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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPSC Agenda packet 6-14-17 Council Public Safety Committee 2nd Floor Conference Room City Hall June 14, 2017 3:00 p.m. Members: Staff: Others: Councilmember Mendez (chair) City Manager Cliff Moore Councilmember Coffey Police Chief Dominic Rizzi Councilmember D. Gutierrez Fire Chief Bob Stewart Councilmember Lover (alternate) City Prosecutor Cynthia Martinez Brad Coughenour Scott Schafer Agenda 1. Approval of May 25, 2017 minutes 2. New Business a. Public forum planning 3. Old Business a. Domestic violence – Martinez b. Faith-based community coalition update - Moore 4. Other Business 5. Information items 6. Recap of future agenda items 7. Audience Participation 8. Adjournment Council Public Safety Committee May 25, 2017 MINUTES Members present: Staff: Councilmember Dulce Gutierrez City Manager Cliff Moore Councilmember Kathy Coffey Chief Dominic Rizzi, Police Councilmember Bill Lover Chief Bob Stewart, Fire Prosecutor Cynthia Martinez, Legal Scott Schafer, Public Works Joe Caruso, Code Administration Brad Coughenour, SunComm Terri Croft, Police The meeting was called to order at 3:02 p.m. Councilmember Gutierrez chaired the meeting. 1. Approval of minutes of April 27, 2017 It was MOVED by Coffey to approve the minutes of the April 27, 2017 meeting as presented. Motion was SECONDED by Lover. Motion PASSED unanimously. New Business New business was deferred until the arrival of City Manager Moore. 3. Old Business 3.a. Arterial cameras Martinez presented policies that were obtained from the cities of Colville and Woodinville. Purchasing Manager Ownby is obtaining pricing from those cities, however she is currently out on an extended leave. Other considerations for pricing include working with Pacific Power for electrical needs and installation, and IT Services for data storage requirements. Woodinville appropriated $50,000 for their pilot program and staff is awaiting return calls for detailed information on actual expenditures. Woodinville did not use their system for real-time surveillance, but viewed footage after the fact for investigative purposes. Rizzi advised that real-time observation is the most effective, however is costly. Having the cameras as an investigative tool is better than having nothing. Lover asked if the city had previously had a similar surveillance system. Rizzi advised there had been a system, but it was photographic and not video, so it was not successful. Martinez stated she would like to have the topic brought back when more information has been obtained. Rizzi will put the item out on the WASPC information boards to request information from other agencies. Lover asked if the cameras used by the private businesses are successful. Rizzi advised that they were, and that the police receive excellent video from many banks, convenience stores, and other businesses. Coffey asked if a survey of private sector cameras could be conducted. Rizzi stated that would be beneficial and recommended a private entity conduct the survey. Coffey requested that an e-mail be sent to Downtown Association of Yakima requesting they conduct the survey. 3.b. Body Cameras Martinez reported that Seattle had conducted a study of the costs to respond to public records act requests for body cameras. The legislation allows agencies to charge for time to produce the video. Seattle calculated their cost to be .60/redaction minute. The Yakima Police Department has one full-time employee who processes Coban and expect they would need another full-time position to process body camera requests. Lover inquired if community members could make blanket requests for a large time frame. Rizzi advised that the current legislation prohibits that type of request. He further advised there are limitations on who can be charged for the recordings. Gutierrez inquired how many FTEs Seattle PD has. That information was unknown. Lover asked if there was enough value to body cameras to pursue the issue further. Rizzi advised that even with the camera limitations, when residents complain about officer conduct, 90% of the time the video will exonerate the officer. Even in incidents when the officer is not exonerated, that is important information for the department to have and does have value. The question becomes how much can the community afford. There are other needs of the police department, more officers, other equipment, station needs, etc. Council needs to determine how to prioritize funding for those needs. Martinez noted that the video is beneficial from the prosecution side as well. Coffey stated that a lot more research needs to be done, and recommended a test case be reviewed throughout the process to determine what the costs would be. She requested Purchasing, Police, and Legal create a combined document with all of the associated costs included. This will be completed in time for the Council budget discussion. Rizzi stated that the Seattle information was a good starting point, it would just need to be tailored to Yakima’s expected requests and salaries. Having the full cost analysis will help set the priorities. Gutierrez asked if there were any studies that indicated civilians were less aggressive when they were being recording. Rizzi was not aware of any studies, but advised there were fewer complaints and more exonerated incidents. Lover inquired if there were any statistics on officers opening themselves up to liability or injury to “get a good shot” of an incident. Rizzi replied he was not aware of any instances of this, that wearing the camera becomes automatic and the officers tend to forget they are wearing it. 2. New Business 2.a. – Faith-based coalition Moore reported that he had reached out to the faith-based community to assist with addressing issues of violence. He met with a group earlier in the week. Four attendees were former gang members who discussed “street ministry”. The group is concerned, mobilized, and the city will work to connect them with funding opportunities. One member has experience with international shuttle diplomacy who is interested in helping broker a cease-fire. Police staff has some suggestions on how that should transpire, but additional discussions need to be conducted. Lover expressed the need to verify the credentials of the member volunteering for the negotiations before sending her out to negotiate. He has concerns for her safety, but will leave that area up to the judgement of the police. Coffey stated she was thankful and impressed with the involvement of the faith-based community. She encouraged Chief Rizzi’s involvement in all aspects of this program. She advised Bishop Tyson offered his support and opportunities for youth. Gutierrez was hesitant about the “cease fire” moment, but was thankful for those who were willing to step up and help. She sees value in meeting the gang members where they are at. She is interested in continuing to explore this option. 3. Old Business – continued 3.c. – Emphasis patrols Rizzi reported that the Police Department had made some adjustments which have improved intelligence gathering. There have been a decrease in shots fired calls and shooting injuries. The Department needs to keep the pressure on the gang members. Lover asked if the Department was recovering guns. Rizzi advised they were. Gutierrez asked if they were looking for gang affiliates or groups of members. Rizzi replied police staff believes a small group of subjects is involved in the majority of the robberies, so resources are focused on them. Police investigators are also working to link shootings together and including the surrounding areas. Moore reported that the governor’s policy advisor on public safety recommended city officials to discuss with area legislators the issues we are facing and request funding to continue the emphasis patrols and keep the pressure on. Moore asked if the committee would support allowing him and the council members discussing special funding with the legislators. Coffey stated that Representative Newhouse has been responsive. She advised time was short to put together this request and asked if Moore could contact the remaining council members the next day. Moore advised he would do that with the committee’s support. It was MOVED by Coffey and SECONDED by Gutierrez for the city manager to move forward contacting the remaining council members to advise and set up a meeting with the state legislators as soon as possible. Motion CARRIED. 3.d. – Domestic Violence Martinez reported she had the opportunity to send two prosecutors to training regarding the psychology behind domestic violence. She has a meeting scheduled with the head of the Yakima County Special Assault Unit to discuss coordination and cooperation, more information sharing regarding declined cases, and helping with offender scores. Gutierrez asked if legal staff had previously attended this training. Martinez advised they had not, she thought this was the first time this training was provided. Gutierrez followed up asking if she still planned to send one person to the domestic violence symposium in Seattle. Martinez confirmed she did. Gutierrez asked if there were any domestic violence PSAs still airing. Moore did not know but advised he would find out and report back. Gutierrez expressed her desire to have more council input and involvement with the content of the PSAs, as she felt the predominantly female council has a unique opportunity to impact the community on this topic. 4. Other Business 4.a. – Town Hall meeting Gutierrez asked the other committee members if they would entertain the idea of a Town Hall meeting to get community input on violence prevention and intervention. Previous forums have had a lot of sharing of personal experiences by the community but did not address ideas, strategies, or solutions. Coffey felt community input is good and can be critical to change, but it must be thoughtfully approached to be successful. Coffey was in favor of the idea. Lover had concerns with the community forum format, as he felt most citizen input was activist supported or driven. He suggested one of the television hosts from the Hispanic community could effectively conduct such a meeting. Coffey recommended the committee members continue discussions to address the details before taking the idea to the full council. They will work to have that prepared for the June 6 council agenda. 4.b. – SoCal Crossroads Coffey reported that the members of the committee had a conference call with representatives of SoCal Crossroads, a non-profit group with experience working with gang and violence in Southern California. They are interested in assisting Yakima with the issues happening here and provided a list of questions for the council members to consider before embarking on any programs. Gutierrez felt the questions posed would assist in the planning the town hall meeting. Lover inquired if the group was part of the California legislature. Gutierrez replied that they were not, they were the executive directors of a non-profit organization. Lover asked if there were costs involved. Costs would be determined after a scope of the project was determined. Lover stated he wanted the full council to have the opportunity to discuss before additional discussions were held with SoCal Crossroads. It was MOVED by Coffey and SECONDED by Gutierrez that a report from the City Manager be included on the June 6 agenda advising the council of the discussion with SoCal Crossroads and requesting permission from the council to contact SoCal Crossroads to continue discussions, with a recommendation from the Public Safety Committee to approve that request. Motion PASSED unanimously. 4.c. – Statewide Coalition on Juvenile Delinquency and Violence Moore advised that there is an opening for an Eastern Washington representative on this statewide board. He advised there was some positive news regarding federal funding for juvenile justice and crime reduction. Additionally, the Annie E. Casey Foundation is willing to provide technical assistance to communities. If any council members are interested in serving on that coalition, Moore will get additional information. 5. Information items There were no information items 6. Recap of future agenda items Budget policy issue on body cameras if ready Domestic violence PSA information and further discussion Faith-based community update 7. Audience Participation There was no audience participation 8. Adjournment Meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m. Approved: May 16, 2017 Notes from call with SoCal representatives Paul Carrillo and Ron Nobles and Council Public Safety Committee members (Coffey, Méndez, and D. Gutiérrez) Paul and Ron each provided their background and experience and asked what measures the City was taking to address gang activity. Below are some highlights from the discussion:  One of the 6 triggers to gang violence is revenge  Need to focus more on positive youth development  Need comprehensive approach  The measure should be anti-violence; not anti-gang  Need a great deal of communication between community, city and law enforcement agencies  Primary concerns need to be identified in order to build a plan  Identify problem areas and what needs to be done to make them better Paul suggested that the Council members identify: 1. What are the needs? 2. What is most important? 3. What are the long term needs? 4. What are the short term needs? 5. What positive things do we have going for us? 6. What challenges do we face? 7. What do we want to address? The Committee members and Paul agreed to continue the discussion after the public safety committee meeting next week. Council should have more answers at that time. MEMORANDUM To: Yakima City Council Public Safety Committee Members From: Communications & Public Affairs Director Randy Beehler Subject: Domestic Violence Prevention Public Service Announcements Campaign Date: Friday, June 9th, 2017 Council Public Safety Committee members, In late 2016, the City of Yakima launched an initial run of domestic violence prevention public service announcements ("PSAs"). The campaign was initiated in response to an increase in incidents involving domestic violence in the Yakima area that, in some cases, resulted in the severe injury or even death of parties involved in the incidents. The initial run of domestic violence prevention PSAs utilized PSAs produced as part of the Refuse to Abuse campaign developed through a partnership of the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Seattle Mariners. The PSAs featured Mariner pitching ace Felix Hernandez, Mariner 3rd baseman Kyle Seager, and Mariner Manager Scott Servais. From the Community Relations advertising account, $1,000 was allocated for the initial run of Refuse to Abuse PSAs. Through Charter Media, a four-week run of PSAs was designed. The run began on December 28th and ended on January 20th. As is it regular practice, Charter provided several free airings of the PSAs, given the City qualifies as a non-profit entity. As a result, over the course of the four-week run, 154 Refuse to Abuse PSAs were aired on a variety of channels specifically targeted at the 18-54 male demographic. A second run of domestic violence prevention PSAs will begin on June 14th. The second run will feature PSAs produced by NO MORE, a national domestic violence prevention organization. The PSAs that will air during a roughly four-week run are from NO MORE's NFL Players Say No More campaign. Obviously, the PSAs feature well-known professional football players. The second run of domestic violence PSAs will last from June 14th through July 10th and, again, will be targeted at the 18-54 male demographic. Even though ad rates are higher at this time of year than they were in the post-Christmas period during which the Refuse to Abuse PSAs ran, Charter Media has generously provided multiple free airings of the PSAs in addition to airings purchased by the City. As a result, 154 NFL Players Say No More PSAs, the same number of Refuse to Abuse PSAs aired during the December-January run, will air during the June-July run at a cost to the City of $1,000. The City is also working with NO MORE's partner organization, NO MÁS, to secure permission to air Spanish-language PSAs on local channels. That permission is expected to be granted soon. Once it is, a run of NO MÁS PSAs will be designed and aired. The City intends to air additional runs of domestic violence prevention PSAs in the third and fourth quarters of 2017. Those runs could include Refuse to Abuse PSAs, NFL Players Say No More PSAs, NO MÁS PSAs, or, potentially, locally-produced PSAs featuring recognizable people from here in Yakima. NO MORE has graciously provided the City with permission to recreate some of its PSAs using local people. The City's Community Relations office has the capability to produce domestic violence prevention PSAs featuring local people. The potential for locally- produced domestic violence PSAs can be discussed at the June 14th Council Public Safety Committee meeting. The Community Relations office looks forward to continuing to build partnerships with established domestic violence prevention organizations for additional PSA campaigns and other efforts in Yakima.