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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Crime Control And Prevention District - 08/01/1997 MINUTES FOR THE CRIME CONTROL DISTRICT MEETING AUGUST 1, 1997 - 12 NOON CHIEF'S CONFERENCE ROOM, CCPD Board MEMBERS PRESENT: Laurie Cook Sandra Lanier-Lerma Isaac Valencia Rose Vela Marta Huerta Cefe Valenzuela OTHERS PRESENT: Mariah Boone, TRIP Jorge Cruz-Aedo, Finance Director Jimmy Bray, City Attorney Police Chief Pete Alvarez Asst. Chief L. Villagomez Pat Eldridge, Administrative Asst. Capt. Wayne Tisdale, CCPD Lt. Gonzalo Tamez, CCPD Sr. Officer Larry Serna, CCPD Laurie Cook called the meeting to order and said that the Board can take care of some housekeeping items while Isaac Valencia was on the telephone. The first item on the agenda is to review and approve the minutes of the July 25th meeting. Ms. Cook stated that Board members should have received the minutes in the mail. She asked if there were any corrections in the minutes. Sandra Lanier-Lerma said she had a few items to correct. She said in checking her notes on page 4, paragraph 10, she would prefer her statement to read, "commended the Chief and his staff for their work and development of the plan". She said on page 4, paragraph 10, line 3, where it says "she realizes" she believes she said "it was her understanding" this would require from one to two officers. And she said she stated that she was aware that the Police Department had done a great amount of work identifying the high crime profile areas of the city. She also said that her statement in line four should read, "She believes that a community-storefront concept will require minimal officers and also communicates to the community that there is someone they can go to and they know someone is watching and taking care of them." And when she was referencing the juveniles when they get out of school she said, "manned in high profile areas until at least 10 p.m. " She also had a change on page 5, paragraph 8, she said that lunch could be provided to the officers, the superintendent indicated that could be done. Isaac Valencia said he also had a change to point out that wherever Provision 1.058 is shown, it should read "1.05A". With no other corrections, Dr. Lerma moved the minutes be approved, Marta Huerta seconded, and the motion passed. Ms. Cook told the Board that she received a letter from Lynda Cantu resigning because she had accepted a promotion from CP&L that will move her to Laredo. She will not be residing within the district therefore she is going to resign. She did designate an alternate, Fernando Morales, and he had been notified of the meeting. Ms. Cook said she has not been able to get in touch with him. Ms. Cook said until the Council makes another appointment he will be the person in Ms. 1 SCANNED Cantu's place. She said that when she talked to the Mayor, he said the new appointment would be made at the August 12th meeting. She said the Board's !ules indicate the appointment of another person as the present members were appointed. So there will be another person and until then the designated alternate will serve. Ms. Cook asked Jimmy Bray if that was his understanding. Mr. Bray said that he had some concern since Ms. Cantu has already resigned. Ms. Cook told Mr. Bray that she resigned effective Monday. Mr. Bray said that he had some concern that her resignation would take away any authority she has to name an alternate. Ms. Cook told the Board that she knows the Council cannot make an appointment on Tuesday, August 5, so it will be at least a week before another person is appointed. She asked Mr. Bray to keep the Board informed. She said she knows Ms. Cantu submitted her resignation to the Mayor on Monday and she does not know if he has accepted it yet. She asked Mr. Bray to check into it. Ms. Cook said it is important that there be seven members on the Board. Ms. Cook told the Board that Bill Hennings told her that the Board might have to have another meeting next week because they are on such a short time frame. One is not scheduled for next week. There was not another meeting scheduled until August 11, so Ms. Cook told Mr. Hennings that she would bring this before the Board for discussion. Ms. Cook said she knew there were several members going to be out of town. She said she needs to ask how many members would be able to meet next week and what date they would have the meeting. Ms. Cook said she will make a presentation on the Crime Control District on Tuesday, August 5, stating that the Board will be scheduled for an update presentation to the Council on August 12. The Board considered Wednesday, August 6, for the next scheduled meeting. After some consideration, Cefe Valenzuela said he remembers that Rose Vela had previously suggested that the Board have a long meeting on August 11, instead of having so many other meetings. Ms. Cook said that might be fine. Marta Huerta said she thinks that is a good idea because from talking to some of the other Board members, that there is still so much that they need to cover and she feels that some items could have been discussed further but they are pressed for time and maybe an long meeting on the 11th would allow them to review all the material. Ms. Cook said that a long meeting on August 11 is a good idea. Ms. Huerta said on August 11 she will be in trial. Ms. Cook said the reason the meeting was scheduled for August 11 was because Mr. Valenzuela and Dr. Lerma were going to be out of town, so Ms. Cook said they will have to stay with the meeting on August 11. Ms. Huerta stated she would see if maybe she can attend the meeting because a jury might not be picked until Tuesday. Ms. Cook checked with staff members to see if August 11 (long meeting) is alright with them. The Board decided to have the meeting on August 11 at 9 a.m. with considerable discussion. Ms. Cook said in her discussion with Mr. Hennings this week, he felt it was important to keep the Council updated on what the Board was doing and they discussed having a summary presentation to the Council on the Board's progress. She said the Council has already received a copy of the Police Department plan that was presented to them. Ms. Cook told the Board that Mr. Hennings was not be able to attend today's meeting. She proceeded to introduce Jorge Cruz-Aedo, Finance Director for the City. Mr. Hennings has asked him to be part of the staffing for the meetings. 2 Mr. Cruz-Aedo said his department is available to provide whatever financial support the Board might need. Ms. Cook said the Board's part of the presentation to the Council should be in the afternoon after 2 p.m. on August 12. Ms. Cook moved on to Item 2: response to questions raised from July 15 meeting. Ms. Cook had given Pat Eldridge three questions so she turned the meeting over to her. Ms. Eldridge said one of the questions asked was on crime statistics for the past several years so that is included in the packet today. One of the other questions was on the issue of lateral hiring or alternate hiring process. In the interest of trying to expedite some of the hiring questions brought up, there is a provision in the Collective Bargaining Contract between the Corpus Christi Police Officers Association and the City that allows for an alternate hiring process. For an officer to come from another department they must have the basic qualifications, they must have a current TCLEOSE peace officers certification, which is the governing body in the State of Texas. It says how an officer must be trained and how many hours in different topics he/she must receive in order to be a sworn certified peace officer. They must be employed or have been employed for at least three continuous years as a police officer by an incorporated Texas city or as a deputy sheriff in a Texas county of at least 120,000 population or by the Texas Department of Public Safety. They must have actively worked as such within a 12-month period preceding their application. One of the other questions was salary. Ms. Eldridge stated the beginning salary, while appointed under this process, shall be equal to the 30-month police officer salary. Ms. Eldridge said from the inquiries she has received regarding alternate hiring process of officers from other departments, they do not meet the population requirements or they are making more money now where they are and they would be losing money to come to Corpus Christi. They also have to go through an abbreviated police academy and they do not want to do that either. She said she is just relaying her experiences when speaking to some of the individuals who have called her. Chief Alvarez told the Board that it has been the PD's experience that this is a good concept. There are few takers on the program. The ones that the PD has had in the past PD has found out that they are individuals getting fired from the other department or they do not have good records. Chief Alvarez said he feels the PD would be inheriting someone else's problems. So the PD has to be very careful with this program. But the main problem is that the PD does not have many takers for this program for "good quality applicants" . The second thing is that the applicant wants to transfer to Corpus Christi and they want to be making the salary they are presently receiving. The Chief said there are numerous problems associated with this program. Mr. Valencia said it was his understanding that the PD has never made a "full- blown" effort to recruit under this process. Ms. Eldridge said that the recruiting process started in May was extensive across the state with newspaper advertisements in Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and three cities in the Valley. She commented that she believes there should have been some inquiries via that recruiting process. 3 Mr. Valencia said the reason he was asking because he knows there are other methods that have not been covered yet, like trade magazines and labor associations. He said he has never seen any advertisements in labor magazines. He said another point of interest is that he believes it is a process utilized by many other departments so obviously there is a value there and he would hate to think that it would be discarded because there are potential problems. He stated he does not disagree on that, but by the same token it should also be noted that there are definitely pluses to it also, but it is going to require a different method and a different way of approaching it and he believes that it is something that has not been fully explored. Chief Alvarez said that historically the PD has had problems attracting people and this is the first year that the recruiting efforts have been stepped up and certainly there is always room for improvement. A small bit of money was invested simply because the PD was preparing for the possibility that the Council would approve the request to hire additional people because the Chief wanted a number of individuals from which to choose. He thinks that stepped up recruitment efforts are a good practice and PD will continue to do that because it was very successful this time. There were over 1,000 applicants and out of those 343 people are "hopefuls". Ms. Eldridge distributed for the Board's information, a recruitment brochure which details the salary schedule and the hiring processes. Mr. Valenzuela asked Ms. Eldridge how long the process is from the point of advertising to a successful class until they actually go through cadet training and an officer is placed on the streets. Ms. Eldridge stated for example the class that is in the working process was advertised in April and the written exam was on July 11. After they go through the entire process it is about 5 1/2 months before they are hired to start on January 5, 1998. They spend 26 weeks in training in the police academy which is our own academy and they graduate from the academy with an estimated date of July 6. At that time they are placed under a 26-week field training officer program where they ride with a field training officer which takes what they learned in the academy and translates it into actual street practices. When they graduate from that program it will be January 4, 1999, so the entire process is 21 months from the date the test is announced. Mr. Valenzuela asked whether there was a possibility that some cadets will not pass the cadet training. Ms. Eldridge said on the average two cadets are lost from an academy and maybe one from the field training officer program. She said that PD has a good training academy and has one of the highest certification passing rates than other cities in the state with a 100% passing rate. Ms. Huerta asked where the officers coming out of the academy are placed. Ms. Eldridge said that during the field training officer program they are placed in different situations such as traffic enforcement to get a feel for traffic, sometimes they will work in different areas of town, and sometimes on directed patrol giving them a realm of police work when they go out on the streets. 4 101111, *41110 Ms. Eldridge said they are required to be in the Uniform Division on patrol for two years before they can request a transfer. Chief Alvarez pointed out that when the cadet is under the field training officers program they are evaluated very closely. The field training officer has to fill out an evaluation form ensuring that when the cadet is released with their badge or gun they know what to do. Ms. Eldridge said the cadet is not assigned to the same field training officer because they will be working in different areas. She explained the differences between the CCPD academy and the Regional Training Academy. The CCPD academy is an academy of our own instructors and we train our own officers who are hired on the City payroll and they are working for the City. We do not train anyone else's officers. The smaller cities around us attend the Del Mar Regional Academy and this academy teaches a total of 560 curriculum hours. That is the minimum required by TCLEOSE. Our academy teaches 1,060. Mr. Valencia said he probably phrased a question at the last meeting improperly. What he meant to say was the PD could possibly contract the use of the facility not that Del Mar would train for PD. The only reason he pointed it out was because it was his understanding that Del Mar has improved the facility and it is supposedly state-of-art, and the capacity is much larger than PD so that, if in fact, there was a way to get more people that we could possibly look at just the facility. In other words, if our academy would just train there it would free up space at Corona. Mr. Valencia asked if that would be feasible. Asst. Chief Villagomez said the Del Mar Regional Academy uses a refrigeration building. They do not have any extra facilities. He stated that the regional academy is in poor condition, that is the facility itself. They run three classes throughout the year, the basis, the intermediate, and the advance and they are getting some help with finances. Ms. Cook said there is one other question concerning the administration expense. She asked Jorge Cruz-Aedo to go through the calculations for administration expenses. Mr. Cruz-Aedo asked the Board to forgive him because he joined the process late. The City Manager asked him if he could assist the Board from the financial perspective. He said he understood the question to be if there was some ability through the tax to be able to finance administrative charges to help support the Police Department effort. He said he received the question very late and did not have ample time to work with Mr. Bray and the State Comptroller's office to review the state sales tax issues so he stated he did not have a response yet, but maybe by August 11 he can have a formal response. He said he has also been asked to look into the projections of revenues to review the methodologies that were used and to validate or provide some additional information. He received those yesterday and he has not had sufficient time to review it but he assured the Board that he will bring the information back to the Board on August 11. Mr. Bray said he thinks one question was whether there was a cap on administrative expenses. He said he did look at that and there is no cap and the statute clearly provides for administrative expenses and it says that the 5 District can contract with any public or private entity to provide the administration: • Ms. Cook said she thought the question was is there cap and how much would the city request for administrative expenses for the operation of the District. Mr. Bray said that the question is how much the City would feel would take care of the District. Mr. Cruz-Aedo said the City does use a methodology for indirect cost for the current operation but the information will be made available to the Board on August 11. Ms. Cook moved on to Item 3 - evaluation of the plan that was submitted to the Board. Chief Alvarez told the Board that last week the Board was presented with an overall plan which included the entire five-year plan. At today's meeting the two-year plan will be focused to reflect what the PD is actually looking for the first two years. So the Chief talked to the Board about community-policing and the PD's intent, keeping in mind that the PD is restricted to a two-year plan. He stated that community-policing is a philosophy that has been practiced by many police departments and recently has been very effective in many communities. The idea is to have the police officers in a situation where they can very closely interact with the residents of the community in order to solve neighborhood problems on a very personal basis to gain trust that is very important. He furthered his statement by saying the concept of community-policing means not necessarily that the police are there to put people in jail, but they are there to help the residents, and it is starting to shift toward that philosophy. This is not something that can be accomplished overnight, but there will be a gradual development and conclusion. He said that the foundation is being laid for that concept, so PD can go in that direction. With this two-year plan and the number of people being requested there is no way that is a full community-policing program, but the foundation is certainly being laid. The plan is broken down into year one and year two to give the Board a clear picture where the PD is headed. In the past, several ways were tried to get into this concept but the lack of manpower always got in the way. Officers were reshuffled to perform different duties such as calls for service that the officers had to be pulled away from the community-policing programs, due to the lack of personnel. Chief Alvarez said this is a great opportunity to begin this program. He said the PD is anticipating the hiring of the consultant to give the PD more direction. He said he believes he initially mentioned that this plan will be an open-ended plan easily accessible to the consultant so that PD can be flexible in saying if the consultant makes a suggestion then the PD can move in that direction. What is occurring is the Board is trying to point the PD in the right direction and then hopefully grow with additional personnel and any other programs that may fall into place the coming years. But Chief said that the Board needs to focus on the two-year plan and that is what PD is trying to do with the document submitted. He continued by reviewing the plan for year one and year two with the Board and detailing the costs for those two years which focus on the community-policing concept. He said basically the plan idea is to try to prevent and reduce crime in order to provide the officers with additional time for proactive work with favorable results occurring. 6 Ms. Cook said under the development of directed patrol programs she inquired whether the PD -had a citizens advisory council in place. The Chief said that this council will be established. Ms. Cook asked if the council would be in different neighborhoods or would it be in one. She asked Chief Alvarez if there would be citizens advisory councils in different areas of the city. Chief Alvarez said that the problem areas would be identified in certain neighborhoods and then the councils would be formed. Ms. Cook said that would be something needed that would be part of this plan. Chief Alvarez said the councils are included with the three officers the first year. He continued to review the proposal for year one and two including expansion of the Juvenile Enforcement Team, bicycle patrol, walking motors program, establishment of campus Crime Stoppers Program, expansion of canine unit, establishment of 24-hour juvenile curfew processing facility, legal advisor, expi.nsion/automation of pawn shop detail, expansion of traffic safety section, video imaging system, replacement of four Identification vans, additional mobile data terminals for investigative personnel, replacement of 16 high mileage police-package vehicles, and replacement of ten high mileage unmarked detective vehicles. He urged Board members to ask any questions they have as he proceeds through these items. On the expansion of the canine unit, Ms. Huerta asked Chief Alvarez if only one dog is used. Chief Alvarez said that the second dog proposed in year one can be trained to perform different tasks. Ms. Huerta asked whether PD was asking for one officer and one dog. Chief Alvarez said what the unit consists of is one officer, one dog, and a van with a cage to keep the dog. He said the officer has to take the dog home with him so the PD provides him with facilities at home to keep the dog, food, and everything else that goes with the dog. Ms. Huerta asked how hard it is to replace a dog. She asked whether the dog is insured. Chief Alvarez said the dog PD has now was purchased and trained in Belgium. The officer and dog had to go to Harlingen for training. Ms. Eldridge said the estimated cost for another dog is $6,500. There is a $1,500 contract with the trainer for quarterly training with the dog and officer. Both have to go through a certification process. Ms. Cook asked about the new zero tolerance laws on alcohol and tobacco. She asked Chief Alvarez whether there will be an increase in the number of arrests for juveniles and would the facility be the place where they would be taken. 7 'gime Chief Alvarez told her that when you talk about alcohol that will be a different area. He said that is the reason he talked about the possibility in the future of coming up with a detox center for juveniles. He said that type of thing is so hard to implement because it is very expensive. Ms. Cook said she understood even if the juvenile was not intoxicated, just in possession of the alcohol or tobacco, that it requires them to be arrested where they would not necessarily have a need for detox. She said she was wondering how this will play into the processing facility. Chief Alvarez said there would be a screening process if a juvenile gets arrested for being in possession of a cigarette and this does not mean that he needs counseling. As time passes there will be the "hard core" cases and that is what surfaced the curfew issue. Initially you have good juveniles that went out after 11 p.m. and got picked up, but the other juveniles that had no supervision at home where the parents did not care were the ones that surfaced and are still surfacing. Dr. Lerma said that what Ms. Cook was asking is where is the focus going to be on the center for curfew violations and what she hears Chief Alvarez saying is that students that are picked up may fall in that category and they will be redirected as needed. She said so when the Chief says curfew violations he is talking about a variety, a variance. Chief Alvarez said he mentions curfew because that is what the PD got involved in and that is where the problems are identified, but certainly "at risk" juveniles do a lot of different things. Chief Alvarez said the plan states juvenile curfew processing facility but that can be changed. Dr. Lerma told Chief Alvarez that he might want to expand on it because she understands what he is trying to say. Ms. Vela asked Chief Alvarez the percentage of juvenile arrests involving alcohol intoxication. Chief Alvarez said he would have to look at the numbers. He said he can say that there is a large number of individuals that are cited for being in possession of alcohol, not necessarily that they are drunk but for being in possession of alcohol beverages. Ms. Vela asked if in that type of situation whether the juvenile goes to the processing center. Chief Alvarez said when a person is cited they are let go, the citation takes care of that. Dr. Lerma said that in a way that is zero tolerance, because she witnessed that in her Saturday night ride-along. The kids were drinking, they got a citation, which says something is going to be a consequence to this, they were not drunk, and they have to appear in court. She said some cities across the country are using that citation in conjunction with zero tolerance. Chief Alvarez said what it does is force the juvenile and the parent to go to court. He said he does not know what the percentages are but it is really high. 8 11111100 Mr. Valencia said in the first meeting the Board had, the Chief spoke on the subject of decentralization in the command rank and the Chief had referred to possibly precinct-type commands and then tying statistics in those precincts to that command staff so that someone can be held accountable. He said he sees so far there is nothing that covers that issue. He asked the Chief if that concept will be programmed into the plan. Chief Alvarez told the Board that he thinks Mr. Valencia is talking about the plan that was implemented in New York City. He said he talked to them when he was at the IACP convention last year in Phoenix. He said he learned that it is very effective in large cities. He said he thinks what he would like to do is lay the foundation for the community-policing concept, allow the consultant to provide that direction, and consider that direction before we allow other things to happen. He wants to do the best that can be done for the PD and the community. He wants to afford the consultant the opportunity to provide the PD some direction and after that there will be a better feel as to what direction the PD is headed. Dr. Lerma said what she hears the Chief saying is that his vision for community- policing is to build on what has been successful which will be the Juvenile Enforcement Team, the bike patrols, and start building these the first two years. She said also build upon the input the Chief will be receiving from a consultant to move into other directions. Chief Alvarez continued his summary of the plan by continuing with the legal advisor. Mr. Bray pointed out that this is not a new item. It is one of the things he did for three or four years. He would traditionally add it, and it was lost as a result of an efficiency study where some cutbacks occurred. Chief Alvarez said there have been a lot of incidents where the PD needed an attorney at the scene, for instance at officer-involved shootings. A legal advisor would facilitate things for the PD. Mr. Bray said they do not have anyone specializing in the changes in criminal law. He stated that with gang-related matters involving civil lawsuit actions serious staff time should be devoted to these matters. Dr. Lerma asked Mr. Bray how many people are on his staff. Mr. Bray told her that he has 13 currently employed. He said three of them are prosecutors at Municipal Court with three doing full-time litigation. Compared to other cities, our Legal Department is understaffed. Chief Alvarez continued with the summary of the plan submitted to the Board. Chief Alvarez told the Board also attached to the proposed plan is the timeline for when the officers will be hired. He said that in January of 1998 ten officers will be hired, plus the 20 that are budgeted through attrition. They would be released by July 1, 1998. He said PD wanted to have two academies so August 1, 1998, another class of 15 will begin. Ms. Cook asked when Chief Alvarez says released does he mean released to the field officer. 9 06, Chief Alvarez said they graduate from the academy into the field training officer program. • Ms. Cook asked about the equipment the 30 officers need, 20 of them are obviously attrition officers, but she asked if the other ten were in the timeline. Chief Alvarez told her that the ten are in the timeline. Dr. Lerma asked that since there is such a critical need for additional police officers has there been any program, any place in the country that has accelerated training programs. Chief Alvarez said he does not know of any department that has that type of program. Ms. Cook asked whether a person going through the two-year criminal justice course can go through training if they so desire, so the PD can get them as they come out of school. Ms. Eldridge said they still have to take everything in the academy, they still take 15 hours of Del Mar courses, even if they have already taken them. Chief Alvarez said those that she mentioned that are in the Police Science Program at Del Mar usually wind up at the Regional Academy where they are certified and go to work for smaller departments. Some of them apply for the CCPD. Ms. Cook said she was just wondering if there was a way to take advantage of the training that they are acquiring, while they are doing it at the university which would be a way to "fast track" them and get them in. She was wondering if some type of program could be established where some of these 21-year old students can be hired. Chief Alvarez said a 21 year old is at a very critical age and it has been PD's experience to hire very few 21-year olds. The other problem that comes into play is the background. There are some 21-year olds hired but they are the most matured. When they go through the background investigation and psychological evaluation with Dr. Koch you find out about their maturity. Dr. Lerma said Ms. Cook is just using 21 as an example but she was really getting at the accelerated program. She asked if it would be possible to contact some districts to see if anything of this type has been put into place. Chief Alvarez said PD can check. Dr. Lerma said there is so much about the critical need for officers. There may be different methods being used or a combination of methods. Chief Alvarez said what the PD has seen in the past is that some departments that were hurting for personnel softened up on the requirements. Ms. Cook said that both her and Dr. Lerma are thinking of ways that you take advantage of things that are already happening. 10 11110e `4111 Dr. Lerma said it just seems that there has to be some places in country that maybe dealt with that which might be looked at. • Chief Alvarez said that maybe the eight-hour shift can be expanded. Dr. Lerma said she raised that question because she knows in some professions that there have been alternative methods of certifying people, and that includes the background and psychological. She said that is done in education, there are alternative methods. She said that she thinks that the addition of the rationales and the explanations have certainly been helpful. She said she thinks that it gives more clarification to the original proposal and she thinks the addition of the citizens advisory council was certainly a good move. She said she might suggest that composition be expanded in the proposal of the council and what their role will be. She asked Chief Alvarez whether there was any way that the Board might add to the proposal where he could look at maybe schools that are identified. She said she knows the Chief cannot cover all, but have more police presence at the schools, which will fit into his vision of the community-policing concept. Chief Alvarez said he has looked at different ways of having more police presence in the schools, because he thinks the schools have a very important role in the community. He said if a person looks at the overall scheme, the PD is trying to protect our kids and do what is best for our community. He said that 50 officers do not go a long way, but he would consider setting aside some money to provide that police presence in the schools which he thinks Dr. Lerma can identify better than he can. He said he will set aside some money to pay officers overtime for police presence in schools similar to the contract PD has with the Housing Authority. Dr. Lerma said she thinks it would be very good to add that to this proposal and she can think of at least ten schools where there could be police presence. Chief Alvarez said that way the money would be available to pay PD' s officers to go work at the schools for maybe four hours or whatever hours the school district might think are critical, either the school hours or after school. He thinks that would be good for the community. Dr. Lerma agreed with Chief Alvarez' statement. She also said she thinks during school hours would fit in with some of the strategies the Chief has particularly the Juvenile Enforcement Team, the walkthroughs in the Navarro Project and some of the other projects of the PD in an attempt to maintain a relationship with students in some of the projects in the city. She said they have identified key schools that would fit into those areas of having police presence. Chief Alvarez said the reason he mentioned this is because he sees other police departments resorting to overtime to fund this type of program. Dr. Lerma said obviously the Chief would be in the best position on how to handle the mechanics and logistics. She said she does think that police presence in schools should be addressed. The Chief agreed with Dr. Lerma's statement. 11 *%ire Ms. Cook asked whether they were talking about during school hours. Dr. Lerma said that was correct. She said this would happen in key schools that have been identified that really fit in with some of the rationales that are here and some of strategies that are already in place. This enhancement would certainly support the efforts of the Juvenile Enforcement Team, even the bike patrol because they obviously work with JET in the juvenile curfew process. All of this would tie in together. Chief Alvarez wondered whether the problems are prevalent in that the middle schools. Dr. Lerma said she certainly could identify some key middle schools and of course some high schools. Chief Alvarez said he will come up with some type of proposal in figuring out how much money would be involved. Ms. Cook said the Board should move on to how the consultant study ties into the plan. She asked the Chief whether there was something specific he wanted to mention about the consultant study since he had already touched on the subject. Chief Alvarez said he only wanted to mention that he thinks that is going to be a very important part of the entire plan in having that kind of professional direction available. He said he thinks the PD knows where they want to go but he would like to hear what the consultant has to say about which direction to take and how to build upon the foundation already established by the PD. He said this consultant should be available by February, 1998, but he thinks PD will have time for the consultant's recommendations. He said the two-year plan will just open the door. Ms. Cook said looking at the timeline for how long it takes to get officers on the street, should there be significant changes recommended by the consultant, she thinks it will be the ideal time for the officers coming out of the academy. She asked Mr. Bray that if the consultant were to recommend changes would the plan need to be amended. Mr. Bray said the permanent board does the actual budget then they will at that time revisit the consultant issue. He said revenues might not be what the temporary board anticipated, they might be more than anticipated or another opportunity might come up. He stated that if the temporary board figured how to hire more officers at an earlier stage, he thinks that is something the permanent board might want to look at, so this is not an absolute lock on how it might go the next two years. It is the most probable scenario. Ms. Cook said she understood Mr. Bray as saying the permanent board would have to readopt what the temporary board has done. Mr. Valencia said that it will go to an election and the campaign has to be staged for adoption. The public is going to expect things to be accomplished, so it will not be a radical departure of what the temporary board is doing, because that would violate the trust of the public that voted for it. 12 Mr. Bray said that is not going to occur. He said it would not be accurate to say that there.would not be any changes, if they suddenly decide to do a transfer policy, for example, to get more officers quickly, the Board might want to build those in up front if they could. Dr. Lerma said she thinks with any election modifications can be made, like when there are bond elections, there are some modifications, but the intent is always kept the same because that trust has to be maintained. Ms. Cook said that once the consultant is on board and it is 20 months later and officers are coming out of the academy and the PD wants to use them the way the consultant advises, then what does that say about the plan. She said she wants to figure out how the consultant and the plan work together. Mr. Bray said the department itself will have to make the policy. The permanent board, in conjunction with the City Council, will approve budgets each year. This is a budget plan and a crime control plan but once they are in place you go through the statutory process on the budget itself. He said obviously the plan is meant to be a guideline as those agencies proceed. Mr. Valencia said some of the literature provided states that when there are differences with the board that establishes a particular budget and priorities, and if the City Council has a difference of opinion, as he understands, they sit down and amend it together. Mr. Bray told him that is absolutely correct. Ms. Cook said what the plan is really paying for, during the first two years, is academies, then there will be a permanent board that sets the budget. She asked if anyone else had any questions. She said she thinks they are really into the open discussion and question/answer session. She opened the floor for questions. Dr. Lerma said she has something to add to what she said earlier that the rationales and explanations are certainly helpful. She said, however, she would suggest that they work of revising this and answer questions on how each helps to control crime. She said it is implicit in there, but not explicit enough and she thinks that would be helpful to people that read this and are not as familiar with these programs. In other words, answer questions such as how does expanding the Juvenile Enforcement Team help control crime. Ms. Cook said that is a requirement because they have to indicate the strategy and what the measurement is going to be to determine whether there has been any actual prevention. Dr. Lerma said strategies have been expanded upon very well but she thinks it would really improve it to be very specific in answering questions on how this will help control crime. Ms. Eldridge said those measurements will be presented at the next meeting. Ms. Cook said that Dr. Lerma was talking about the control and prevention element and then the measurement (the benchmark) . Ms. Cook asked Ms. Vela whether she had any questions for staff. 13 Ms. Vela said she would like more information on juvenile alcohol and drug- related arrests.. Chief Alvarez said that Ms. Eldridge submitted 1996 total arrests. For 17 years of age and under there were 24% drug violations and liquor violations 2.1%. These percentages are arrests and not citations. Ms. Vela asked Chief Alvarez what type of violations committed by juveniles sends them to the curfew facility. Chief Alvarez said the majority of violations are for truancy or curfew. The TRIP Center would be closed if another center were to be approved. Dr. Lerma asked the Chief if he were going to change the wording on the juvenile curfew processing facility. Chief Alvarez said the wording will be changed to truancy and curfew facility. Chief told Ms. Vela that if an individual is arrested for a criminal offense such as a burglary, they go to the Juvenile Justice Center. Ms. Cook asked how the TRIP Center was financed. Chief Alvarez said the police department gives them $12,000 from the drug fund. He then asked Mariah Boone to explain the other funding. Ms. Boone said the PD has given them $12,000 for this coming year, funding came from a CJD grant from the Governor's office, money from all five school districts, money from businesses and foundations. She said the total budget is $53,412. Ms. Cook was wondering whether the money being spent through grant money for the center can be donated to the processing facility being proposed in the plan. Ms. Boone said that the CJD grant is almost up which is funded at 40% of their budget, which is $20,000 now and then it will be $10,000. Dr. Lerma said under the Crime Control District there are certain activities that will be encouraged to go after some grants. Ms. Cook said the district can accept grant money. She asked Mr. Valenzuela whether he had any questions. Mr. Valenzuela said he had one for the Chief. At last week's proposal there was a request for ten additional dispatchers and he does not recall seeing anything in today's proposal. Ms. Eldridge told Mr. Valenzuela that item is listed in support staff for the officers. Ms. Cook said this is just an expansion on the strategy, but nothing in the original report has been changed. She said next week the Board will have some modifications. She asked Mr. Valencia whether he had any questions. 14 141Me '1111101 Mr. Valencia pointed out that at present the Board is on a very tight timeline. He said if the Board is looking at a November 4 election a lot of things have to be accomplished and there will have to be more "homework" done because there are still numerous questions to be answered. He said he thinks it is imperative that in order to accelerate what the Board is doing, that the Board request a full- time liaison that can assist them through the process. He wanted to entertain the motion that the Board request Captain Wayne Tisdale be provided to them on a full-time basis so they can complete it on the timeline. Ms. Cook opened the floor for comments on Mr. Valencia's suggestion. Ms. Vela asked Mr. Valencia to explain to the Board what exactly the liaison would do. Mr. Valencia said he thinks the Board is often left with numerous questions and there is more work that they can accomplish if they had someone from that level of command that has an understanding of what they are dealing with and it would facilitate the process. The Board would have the ability to make contact with an individual that can speak to the subject on different dimensions that the Board has not been able to accomplish because of time restraints. He said he is in the process of facilitating a poll to tie into the entire process. He believes that the Board would not be doing the plan justice if they do not have the resources available to them so they can move more quickly. Ms. Cook said that the plan not only has to be put into place but the entire Board has to understand it and be able to sell it by the time there is an election. Ms. Huerta said she agrees with Mr. Valencia that it is important because the Board is going to be making the decision on the proposal and there may be issues that they are not too clear on and she feels that a lot of the things need to be cleared up. Chief Alvarez commented that there is staff present to provide that assistance. He said he had no problem adding Capt. Tisdale to the staff but all Board members and staff need to be going in the same direction. He said he feels that if there is a captain being used as a liaison and the Chief does not know what decisions are being made and may be inconsistent with the Chief's philosophy, then the Chief would have a problem with this. He said if the Board is asking for additional staff assistance certainly he has no problem with that. Ms. Huerta asked Mr. Valencia to tell the Board a little bit about Capt. Tisdale. Dr. Lerma said what Mr. Valencia is suggesting is that there be an additional resource because of some expertise that Capt. Tisdale may have. Mr. Valenzuela said he was under the opinion that whatever information the Board needed would be obtained from either Chief Alvarez or Ms. Eldridge. Ms. Cook said that the Board is doing that at present, but Mr. Valencia is suggesting that the Board have another resource. Chief Alvarez said he has no problem with adding Capt. Tisdale as long as the Board looks at the staff that is available to support them. 15 Mr. Valencia told the Board Capt. Tisdale has a Masters Degree and his college thesis was on community-policing. He said he thinks Capt. Tisdale would be a significant enhancement. He said another point is that as the Board has to make the circuit with the public, additional resources are going to have to be tapped into and having someone with Capt. Tisdale's experience in conjunction with the Chief's office, will enhance the Board in what they are doing. He stated that the idea is to plan for success. Mr. Bray suggested that any requests the Board may have be submitted in writing so they can be distributed to other Board members so everyone can be kept current. The requests can be made to whoever on staff, but they need to send this information to the other Board members. Ms. Cook and Dr. Lerma thought Mr. Bray had an excellent suggestion because it will enhance communication among staff and Board members. Chief Alvarez told the Board that he is already using Capt. Tisdale. Capt. Tisdale told those present that he is honored with Mr. Valencia's suggestion, but he strongly believes in the chain of command. He said he will respond to any requests by the Board but only under the authority and direction of the Chief. Ms. Cook said the Board will just add Capt. Tisdale's name to the staff list if that is what Mr. Valencia is requesting and it is acceptable to the Chief. Mr. Valencia said that adding Capt. Tisdale's name to the list makes everything up front and they have the ability to make contact, of course, respecting the chain of command. Ms. Cook told the Board that she did meet with Ms. Eldridge to work on the agendas and she is going to continue to do that because it helps her prepare for the meeting, so that request probably will not be in writing. Ms. Cook asked that Capt. Tisdale's name be added to the list of staff representatives and Ms. Huerta's alternate (Bert Quintanilla) be added to the membership list. Mr. Bray told Ms. Cook that a replacement for Lynda Cantu could possibly be appointed on Tuesday by the City Council. Ms. Vela made the motion that Capt. Tisdale be appointed as an additional staff representative. Ms. Huerta seconded and the motion was passed. Mr. Valencia designated his alternate as Sam Granato. Ms. Huerta asked whether August 26 would be the proposal to the Council. Ms. Cook told her that is the joint public hearing because the Board, as well as the Council, are required to have a public hearing therefore that will be done jointly. She said they are scheduled to make a presentation on August 12 to the Council. August 16 is on the list as the date of the notice being published. When the Board meets on August 11 they should discuss having another meeting so they can prepare for the August 26 public hearing so they have a final plan. 16 Ma. Huerta asked if the plan will be voted on August 26. She asked if her alternate can vote on her behalf or can she send in her vote because she will not be able to attend that hearing. Mr. Bray told her that the alternate is entitled to vote. Ms. Cook said she thinks there are things that are considered prevention that could be done immediately upon receiving monies from the District such as additional lighting in neighborhoods and high crime areas. Dr. Lerma said that some of the things can be pulled out to show they are immediately put in place such as the citizens advisory councils and the presence in the schools. Dr. Lerma also stated that the Crime Stoppers Program, just getting it organized, communicated, etc. , is an item that can started showing immediate progress. Mr. Valencia told the Board he wanted to make one announcement. The Police Officers Association just called him and said they authorized the funding for a poll so that will be a critical component necessary in order to move the Board forward. He said he thinks it is obvious the Board needs to get feedback from the public and what they really want because they are the ones voting for it. Ms. Cook asked Mr. Valencia how the poll is going to be conducted. Mr. Valencia stated that it is going to be a scientific poll. There are four different groups from which they solicited bids. As far as the breakdown, that is yet to be determined. Board members told Mr. Valencia they would like to see the poll before it goes to the public. Dr. Lerma said that if a poll is being done, it has to be disseminated and analyzed and if the public hearing is August 26, then it is going to be a real fast poll. She asked Mr. Valencia whether it will be a telephone poll. Mr. Valencia said it will be a telephone poll and they told him the names of the different groups involved: Jeff Montgomery, Emery & Young, and Global. He stated that they are all professional groups and obviously there will have to be some work done between now and the time they actually conduct it. Ms. Cook told him that if the Board could see the questions that would be helpful. She said she is a little concerned about the Board violating any campaigning laws. Mr. Bray told her that there are no restrictions in the statute for the temporary board on campaigning. The statute restricts city employees from campaigning. Ms. Cook said that staff can be present while discussing the campaigning as long as the staff is not campaigning. Mr. Bray said he does not think the Board is into campaigning when conducting a poll. He said it is part of the Board' s process to acquire input. 17 Dr. Lerma said she is assuming the poll will ask people what they see is the greatest area of crime in the community. • Mr. Valencia said there has to be a discussion on that subject. Ms. Cook said she has a 2:30 meeting she needs to attend so she will not be able to take the tour of the police facility. Dr. Lerma said she would encourage each Board member to do a ride-along with JET because they are very professional and it was an interesting experience for her. Chief Alvarez encouraged the Board to contact Asst. Chief Villagomez who coordinates the ride-along program. Asst. Chief Villagomez said he had a discussion with the Executive Officer in the Community Relations Division and they decided that since the Board is a very small group, they will personally be accommodated. So they can just let them know what time and date they want to schedule a ride-along. He also stated that whenever the Board is ready to tour the communications center he has arranged for them to call Capt. Tisdale and he will coordinate. Mr. Bray wanted to mention on the timeframe that even though the hearing is on August 26, the Board will actually be adopting a proposed plan by August 13 so it can be published. Ms. Cook said that is the reason the meeting on August 11 will be lengthy and if the Board has to have another meeting it is tentatively set for August 13. Dr. Lerma said she would like to pick up on Ms. Cook's comment about lighting. When you think of lighting (there is lighting and lighting) . It does not just have to be a pole with a light on it. She said she believes Ms. Cook was trying to say that some of these areas have been profiled in the community where people would feel safer with different types of lighting. Ms. Cook stated that she was just thinking about some of the lighting that has been done in the 78415. Chief Alvarez said as a good example he will mention the project at Navarro where there should be more lighting because that would deter individuals from gathering around those areas. Ms. Eldridge said that Capt. Tisdale is available to give a 10-minute of the communications center if any of the Board members are interested. With no further business or questions, Ms. Cook adjourned the meeting at 2:21 p.m. 18