04/17/13 Board of Public Safety Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING APRIL 17 2013 36 APPROVE PERMANENT PROMOTION — DANIEL SKIBINS In a letter to the Board, Police Chief Ronald Teachman recommended that Sergeant Daniel Skibins be promoted permanently to the rank of Lieutenant in the Uniform Division, Street Crimes, effective May 23, 2013. Chief Teachman stated in his letter that Sergeant Skibins was placed in a special assignment as a Lieutenant in the Uniform Division on May 23, 2012. This special assignment required several evaluations to be completed for one year to note the progress he was making as a supervisor. Based on those evaluations, Chief Teachman recommended a permanent promotion. Upon a motion made by Ms. Vasquez, seconded by Mr. Miller and carried, the Chief's recommended permanent promotion was approved effective May 23, 2013 subject to Sergeant Skibins continued upstanding level of service until that date. DISCUSSION ON SETTING HEARING OF CHARGES NO. 2013-01 — THEODORE ROBERT President Cottrell stated the Board set the Hearing of the above charges at their last Special Meeting, but there is a conflict with the defendant's attorney's schedule. He stated the Clerk of the Board has a call in to the Board's Legal Counsel, Joe Simeri, and they need to check with him on his schedule before resetting the date. DISCUSSION ON GENERAL ORDERS REGARDING FILING OF POLICE REPORTS Police Chief Ronald Teachman stated he did a query of the Duty Manual on the filing of Police reports and found nothing in the General Orders that lists what activities require reporting. He stated he would report back to the Board at their next meeting. TOWING LIST UPDATE Ms. Beachkofsky stated that last September the Board of Works suspended the portion of the Towing Resolution dealing with the number of companies allowed on the list. She stated she has been reviewing the Resolution based on the number of complaints since then. In that process, she stated, she found items that the towing companies agreed, needed to be changed. She noted that State law sets fees for towing companies, the City has no fees of their own, and the State fees are dealt with through Resolution which allows higher fees on unusual circumstances. She stated she is meeting on May 6 with the towing companies to try to get the issues of the resolution resolved. She noted the Board of Safety will need to weigh in on the issue of how many towing companies to allow, four (4) or five (5). The final Resolution, however, will go to the Board of Works, she stated. A representative from Hamilton's Towing questioned how long the process of getting the resolution done should take. He noted it was supposed to be three (3) months, and it is now going on a year. Meanwhile, he stated, the towing company's business is down by 20 %. He questioned when the towing companies would get to voice their input on the benefits either way. Ms. Beachkofsky stated they can discuss this at their next meeting; she just wanted to give the Board of Safety an update on the issue. She explained that the evaluation process involved a lot of people and the collection of a lot of data, becoming a bigger issue than anticipated. She noted also a change in the Police Department Traffic Communicator. A representative from ASAP Towing stated they've already established that four (4) companies is an arbitrary number, and there's nothing that states there should be only four (4). Ms. Beachkofsky reiterated that the Board does not have the facts in front of them and this is not the right forum to discuss these issues. She added they will have an opportunity to speak on these issues at a later date. FILING OF MONTHLY STATISTICAL ANALYSIS REPORT — MARCH 2013 Chief Ronald Teachman stated the FBI dictates crime reporting guidelines, based on the most serious crimes. He stated this month is a mixed report with three categories showing increases, which is a big concern. Chief Teachman noted that overall; there is a 17% decrease in crime in 2013. He stated that beyond this list, the Police Department will expand their tracking to include gun shots fired. He noted those numbers are now buried in other crime statistics such as murder, robbery, etc. He added there is no indicator of the numbers on gun violence, and it would be more accurate to track the number of people shot. Chief Teachman stated that Mayor Buttigieg has convened an anti - violence commission which has divided into sub - committees to specifically address gun violence in South Bend. He stated he would be happy to report back on that issue. Mr. Cottrell indicated that unless there were questions or objections by members of the Board, the statistical analysis report for the month of March, 2013, as submitted by the Police Department, would be accepted for filing. There being no objections, the following report was accepted for filing: