As with many California counties, Santa Cruz County has two types of
Grand Juries. The regular, or
civil, Grand Jury is an investigative body that serves for one year.
There are 19 members on the jury. The Civil Grand Jury does not deal with
trials, but rather serves as a watchdog on local government and other
tax-supported entities.
The
other Grand Jury is a criminal Grand Jury that largely deals with issuing
indictments (charging a person with a criminal or public offense). This jury is
called up on a case-by-case basis.
The Civil Grand Jury has three primary functions:
·
To randomly audit local governmental agencies and
officials
·
To publish their investigative findings and
recommendations toward improving those governmental operations in the interest
of the community being served.
·
To investigate citizens' complaints.
The
Civil Grand Jury investigates local government agencies and officials to
evaluate if they are acting properly. If a Grand Jury determines that they are
not, it has various options open to it. The most frequently used option is the
presentation of a report outlining the Grand Jury's findings and
recommendations in the matter. Such reports are public and sometimes attract
media attention. Agencies or elected officials discussed in the Report must
respond specifically to the Report's findings and recommendations.
A
citizen may file a complaint with the Grand Jury to request that it investigate
what they perceive as
wrongdoing by a public agency, such as a school district or a police
department. The jury will decide if the complaint has merit and is not
obligated to pursue the complaint. County complaint forms are available from
the following addresses:
Santa Cruz Grand Jury
701 Ocean Street, Room 318-I
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831) 454-2099
FAX (831) 454-3387
www.co.santa-cruz.ca.us/grandjury