Report 2015-504 Recommendation 3 Responses

Report 2015-504: Follow-Up—California Department of Justice: Delays in Fully Implementing Recommendations Prevent It From Accurately and Promptly Identifying All Armed Persons With Mental Illness, Resulting in Continued Risk to Public Safety (Release Date: July 2015)

Recommendation #3 To: Justice, Department of

To ensure staff can promptly address the daily queue and the historical backlog, by July 2016 Justice should identify and implement strategies, including pursuing funding, to staff its bureau operations to the level it needs.

1-Year Agency Response

In order to address both the daily queue and historical backlog the Department has continued the following actions: 1) Directed all APPS Unit staff to work a minimum of 48 hours of overtime per month; 2) Recruited eleven analysts from other departmental bureaus to work 40 hours of overtime a month in the APPS Unit; 3) Filled two vacant CIS II positions in the APPS Unit; 4) Received departmental approval to hire an additional CIS II in the APPS Unit (currently still in the recruiting process); 5) Currently working with the Department's Hawkins Data Center on one-time programming scripts to automate the processing of specified record types.

Additionally, the Department worked with Budget staff to identify funding that allows for the hiring of 21 additional staff in the APPS and DROS Unit on a permanent basis. Of the 21 positions, the Department has filled 5, and selected another 4 that are undergoing the division's background investigation. The remaining 12 positions are currently in the advertisement process.

With the actions listed above, the Bureau has been successful in completing the historical backlog. As last reported, on September 16, 2015, the backlog was at 240,683. The redirected staff started on September 19, 2015. On March 16, 2016, the historical backlog was cleared.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

6-Month Agency Response

In order to address both the daily queue and historical backlog the Department has taken the following actions: 1) Directed all APPS Unit staff to work a minimum of 48 hours of overtime per month; 2) Recruited eleven analysts from other departmental bureaus to work 40 hours of overtime a month in the APPS Unit; 3) Redirected 4 analysts from within the Bureau to work 40 hours of overtime a month in the APPS Unit; 4) Filled two vacant CIS II positions in the APPS Unit; 5) Received departmental approval to hire an additional CIS II in the APPS Unit (currently undergoing the mandatory Division of Law Enforcement background); 6) Currently working with the Department's Hawkins Data Center on one-time programming scripts to automate the processing of specified record types.

Additionally, the Department worked with Budget staff to identify funding that will allow for the hiring of additional staff in the APPS and DROS Unit on a permanent basis. The advertisement for these positions will be posted in February 2016.

With the actions listed above, the Bureau has made great strides in reducing the historical backlog. On September 16, 2015, the backlog was at 240,683. The redirected staff started on September 19, 2015. Since that time, the historical backlog has reduced to 123,932 (as of December 28, 2015), for a total reduction of 116,751. The Department is fully committed, and on track, to eliminate the historical backlog by December 31, 2016.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Partially Implemented

60-Day Agency Response

In order to address both the daily queue and historical backlog the Department has taken the following actions: 1) Directed all APPS Unit staff to work a minimum of 48 hours of overtime per month; 2) Redirected three full-time Criminal Identification Specialist (CIS) IIs from another unit in the Bureau of Firearms to assist the APPS Unit; 3) Recruited ten CIS IIs from other departmental bureaus to work 40 hours of overtime a month in the APPS Unit. The Department is actively continuing efforts to recruit additional resources; 4) Conducted interviews and selected candidates to fill two vacant CIS II positions in the APPS Unit (currently undergoing the mandatory Division of Law Enforcement background process); 5) Currently working with the Department's Hawkins Data Center on one-time programming scripts to automate the processing of specified record types.

Additionally, the Department is working with Budget staff to identify funding that will allow for the hiring of additional staff in the APPS Unit on a permanent basis.

The Department is committed to eliminating the APPS historical backlog by December 31, 2016.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Partially Implemented

All Recommendations in 2015-504

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.