HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CPB-2001-03-22ITHACA COMMUNITY POLICE BOARD MEETING
4) MINUTES: Ithaca Community Police Board
PLACE: Tompkins County Public Library
TIME AND DATE: March 22, 2001
PRESENT: Commissioners Graham, Laskowitz, Killeen, Nelson,Wigden,
Rovelstad. Alderperson Pryor, Chief Richard Basile
Staff, Nancy Falconer
1. Approval of Minutes of meeting of Febr=a 222, 2001
The minutes were approved unanimously. Moved by Commissioner Killeen, seconded
by Commissioner Laskowitz..
2. Comments from the Public
No one from the public was present.
3. Report From Common Council
No report was given by Common Council.
4.Report by Police Department
a) The Chief reported that three new recruits have been hired, and are ready to go into
training with experienced officers for a few months before being on their own.
Commissioner Wiggins asked if CPB members could meet with new officers as they
entered the force in the interest of forging good working relationships. It was decided
that Commissioner Graham would instead draft a letter of welcome to new officers,
introducing the CPB to them. In addition, staff would look into ordering travel coffee
cups with the CPB initials for them, as well as pens embossed with CPB for future tabling
and other appropriate events.
b) Deputy Chief Signer is attending a conference re Emergency Disaster Preparedness.
c) The PBA passed a 5 year contract on March 21 st, 2001.
d) Chief Basile reported that an experimental method of work shifts will be started soon.
It would allow officers to work the same shifts each week for four months. There are to
be two trial periods of four months each to evaluate the effectiveness. IPD staff meetings
are also changing, and the first meeting will address the issue of changing the arrest
procedure to treat males and females the same. The result will be brought back to the
next CPB meeting.
5. Old Business
a) Handouts of the lengths of time it has taken the Commissioners to complete
investigations in the past two years were handed out. Times varied from six weeks to 8
months Some of the longer times were affected by complainants actions or non actions
when contacted, however, Commissioners agreed that two months appeared to be a
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Community Police Board
Minutes of Meeting, March 22, 2001 page 2.
reasonable amount of time to complete an investigation, and agreed to attempt to
meet that time limit in the future. Discussion followed on how to shorten times
and how to keep the complainants informed of progress on cases.
b) Staff had not heard back from Nancy Zahler re any youth interested in the CPB
involvement, so no report was given. Follow up next month.
c) Commissioner Laskowitz has identified a person who has agreed to translate
the new forms into Spanish for us, however, nothing has been done yet. Follow up
next month.
d) Commissioner Wiggins brought up the issue of video taping at the station
again, and said that it should probably be done at every arrest brought in.
Discussion followed about the methods of doing so, and the Chief reported that
one piece had been missing from the set up, but has now been fixed, so that it
possible to do. It was decided that there will be a discussion and decisions made
about taping every arrest or not, and how to store and keep the tapes at the April
meeting.
6. New Business
a) Commissioner Graham reported that she received a copy of a letter written
by a participant in the Drug Treatment Court project. The letter was anonymous,
• but constituted an apology from the author to the police for his previous behavior
toward them before treatment. It was accompanied by a request from the staff
of the program to submit it to the police department, and also to inform the Drug
Treatment staff of the proper method of submitting these in the future. It was
decided to include the program in the list of services that carry CPB forms, and to
submit the letter to the police on the commendation page of the new CPB forms.
b) The Drug Treatment program has requested that CPB make a presentation
to their staff, and Commissioners Laskowitz and Killeen agreed to do so in April
or May. Commissioner Graham will arrange a mutually convenient time.
c) Commissioner Wiggins asked the Chief about scheduling a time for CPB
members to walk through the Police Station, and become more familiar with the
areas we talk about. It was decided that this could be done individually at any
time by calling to schedule it.
7. Meeting adjourned to Executive session, moved by Commissioner Wiggins.
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