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®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OFTHE CLERK <br /> Committee Chair Broden opened the floor to questions from Committee and Council members. <br /> Councilmember Tim Scott stated, I asked Laura and I sent it on to you all. Just to clarify, the <br /> Special Victims Unit has four(4) officers from South Bend, two (2) from Mishawaka and two (2) <br /> from the County. Metro Homicide has four(4)officers from South Bend,one(1)from Mishawaka <br /> and one (1) from the County. All officers there have been there about three (3) years. Some of the <br /> officers on the special units have been there over three (3) years. For Drug Investigation,there are <br /> five (5) officers from South Bend, one (1) from Mishawaka, and one(1)from the County. So,just <br /> with all this,we would fund three(3)and three would come back to us,and we would do the hiring <br /> process, correct? <br /> Ashley Colborn, Assistant City Attorney for the City of South Bend with offices on the 12th floor <br /> of the County-City Building,replied,That is correct. There are currently three(3)vacancies in the <br /> Metro Units that the City will not be filling. The officers assigned to the SBPD,through the Metro <br /> Units from the SBPD, go through our hiring process. The three (3) officers to be hired by the <br /> Prosecutor would be at their discretion. <br /> Councilmember Dr. David Varner asked, Has our Council Attorney reviewed the document? <br /> Council Attorney Bob Palmer replied, Yes. <br /> Councilmember Dr.Varner followed up, So what is the total number of officers in the Metro Unit? <br /> Ms. O'Sullivan replied,For the Special Victims Unit there are four(4)South Bend Police Officers, <br /> two(2)from Mishawaka and two(2)from the County. For Metro Homicide there are four(4)from <br /> South Bend, one(1)from Mishawaka and three (3)from the County. Then Drug Investigation has <br /> five(5) South Bend, one (1)Mishawaka and one(1) County. That is current. So,there are thirteen <br /> (13)total South Bend officers. <br /> Councilmember Dr. Varner asked, And we will be funding three additional officers? So that is <br /> funding for sixteen(16)? <br /> Ms. O'Sullivan replied, That is correct. <br /> Councilmember Dr. Varner asked, So if you analyze crime statistics, does this warrant that much <br /> participation relative to the other cities in the County? It appears there is a pretty heavy <br /> concentration of South Bend officers. How did we arrive at these numbers? What have we based <br /> this on? It seems like in a County of 275,100 and with 100,000 people in South Bend, we are <br /> funding the vast majority of this, yet our population doesn't reflect that as a majority. <br /> Asst. Attorney Colborn replied, The information that we have received from the Prosecutor's <br /> Office is what that information is based on. He has presented that those numbers are consistent <br /> with our needs. <br /> Councilmember Dr. Varner stated, That is not good enough. What are our needs that he defines?I <br /> just think there is a whole lot more. These have come up before and I think some more information <br /> on this would help it make sense. <br /> EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT <br /> 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p574.235.9221 If 574.235.9173 1 TM 574.235.5567 j www.southbendin.gov <br /> 2 <br />