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Home My WebLink AboutPSC Minutes 5-26-16 approvedCouncil Public Safety Committee May 26, 2016 MINUTES Members- Councilmember Kathy Coffey (chair) Councilmember Dulce Gutierrez Councilmember Carmen Mendez The meeting was called to order at 3:00 p.m. Staff: Jeff Cutter, City Manager's Office Chief Dominic Rizzi, Police Chief Bob Stewart, Fire Prosecutor Cynthia Martinez, Legal Brad Coughenour, SunComm Scott Schafer, Public Works Brooke Goosman, Legal Joe Brown, Police Terri Croft, Police The committee members reviewed the minutes of the April 28th meeting. Items identified for follow up were state gang grant funding and reports from YPAL. It was decided by consensus to approve the minutes of the April 28, 2016 meeting. Proposed amendment to YMC trespass ordinance Goosman advised the committee that the current YMC trespass ordinance was missing important language and an update was required. She recommended adopting the RCW. She further recommended adopting the RCW for both trespass 1St and 2nd degree. The committee approved this item to be forwarded to the full council for consideration. • Text to 911 Coughenour updated the committee with the progress toward implementation of text to 911 technology. He noted some of the traditional elements of voice calls that first responders rely on are not available on a text notification. Text to 911 calls will have the same retention period (90 days) of voice recordings. There will not be a real "test" period, once implemented, the system will be live. Coughenour hopes to have a period of public promotion and have implementation in August or September. Gutierrez inquired if the system was accessible to the Spanish speaking community. Coughenour advised if there is not a Spanish speaking team member on duty, the text messages will be routed through Language Line, a contract company currently used by SunComm for similar instances with voice calls. • People for People Presentation Stacy Kellogg presented background information on People for People's 211 program. The system was developed as a one stop resource center for services, including referrals for gang intervention services. Calls are currently slow, which she attributed to a lack of active media outreach. They continue to function as a resource referral center, and have worked with emergency management during recent flooding events. Gutierrez inquired if 211 might be able to take non -emergency calls to relieve the 911 system. Kellogg advised the system is not designed for those types of calls. Staff discussed some of the other options for non -emergency public safety calls. Kellogg further advised 211 utilizes Language Line as well, although all current staff are English/Spanish bilingual. Gutierrez asked how many callers are former gang affiliated. Kellogg advised that is not one of the screening questions used, their focus is on getting callers referred to the proper resources. Gutierrez asked how 211 impacts or contributes to gang prevention. Kellogg advised that People for People's deliverables were to maintain a call center and provide screening, work with other service providers, provide crisis response, and marketing of the system. People for People has been working toward those goals and providing reports to the city manager's office of their progress. People for People has made 10 referrals to YPAL since implementation, 2 of which have been in the past year. Coffey discussed the GFI report. Although there are some elements of the GFI plan in place, there is no coordinated program or manager to oversee the elements. GFI needs to be reviewed and it determined if the City should keep it, reinstate it, or revamp it. Kellogg provided some additional statistics regarding calls received before and after the City of Yakima's gang awareness campaign. Prior to the campaign, 211 received one call for gang intervention services. In the four months after the campaign, 45 calls were received. The committee inquired if People for People would continue to provide this service without the funding from the City. Kellogg advised they would, but not to the extent that they currently provide it. • OIC presentation Steve Mitchell and Adrienne Garner presented a report on the activities of the Southeast Yakima Community Center. Garner invited all to an open house at the SEYCC to see what services are provided there. Report included information on spending, funding, programs provided and available, and contracts and partnerships with other entities for space usage within the center. SEYCC staff have worked to identify areas where money can be saved, but funds have had to be redirected from some projects to address more urgent needs. Mitchell stated that most of the work and programs done at the SEYCC are geared toward getting youth off the street and gang prevention and intervention. 0 Lighting analysis Brown reported to the committee an overview of how lighting can impact crime. Lighting does little to deter violent crime, but plays an important part of Community Policing Through Environmental Design (CPTED). Lighting can impact crimes of opportunity, such as theft, but is not a solution in and of itself. The committee requested this issue be brought back to the next meeting, as it did not address their initial question of crime statistics before and after installation of the targeted areas. It was requested that the council districts also be overlaid onto the maps. Brown noted that the methodology for identifying areas of poor or inadequate lighting were not consistent and suggested a more scientific method for identification be determined. • Community Diversion Program Martinez presented the committee with a brief history and update of the efforts to implement a community diversion program in Yakima. She had been working on this project when funding was cut. The City now has a pledge to fund the program for 6 months from a private source, however the source is requesting the City commit to funding the program for an additional 6 months. Martinez recommended funding the program as part of the 2017 budget. The committee inquired if the program had police support. Rizzi advised that the police department does support the program. It is an opportunity to identify individuals with certain needs and get them the assistance they need, and alleviates the some of the burden on the police. Martinez advised that there are some coordination efforts underway and she will continue working with partner agencies. Gutierrez asked if the program would be just for City of Yakima of offenses. Martinez advised it was, it would be run out of Municipal Court and thus only eligible to mitigate offenses that occurred in the city. The committee recommended moving the item to the full council for consideration. • Miller Park concerns There was discussion regarding the need for the public to notify the police of issues occurring not just at Miller Park, but whenever they observe crime. Even if police are not able to respond immediately, if it's not reported, it can't be tracked to deploy resources to affected areas. Rizzi also advised that the department would be implementing online reporting for minor crimes (thefts with no suspect information, etc.) which would aid in tracking problem areas. Gutierrez asked if signs could be posted in Miller Park with specific offenses that should be reported, with a dedicated line to report those issues to. Rizzi advised he would discuss that with SunComm and IT. The meeting was adjourned at 4:55 p.m. Approved: