Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-CPB-2016-09-28CITY OF ITHACA COMMUNITY POLICE BOARD MEETING MINUTES Regular Meeting 3:30 p.m. September 28, 2016 Present: Co-Chairs: Kane, Rogers Commissioners: DaGrossa, Beem-Miller, Onyejuruwa Others Present: Common Council Liaison – Kerslick Deputy Police Chief - Monticello Information Management Specialist – Myers Community Outreach Worker – Baker Absent: Commissioners LaFave, Wright The meeting was called to order at 3:30 p.m. Approval of Minutes: Approval of the June 22, 2016 Community Police Board Meeting Minutes – Resolution By Vice Chair Rogers: Seconded by Commissioner Beem-Miller RESOLVED, That the minutes of the June 22, 2016 Community Police Board Meeting be approved as published. Carried Unanimously Vice Chair Kane noted that the July and August Community Police Board meetings were cancelled due to lack of agenda items. Comments from Public: No one appeared to address the Board. Community Outreach Work Program Update From Tammy Baker - Community Outreach Worker Ms. Baker explained that she met with the Steering Committee for the Community Outreach Program this afternoon. Prior to today’s meeting with the Community Police Board, she provided a written Pilot Year Performance Assessment report for their review and information to assist in today’s discussion of the program. The assessment report will be attached to the minutes. She also noted that she and her supervisor from Family & Children’s Services traveled to Burlington, Vermont to shadow their Street Outreach Team, which our local program is trying to model. This provided an idea of how Ithaca’s program might be able to expand in the future and provided some valuable insight in ways to improve the current program. They also met with the Director of the Church Street Marketplace (which is similar to the Commons) to learn about their role in Community Police Board Meeting Minutes September 28, 2016 2 educating the community about the issues of mental health, mental illness, substance abuse and homelessness. Ms. Baker reported on the goals of the program, and noted that the current area of the program encompasses the Commons to the 600 block of West State/Martin Luther King, Jr. Street, to Dewitt Park and the Tompkins County Public Library. She stated that she provides a lot of education to the public and local businesses about the program and her role in it. She tracks every single encounter she has no matter how quick or small. A survey was recently conducted of all the program providers in the program area, which includes the Downtown Ithaca Alliance, Ithaca Police Department, Tompkins County Human Services, Cayuga Addiction Recovery Services, Rescue Mission, Friendship Center, merchants and businesses around the program area as well as clients; they received back 84 responses. As a result of the survey, the following strengths of the program were identified: approachability, listening skills, nonjudgmental attitude of outreach worker, program’s ability to reach the underserved and high-risk population, the speed and level-headed response to calls for help, ability to connect clients to appropriate resources, and the program’s ability to handle social service/mental health concerns. Another goal of the program is stop or lessen the interruptions and disruptions to both the public and the many businesses downtown by individuals. She further reported that after only one year, Ithaca’s program is actually aligning quite well with the Burlington, Vermont program which has been in place for 15 years. A lot of the work of the program involves improving the safety of everyone, reminding and educating individuals of the rules of the Commons. For example, explaining that panhandling is legal and allowed; however, it is not to be disruptive or disrespectful nor can it involve persistent solicitation of individuals, explaining that smoking is not allowed on the Commons, and that bikes need to be walked on the Commons and not ridden. She does a lot of reminding to individuals about the various rules and laws so as to help keep them out of trouble and to prevent injury to themselves and others. During the course of the year, she has developed a good working relationship with a couple of used clothing stores to obtain free things for individuals as needed (i.e. pillows, blankets, some clothes). She provides assistance in locating hot meals for needy individuals. She is working with the Downtown Ithaca Alliance and the “Pay It Forward” program to assist individuals in need of meals. How the program works is that anyone can give towards the program (either $5, $10 or whatever amount) at a food establishment they are patronizing that participates in the program that then can be used by those who need it. When money is donated at participating locations, notes with various denominations of money are posted on walls or bulletins boards within the establishment so if an individual comes in that wants a hamburger that costs $8.99 or something, they can take down the note for say $10.00 and use it to pay for the meal, with no questions asked. She said the program is particularly popular at Panera Bread, where so many panhandlers seem to be located. Community Police Board Meeting Minutes September 28, 2016 3 She works regularly to develop relationships between appropriate agencies and individuals on an ongoing basis to meet individual needs. She works with any situation, and if she doesn’t know the answer what she will do is try to find an answer. She noted that in the City of Ithaca there is a real serious issue with homelessness. Ms. Baker explained that she has established a good working relationship with the Ithaca Police Department and City Court. She goes to city court to support individuals or when they need to meet with the police; she collaborates with case manager and attorneys regularly, and works with a lot of people on a daily basis. One issue that she encounters when trying to assist individuals is that their caseworker can’t talk with her until the client signs a release allowing them to do so; this assists her in better meeting the individual’s needs. She is continually making efforts to work with individuals so that they do provide the written permission in an ongoing effort to assist them to the best of her ability. The Board then had an opportunity to ask Ms. Baker questions. Discussion followed on the floor regarding whether any “presenting issues” as described in the assessment report overlap and whether the majority of the people that Ms. Baker interacts with present with multiple issues. Ms. Baker responded that some of the issues do overlap with one another. She is attempting to create a matrix that encompasses homelessness, mental health issues, legal issues, and substance abuse issues to assist the program in responding and meeting to the many different needs of individuals in the community to the best of their ability. She reiterated that homelessness is a real serious condition and often the rules to obtaining housing conflict with different areas of individual’s lives that make it hard for them. For example, an alcoholic has been offered work, the work has shifted their focus away from alcohol – even though the work may be done under the table, its work; the employer picks them up between 7 am and 9 am and takes them to the job. The alcoholic is homeless, the Department of Social Services has found housing in Groton for them, but they can’t go to Groton because they won’t have a way to get transportation to the work they have obtained. As a result of them not taking the housing opportunity offered, the Department of Social Services cuts off their food stamps and benefit card. This leaves some individuals trapped because they need work, they need their focus off their substance abuse issue but they also need housing and food – so they’re left in a quandary as to what they should do. The requirements imposed by the Department of Social Services related to benefits don’t always provide for all the needs of the individual. In addition to that type of situation, another may be that because the Department of Social Services maximum benefit per month for housing is $400, and the apartment that is being rented costs $450, the individual will get evicted if they can’t find a way to make up the $50 difference, and there is no place they can go for financial assistance until their benefits may be able to be adjusted so that they receive the extra $50 per month to cover the rent. Those types of situations are difficult to find solutions to. Community Police Board Meeting Minutes September 28, 2016 4 Further discussion followed on the floor regarding how Ms. Baker connects with individuals that have court appearances, and how people find her if they need assistance. Ms. Baker explained that she visits City Court every Wednesday and Friday to see who is on the docket and to introduce herself. Most individuals, if they don’t have their own attorney will receive a court assigned counsel. This delays any court action because there is certain paperwork that needs to be submitted to the court prior to the judge issuing any kind of decision. There is a legal aid office on Taber Street that individuals may go to for assistance with court related paperwork. She has a cell phone that people may reach her on as well as a business card, which she distributes all around. She noted that there is a need for the kind of services she provides outside of her program area, so if it is possible in the future to add another worker that would be another goal of the program. Loaves and Fishes has volunteer advocates that can assist people as well. She has started to go to appointments with individuals when they meet with a particular service provider because in some instances they don't have the mental capacity to understand what may be required of them to do after their appointment so she is able to assist them in those areas. She noted that applications for social services are 25 pages long – that is way too big for the individuals she is working with to complete and in some cases even understand. She tries to assist individuals with those applications as much as she is able to. She stated that as the program continues and she is able to work more collaboratively with service providers, businesses, the court and police department it will only help to improve the program. The more and more people that join together to work on these important needs of the people in our community the better it will be for everyone. Some Board members expressed concern for Mr. Bakers’ mental and physical health and capacity to continue in such a demanding role that, from what they’re hearing, is not your typical 9 am to 5 pm job. Ms. Baker stated that she has a great supervisor at Family and Children’s Services, and wonderful support from others in the community. She genuinely believes in people and in their goodness and wants to find a way to let them know how they can contribute to their life and community in a more positive way. She does work 9 am to 5 pm for the most part, and she does turn off the cell phone when she is not working; although sometimes on the weekend she’ll get calls and she screens accordingly. She loves the work and feels that it’s a great job as well as a very important service that the community needs. CC Liaison Kerslick explained that he is on the Steering Committee that oversees Ms. Bakers’ program, and this program won’t solve everything. It is, however, beginning to identify priorities in types of services that are needed in our community, which is a good thing. The Steering Committee is also discussing and working on a future plan that would allow the program to expand out from its current area of focus. Community Police Board Meeting Minutes September 28, 2016 5 Ms. Baker stated that as far as the program goes with reference to the Community Police Board and the relationship she has been developing with the Ithaca Police Department in this first year, there have been some key partnerships developed. One of the key aspects of the program was to assist the police department in an effort to decrease the number of calls they receive to respond to individuals that she works with regularly. At this point, there are not a lot of statistics that she can provide for the Board related to this aspect of her role as the community outreach worker. The relationship needs to be developed further. Ms. Baker described an incident where she dealt with an individual, the IPD officer was nearby and indirectly involved at a distance if she needed him and in that situation it worked well. She works closely with IPD Officer Jamie Williamson, as well as Commons IPD Officer Pape. A suggestion was made that she meet with the different shifts of IPD to introduce herself and explain the program to them. It will be important to build more upon the relationship with IPD and Tompkins County Dispatch in an effort to provide intervention in some instances prior to or instead of the police department arrival. Deputy Chief Monticello stated that it is important for the Ithaca Police Department to be dispatched to these types of calls because you just don’t know what kind of situation may be occurring until police arrive on the scene. If the police officer can defer to Ms. Baker once they arrive at the call, they can make that decision then, it is just safer for everyone if that is done rather than not dispatching officers to a scene. Ms. Baker stated that when she sees an officer with someone she has been working with, she will go over to see how she might intervene. Commissioner Onyejuruwa arrived at the meeting at 4:05 p.m. Further discussion followed on the floor regarding Community Police Board members expressing their opinion that as the program progresses and relationships develop that they would like to see Ms. Baker be able to be dispatched to certain calls in place of IPD because in a lot of situations that might be all that is needed. Both Ms. Baker and Deputy Chief Monticello agreed that IPD officers can de-escalate situations as well as she can, and are very good at their job, and that it will always be important for police officers to be dispatched to the calls due to the uncertain behavior of individuals at any time for the safety of everyone involved. Ms. Baker would like the ability to work together more with IPD Officers in the future in an effort to help strengthen communication to meet the needs of the community in the best way possible. Board members felt that it would be important, going forward, for Ms. Baker to meet and get to know all the officers at the Ithaca Police Department. Deputy Chief Monticello suggested that Ms. Baker arrange to attend shift briefings so that she can introduce herself and meet all the officers on each of the shifts. Ms. Baker will reach out to either Chief Barber or Officer Williamson to schedule a time to attend the various shift briefings. Community Police Board Meeting Minutes September 28, 2016 6 Ms. Baker told the Board that she would be happy to come back more often than once a year to provide a report to them. She then left the meeting at 4:18 p.m. Report from Common Council: CC Liaison Kerslick stated that his report for today’s meeting was mainly focused on the Community Outreach Worker Program Pilot Year Assessment Report. He asked Board members to let him know if they had any additional questions. The Steering Committee is aware that the program is limited, and there probably won’t be changes in the program’s budget for next year so it will remain with one person. In general, though, the program is achieving a lot of the goals that were set out, and it has been a good first year. He noted that Ms. Baker and the staff of Family and Children's Services did a great job in writing the assessment report. The Steering Committee is not sure how to expand the program because the priorities aren't clear yet. Developing more of a relationship with IPD will be very important going forward and will be what makes the most difference. Right now, the program has connected all the service providers together to discuss and work together which is a great result for first year. In addition, Ms. Baker’s supervisor is very aware of the workload for her, and the physical burn out she could experience. He stated that decreasing homelessness and providing more housing is one of the goals of the program. A question was raised as to whether Deputy Chief Monticello could pull data from IPD on the number of calls for the program area from last year to see if there is a difference – in an effort to see if there is a material reduction in the number calls since the position has been in place for a year. Deputy Chief Monticello responded that he could, but that the information won’t give a complete picture because of the variety of calls (i.e. trespass, burglary, larceny, narcotics, etc.) and the service providers. Certain categories can be pulled up for a certain period of time, but that may not give an accurate picture. That information won’t tell whether Ms. Baker’s intervention in the incident helped reduce the number of calls or not. Ithaca Police Department Report: Deputy Chief Monticello reported that on September 12, 2016 they held a swearing in ceremony for an honorary member of the Ithaca Police Department. The swearing in was for a 12-year old young man who has cancer and whom Chief Barber met earlier in the year. A wish of the young man is that he would like to become a police officer one day, so since Chief Barber was so moved by the young man, he set up a special ceremony for that to be done. The young man visited the Ithaca Police Department today for a briefing, tour of the Police Station, and the SWAT vehicle. He was talkative and it was a very touching time for officers and brought tears to some eyes since he is such a very sick young man. Community Police Board Meeting Minutes September 28, 2016 7 He further reported that the Ithaca Police Department hired three new lateral transfer officers who will begin work on Monday, October 3rd. There will be additional hiring in the near future, and interviews are being scheduled for October. Six new officers should be sworn in officially at the end of October. There will still be a couple vacancies after that, at least one or two more. Deputy Chief Monticello reported that the Ithaca Police Department was recently recognized for its’ new Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion Program (LEAD) Department. He explained that the primary goal of the LEAD program is to improve public safety and public order, and to reduce the criminal behavior of people who participate in the program. LEAD can achieve that goal through bypassing the jail and courthouse and bringing an arrested offender immediately to treatment. Ithaca Police Department is the third police department in the nation to earn the designation. IPD Officers will attend training in Albany, New York on the LEAD program. He further announced that there would be a softball tournament between the City of Ithaca Police Department and the City of Ithaca Fire Department on Saturday, October 1, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. at Ithaca College. The tournament is a fund raising event for a diabetes. Motion to Enter Into Executive Session to Discuss Investigations - Resolution By Vice Chair Rogers: Seconded by Commissioner DaGrossa RESOLVED, That the Community Police Board enter into Executive Session to Discuss Investigations. Carried Unanimously Reconvene: The Community Police Board reconvened into regular session with no formal action taken. Adjournment: On a motion the meeting adjourned at 4:55 p.m. Minutes by: Sarah L. Myers, Information Management Specialist