10/03/07 Health and Public Safety Committee Meeting

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e~lth and Pubic Safety ornmittee ~~c~er 3, ~~47 ~'~ge 3 Mayor Luecke commended Chief Fautz in his pursuit of further professionali~ing the police department. He believes that the CALEA certification which has been underway for the past two ~}years is also a step in the right direction. He looks forward to having more dialogue with the Council. Council President Rouse noted that he will be able to attend other hearings and gill have questions at that time. Council Member Pu~~ello voiced concern about whether the police officers would have the opportunity to know exactly what the promotion criteria were so that they could understand the criteria. She noted that this was one of her main concerns Chief Faut~ stated that IP,P, lnc. was a reputable company. Mayor Luecke stated that the officers would know going into the promotional process the standards that would be in place. Council Member Pu~zello asked if the Council would have the ultirr~ate responsibility in establishing the overall criteria, and if not what would be the process, Mayor Luecke stated the prorr~otion panel would establish the criteria The Council Attorney noted that the city should be aware of past attempts to implement a police promotion system, She stated that the Indiana Supreme Court case which Nlr. Bodnar mentioned did not nullify the Council's police promotion ordinance, but rather the system which was in~plen~ented separately by the Board of Public Safety. She noted that the Council passed an ordinance in ~ 9~, which was later amended in 1 ~~. However in late 1918 and again in 9~9 the Council defeated two ~} ordinances which would have amended the police promotion ordinance. The Board of Public Safety then decided to implement their own system which conflicted with the city ordinance, In 988 the Beard of Public Safety suspended use of the palice promotion system in light of it being found unconstitutional by the Indiana Supreme Court. She noted that both Evansville and l=ort vl~ayne are C~1LEA certified and have very detailed ordinance which address criteria and other promotion parar~eters. Council President Rouse stated that it appears that the Council is being asked "to sign here and close your eyes". H.e stated that he does not feel comfortable taking action on the proposed ordinance, and that the entire process including the city's past attempts t promotion systems needs to be carefully studied and discussed. He noted that if the process is not handled correctly that morale gill be negatively impacted. Council Member 111lhite then opened the flpor to cor~ments from the public in favor of the proposed ordinance. There were none,