01/15/14 Board of Public Safety Minutes

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PUBLIC AGENDA SESSION JANUARY 15, 2014 The Board of Public Safety met in the Public Agenda Session at 8:20 a.m. on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 in the 13th Floor Board Conference Room, County -City Building, 227 West Jefferson Blvd., South Bend, Indiana, with Board President Laura Vasquez, and Board Members Eddie Miller, Luther Taylor, John Collins, and Daniel Jones present. Also present was Fire Chief Stephen Cox, Police Chief Ronald Teachman, Assistant Police Chief Scott Ruszkowski, and Attorney Cory Hamel. Board members discussed the following agenda items: - Review of Minutes of Previous Meeting Ms. Vasquez noted two corrections to the previous Minutes of the Board; a correction on the first page under Special Police Commissions from the date of June 30, 2013 to June 30, 2014; and a correction from Chief Teachman to Chief Cox in the Fire Department Swearing -In of Firefighter Jessica Ringer section. - Elect 2014 Board of Safety President Mr. Miller stated he would like to nominate Ms. Laura Vasquez as President for 2014 and noted his appreciation for the good job she did in 2013. - Applications and Declarations for Retirement — Police Department Police Chief Ronald Teachman stated these retirements are no surprise, they are all from the drop program and announced well in advance of their intentions. He stated there will be a smooth transition for Captain Dave Hecklinski, with someone in position to be promoted. He noted the Police Department expects to downsize in the Detective Division to fill positions in the Patrol Division immediately. He stated the patrol officers will be required to do more investigation work, and there is a need to do some training. Assistant Chief Ruszkowski noted that currently patrol officers compose 62% of the force, but the Chief would like to see that number at 65 %, and someday as much as 70 %. Chief Teachman added patrol officers will be required to do the investigative work they normally would turn over to the Detective Division. - Resignation — Police Department Chief Teachman stated that due to his legal issues, Patrolman Jeff McKee has offered his resignation. He noted the Police Department has and will continue to offer counseling assistance. - Holiday Schedule — Police Department Attorney Cory Hammel stated the changes to the schedule of the Police Officers who work five (5) days on and two (2) days off reflect the changes to the City non - bargaining employee schedule set by the Common Council. He noted they have added a floating holiday and removed Good Friday as a holiday. - Monthly Statistical Analysis — Police Department Police Chief Teachman stated these statistics reflect the 2013 year end accounting. He noted they show a 2% increase overall in the Part One crime statistics. Chief Teachman stated motor vehicle theft continues to skyrocket due to keys left in the ignition in the majority of cases. He stated by the old definition, rape shows a .5% increase, but based on the new definition, the statistics are much higher. He informed the Board that under larceny, they are looking at what kinds of items are being stolen. He noted they are looking closely at pawn shops and they recently purchased software "Leads on Line" for pawn shop tracking which has already helped identify stolen merchandise. Chief Teachman stated once the Common Council approves an Ordinance before them, all vendors will be required to use the software for reporting of pawned items, including scrap metal dealers. He noted he expects the Council to pass the Ordinance on January 27, 2014. Chief Teachman stated robbery is being addressed by the purchase of license plate reader technology. He noted all stolen vehicles are put into a data base. The license plate readers have cameras that read license plates and send alerts when stolen numbers are recognized. He noted the technology has a problem with reading States, and gives false alarms if the number matches local numbers, but are not an Indiana plate. Chief Teachman noted that yesterday Police recovered a vehicle stolen from a car- jacking that wouldn't have happened without this technology. Chief Teachman stated they continue to track gunshot victims and six (6) individuals were shot in December of 2012, and eight (8) in December, 2013. He stated the total for 2012 was eighty -five (85) compared to seventy -seven (77) in 2013. Chief Teachman noted that most are identified by people calling in to report gunshots. Mr. Jones asked what a silver alert is. Chief Teachman stated a silver alert is for missing elders, much like the amber alert used for missing children. - Quarterly Report for Specialized Schools — Police Department Chief Teachman noted they are exploring other training opportunities for middle management, not just for upper management. He stated he discovered the Innovation Center, a division of Memorial Hospital that offers a two day course on thinking outside of the box. He noted that is totally outside of the thinking in the Police Department which has a process in place for most situations and if