NCJ Number
69783
Date Published
1968
Length
84 pages
Annotation
Planning, implementation, and achievements are discussed for the Citizens Information Service (CIS), a citizen screening and referral service operated in conjunction with the District of Columbia Court of General Sessions.
Abstract
Staffed by both professionals and nonprofessionals, CIS offers citizens legal and social referrals to appropriate community resources. Referrals are systematically monitored. CIS employs persons who live in and have intimate knowledge of the resources in the various neighborhoods served. These citizens' aides initiate and maintain relations with those who operate neighborhood services, thus ensuring that no referrals are made unless it is known that help is available in the agencies to which referrals are made. The sponsoring organization, the United Planning Organization, planned a data evaluation of the program at the end of the grant period. The evaluation design called for the maintenance of basic data on the people served, where they were referred, and the service obtained. Consultants were employed for training and evaluation. A total of 11,076 clients were served in the project's first year, ending September 30, 1967. Overall, the project was found to improve the efficiency of the U.S. Attorney's Office by relieving it of noncriminal complaints. Direct help is also provided to those police officers who now are required to spend time investigating cases after warrants are sworn where the parties do not subsequently prosecute. In referring people to a community service organization, the police enhance their relationship with the community. Recommendations include (1) the decentralization of CIS services into the neighborhoods where they are most needed, (2) the seeking of public funding for fiscal 1969, and (3) the expansion of the program to include some of the services embodied in the ombudsman concept. Tabular data are provided, and attachments include a CIS orientation schedule, a research questionnaire, letters of endorsement, and newspaper articles.