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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Crime Control And Prevention District - 07/25/1997 • MINUTES FOR THE CRIME CONTROL DISTRICT MEETING JULY 25, 1997- 12 NOON CHIEF'S CONFERENCE ROOM, CCPD COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: Laurie Cook Sandra Lanier-Lerma Lynda Cantu Isaac Valencia Rose Vela Marta Huerta Cefe Valenzuela OTHERS PRESENT: Mariah Boone, TRIP Jim Wiggins, CLEAT Bill Hennings, City Manager Jimmy Bray, City Attorney Police Chief Pete Alvarez Asst. Chief Ken Bung Pat Eldridge, Administrative Assistant to the Chief Chairperson Laurie Cook called the meeting to order. The minutes for the July 18 meeting were reviewed and changes made. Sandra Lanier-Lerma corrected her statement on page 3, paragraph 3, concerning store-front operations. Ms. Lerma said her comments was that she asked if consideration was being given for the implementation of store-front operations in the community. Isaac Valencia added to his statement on page 3, paragraph 5. He stated his comments went beyond what was in the minutes in that as he understands it the legislation is being established under Provision 1.058 which is on the municipality basis not the county basis, therefore when he says that financing be used strictly for hiring police officers, it is for services within the municipal agency itself not just for additional officers, which means it could involve equipment and other items. Laurie Cook said that the Committee's discussion had to do with making sure that the monies for the crime district were going to be used within the district which would be within the boundaries of the municipality. Ms.Cook said that Mr. Valencia's correction has been noted. She asked for any other corrections. Ms. Cook said on page 2,paragraph 2, when discussing meetings, the August 13th meeting would be held only if necessary, so that meeting date should be noted as tentative. With corrections noted, Mr. Valencia moved that the minutes be approved, Dr. Lerma seconded. The minutes for July 18 were approved. Future meetings' minutes will be mailed to Committee members so they can review them before the next scheduled meeting. Next item on the agenda-designation of alternate committee member. Ms. Cook asked each committee member if they had selected an alternate. Dr. Lerma, Mr. Valencia, and Ms. Vela said they have not decided on an alternate and will at a later meeting. Ms. Cantu said she would like to designate Fernando Morales as her alternate. Ms. Huerta designated Bert Quintanilla as her alternate. Ms.Cook said that they would give Mr. Valenzuela a chance to select an alternate when he arrives. Chief Alvarez had provided each Committee member with a copy of the proposal. He summarized the main items in the proposal. He began by stating that the proposal includes hiring 50 additional officers within a five-year period. The majority of those officers will be placed on the streets where the Police Department believes they are most needed. The first ten officers will go to the Juvenile Enforcement Team because that unit has become so valuable to the community. They have been involved in so many different things out in the field, so many different strategies that certainly have to do with community-policing in which the Police Department is gradually trying to shift. The Police Department considers 1 SCANNED that unit as the seed that has been planted towards shifting in the community-policing direction. So the Chiefs first priority is to increase'llis unit. Twenty-nine officers will go to the Uniform Division because there are also Plans to expand the Bicycle Patrol Unit which is also another unit that has proven to be very effective. A few years ago the Police Department had a motor/walking unit where officers had access to a moped and would be able to go into areas of town and identify the problem areas. This was accomplished with 50% walking and 50% mopeds. That has also proven to be very effective so the Chief would like to also staff that unit. With the 29 officers in the Uniform Division that will give the Police Department an opportunity to do that. The Criminal Investigation Division and the Special Services Division- Vice/Narcotics are understaffed and the remaining ten officers would be placed in these two units, five for each unit. The Chief apologized to the Committee for rushing through the plan because the proposal does not really give the Committee the "big picture". The Chief hopes he will have more time to expand on the proposal because there are so many other things involved that the community needs, not only the Police Department but other things that have been neglected in the community. The Chief told the Committee that he believes there are certain areas that have been neglected,so now the Police Department is having to regroup and fix the problems, and these problems are not taken care of overnight. He said he thinks the proposal is a good start. The Chief said that the proposal includes a facility to house curfew violators. Currently there is a T.R.I.P. Center and a temporary facility at the Police Corona Substation that is manned and staffed by the Police Department. He said he believes the Police Department should not be in the detention business. But they are involved because of the stepped-up curfew enforcement effort and it is still being done because it has proven to be very effective. This project would be enhanced if there were a permanent facility to house these "at- risk"kids. When the Chief was present at the facility Friday and Saturday nights he watched the reaction of the parents. At this time he saw a great need for follow-up on the kids that were brought in. He realized that there are so many kids out in the community that have so many different problems and the Police Department was not able to help them. He stated that all PD could do is pick them up, hold them for six hours, and hope that the parents would come to pick them up. He said he would possibly see them the next weekend,because they are the repeat offenders. At this time he knew that there was something the community could do about this problem. Corpus Christi does not have the facilities to provide for that much-needed care. He said he is talking about counseling and parenting classes. He said he believes that the proposed facility will provide this care, that will be operated on a 24-hour basis. A grant was applied for last year,and the PD did not get it. The Chief also thinks the need for a detoxification center for juveniles is very important. This item will be submitted to the Committee after the two-year plan because more research needs to be done. The Chief said he did not have enough time to submit information to the Committee on the detox plan. For many years the PD has been trying to open a center. There is an underage drinking problem in our community. The law is so difficult to deal with when it comes to the officers. Once an officer picks up a drunk juvenile he/she has to babysit this juvenile until he/she is sober. So if there were a detox center, the officer can pick up the intoxicated juvenile and take him/her to the that facility. The law is so restrictive that it requires a medical doctor to be present at the center. In the past the PD has these juveniles to Charter Hospital and other hospitals. It has become so expensive for the hospitals that they dropped out. The Chief said that in the proposal there is also a request for an officer to coordinate a Crime Stoppers program within the area high schools. The Crime Stoppers Board will work with the PD and will provide monetary awards for students that provide information about fellow students carrying weapons,drugs, or whatever else it is they are doing on school campus. It is also needed and requires the service of one full-time officer to coordinate. This item is one that the Committee can consider. The Chief told the Committee that there are other things the PD need such as a Police Legal Advisor. The laws are forever changing and the officers need to be updated and there is no one at PD to do this. The Chief said that Jimmy Bray's staff is limited and the PD's needs are picking up and the Legal Department cannot meet the PD's needs anymore. The Chief said that he has presented to the Committee an overview of what he thinks the PD needs at this moment. The Chief stated that he did not want to go into every item listed in the proposal but welcomes any questions the Committee might have. The Chief said the original five-year plan includes hiring 50 officers. But the first two years the proposal allows the hiring of 15 officers per year giving the PD 30 officers, leaving 20 for the following years. In the first year what PD plans to do with the 15 officers is use ten of them to expand J.E.T., three to place in the Uniform Division for directed patrol, and expand the PD's canine unit. The Chief believes this is an important unit that deals with the drug 2 .114111 interdiction and drug-related crime that is very valuable to PD. The canine unit has more work than it can handle at this moment. An additionAl canine unit would certainly help. On the Crime Stoppers proposal, the officer would some in the first year. In the proposal there is also listed for the first two years support personnel such as ten dispatchers. Chief Alvarez said he thinks the Committee's question would be why does the PD require that many. The Chief said that dispatching is a very difficult, complex job. It takes a entire year to develop a dispatcher and even after the year some of them will be lost. The idea is to hire these dispatchers at the very beginning. The Chief stated that the Pawn Shop Detail duties are now being done manually which is antiquated. There is a computer program that will assist but there is just not enough manpower to handle this. The proposal asks for three data entry clerks to perform these duties, which will save time and effort and make the entire process more efficient. The Chief told the Committee that the proposal talks of the Mobile Data Terminal/Automated Vehicle Location System technical support. He said that in August of'98 the PD is going to have computers in the police vehicles. Everything will be operated through the computer such as receiving calls and generating reports through Central Records. All of this will be computerized. With that comes the need for additional support personnel. Most of this project is funded already and the money is in place, but more work will be created which will require the services of a computer operator and an assistant. The Chief reviewed the equipment enhancements with the Committee stating for the first year the video imaging system is readily accessible to officers especially investigators that need mugshots. This system will be linked with the County. The Chief discussed the additional mobile terminals and the PD has money for 100 terminals which will go into the marked units. The proposal requests an additional four, with two going to Special Services (Vice/Narcotics) and two to the Criminal Investigation Division (Homicide Investigators). Another item in the proposal is completing the fleet. The PD has applied for a grant which looks very promising. That will replace 23 police-package vehicles and also ten unmarked(detective)vehicles. But the Chief said that leaves PD with 16 vehicles that are over 100,000 miles and with the proposal PD will be able to purchase these vehicles. The Chief said that in year two the PD would like to expand the Bicycle Patrol by five to enhance the Uniform Division for proactive patrol. The Chief told the Committee that another item for year two would be to enhance the Directed Patrol Program by five officers, going into the Uniform Division concentrating on problem areas of the city. Another item in the proposal is the implementation of the Walking Motors Program for year two by three officers that will go through problem areas. The Chief said PD would also like to add two officers to the Traffic Safety Section that is in charge of traffic enforcement handling major traffic accidents and they do the majority of the traffic enforcement. The Chief told the Committee that more people are lost to traffic accidents per year than shootings or cuttings. At present there were 18 traffic fatalities compared to eight homicides. The Chief said that points that are addressed in graphs will be discussed. He turned the meeting over to Pat Eldridge who will go over the graphs with a slide presentation so some of the statistics can be covered. He encouraged the Committee to ask questions at any point during the presentation. Ms. Eldridge said that one of the questions that was presented at the last meeting was the Committee would like to see exactly where our city stands as compared to other cities. Ms. Eldridge told the Committee that they could follow along with the slide presentation which should answer this and other questions. During the presentation Ms. Eldridge broke down the amount of time an officer spends on his/her shift. The officer should spend 35% of their day responding to calls for service, for instance dispatcher calls for robberies or burglaries, 49% of their day should be spent on directed/proactive patrol which is when the officer drives around looking for something that might be happening(crime 3 prevention),with the other 16% of the day spent on administrative paperwork. Ms. Eldridge said that currently our PD is operating with 75% df an officer's time spent answering calls for service. Our officers are running from call to call. Nine percent of the officer's time is devoted to directed/proactive patrol, with 16% spent on administrative paperwork. So the Committee can see from the chart the PD's dilemma. The PD does not have enough officers on the street to handle the number of calls for service they have now, much less trying to work towards a community-policing program. The Chief pointed out that at present officers are running from call to call,but as the PD gradually shifts to community- policing,with the officers walking on foot patrol in the community, those numbers are going to decrease because that is how crime is prevented. That is the concept behind community-policing. When crime is reduced the calls for service will decrease. Ms. Eldridge told the Committee that due to limited resources everything has been tried to make the PD operate more efficiently. The Telephone Reporting Unit is one of those examples. PD is looking into implementing in August 1998 Mobile Data Terminals (lap top computers in vehicles) and an Automated Vehicle Location system (within 500 yards every unit within the city can be located) which will allow the dispatcher to more efficiently dispatch calls for service. This is a time savings for dispatchers and officers and will increase the PD's response time. Ms. Eldridge told the Committee that PD has 395 sworn officers but only 25 to 46 are on the streets at any given time. To add one officer,one position,24 hours a day,7 days a week,365 days a year,requires 4.5 people, so when 15 people are added, that is really 3 officers or three beats. Ms.Eldridge said it takes approximately 21 months to hire an officer,being able to operate on their own, in a one-man patrol unit. Isaac Valencia asked Ms. Eldridge if that is using the current hiring process and not taking into account an alternative hiring process or any other method. Ms. Eldridge said that does not include the lateral entry process. Cefe Valenzuela asked Ms. Eldridge that if there are only 25 to 46 officers on the streets at any given time where are the other officers. Ms. Eldridge answered by saying the other officers are working traffic, bicycle patrol, Juvenile Enforcement Team,Vice- Narcotics, CID and so forth. She said to improve efficiency PD officers work a four-day work week, ten hours a day, which has improved greatly not only on the overtime situation but the number of officers that cover calls for service. She concluded her presentation. Chief Alvarez asked the Committee if there were any questions on the presentations. Ms. Cook began the question/answer session by letting Dr. Lerma ask her question. Dr.Lerma commended the Chief and his staff for presenting the plan. She told Chief Alvarez that in a community our size it is very vital to have police presence within the community and that is why the question of the community-storefront concept was brought up last meeting. She said she realizes that it requires from one to two officers and she also realizes that a great amount of work was done on profiling where the high crime rates are in the city. She believes that a community-storefront concept will require minimal officers and also communicates to the community that there is someone that cares for them because of the PD's presence and they know that someone is watching. She said she is thinking in terms of the juveniles that when they get out of school if there were community-storefronts set up in the high profile areas, that does communicate to the community police presence and she believes that could possibly be a psychological deterrent. Dr. Lerma said she does not see the community-storefront concept addressed in the proposal. Dr. Lerma asked Chief Alvarez whether the community-policing program proposed is still the patrolling type of concept. Chief Alvarez told her that today policing has to do with getting closer to the community and making them aware that they have ownership of their neighborhoods and the only way this can be accomplished is to work hand-in-hand with them. Chief Alvarez said he believes the concept of community-storefront will not work well in this community because of the way things are being done today,but that is not to say that gradually PD will go to the idea. Initially the seed has been 4 planted and that needs to be spread out and as we go along somewhere along that line the storefront idea will fall into place. PD does have a mobile storefront(Winnebago) that is used to go to different areas. Ms. Cook said that there are going to be a lot of questions about the material received and there will probably be information that the Committee will want to discuss as additions or changes in the plan. Dr.Lerma had another question about the Crime Stoppers program. She wanted to know how the Chief determined that one officer could handle it. Chief Alvarez told her that at the present PD has one officer that coordinates the Crime Stoppers program for the entire city. This officer does not have enough time to additionally handle the proposed Crime Stoppers program in the high schools so an officer should be added. Dr.Lerma asked Chief Alvarez if he felt that just one additional officer could handle the proposed program for the five high schools. Chief Alvarez said what the officer would do is coordinate the program among the five high schools and he believes one officer is adequate to handle the high schools. As the program progresses the Chief is receptive to the idea of an additional officers. Marta Huerta said she understands that there is only one officer working the Crime Stoppers program for the entire city and that there would be an additional officer for the Crime Stoppers program in the five high schools. Dr.Lerma asked Chief Alvarez if the officers had proper facilities whether they could fill out their reports at the schools to accomplish police presence at these locations. Chief Alvarez said he is receptive to the idea during the daytime hours, but the bulk of problems are at night. Rose Vela asked the Chief whether the 24-hour processing facility will include the hiring of an in-house counselor. Chief Alvarez said the proposal is asking for four counselors and he believes there is a dire need for this in the community. Ms. Huerta asked Chief Alvarez whether the Corona facility will remain open. Chief Alvarez said that this facility will close because he is trying to get the PD out of the detention business. Ms.Cook pointed out that the facility is under year one, item 6, for an estimated budget of$538,326. She pointed out that this cost is ongoing which will be approximately$488,000 a year to continue operating the facility. Mr.Valenzuela asked about police staffing at the facility because there would have to be police presence. He asked Chief Alvarez how that would work. Chief Alvarez said that the PD would have a police officer present and has provided for overtime. Mr. Valencia wanted to add that there is a need for a facility and the present facility works at the moment but it is not designed for this purpose because there are liability concerns. Mr. Valencia said he believes that CID is about 7 or 8 officers short at this moment. Chief Alvarez said that at the rate things are going right now there is no way those positions can be filled and PD personnel are stretched to the limit. Mr.Valencia said that even if five officers are put in CID they still will not replace the seven officers that they are short. 5 The Chief stated that there are 40 investigators at present in CID and budget for 54. Ms. Cook said if there are 54 budgeted then the money is already there for that amount. Ms.Eldridge told Ms. Cook that in each activity there are a certain number of officers that are budgeted with a certain amount of money. But that division may not have all those officers deployed in their division. At this moment CID has seven vacancies. However those seven officers have been deployed into the Uniform Division because they are so short. Ms. Cook asked whether that amount is still corning out of the CID budget but they are just being redirected, so there is no additional money. Ms.Cook requested from Chief Alvarez a statement of strategies for each area and tell the Committee what the overall guiding strategy and how it is going to reduce and prevent crime so that can be communicated to the community. Ms. Cook asked Mr. Bray if there are budget surpluses will the Committee be required to show whether all of the money is going to be spent,allowing surpluses. Mr. Bray told her that surpluses are allowable. Ms. Cook said that under the law itself the Committee is responsible for developing a strategy and then allocate an amount. That is how the tax rate is determined based on the money needed. This allows leaving a reserve fund in year one to be spent in year two and then spent in year three as officers are added. She asked Mr. Bray if that is an allowable use of that money. Mr. Bray said it will be left to the Committee's discretion. Ms. Cook passed out a plan example implemented by Fort Worth. Dr. Lerma said that the Committee needs to think in terms of discussions that the Committee will have and some adjustments made to the plan, for example the community-storefronts. Ms.Cook said at future meetings, the Committee will discuss these items in addition to questions they might have about what is presented, adjustments, and items that PD staff have not addressed. Ms. Eldridge told Lynda Cantu that the Uniform Crime Report can include a ten-year period comparison. Ms. Cantu told her that would be helpful. Cefe Valenzuela commented that he thought that ten dispatchers at one time seems like too many. Chief Alvarez said the dispatch center is understaffed and if a manpower study were performed it would be surprise the Committee the work being done with the number presently employed. Ms.Eklridge pointed out that it is really only two positions because it takes 4 1/2 people to fund one position around the clock all year long,which includes one person on day shift and one person on swing shift. She said that the Committee should consider touring the dispatch center to get a feel for what the dispatchers do. Mr.Valencia said it might be a good idea to go tour the Corona Substation so they could get a feel when a curfew center is mentioned. Ms. Cook encouraged everyone to look at the Fort Worth plan. Mr. Valencia suggested that contact sheets of Committee members be revised and mailed to members. Chief Alvarez invited all members to participate in the police ride-along program, especially with the J.E.T. officers. 6 Ms. Cook said she has a question about the academies. She realizes there is a fixed date for academies because it has to coincide with Del Mar, so it is not possible to move an academy back a month. Chief Alvarez told her it has to be consistent with the start of the semester of Del Mar. Ms. Cook said that the funding from the Crime District, if it were to pass, would not start until April. Mr. Hennings stated that the ten officers added in January will be paid by the federal grant 100% so that would take it through the middle of 1999. At that point local costs come into play for the next two years until they are 100% local. Ms.Eldridge pointed out that we cannot handle more than 30 in the academy so there will have to be an August academy. Mr.Valencia suggested using the Regional Academy. Possibly a specialized plan at the Regional Academy can be created because he is aware they have new facilities that are not being utilized. Ms. Cook requested a list of information on this topic so everyone can understand what is being discussed. Ms. Cook said a couple of questions that came up last week have to be answered by Mr. Bray. Dr. Lerma asked if there is a limit on the total budget that can be used for administration since the Committee is charged with determining a percentage of administration. Also Mr.Valenzuela asked if the two-year period would start on April 1st. Where would it fall against the City's funding. Mr. Bray answered by saying it is going to be for the first two fiscal years of the District and legislation says that the District can establish its own fiscal year and it should be the responsibility of the permanent directors to set the fiscal year. He stated that he does not remember if there is a limit on administrative expenses. Mr. Bray said he would review it again. Ms.Cook said she is going to ask for a recommendation from the City on what it would cost to administer the District. She requested this information for next week's meeting. She said there is one other question from Mr. Valencia about the money being spent within the district. She stated that Mr. Hennings told the Committee last week that the other local law enforcement agencies have to be notified of the meetings and they have the opportunity to address the Committee. If the other agencies make a request for money and the Committee wants to include them, how would it work as far as spending the money within the district. Mr. Bray said it would depend on the particular request. It would have to be used within the district itself. There are a few things the other agencies can do within the city limits. Mr. Valencia stated that there are two ways of establishing this district. There is one for the county which is the 1.05 and then the 1.058 which is the one that the Committee is looking at. It is up to the discretion of the Committee to determine what it wants to do because this was designed for the municipality. Mr. Bray added to Mr. Valencia's comment by saying that this money is basically for the benefit of the city. Mr. Valencia said that the county judge was approached over a year ago on this matter and he did not seem to be interested. Ms.Cook asked about funding a district judge to hear juvenile matters. This district could fund such a position if such a position hal been created by the legislature and the governor signed it into law but this Crime Control District cannot say they are going to fund a judge's position. Mr. Bray told her that it does have to be created by the legislature. 7 Dr.Leena said that she was looking at the Fort Worth plan and was wondering whether some consideration will be given to having presence in neighborhoods. So she is assuming that those type of strategies would be included in the hiring of the 29 officers and that it just would not be the "patrol syndrome". From the audience Jim Wiggins pointed out that Fort Worth has in place community-oriented policing which is different than what it is in Corpus Christi. Ms. Cook went on to item 5. She wanted to know if any Committee member is interested in touring police facilities. The Committee decided to schedule the tour at the next meeting. Chief Alvarez said that he wanted to afford the Committee members the opportunity to participate in a ride-along. Mr. Hennings asked what time and day would be the best time for a ride-along. Chief Alvarez stated Friday or Saturday night would be the best nights. The Committee decided that Ms. Eldridge could set up the ride-alongs for the members. Ms. Cook requested that the minutes and agenda be sent to members before the next meeting. She gave Mr. Valenzuela the opportunity to designate an alternate. Mr. Valenzuela said he did not have anyone at this moment to designate. If any Committee member wants to designate an alternate they were instructed to call Ms. Eldridge. Those alternates will also be listed on the contact sheet. Mr. Hennings stated that next week's meeting will be in the Chief's Conference Room on August 1. Ms. Cook stated that if any Committee member had any questions or issues for next week they need to contact Ms. Eldridge. Mr.Valenzuela asked that once the plan is in place how will the Committee get funds for radio or television advertisement for the election and campaigning for the Crime District. Mr.Bray stated that the City cannot spend any public funds electioneering, so basically this Committee and members of the City Council can campaign and contribute money,but the City itself cannot spend public monies for support. Ms. Cook said the City can spend money on information such as a brochure or newspaper insert that has factual information about the District. Mr. Bray said that as long as it is not endorsing any plan. It must consist of factual information. Mr. Valencia said that is part of the information he is downloading from Fort Worth and how it was done in that city. Mr.Wiggins said the District can accept donations and a donator can tell the Committee how they want the money spent. Ms.Eldridge told Committee members that Asst. Chief Bung will get them set up for a ride-along with J.E.T. officers. There being no further comments or business the meeting adjourned at 1:55 p.m. 8