As you can see, child abuse reports turned in by the WCSO deputies have varied for each year, however we are seeing a drop in the past three years. There is a natural “weeding out” process from the Sheriff’s office on reports that are not suitable to pass on to the District Attorney’s office, for whatever reason, so not all of the reports usually get turned over to the DA.

In the second column, we see the numbers of reports that were turned in to the DA’s office. The one number that stands out is that the deputies turned in 14 child abuse reports in 2005, and all 14 of these reports were sent on to the DA’s office. This could be because of things like better report writing, with all necessary information provided on them, or a higher awareness of the importance of this crime, etc.

In the “CA Cases Filed by DA” column, we see a considerable drop in the numbers of cases filed. The really outstanding number represented here is for 2005. When we compare the 14 cases turned to the DA’s office from WCSO, to the 2 cases that were actually filed by the DA’s office.

In the “CA Cases Prosecuted by DA” column, we see another disturbing trend for 2005. Of the 2 cases filed by the DA’s office, only one was prosecuted. Further information on the cases prosecuted column is listed above it, showing the number of cases where the child abuse charges were reduced from the original charge during prosecution.

In the “CA Cases Dismissed” column, we see a lot less activity here, which we interpret as a good thing. However, as we look to the last column, we see the number of cases still “Open” as of June 30 of the following year. A case can be open if the perpetrator was never apprehended and has a bench warrant for their arrest, or if the cases is still being passed through the courts and has never been prosecuted.