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REGULAR MEETING MAY 14, 2012 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />what we were talking about back there, we were talking about the job of a Police Chief, <br />and he expects and even respect if the police chief was in a position to answers those <br />questions without getting a bit agitated or even defensive about what his job title requires <br />him to do. He gets paid for that job just as well as he gets paid to be a council person. So <br />when he asks a question about the functions of a police department, he expects that the <br />person who is getting paid to do that job to be able to answer that question, if they can’t <br />maybe we could talk about it later on. He stated that he doesn’t believe that it’s a park <br />bench idea; he doesn’t think that it is asking for too much. He stated that he thinks that’s <br />probably what’s required as a city employee in that position. He stated that he went a <br />little further with it and since that discussion was open because of the recent violence and <br />a lot has happened in District 2 and a result he has thought about how a police officer’s <br />job is a very dangerous job, and any time a police officer is called is probably because <br />something bad is happening, its not because they want to give them roses and candy. But <br />what he wants to get at is since we talked about this and this is a situation, he went into <br />research mode to figure out how many officers that we have and we are at 260 officers, <br />out of the 260, we have 239 that are male, 21 female. Out of that break down as far as <br />race, 1 American Indian, 1 Asian American, 28 African American, 12 Hispanic, 216 are <br />Caucasian. Now we can go down to the ranks, 14 Captains and above ranks, one (1) in a <br />position of authority is African American, who happens to be the person who was just <br />demoted. Lieutenants 19, (6) six African Americans, Sergeants eight (8) African <br />Americans, Corporals zero (0). He stated that what he is getting at is that if we are going <br />to work at this thing as a community allows us to do what is within our scope. All the <br />other things that we are talking about are extra added on things and are probably a result <br />of what is going on here, if we maximize what we are supposed to do at this level and <br />maybe we will have these conversations later on with the Digger Phelps or another <br />community advocate who wants to see better in their community. He stated that what he <br />is asking the Mayor is that we participate at that level before we get way out there into <br />the middle of the ocean and forget that there are some foundation issues that need to be <br />taken care of. One of the foundational issues is racial sensitivity and why don’t we have <br />more of a balance whether they are Latino or African America or some ethnic <br />background in higher ranker positions within the officer rank. Also, why don’t we have <br />better officers working the late midnight shift versus the day shift? Most problems that <br />occur within the City of South Bend happen during when nightfall happens. Rookie cops <br />potentially don’t necessarily know how to defuse a situation like a 30 year veteran would <br />know how to. He stated that he could be assuming the wrong thing but he is guessing <br />that experience does matter when you are dealing with police officers and the <br />community. He stated that he just has a really, really difficult time. He stated that he <br />also received another document as well that he has here and it deals with the officer that <br />he is talking about and wanted to discuss this with the Mayor as his appointment because <br />he thinks there are some sensitivity issues that need to be look. He thinks that it is quite <br />insensitive and it’s a minority police officers association of South Bend that is the <br />plaintiffs versus the City of South Bend that took place in the early 1980’s. He stated that <br />which includes some of the officers that are in higher ranking positions now and he <br />thinks that they really need to talk about when we are talking about sensitivity and <br />working with the African American males, because this just says minority police officers <br />association, so he is assuming that minority probably would say that either they are <br />Female, African American or Latino, but is probably going to guess that they are African <br />American men. He stated that he thinks there are some things that we really need to look <br />at that are foundational before we being with this plethora of ideas and creative juices <br />that are going to rectify a long standing issue in this community, it didn’t get here <br />overnight and its not going to be corrected overnight, but we need to get back to the <br />foundation of the issue. <br /> <br />Mayor Buttigieg stated that he appreciates the thoughts offered earlier about order and <br />the way that we can best interact in order to approach the Council. He stated that he <br />thinks that when the efforts in the community, when and if, the efforts in the community <br />around youth violence lead to the call for formal action by government, especially if it <br />involves the commitment of any resources that is something that needs to come by an <br />initiative offered by the administration brought to the Council for the Council do decide <br />whether to act. He stated that there may be a lot of value in exploring that approach. He <br />also wanted to make clear that certainly his administration goal for any city department <br /> 7 <br /> <br />