THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 4, 1996 TAG: 9606040289
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 62 lines
Juvenile detention has become the mantra for solving the nation's youth crime rate, and Suffolk is beginning to talk the talk.
This week, city officials will pore over consultants' proposals to conduct a needs assessment. The question: whether Western Tidewater - Franklin, Suffolk, Isle of Wight and Southampton counties - should have its own regional juvenile detention center.
Now, Hampton Roads youths who are detained while awaiting court action are housed at the Tidewater Detention Home in Chesapeake. Construction is under way for additional detention centers in York County and Virginia Beach.
Western Tidewater wants its own.
Suffolk City Manager Myles E. Standish said it's advantageous for localities to run their own facilities. ``It pays a great benefit from an economic standpoint,'' said Standish. ``When you have to deal with someone else, you're subject to what they want.''
However, officials caution that the effort is in the preliminary study stages.
About three weeks ago, the city sent out requests asking consultants to propose how they would assess the need for such a center.
The city wants to know projections on future youth crime rates, where the center should be located, how many beds would be needed and the cost, said Cindy Rohlf, assistant to Standish.
Once they go over the consultants' proposals, Suffolk city officials said they will meet again with their counterparts in nearby localities and decide whether to pay a consultant.
A needs assessment study could take three to six months, said Rohlf. City Council would vote on whether to pay a consultant.
Even though it's still in the planning stage, Isle of Wight County Administrator W. Douglas Caskey said he believes an assessment is needed because the youth crime rate is increasing in rural areas such as Suffolk and Isle of Wight.
``It's becoming more apparent that we need a needs assessment,'' said Caskey.
Suffolk and Isle of Wight have also worked together to build the Western Tidewater Regional Jail which opened in 1992.
There is concern over whether the new youth center will be needed and will warrant the expense.
``The Tidewater center recently did a study and expanded,'' said Gayle Turner, regional administrator for the Department of Youth and Family Services. ``So we'll have to wait and see.''
The Tidewater Detention Home currently houses about 100 kids, said Frank Kern, its assistant director. The facility is renovating 52 beds and operating in a new building of 48 beds. Staffers hope to have a total of 100 beds available by October.
During the 1994-95 fiscal year, the home had 2,111 admissions; only 227 of the residents came from Franklin, Suffolk, Isle of Wight and Southampton counties.
Kern said he isn't opposed to a new facility for Western Tidewater, but he warns localities to look at the costs and rehabilitation issues involved.
On average, he said, such a center costs $100,000 per bed, and a facility can cost $10 million a year in operating expenses.
``Juvenile justice is affecting elections because the public wants to feel secure,'' Kern said, ``but you have to have a balanced program, one that balances prevention and rehabilitation.
``It's OK to react, but you have to look at the cost impact.'' by CNB