DEPARTMENT: City Attorney’s Office
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Andy Segovia, City Attorney
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
Dangerous Assessment Response Team
SUMMARY:
Briefing on the City’s Dangerous Assessment Response Team Process.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The City’s DART Unit is responsible for addressing and abating the worst of the worst nuisance properties in the city. To be considered by DART, a property must have at least a two year documented history of habitual criminal activity and/or code violations.
DART is comprised of the following departments:
• SAPD SAFFE - Central, North, South, East, West, Prue as well as Vice
• Development Services Department - Code Enforcement
• Animal Care Services
• Neighborhood and Housing Service Department
• Health Department
• Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission
• City Attorney’s Office
Each department has at least two members as part of the DART Unit as points of contact.
DART was created in the fall of 2007. Its mission is to reclaim, restore, and revitalize neighborhoods which are plagued by properties that pose a safety threat due to the documented two year history of criminal activity and/or code violations.
DART is a proactive, multi-pronged approach to addressing habitual nuisance properties with each member department investigating and inspecting for all violations at one time during an inspection rather than a scattershot approach as had been done prior to the formation of the Unit.
DART meets on a bi-weekly basis to discuss and review properties brought forth by the member departments. A review of the documented two year history is conducted to determine if the property meets the criteria for a DART investigation. There must be a sufficient code violation history in order to obtain an administrative warrant. All inspections are conducted under the authority of the administrative warrant. Once the document history is determined to meet the criteria, it is scheduled for inspection. The day before the inspection, the administrative warrant is obtained to allow access to the property. All member departments meet at a pre-designated staging location prior to proceeding to the property to discuss responsibilities and strategies. The inspection occurs after the police department clears the property for the safety of all. All member departments inspect the property, issue notices and citations as necessary, and memorialize their findings. A discussion is held between the departments as to course of action.
The City Attorney’s Office holds an after-action meeting with the property owner to seek voluntary compliance in abating the criminal and/or code violations. If voluntary compliance is not agreed to, the City Attorney’s Office seeks all legal recourses to abate the public nuisance (code violations) or common nuisance (criminal activity).
ISSUE:
This briefing is for information purposes only.
ALTERNATIVES:
This briefing is for information purposes only.
FISCAL IMPACT:
This briefing is for information purposes only.
RECOMMENDATION:
This briefing is for information purposes only.