OMAHA, Neb (KMTV) — County officials were expecting to move into a brand new Douglas County Youth Center downtown at the end of this year.
However, as the day to move in draws closer, officials are realizing that their new facility might not cut it.
“We have a practical problem. We have a new 64-bed facility opening in November but no optimal way to manage foreseen or unforeseen overcrowding. It's a simple math problem,” said Commissioner Mike Friend.
Right now, the average daily population at the current youth center is 71 and the board of commissioners wants to get that number lower, down to around 52, before they are comfortable moving in.
But many are concerned with how the county is getting those numbers down.
“I'm constantly being approached by juvenile court judges, parents, law enforcement professionals and prosecutors and service providers. The theme is similar, they are concerned this juvenile center is too small — that right now there are juvenile offenders who are not being detained who should be in order to justify a lower juvenile center population,” said Douglas County Sheriff Aaron Hanson.
Hanson says that his office often deals with juveniles who are committing serious crimes, like auto thefts or terroristic threats, that are being processed and released instead of detained.
“Not only is that not safe for the public, but it's not good for the development of those young people. They need structure, they need supervision and just catching and releasing them when they commit crimes. I don’t think that’s good for them or the community,” said Hanson.
At their meeting Tuesday, a resolution was introduced to delay the move to a new center until capacity issues are addressed. That resolution received a mixed reception and commissioners ultimately voted 4 to 3 to delay their decision on the move until August 8, a move some members felt was delaying the inevitable.
“If you think you are going to lower that number by anything this board does in the next 60 days — you are ignoring the reality of how the world works,” said Commissioner James Cavanaugh.
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