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REGULAR MEETING MAY 14, 2012 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />between the administration and the school corporation and he stated that can’t happen <br />without leadership also from the Council. He stated that he may ask the Council in the <br />future to work with him to visit areas where they might want to consider pro-actively <br />committing resources to that effort. He reiterated nothing formal or articulated at this <br />time. <br /> <br />Councilmember Oliver Davis stated that with all the recent challenges that they are <br />facing, what is going to be done to reassure the people of South Bend that the City of <br />South Bend is still safe. <br /> <br />Mayor Buttigieg stated that for one thing, they can demonstrate how much of the <br />community cares about the safety of our city. The number of people who have spoken <br />up, organized, pulled together in their way, in various different ways to come together <br />shows at least that we have no problem when it comes to awareness or passion or <br />commitment around the commitment of safety. He stated that he is not satisfied with the <br />level of violence that they have observed so far. He stated that they have not yet got to <br />summer and will have to see whether the spike in violence that was observed in the <br />spring is going to be a pattern that carries through the year or not. He stated that they <br />cannot be content to wait and see what happens. He stated that they are ensuring that <br />they double down on the city’s commitment of community policing. One thing that just <br />happened today was a part of the Weed & Seed Program. He stated that he has spent <br />some time at Muessel Primary Center, where there is a really inspiring partnership <br />between Police Officers and kids, trying to make sure that the kids often in the <br />neighborhoods most effected by this issue, unaware that they can regard police officers as <br />their friends, that the officers are they to help them and try to build a level of trust. He <br />stated that he will also be participating in the Walk with a Cop effort. The idea here is to <br />make sure that police officers are spending time outside of the car and actually engaging <br />in the neighborhoods in the areas that they are sworn to keep safe. In order to signal mild <br />support for this program it’s something that he will get out and do himself with an <br />officer. It might be something that Councilmember’s might find interesting. He invited <br />all to participate. He stated that it is just not only law enforcement, it’s a community <br />effort, an all hands on deck, but those are some of the areas that they are most <br />concentrating on. <br /> <br />Councilmember Oliver Davis asked how are all going to be treated fairly when it comes <br />to policing. <br /> <br />Mayor Buttigieg stated that they cannot police their way out of this problem. He stated <br />that it is really a community wide issue to make sure that we are safe. He stated that they <br />are all trying to make sure that trust between the police department and the citizens are <br />reinforced. He stated that he does believe that the effort to increase traffic enforcement <br />will bear fruit when it comes both to traffic safety and a broader sense of police presence. <br />He stated that if there are any indications that there are even any appearances that this <br />policy is being applied unfairly, he would like to know about it right away. <br /> <br />Councilmember Henry Davis stated that there was a program in the State of Michigan <br />called the Michigan Job Works program that would probably work really well here and <br />asked Mayor Buttigieg to look into getting something like that here. He stated on another <br />note that he expressed his discontent by walking out of the committee meeting earlier <br />today. He stated that he is looking at a document and another document as well and <br />stated order, he stated that he said that word about seventeen times earlier today “order” <br />He stated that as a Councilmember there is a level of respect and thinks that all of his <br />colleagues expect to have and receive when they are approached by a member of the <br />community or in this matter a department head. He stated that when they have an <br />opportunity to a fluid dialogue between a department head and a councilmember, he <br />being a Councilmember doesn’t expect a department head to question him on what is he <br />doing to police the community. He stated that he is not the Police Chief, that is the Police <br />Chief’s job, now he can participate in a conversation and give ideas, or perhaps <br />situations, or even perhaps even like advocating for more dollars if there is a program that <br />needs more funding, but his job is not to police the community, he does his fair share of <br />mentoring, knocking on doors, community service projects, the whole nine, but that’s not <br /> 6 <br /> <br />