Probation Department Policy/Procedure Manual

1.16 LS/CMI General/Override Procedure

Location Division Wide
Section N/A
Subject 1.16 LS/CMI General/Override Procedure
Purpose The LS/CMI risk assessment tool is the means to determine the risk level of the offenders,.
Effective Date 4/30/2019
Previous Effective Date

 

The LS/CMI risk assessment tool is the means to determine the risk level of the offenders, which identifies the criminogenic needs of each offender and gives guidance to the assignment of these offenders to specified levels of supervision.  This will allow the proper allocation of staff and other resources to those offenders most at risk to reoffend. 

Purpose   

Officers will utilize the LS/CMI assessment tool to manage their caseload to ensure the higher risk offenders are consistently monitored in the community, and to refer these offenders to appropriate treatment interventions based on their criminogenic needs or to shift offenders to a higher or lower level of supervision when appropriate. 

General Procedure

Investigations

  1. The LS/CMI assessment Section 1 shall be completed in every case that a formal grant of probation is recommended. If there is a current assessment, completed within the past 12-months, a comparison report will be used.

Exception:

  • LS/CMI assessments need not be completed for prison cases, Diversion, Prop 36, conditionally sentenced cases or if defendant refuses to be interviewed for PSI. 

 

Supervision

Complete sections 1-5 on newly assigned cases.

  1. Ensure Section 1 is completed if not completed by Investigations
  2. Any case that either did not go through Investigations, where the offender refused to speak to the officer or prior assessment is more than 12-months old shall have an assessment completed by the assigned DPO within 30 days of the officer receiving the case. If offender is in custody at the time of assignment, then the 30 days begins from the time offender is released.

Exception:

  • When an offender is low or med-low risk and on the administrative supervision caseload.
  1. Any direct sentenced cases (the rare formal case that does not go through Investigations) shall have an assessment completed by the Assigned DPO within 30-days of the officer receiving the case.  If the offender is in custody at the time of assignment, then the 30-days begins from the time the offender is released.

            Exception:

  • When an offender is in residential treatment for most of the preceding six-months.
  • When an offender is low or med-low and on administrative supervision.
  • Proposition 36 cases are the only active/open cases.
  1. LS/CMI re-assessments shall be completed every 12 months or sooner as delineated by this procedure.
    1. Comparison reports should be used for subsequent assessments.
    2. Officers may complete LS/CMI re-assessments without a face to face meeting when there has been documented regular face to face contact with the offender within the past 6-months .
    3. Mandatory face to face LS/CMI reassessments shall be required when the officer has had no face to face contact for six (6) months or more since the last assessment.

Exception:

  • When an offender is in-custody or residential treatment
  • When offender is pending a warrant or out to warrant
  • In the first 30 days of a return to Supervision
  1. Reassessment, as needed
    1. Officers may reassess an offender’s risk and supervision level when appropriate and necessary prior to the standard 12 months re-assessment for any of the following:
      1. There is no documented noncompliance behavior resulting in a violation of probation and Court sanction or a new conviction for a felony, violence or child related misdemeanor, or a DUI since the initial LS/CMI assessment or most recent reassessment;
      2. There is documented improvement in antisocial attitude, values and beliefs;    
      3. There is documented progress in one or more identified criminogenic needs or no additional criminogenic need(s) identified since initial LS/CMI assessment or most recent reassessment.

Repeated violations of probation resulting in 2 or more court sanctions or a conviction for a new felony, violence or child related misdemeanor, or DUI since initial LS/CMI assessment or most recent reassessment; or documented lack of progress in the identified criminogenic needs six (6) months from the initial LSI-R/LS/CMI assessment or most recent reassessment; or

  1. New criminogenic need(s) are identified.

Over/Underrides

Overview

To ensure that appropriate levels of supervision are provided to offenders and to change offenders from a higher or lower risk than indicated by the LS/CMI assessment tool, requests for override (meaning either an over or underride) may be for, but not limited to, any of the following factors:

  1. Public/Officer safety
  2. Mental Health issues or specific management needs. The offender is unable to care for him/herself due to mental illness or has exhibited suicidal or homicidal behavior.
  3. Information from allied agencies (law enforcement/treatment providers)
  4. Current offense or prior convictions is sufficiently significant to cause substantial concern for the community.  This factor is not intended to apply to category of offenses (Example: Sex Offenses)
  5.  Predatory Behavior
  6. Victim continues to reside with offender and the offender continues to threaten the victim physically, emotionally, or financially. 
  7. Static factors remain high but criminogenic factors are reduced.

Purpose

To effectively supervise and manage cases whose totality of the circumstances may exist outside of the normed cutoffs for supervision and a formal permanent and temporary override procedure is necessary.

Application

This section of the procedure shall be utilized for standard or temporary over/underrides of cases scored with the LS/CMI tool.

Standard Over/Underride

A Deputy Probation Officer (DPO) assigned to a specific case may request an over/underride to a level of supervision other than scored by the LS/CMI, if a review of all available and pertinent information indicates the need for a higher or lower level of supervision. 

 Deputy Probation Officer (DPO) will:

  1. Investigations DPO to complete LS/CMI Section1 or Supervision DPO to complete LS/CMI sections 1-5.
  2. Should the DPO determine that an over/underride is needed, the DPO will email a request to his/her SDPO with justification for said request and recommended level of supervision.

The SDPO will review the over/underride email request and, upon approval of the over/underride, will complete Section 6 in the LS/CMI as well as complete Monitor/Assessment/LS/CMI/Section 6.

LS/CMI Section 6

If approved by SDPO to over/underride a risk score, the SDPO will note the over/underride and supporting factors in Monitor as outlined below.

  1. The SDPO will note the over/underride in the “Flags” section of the supervision event in Monitor by selecting the appropriate over/underride descriptor from the dropdown menu (i.e. Override High to Low, Override High to Med, Override Low to High, etc.…).
  1. The SDPO will then create a note in the comment section of the flag in Monitor with the supporting factors for the over/underride and indicating which they approved the over/underride.

SDPO will manually over/underride the Track Risk Score in the Setup tab in Monitor (Setup/Open/Assignment), using an “*” in front of the track information to indicate it is an over/underride.

If denied by SDPO to over/underride a risk score, the SDPO will respond to DPO’s email with rationale for the denial.

Temporary Over/Underride

A Deputy Probation Officer (DPO) assigned to a specific case may request a temporary over/underride to a level of supervision other than that as prescribed by the LS/CMI, if a review of all available and pertinent information indicates the need for a higher or lower level of supervision.  The temporary over/underride will remain in place for a period not to exceed 90 days for purpose of addressing a specific risk factor(s), stabilization of the case or as a period of further assessment to determine if re-scoring LS/CMI is needed.

1. The assigned Deputy Probation Officer (DPO) will email the over/underride request, with justification and recommended level of supervision, to his/her SDPO.

  1. Once the SDPO approves to over/underride a risk score, the SDPO will note the over/underride and supporting factors in Monitor as outlined below.
  1. The SDPO will note the over/underride in the “Flags” section of the supervision event in Monitor by selecting the appropriate over/underride descriptor from the dropdown menu (i.e. Override High to Low, Override High to Med, Override Low to High, etc.…).
  2. In the “Attn” section a date no more than 90 days out will be entered as the expiration date of the temporary over/underride. This date will serve as the date of return, reassessment or switch to permanent over/underride for the newly assigned DPO.
  3. The SDPO will then create a note in the comment section of the flag in Monitor with the supporting factors for the over/underride and indicating they approved the over/underride and the date range the over/underride is to remain in place.

SDPO will manually over/underride the Track Risk Score in the Setup tab in Monitor (Setup/Open/Assignment), using an “*” in front of the track information to indicate it is a temporary over/underride.

When Administrative Supervision Unit staffing meets or exceeds 4 Deputy Probation Officers

If a case on the administrative supervision is deemed appropriate for over/underride, the Administrative Supervision Officer will retain the case. Over a 90-day period, the administrative supervision DPO will provide services to address the presenting risk factor(s) and conduct any needed follow-up. If the Administrative Supervision Officer has documentation (i.e. failed counseling, failure to report, etc.) that demonstrates the case needs a higher level of supervision, and it is on or before the expiration of the 90-day mark, the Administrative Supervision Officer will complete a new LS/CMI, case plan, and enter any new enrollments prior to transfer. If the new LS/CMI still scores at low or Med/Low the Administrative Supervision Officer will staff the case with the SDPO for a permanent override.