The original Jail Policy Advisory Committee, operating under local county authorization, was formalized under statutory authority and designed as the County Correctional Planning Committee. The Florida Legislature in 1992 re-designated the Jail Policy Advisory Committee as the County Public Safety Coordinating Council under a revised Florida Statutes 951.26. The membership shall include: state attorney or an assistant state attorney, designated by the state attorney; public defender or an assistant public defender, designated by the public defender; chief circuit judge or another circuit judge, designated by the chief circuit judge; chief county judge or another county judge, designated by the chief county judge; chief correctional officer; Sheriff or designee; state probation circuit administrator or designee (four-year term); chairman of the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners or another commissioner as designee; director of county probation or pretrial intervention program (four-year term); director of local substance abuse treatment program or designee (four-year term); a representative from a county or state jobs program or other community group who works with offenders and victims, appointed by the chairperson of the BCC (four-year term).
The purpose of this council is to assess the population status of all detention or correctional facilities owned or contracted by the county and formulate recommendations to ensure that the facilities are not exceeded. Recommendations shall include an assessment of the availability of pretrial intervention and/or probation programs, work-release programs, substance abuse programs, gain-time schedules, applicable bail bond schedules, status of confinement of inmates. This council may develop a local public safety plan for future construction needs. All meetings and documents are open and available to the public in accordance with State Statutes 119.07 and 286.011.
