Mayor Tim Keller Outlines Proactive Approach to Address Children’s Safety

May 17, 2018

Today, Mayor Tim Keller outlined a proactive approach for interagency coordination and policy changes to address children’s safety, as part of the administration’s ongoing efforts to combat child abuse.

“We’ve seen the horrific consequences when children fall through the cracks. We’re going to do everything we can to try to prevent this from happening.  It’s going to take all of us—law enforcement agencies, child advocates, prosecutors and the courts.  Today, we’re stepping up ourselves, and we’re reaching out to all of these partners to address coordination for cases impacting children’s safety. We’re asking all of these partners to review how they interact on child abuse, sexual assault and human trafficking cases, including the handling of evidence. We’ve got to figure out a way to build a system that protects our kids,” stated Mayor Tim Keller.

Mayor Keller has asked CAO Sarita Nair, who has experience with the foster care system, to work closely with APD on key areas to be addressed:

• Request that APD conduct a review of child abuse cases for patterns that raise red flags.
• Work with advocates on trauma-informed interviewing techniques and policies.
• Use Real Time Crime Center data to identify individuals who have repeat interactions with various law enforcement and child welfare agencies.
• Work with the task force that the state has formed to review more than 400 critical cases.
• Prioritize recruitment and funding for civilian and sworn positions in the units that address violence against children.
• Reach out to partners including APD, BCSO, prosecutors, the courts, CYFD and child advocates to address coordination for cases impacting children’s safety.
• Evaluate policies on evidence collection that are driven by legal issues to see if APD can take a broader approach.

APD plans to release the video footage from the officer’s interactions related to the November 2017 incident at the close of business today.  The City Attorney has determined that APD can release the video if the Attorney General does not object by that deadline.