The Public Safety Subcabinet Model

When then Gov.-elect Bill Haslam asked me to join his cabinet as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, he also asked me to chair a Public Safety Subcabinet charged with developing one common plan within the executive branch of state government to improve public safety.

This was something that had never been accomplished before but made a lot of sense to me. I’d spent my public career as an assistant to former Gov. Lamar Alexander, a member of both the Memphis City Council and the Shelby County Board of Commissioners, and district attorney in Shelby County working to bring various partners together behind common goals and objectives.  

Since 2011, the Public Safety Subcabinet has been a collaborative group composed of the commissioners and directors of 11 departments and agencies of the state’s executive branch. In 2012, we began a team effort to implement an initial Public Safety Action Plan for Haslam.

Of the 47 steps in this plan, 83 percent were accomplished by July 2015. Examples include: curbing the sale of pseudoephedrine products to reduce meth production; mandatory incarceration for repeat domestic violence offenders; creation of a real-time database for prescribing and dispensing prescription narcotics; and effective data-driven enforcement efforts by state troopers to reduce traffic fatalities.

Since implementation of the first plan, we’ve seen encouraging trends. The overall crime rate has steadily dropped the past five years — a total decline of 12.8 percent. That includes a 19.3 percent decline in major property crimes and an 11.7 percent decrease in reported domestic violence offenses. Meth lab seizures dropped from more than 2,000 in 2010 to fewer than 600 in 2015.  The amount of prescription narcotics dispensed to Tennesseans has declined for three years in a row.

Yet many challenges remain. Major violent crime has remained steady. Domestic violence makes up about half of all reported crimes against persons. As in other parts of the country, heroin-related arrests have skyrocketed, with an increase of nearly 700 percent since 2010. We have a repeat offender rate that remains far too high.

In January, Haslam announced a Public Safety Action Plan developed by the subcabinet. This new three-year road map focuses on:

• changes in the sentencing structure to achieve smarter use of prison beds for serious offenders and more effective alternatives for other offenders,
• steps to reduce the number of offenders and repeat offenders,
• greater assistance to victims of crimes, and
• an emphasis on homeland security to help ensure the safety of our state and its citizens.

To advance the plan, the Public Safety Act of 2016 imposes tougher sentences for repeat domestic violence offenders, drug traffickers and home burglars. It also creates effective alternatives to prison for those who have violated conditions of probation or parole, short of committing a crime. In addition, it includes steps to make it easier for victims of domestic violence to obtain orders of protection.

Passage of the Prescription Safety Act this year will ensure continuation of the controlled substance database, which doctors and pharmacists must check before prescribing and dispensing narcotics. And as part of the plan, we’re providing significant additional drug treatment court funding.

The Public Safety Subcabinet model is one that’s worked well in our state. Keys to its success have been the governor’s personal involvement by attending subcabinet meetings regularly, the development and implementation of key performance indicators as a way of increasing accountability, and inclusiveness of all the key players within the executive branch. Tennessee is a safer state as a result.

Bill Gibbons is Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security and chairs Gov. Bill Haslam’s Public Safety Subcabinet.