HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-PCR-1992-06-30 •
�`. Police/Community Sensitivity Training Committee
June 30, 1992-
Highlights of Police Chief Harlin-McEwen's Presentation
(What follows is a mix of paraphrase and quotation)
1) Some professional background and its relevance to police
training.
While Police Chief in the village of Cayuga Heights, Chief McEwen
was appointed Chairman of the Municipal Police Training Council by
the Governor. He became the Chief of Police in Ithaca in October of
1988. Before that, for 3 yrs, he had been the Deputy Commissioner
of the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. His
primary responsibility was police training for all police officers
in the state of New York (over 60, 000 police officers) . All of this
experience contributes to the current emphasis he places on
training.
2) Problems Chief McEwen faced upon his appointment as Police Chief
in Ithaca
1 . Public criticism of the police force. The police had been
accused of being corrupt, insensitive, poorly trained. The Chief
hired an outside investigator. "Much of it had been happening
quite some time before I came--most were off the force or gone. It
was residual . . . - but there were some very clear deficiencies
(training. ) " "The Investigator pretty much put to rest that there
was any existing corruption. "
2. Labor contract negotiations. "I learned about some of the
problems between the police union and the community, part of that
had to do with the community police board. "
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3. Budget negotiations. "The first tbing^"I looked at was training.
$8,000 was way too little. 1% of the budget should be going to
training. In this case, with a budget of over 3, 000,000--it should
have been at least 30, 000. " The council then allocated 23,000 for
training in the 1989 budget. "And that has remained. . .until 1991.
Because of the severe financial problems the city was facing, it
was reduced to 20, 000. If the financial situation continues to
worsen, we' ll have to keep cutting and we' ll end up where we were.
We need to keep the money up and keep the force moving forward. "
Considering the public image of the force
After allegations of corruption were put to rest, the force was
"internally at peace. " McEwen now had to "build the image. "
"Vital to the competency of the force is that it be able to deal
with serious violent crime, and my assessment was they were not
properly trained. " McEwen eventually appointed a new head of the
investigative division, and since then "that division has turned
around so that Ithaca is looked upon as one of the best
investigative units in the state. "
Changing the overall attitude on the force
1 . In order to train administrative people a Northwestern
University Traffic Institute Management training team was brought
in (cost $5, 856. ) This involved the whole staff of sergeants--
through the deputy chief. It was a "big stepping stone in changing
their thinking to modern police management--informed them of
certain minimum things they need to do everyday. "
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2. Ithaca Police Department subscribed to the Law Enforcement
Television Network (LETN) , which includes a regular news broadcast
that deals with police incidents nationwide (costs a little over
$5, 000 a year--taken out of training budget) . They watch "to learn
1,ow to do things or how not to do things. " The Rodney King video
has been used as an example of how not to do things in training
discussions. The chief considers the training network to be
"probably the best, most cost-effective program that we can
have. . . " The chief and a training lieutenant pick out (from a
brochure) what they consider to be the most important topics for
the officers to see. These taped programs become required programs
and part of the permanent training library. "We have a list and
supervisors have to make sure that everyone sees the tape,
discusses it with a supervisor and signs that they've seen it. "
Basic Training
The minimum basic training course in New York state has a standard
curriculum of 440 hours. There are regional requirements as well--
local police departments decide on additional training. In almost
all cases this brings the time committment up to over 600 hours--
about 6 months of full-time training. In the Ithaca department, two
of the newest officers, both from minority groups, are soon to
complete their basic training. While the Chief worked for the
state, a company in Texas was hired at a very large cost to do a
statewide police training needs assessment (the results of which
were used to improve basic training programs) based on a state-wide
survey (from east to west, north to south, large cities, small
communities) of what police officers did--this was then matched up
with what they should be trained to do.
The following are approximations. The chief is willing to share
figures with anyone who is interested in the nitty gritty of
finances. Basic training has been divided into ten categories (see
chart)
1989 1990 1991
1)management and supervision 8349 2373 3993
2)dispatchers and communications 631 540
3)training (people to be trainers) 2358 1597 2385
4)traffic related matters 2187 1069 90
5)diving and emergency response team 140 1118 1924
6)investigations 1856 1043 933
7)crisis intervention 695 779
8)drugs and narcotics 903 979 150
9)the basic school 782 2319
10)miscellaneous 2476 9797* 7217
*(total includes $5,856 for LETN network and for sending a captain
and sergeant to Hewlett Packard computer school to learn how to run
main frame computer. In 1991, total also includes $5, 856 for LETN. )
Budget and Potential Programs
Right now (summer 1992) , the Chief has already mapped out what he' s
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going to do for the year. Allocation of training money for
programs initiated by any of the recently-formed committees have to
begin after the first of the year.
Bob Holt, director of the safety division at Ithaca College, is
interested in a program in Tennessee that is supposed to be help
police officers deal with multi-cultural problems. The Knoxville
Police Department is evaluating the program to see if it should
come to Ithaca. Ithaca College is interested in bringing the
program here--paying people to come here and train people at Ithaca
College and the Ithaca Police Department.
Chief McEwan encourages people to approach him if they have any
ideas or have heard of programs that might be helpful--he likes to
keeps track of what ' s going on in the country.
The racial tension in Ithaca greatly concerns him. Last September
he attended a conference in Arlington Virginia, called "Unfinished
Business: Racial Issues Facing Policing. " The conference
confirmed some of his thinking and offered more information on
which to build.
Proactive Policing or "Modern Police Thinking"
An increasingly popular term is "community-oriented policing. "
Other current terms are "neighborhood-oriented policing" "problem-
oriented policing. "
"community-oriented policing: " the complete re-organization of the
police force. This is costly and has been done with only limited
success.
"neighborhood-oriented policing: " identifying a particular
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neighborhood or area and putting officers in that neighborhood.
"problem-oriented policing: " identifying a problem and going after
it in order to solve it.
Proaction is meant to balance--hopefully replace--reaction.
Reaction is what police traditionally do. "You call the police for
noise in your neighborhood, accident on the corner, assault or
rape--all are things that police come to after the fact, do what
they can to minimize the prob, fix it, stop it. " Modern policing
is concerned with crime prevention "put your resources on the front
end of the system. If you can keep it from happening, then you
don't have the. . .problems. " "But you can't just stop reactive
policing. When people call, they need you. So you have to hopefully
try to gradually find a way to change the way you' re doing your
business while you continue to do the things you have to do in the
reactive mode. "
Turning proactive is expensive, and it is essential to have very
dedicated people--people who are interested and motivated. With
proaction in mind, the Chief assigned two officers to a full-time
crime prevention unit. These officers are involved in teaching
people in schools, senior citizens, and business people how to keep
themselves from having break-ins, how to keep thefts down, protect
their money, avoid forgeries. The more people are trained how to
prevent crime, the less police have to react. Proactive measures
are met with a great deal of resistance within the police union.
They feel that the people chosen to do these things are being given
special treatment. This situation occurs all over the country.
(Schenectedy is having a difficult time with this currently. )
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Another proactive measure is the bicycle patrol, which allows
officers to move more fluidly among people--and to talk with them;
the idea got a boost when 2 officers who are bycicle enthusiasts
got involved. Equipment has cost a little over $1, 000.
Neighborhood-oriented policing in Ithaca: successes
Implemented in November and the Police Union took Chief McEwan to
task. The Union controls the Officers' schedules--officers work
when their contracts tell them to. This means the chief doesn' t
have the control he'd like to have and he is thinking of ways to
get this changed so that he has the flexibility he needs to tailor
patrols to the needs of various neighborhoods. There is some
dialogue going on about this.
The Chief put Officer Kathy Gillern on a particular beat that
needed special attention. She walks whenever she can throughout
that area, talking to people and learning about problems. At one
point, senior citizens at Titus Towers were complaining of muggings
and they asked for a meeting. Kathy met with them and was shown the
adjacent playground--in the winter, the lights are turned off at
night, leaving the area dark and vulnerable to thieves. Kathy and
the police chief called the city electrician, who turned the lights
back on. Another story: an eighty-year old woman on Kathy' s beat
became incompetent; Kathy worked with the Department of Social
Services for almost a month and got the woman into a nursing home.
"People say well that isn't really police business. Well , yes it
is. " Kathy' s job is not a given--if the Chief is short an officer,
she fills the slot. Because he prioritized in this way, the union
• went along with it. The bicycles are not a given either--officers
only work on them if the Chief has enough officers to cover the
normal beat. The union is not against the concept, but worried
about staffing. Kathy had been put on a specific schedule that was
in conflict with what she was supposed to be working. Seniority
becomes an issue--unless the Chief can prove someone has special
skills. To effectively handle racial issues and neighborhood
policing--officers have to get to know the people. Mentoring
programs are important, but it takes a lot of time, big
committment. The chief has materials for those interested in
learning more about mentoring programs. He has a write-up of what
they did in Houston--some of which didn't work very well , but the
concepts are sound. Kathy and the Chief read all of this and then
discussed what they wanted to do and could afford to do; the Chief
feels they' re pretty up to date on what ' s going on. Lee Brown,
Police Commissioner of NYC is trying to start some types of
community policing in NYC--where it is almost impossible to do
this; but they' re having some limited success in some areas.
Cornell Course on Racism
The chief found conflict between the minority community and the
police when he first came to Ithaca, and it is always lurking,
though sometimes it ' s worse than others. Beverly Martin informed
the chief of a Cornell course taught by Jim Turner and Don Barr
called "Racism and American Society. " The course exposes people to
what racism is and how it affects all of us, and it explores in a
broad way what racism is all about. It was designed for teachers
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and staff of the Ithaca City school district and the school
district agreed to allow the Ithaca Police Department to send some
police officers at their expense. This has gone on for 3 years
(relatively expensive because it involves overtime) . The course is
the beginning of a slow process--one other way of trying to get the
officers to understand what racism is all about--but it ' s also
contagious. The course has been publicized all over the country.
Other proactive measure: sending a lieutenant to the FBI Academy
for 3 months of an intensive management training program, and the
L.A. (putting aside current problems) program called "Dare, " which
recognized the need for police to get involved in schools. The
program has spread throughout the country and into foreign
countries. It is a seventeen week program--an hour a week.
Officers spend time with the children at recess and at lunch.
Children are taught what drugs, alcohol, and tobacco do to the body
and are given the tools to resist peer pressure and to build good
self esteem. At this point, every fifth grade student in the
Ithaca city school district for the past three years has been
through this program, and the sense is that it ' s working. The Chief
ends his presentation by assuring his listeners that he and the
police department are actively working on changing and improving,
and that he is willing to do more.
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Questions following the presentation
Chris asks what the criteria are for choosing officers for special
assignments. The Chief answers that Kathy was chosen because of her
background--a single parent of a racially mixed child. The bike
patrol officers volunteered and were really interested. The crime
prevention officers were chosen by the Chief because of their
special personalities.
Ed asks about the hiring process. He describes an unpleasant
incident involving an officer who had been called to his home
because his son had set off some small firecrackers. When Ed
questioned the officer, suggesting that the offense was very small
for all the attention it had received, the officer responded "I
could have the Department of Social Services take your kids away. "
Ed felt prohibited from asking questions. Ed says to the chief
that he thinks the highest criteria for hiring a police officer
would be an ability to be human with people--to interact.
The Chief agrees--says he looks for people who are outgoing and
friendly, but he also admits that he doesn't always make the right
choices. He doesn't deny that there are people who act that way
(referring to the incident that Ed described) on the force, but, as
far as he can tell, that's not the norm. Their (the problematic
officers) way of doing business is not something he feels he can
discipline out of them, and, he adds, in the Police business, it ' s
not easy to get rid of these people.
Chris points out the difficulty of enforcing rules that you don't
make and the chief affirms this; Chris remarks on the difficulty
the officers must have remaining human as they' re enforcing these
rules.
Neil : How do officers respond to training? Do they initiate
requests for the training?
Chief answers that they do, but they don' t always want what he
feels is most important--they want swat training, the diving team.
Stress-reduction is brought up. The chief hasn't gotten to stress-
reduction programs yet, though there are some in different parts of
the country. Alcoholism is common among officers, as are
difficulties at home. There is a program in Florida now for police
officers who have alcohol problems. To admit that you' re having
trouble is not accepted in the ranks.
Ed asks if having sought psychological help can be held against
officers, and the chief ponders this, then suggests that they can
always plead the fifth. ( It is brought up that Kirby had spoken on
the issue the previous week. )
Neil mentions a case in which a security guard' s record of
psychological counseling had come out in connection with an
allegation.
Laura asks if the Law Enforcement Television Network allows any
interaction, and the chief says there isn't any interaction now,
but they are getting ready to do testing, which will ascertain if
the officers are listening. He offers to share brochures that give
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a sense of the depth of the training and invites anyone to come
watch the LETV programs.
Discussion turns to training and interaction concerning domestic
violence.
Laura asks if they work with the Task Force for Battered Women?
The chief says yes. They have assisted him in implementing a new
procedure. The Chief developed a whole new training program for
police officers in this state, which is now the standard; he did
this with the governor's Task Force on Domestic Violence.
Laura asks how open officers were to getting training from
civilians and the chief says Veronica Franco was superb. The
officers accepted her and Joan Farbman very well .
The Chief brings up the gay community--it believes the police
department has a great need to learn more. The Chief asserts that
part of the problem is not knowing how to deal with police ( "it ' s
a special group" ) . The problem has to do with how macho the group
is--most of them don' t agree personally with gay lifestyles, so
it ' s difficult; the Chief continues: but they have a responsibility
to treat them fairly and protect them. There is someone from
Boston who has a knack for getting officers comfortable with
hearing about the gay perspective, but he charges a high fee to
come to Ithaca.
Laura knows of someone who does that kind of training.
Chief continues: those in the gay community don't all think the
same. Queer Nation has a distinct way of doing business. Act Up is
another group. Each of them has its own agenda, its own thoughts--
which can make things difficult.
Chris: Claudia Brenmer a good spokesperson. She and two officers
became great allies. They'd be a good team.
Neil asks the chief to think out loud about where we can get the
union involved.
Chief cites an example of lack of interest: the city has an
affirmative action committee to look at how to better balance the
work force, and when the mayor and Chief asked for a volunteer to
be a member of the committee, no one responded.
Ron Gilliam called chief about August 22nd--a community day to get
police involved. There is discussion about how bad a choice this
was for the police--moving in day for Ithaca College freshmen is
among the problems.
More of the Chief on the Union: Union leadership controls contract
negotiating. Small percentage of officers go to union meetings, so
a small number runs it and the rest live with what happens. In
1988, the patrol force was rotated once a week--there were 5 days
of days and 5 days of nights, which meant that people didn't get to
know their patrols--there was disinterest and no investment. So the
Chief got the union to agree to change it to a three week rotation.
Laura: What might work with officers? What do they see as valuable
to them (vs. the "what 's wrong with you" approach or the "touchy
feely language" that doesn't work because of macho stufff . ) How do
we make this all palatable?
Chief: officers need to feel it ' s important to them. (And they' ll
do training programs at least three times--Rape Crisis came in on
three different shifts, for example)
Chris: Programs that have been piloted--can we get at what is
specifically valuable about the programs? People like Cathy and �.
those on the bike beat. Is it part of their job to take notes for
others? (internal training is organic)
Neil : ideal to have community and police involved in "Alternatives
To Violence. "
Laura: can' t get good at dealing with conflict without doing it
(vs. watching) . For racism training, need envirnonment where they
feel safe to say things.
Chief: this kind of training does take place, but it takes time;
Chief mentions the ethical awareness workship.
It is decided that there will be meetings both with and without the
Chief.
Anyone who wants to spend some time accompanying an officer on his
or her beat (times when an observer would see the most conflict
would be between 10PM and 2AM, Friday and Saturday, though Sunday
evenings are also often difficult. ) should contact Chief McEwan.
Ed suggests that watching the video of the Chief ' s presentation be
required for anyone who wants to join the committee.
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