Grand Jury

MARIN COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY EXPERIENCE 11 MARIN COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY 2017-2018 • OCTOBER 2018 As required by the Califor- nia State Constitution, the Civil Grand Jury is responsible for overseeing over 130 public agen- cies in Marin County (in a civil "watchdog" role, rather than a criminal role). e Civil Grand Jury consists of 19 citizens from all walks of life who dedicate a year of their life to learn, investi- gating, and improving the county. During the one-year term Civil Grand Jurors issue reports detail- ing the findings and recommen- dations, to which public agencies must respond. WHY PEOPLE APPLY People from all walks of life apply to the Civil Grand Jury for a multitude of reasons: ■ Since I am close to retirement I'd like to continue to be productive and to understand my community in depth. ■ I love living in Marin and am eager to use my analytic and in- terpersonal skills to see that the many public entities continue to function optimally for the benefit of the residents of Marin. ■ I want to be able to serve the community I live in better and build an even better future for coming generations. THE APPLICATION PROCESS (January-June) Step one: Complete the Application to Serve on the Marin County Civil Grand Jury form (available on the Civil Grand Jury's website) by April 22nd. Besides request- ing your name and professional background, some confidential information is required to per- form a preliminary background check. Jurors will be allowed ac- cess to detention facilities and to confidential information. If you are selected as a juror, you'll also need to: get fingerprinted, share information about your financial investments (Form 700), and have a second background check performed. All such information is held confidential by the County and only released to agencies as required by law. Step two: If your application meets requirements (residency, age, no conflicts of interest, etc.), you are invited to attend an interview in May. is interview is to ensure that there are no hidden agendas or conflicts of interest, and that you communicate well. It consists of both a personal interview and a panel interview (an opportunity to sample the jury experience and see how well you interact with others). e best 30 applicants are then selected. Step three: In June, these "30" are invited back for the final selection round. All applicants' names are placed into a drum, and randomly se- lected by the presiding judge. e first 19 selected will be the "sitting jury." e remainder are invited to be "alternates." e sitting jury is immediately sworn in (to start in July). If a sitting juror resigns for any reason, the next alternate is contacted and invited to join the jury immediately. HOW IT UNFOLDS (July-June) e first week begins with a multi-day training for both the sitting jury and the alternates. Be- sides learning about your respon- sibilities and powers, committees and investigation techniques, you start to get to know your fellow jurors – each of whom has a life- time of expertise to share. Within a few weeks, jurors visit Marin County Juvenile Hall, Marin County Jail, and San Quentin State Prison. ese visits make a strong impression since jurors see, talk to, and eat with people (including inmates) with whom they would not normally interact. Finding a topic Perhaps the most surprising thing for new jurors is that there's no assigned list of topics to inves- tigate. Jurors may wish to follow- up on a previous Civil Grand Jury report, research issues that they've heard about, or simply learn more about a local agency. Jurors meet weekly in small themed commit- tees (such as finance or health) to ensure thorough and unbiased research. By the end of the first month, many committees start to explore potential topics. Is there a perception of wrongdoing, ineffi- ciency, or need for improvement? Aer reading and talking among themselves, the next step is to invite people in for interviews. e interview process Each interviewee signs an ad- monition promising not to reveal that they spoke with the Civil Grand Jury or the subject of conversation. Such conversations THE CIVIL GRAND JURY EXPERIENCE Continued on page 12

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