelete
  15. If nothing else, I wish the people who have left the office would speak out. You have nothing more to fear. He can't fire you.
    I know that many of you feel as the anon above, that if you speak out you hurt the others in the office, you criticize others in the office.

    Nothing could be farther from the truth.

    The source of the problem is clear, and it is not - I repeat NOT - the diligent, dedicated, hard-working, caring committed people who work in that office.

    You will never be able to reassemble the team of people who are lost. They have moved on to other jobs, and they are now committed to other communities, to the victims they work to save and protect in other counties. Their hearts broke when they left here, when they left victims here who depended on them, and when the community they served averted their eyes, blinded by the false light of the Cult of Paul, and never stepped forward - not to save the people who had served them, or to thank them.

    Those are the facts.

    Some of you are attorneys. You would fight for a person who came to you who was being treated badly on the job. You would use your words, your training, your expertise to rectify the situation. You wouldn't do it to save yourself, to give yourself the same courtesy you would give another. But do it for the ones who are left.

    The ones who see Gallegos lean in their office door and say "I can fire you any time I want." and walk on, leaving them in a sense of despair, with a heavy load to bear that goes far beyond the job they do. The ones who carry a heavy case load while Gallegos' chosen few sit with their feet up on the desk, plea bargaining away charge after charge after charge, releasing criminals back into the towns and communities of Humboldt County to commit more and greater crimes, some gleefully certain that they will never be held accountable by this DA.

    I know it will not be easy. I know that the vicious spin doctors will set about to smear you. But there is strength in numbers. And the truth will not be hidden any longer.

    Speak out. I beg YOU.

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  16. Some have tried, but no one backs them up.

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  17. The point is the county doesn't care. Most people did not vote, and more than enough facts were there.

    You want CAST facts? When PVG took office, the head of CAST, Rob
    Wade, was a DDA and Allison Jackson and Andrew Isaac, both experienced prosecutors, were
    assigned to CAST almost exclusively.
    They were busy, often in trial at the same time, sometimes back to back trials.
    Jackson was fired, Wade jumped half
    a step ahead of a push, and Isaac
    quit after Schwartz was given the
    (solo) CAST slot right after the election. All this is
    already in the record. NO ONE CARES. Give up.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thats what I said...CAST is dead.

    The question now is why did Ms. Neely offer it the Board stamp of approval when EVERYBODY KNOWS ITS DEAD.

    God - she really is in with Sleazman.

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  19. Paul can and will fire those who speak out against him, and say he can not discuss personnel issues. If any of you haven't noticed the county is not exactly over-flowing with employment opportunities.

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  20. The problem with Neely honoring CAST is that now Salzman will say "see there's no problem with CAST. Paul's doing a great job"

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  21. CAST is dead.

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  22. And Paul Gallegos killed it.

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  23. But wait, one person can really celebrate the demise of CAST. The DA's good buddy, often seen drinking coffee in the corner office (where no DDA willingly goes, the members of HezPaullah)
    Russ Clanton, who got hammered by
    Allison Jackson on CAST cases so many times he still twitches when
    he sees her in court.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Paul's best friend Russ Clanton still has cases against the DA's Office, it will be interesting to see what kind of deals Clanton got on those cases.

    I heard that Arnie Kline recently outright dismissed a felony case in which Clanton was the defense attorney.

    This is going to be verified, and then a review of other cases with Clanton will be looked at.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are closed for the time-being.