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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-PCR-1992-08-31 POLICE-COMMUNITY RELATIONS TASK FORCE CITY HALL,ITHACA,NY 14850 Approved minutes from the Steering Committee meeting held on August 31, 1992 (4:20- 5:35 pm). Present: Coordinator Alvin Nelson,Chief Harlin McEwen,Mayor Ben Nichols,Clay Hamilton,Amy Lewis,Irene Stein,Sara Shenk,Marilyn Ray Absent: prior notice-John Johnson,Drew Martin without notice- Rick Williams,Gerald Dumay,Jose Montanez 1. Discussion was held on the topic of a new secretary for the Task Force. a. Mayor Nichols said that he would ask his secretary,Theresa Alt,if she would be willing to take over. 2. Minutes from the 8/24/92 Steering Committee meeting were presented. Vote carried, minutes approved. 3. Amy Lewis summarized what the Community Involvement subcommittee has been doing. a. Amy asked the Steering Committee to extend the deadline for the subcommittee's report until 9/14/92 due to lack of attendance at previous subcommittee meetings. b. The subcommittee has spoken with agencies(ex.: Learning Web) for funding for a mentoring program placed out of Southside,dealing primarily,but not exclusively with law enforcement representatives(IPD). The program will start with approximately ten(10)members,and build according to success. A PEER (Police Efforts to Enhance Relations) program has also been discussed. The basis of this program is structured similarly to a junior police force. The Police Athletic League(PAL)has been discussed as an option for the IPD to look into. The subcommittee is also urging the continuation of police-youth interaction, specifically the Cops and Kids program,or others like it. c. Regarding the mentoring program,there will be a heavy screening and training process to choose mentors for the kids. Funding will be needed to hire a staff member to coordinate the program,and it would not be structured like the Youth Bureau's One-to-One program. The subcommittee would rather model their program after the Learning Web's program. The mentors would be asked to commit to a once-a-week meeting with their matched child,possibly adding up to 12- 15 hours per month. Group activities with all of the mentors and children will also go along with the commitment. The majority of children which the program would attract probably will be African-American or Latino, and since the mentors may not have the same cultural background,the subcommittee has spoken to someone familiar with cross-cultural mentoring. d. Mayor Nichols expressed his concern about adding another mentoring program if there is the possibility of adding to an existing one. If not all of the mentors are police officers,there will be a problem getting funding related to Police- Community Relations. Amy said that the point of this was to de-emphasize the fact that these mentors are police officers. The program will be designed to stress that being a police officer is a job,not a personality trait. It also will not be specifically geared toward police officers,but priority will be given to them. e. Irene expressed her concern that the mentoring program is not specifically related to Police-Community Relations. Amy explained that the main interests e. • in the program were to create a positive interaction between children(some of whom have little reinforcement from adults,and are at risk in becoming negatively focused)and adults. By including the[PD in this,the program will be designed to create positive images of law enforcement agents. f. Sara suggested putting more money into the One-to-One program or the Learning Web program specifically for use in the African-American community, instead of creating a new program and"reinventing the wheel." g. Marilyn Ray and Chief McEwen also said that there may be a problem with officer interest because the subcommittee wishes to start so many programs. Chief McEwen explained some of the points of the DARE program,and said that from that,there is positive enforcement from police officers. He feels that there should be more of an emphasis on the fact that the mentors will be police officers. h. Alvin asked Amy why the subcommittee has had such poor attendance. Amy said that frustration with the process,lack of/momentum of interest,among other things have contributed. i. Chief McEwen noted that there has been a somewhat negative perception about the cancellation of the Field Day. Irene suggested speaking to the officers about the ideas to recreate interest in community involvement. Amy said that she doesn't feel comfortable presenting ideas that haven't been approved by her subcommittee,but that after some things are finalized,presenting the ideas will be beneficial. j. because of the time restraints,the discussion will be continued at a later time. 4. Clay Hamilton presented the Training subcommittee's proposal and asked for any comments or questions. a. The subcommittee is asking for more time to follow through with the survey it is handing out to the police officers,and possibly start to implement some of their recommendations. Mayor Nichols noted that the original deadline of 9/15/92 was for reports and recommendations,not necessarily implementing the recommendations. b. The subcommittee has decided that it would not be beneficial to add itself to an existing group(such as the Community/Police Board)to prolong its existence. However,if that is the only way it will continue to exist,the subcommittee will make arrangements accordingly. c. The subcommittee has recommendations,but that they feel that they need more time to get input from all affected parties. d. Chief McEwen expressed concern that the subcommittee is trying to do more than they can handle. He also feels that the questionnaire will be ineffective. Clay said that the subcommittee has gotten positive feedback from the PBA about the questionnaire. The Chief restated that he feels that the subcommittee needs to focus on one topic(namely sensitivity training). e. One of the recommendations which the subcommittee wishes to continue with is the community policing suggestion. Mayor Nichols stated that he doesn't think that extended life of the subcommittee will help that,and to focus on the continuation of the training in the community and police. f. Chief McEwen noted the"civilian police academy"idea that was presented earlier(referring to Ha of the Training subcommittee's proposal). Clay said that idea could be implemented after the input from the community and police has been accounted for. g. Clay said that he would ask the subcommittee for a specific time frame for completing the work they want to get done. He will present this proposal at the next meeting. h. Chief McEwen disagrees with II-4. He thinks that there is enough orientation material provided by the department. i. Marilyn Ray said that III-2 of the proposal is very similar to something that the Community/Police Board is working on. 5. Sara stated that the Community/Police Board has requested to meet with the Steering Committee subcommittee to discuss some of the things they are proposing. a. Irene said that she thinks it would be beneficial for the Community/Police Board to meet with the subcommittee first. Sara said that she would try to arrange that. Meeting adjourned at 5:35 pm. **Note: There will be no Steering Committee meeting on 9/7/92. Meetings will continue on 9/14/92.**