06-10-74 Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING JUNE 10, 1974 ((REGULAR MEETING - RECONVENED Be it remembered that the regular meeting of the Common Council of the City of South Bend, Indiana, reconvened in the Council Chambers at 11:00 p.m., Council President Nemeth presiding and nine members present. IIREPORT FROM THE COMMITTEE ON MINUTES To the Common Council of the City of South Bend: Your committee on the inspection and supervision of the minutes, would respect- fully report that they have inspected the minutes of the May 28, 1974, regular meeting of the Council and found them correct. They, therefore, recommend that the same be approved. s/ Peter J. Nemeth (Councilman Taylor made a motion that the report be accepted as read and placed on file and the minutes be approved, seconded by Councilman Horvath. The motion carried. IIREPORT FROM THE COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Councilman Horvath made a motion to seconded by Councilman Taylor. The Serge, Szymkowiak, Miller, Parent, waive the reading of the report of the Committee of the Whole, motion carried by a roll call vote of nine ayes (Councilmen Taylor, Kopczynski, Horvath, Newburn and Nemeth). 11REPORT FROM THE DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY Mr. Patrick Gallagher, Director of the Department of Public Safety, made his quarterly report to the Council. He stated that there have been comments made by Council President Nemeth about the productions in the Department of Public Safety. He pointed out the exact scope of the department which contained nine bureaus, a total of 285 personnel alone in the fire bureau, and 382 in the police bureau, with a total budget of $7,000,000. He stated that this represented 70% of the money budgeted in the General Fund. One out of every two city employees fall under the supervision of the Director of the Department of Public Safety. The functions of the director's position are to manage, coordinate and control, budget, staff and research and plan for the future. He mentioned that approximately a little over a year ago, the South Bend Impact Plan was released. He stated that, at that time, he was asked to promise to reduce crime, and he stated that he had kept that promise. He stated that the crime rate had taken a favorable turn. Taking June 1, 1973, as the target year, the goals were to reduce burglaries, auto .thefts and robberies. From June 1, 1973, to May 30, 1974, there has been a 6.8% reduction in the target offenses and the goal was 5 %. If January 1, 1974, was to be the start of the impact year, there would have been a 11.1% reduction in the target offenses. There has been an overall decrease since January 1, 1974, of over 8.1 %. Mr. Gallagher commended the Police Department and Chief Urban for the reduction in the crime rate. He talked about the overtime foot patrol and its effectiveness. During April of 1974 and April of 1973, there has been a 19.4% decrease in Part I offenses in census tract 29.(the southeast side). Mr. Gallagher referred to a chart showing seasonal increases for each month of the year. Comparing March and February, there was a 33% increase in crime. City -wide crime increased another 5% in April. In tract 29, the increase was only 14 %, 19% lower than the city as a whole. Through the efforts of the Police Department, tract 29 showed a 27% decrease in major offenses in April of this year. During the past year and a half, many studies have been conducted. All crimes in the city for a period of 12 months have been studied. He promised that the bike ordinance as amended would not be effective and would not "stem the rising tide of bike thefts ". He then talked about the impact on the bicycle thefts and the fact that the ordinance passed April 8th authorized the licensing of bikes. Since that time, in one month only,.there was a 29% decrease in bike thefts. He talked about the quality of supervision, increased recruitment and minority representation, various revenue sharing requests for the department, the Special Police Commission, automation of report forms and a reduction in the paper work, the forming of the St. Joseph County Coordinating Council, and amount of funds coming into the city through the Criminal Justice Planning Grant. Aft December, there were five straight months of a decrease in the rate of crime. Mr. Gallagher talked about the Fire Department and fire services and the computerization of fire records, the closing of two present stations and the construction of a new station. He talked about the juvenile problems within the community, and the Neighborhood Youth Corps. He briefly talked about the environmental and substandard bureaus. He felt that the goals set out,to reach had been obtained. He felt the Impact Program was working and, with all the public criticism, he stated that, by whatever techniqu there was, the police have done a remarkable job for the city, particularly within the last year. He again commended Chief Urban, the police officers and the bureau heads under the Department of Public Safety. He indicated that any promises he had made had been kept. Councilman Taylor congratulated Mr. Gallagher on the statistics. He felt this was a "brand new beginning", however, he felt there was a long way to go and the lack of a merit system in the Police Department and the lack of a professional pay scale were disadvantages. He stated that he has always supported public safety measures that he felt were good and he felt that the proposed bike ordinance was not enforceable and not practical; however, he felt that Councilman Parent's ordinance had thrust to it. He cited a problem the officials at Jackson High School had been havin on the last day of school for the past few years. He stated that the school had asked for help and assistance on the closing day of school because the students drive recklessly.out of the parking lots. He stated that he had been assured a police car would check into the situation and this had not been done. Mr. Gallagher stated that, last year, a car had been dispatched and nothing could be done on school property. He stated that this was a question of public and private property. Councilman Taylor talked about the public and private property. He could not understand why an officer could not make an arrest on school property if the driver was speeding. It was indicated that the driver of the car must be disobeying a law on the public street before an arrest can be made. Councilman Kopczynski wondered about the sudden improvement.in the crime rate. Mr. Gallaghe stated that he was only Director of Public Safety for 17 months. He stated that he had pointed out many accomplishments. Councilman Kopczynski wondered if there was room for improvement. Mr. Gallagher stated that he felt the crime rate was steadily decreasing and the services to the citize have increased. Councilman Kopczynski talked about the citizens'.requests on demolition of sub- standard buildings and the amount of time taken before there was action. Mr. Gallagher stated that many of the complaints are put on the agenda for action as quickly as possible, and he stated that Councilman Kopczynski's requests are always acted upon promptly. Councilman Kopczynski stated that !r