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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Public Safety (Committee) - 02/21/1995 MINUTES FROM PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING OF FEBRUARY 21, 1995 PRESENT: Jim Bennett, Chair Ed Crawford Tim Clark Dave Everett Christi Houser Dina Paganucci Leona Orr Norm Angelo Roger Lubovich May Miller Meeting called to order at 5:02 p.m. by Chairman Bennett. REPORT BACK TO COMMITTEE ON POSTING PARKS REGARDING LEA- H LAW Roger Lubovich advised that he had spoke with Parks Director Hodgson, and Russell Road and West Fenwick parks had been posted with a new sign that actually states that pets must be on a leash and includes the code number (copy of sign was distributed for committee review). Lubovich further explained that they do have a supply of signs available so if there are any other areas of concern, they can also be posted. ANTI-PURSUIT DEVICES/STINGER STRIPS Captain Dave Everett advised that over the years, many attempts have been made at trying to figure out how to stop a pursuit with anything short of anti-tank devices, and somebody finally thought up the Stinger Strip devices. Everett explained that it comes in a nice little kit and the device is very easily deployed (then demonstrated how they work). The puncture devices enter the tires at 90 degrees and then pull themselves out. They will then cause a controlled deflation --they do not cause a blowout. Everett described a recent situation in which the device was successfully used to slow a runaway vehicle enough for someone to safely enter the vehicle and stop it. Everett explained that the original intent was to channel traffic down to one lane during a pursuit, roll out the device and have the bad guy go through, jerk it out of the way and let the police keep on going without having flat tires. Bennett stated he wished they would have had something like this during a recent pursuit situation he saw that went through the City of Kent. GRANT FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICES AT SPRINGWOOD Captain Dave Everett explained that with the pending annexation, they havq learned there are two police officers at the Springwood Housing Project that are funded under a grant through King County HUD, and it is the Kent Police Department's intent to pursue the HIED funding for 1996 in order to continue to dedicate two police officers to that complex. Everett advised they should know sometime in September whether or not the request is accepted, and he would bring the issue back to committee at that time for acceptance. Tim Clark questioned if this was federal money. Everett advised that ft41946deral money and it comes through King County HUD. Clark further expressed his concern with funding of HUD under current declining conditions. Chief Crawford advised that they have been told that this program is a go -- the Housing Authority has said that it is not in distress. ORDINANCE FOR DISPOSAL OF FORFEITED FIREARMS Lubovich explained that the state statute was recently changed to allow for, more flexible disposal of MINUTES FROM PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE Meeting of February 21, 1995 Page 2 of 3 forfeited firearms, and the retention of funds from such. If there is an ordinance in place which establishes a procedure, the agency may keep funds from forfeited firearms that are either traded or auctioned, or even retained for agency use. Previously, the agency only received a percentage of the funds, and there were more restrictions on the disposal of the firearms. Houser expressed her concern that the firearms might possibly be sold. Crawford explained that with the previous state statute, Kent was one of the few agencies that did sell them at state auction. A lot of agencies kept the firearms, however, they had to pay a fine per weapon because they were not complying with the law. Kent did comply with the law and has not had to pay any fines. The law has now been changed, and it basically says that you can do what you need to do depending on the policy of your city. Crawford further explained that its very hard if you do sell the guns to track them back to criminals, and he is sensing that public policy dictates that the guns be destroyed. Crawford stated that he may be being presumptuous because the council has not directed him to do one thing or another other than to comply with the laws as written, but he is assuming that council would probably want forfeited firearms that are not specifically used by the police department to be destroyed. Committee unanimously agreed that was their position, and Leona Orr advised she was glad to see the committee was in agreement with her position on this issue. Houser moved to place on consent calendar for approval; seconded by Clark. Passed 3-0. UPDATE ON BLOCK WATCH PROGRAM Bennett advised that due to a recent discussion with a citizen, he had asked the police department to provide an update as to the status of the block watch program. Officer Dina Paganucci advised that the police department does have an ongoing apartment complextblock watch program, and anybody can call up and ask for assistance whether they are having some problems in their neighborhood or they just want to get to know each other a little better (several handouts related to the program distributed for committee review). Paganucci explained the program is designed to encourage and help people in taking some responsibility in trying to diminish crime, etc. that may be occurring their neighborhoods by being the eyes and ears of their community, and understanding that police officers cannot be on every corner. The program requires involvement from people within the community. If nobody is willing to get involved, the likelihood of seeing a continuing problem is probably going to be there. Paganucci further explained that she will pass information on to patrol or whatever she needs to do to try and help them out, but it comes down to them needing to help themselves as well. Once contact is made, Paganucci schedules a presentation in which they talk about burglary, personal safety, vehicle theft, thefts from vehicles, and how they can diminish the chances of these things occurring. They talk about how they need to organize, what they need to do, why they need to call 911, when they need to call 911, etc. Along with the program, the Community Education Unit provides a quarterly newsletter that gives a synopsis of things that are going on, and things that people might want to get involved with in the community. They also do a yearly block watch survey where they take information and comments from block watch members, and try to figure out how they can better serve the members of the community. Clark asked what efforts are being made on a larger scale, such as at the county level, for MINUTES FROM PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE Meeting of February 21, 1995 Page 3 of 3 identification of stolen property, i.e. his laptop computer is stolen and he has inscribed it, however it is taken out of the City of Kent. Paganucci explained that the serial number on the item can be ran via a nation-wide computer and if that serial number has been reported as a stolen piece of property, it will then show up in the computer as stolen. The key to this, however, is having the serial number initially recorded and reported to the police department. If the item is inscribed with a driver's license number, an officer may still be able to trace it back to the rightful owner with that information. Paganucci further explained that another portion of the apartment complex/block watch program is Operation Identification, which basically is the inscribing of a driver's license number or other owner identification number on property. If an individual is not doing these types of things, and the police get there to take a burglary or theft report and the person has got CD players, VCRs, tape decks, etc., unless there is something really unique about the item, the likelihood of the police ever getting the property back to the rightful owner is real slim. Bennett described a recent situation in which his son's very expensive camera was recovered and returned using this system. Bennett advised that at a recent council meeting a couple people spoke about,the block watch program in their neighborhood and the apparent dwindling interest, and they were concerned because they had not seen any increased police activity in the area. Paganucci explained that its important for people to contact her if they have some changes in their neighborhood and/or they are no longer getting together, otherwise she is not aware. She can then send out a letter to find out what they want to do to make the block watch active, but it is still up to the block watch members to move forward on it. OTHER ► Crawford advised that the radar trailer, which they have on loan for the next week, is available if anyone would like to stop by and take a look at it. Crawford further advised that eventually he would like to develop a volunteer force that would take this type of trailer to various enforcement zones throughout the city on a regular basis to remind people of the speed limit in those areas. Meeting adjourned at 5:28 p.m.