The Criminal Justice Collaborating Council previewed its 2024 annual report and data dashboard, reporting that the county jail’s average daily population rose to 91—near pre-pandemic levels—and presenting year-to-year shifts in bookings, treatment referrals and diversion activity.

Sarah Benedict, CJCC staff, led the data presentation and highlighted four 2024 goals: sustain collaborative programs, retain funding for the jail’s medication-assisted-treatment (MAT) counselor, fully implement law-enforcement deflection and diversion, and expand the family treatment court. Benedict said the CJCC secured an additional $250,000 to support law-enforcement deflection and diversion activity.

Key figures presented to the council included an average daily jail population of 91 and total bookings reported for 2024 (reported as 7,716), which Benedict said remains lower than pre-pandemic totals by a couple of hundred bookings. The CJCC also reported an increase in jail mental-health screening: of 235 mental-health screeners administered in 2024, about 75 percent indicated a high probability of a mental-health diagnosis if a full assessment were completed.

Pretrial work expanded in 2024 after the county adopted a non–face-to-face public-safety assessment; Benedict said 437 pretrial risk assessments were completed in 2024, representing 56 percent of those booked and held. She said 34 percent of those booked and held were for failure-to-appear warrants, which accounted for a substantial portion of bookings.

On substance-use screening, Benedict said 235 screening interviews were completed in jail during 2024. She reported that self-reported alcohol problems rose and methamphetamine indicators declined in the jail screener results; the presentation noted that alcohol, methamphetamine and opioids were each observed at severe severity levels when present.

Benedict summarized MAT activity: 95 individuals were referred for MAT in 2024; enrollment was lower because MAT is currently available only for opioid and (in the prior grant year) alcohol use disorders at the site. She said the department is exploring access to other forms of medication-assisted treatment in 2025.

The CJCC’s diversion and treatment programs showed mixed results: the treatment-opportunity diversion program had fewer referrals in 2024 but higher participant counts and 19 successful completions for the year (about a 56 percent success rate for 2024). The treatment court reported 10 graduations and four terminations in 2024; family treatment court had 16 participants in 2024 representing 27 children, eight graduations and four terminations.

Benedict also noted data-collection changes: the jail no longer reports a monthly breakout of lockup, Huber, and electronic-monitoring numbers because of inconsistencies in measurement; she said that loss reduces visibility into some population details. The CJCC will present the full 22-page annual report to the county board the following week and will circulate an updated data dashboard when a small charting error is corrected.

During the presentation, council members and staff discussed operational factors behind trends: a reduction in methamphetamine arrests was attributed to investigative challenges and fewer confidential informants; behavioral-health officer quick-response deployments declined because partner agencies had scheduling constraints, and behavioral-health officers are now conducting many of those interventions directly. Benedict and other staff said they are seeking system navigators/caseworkers to improve warm handoffs from law enforcement to treatment providers and to support follow-through on referrals.

The CJCC presentation and data dashboard will be provided to the county board at its next scheduled meeting.