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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Public Safety (Committee) - 06/11/2013 KEN w.,,,,wo.o.T CITY OF KENT PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES June 11, 2013 COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Les Thomas, Dana Ralph, and William Boyce, Chair. The meeting was called to order by Chairperson William Boyce at 5:32 p.m. Changes to the Agenda: The Interlocal Agreement for Services of Valley Special Weapons and Tactics Team was added to the agenda as item number seven and the Chief's update was moved to item eight. 1. Approval of Minutes Councilmember Thomas MOVED and Councilmember Ralph SECONDED a Motion to approve the May 14, 2013 minutes. Motion PASSED 3-0. 2. Fireworks safety - Information Oniv Fire Marshall Jon Napier presented information regarding fireworks safety. Fireworks stands open June 28, 2013 at noon and close at 11:00 p.m. on July 4, 2013. Residents are sometimes confused by the fact that they can purchase fireworks on June 28th, but can only discharge them 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 p.m. on July 4, 2013. The State allows fireworks to be discharged 9:00 a.m. - midnight, but in the city of Kent residents can only discharge fireworks until 11:00 p.m. on the 4th. The city educates the public through signs posted throughout the city, advertising in the Kent reporter, news releases and information on the City's website. Fireworks purchased at a stand within the city of Kent, are legal to discharge in Kent. Fire Marshall Napier described illegal fireworks and that if a resident finds that a child has illegal fireworks, they can drop the fireworks in an "amnesty box" located at the local fire stations - no questions asked. Both the police and fire departments will be starting enforcement and additional education July 2, 2013. Councilmember Thomas advised that residents should call 9-1-1 if they have any concerns regarding the discharge of fireworks. Reminded everyone Councilmember Ralph encourages all residents to be safe and smart and to call 9-1-1 if they see anything dangerous. Fire Marshall Napier will present an after-action report at the August public safety committee meeting. 3. SMHSA STOP Act grant award Stacy Judd, Public Education Specialist with the police department presented information regarding the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant award. This is the second year of the four year period. The funds must be used to prevent underage drinking. This grant is a good connection with our drug free communities grant. Public Safety Committee Minutes June 11, 2013 1 Councilmember Ralph indicated that the City is doing a good job on education and this is the time of year that we need to talk to our kids about drinking and driving. Graduation is coming up and this is a good time to talk to the kids. After deliberating, Councilmember Ralph MOVED and Councilmember Thomas SECONDED a Motion to recommend Council accept the Substance and Mental Health Services Administration grant in an amount of $48,258.00, authorize amending the budget and authorize expenditure of the funds in accordance with the grant terms acceptable to the police chief and city attorney. Motion PASSED 3-0. 4. Target Zero Teams Community Outreach Grant Chief Thomas presented information regarding the King County Target Zero Managers Sara is doing a fantastic job bringing in money for our police department to help keep our community safe through Target Zero and traffic safety. After deliberating, Councilmember Thomas MOVED and Councilmember Ralph SECONDED a Motion to recommend Council accept the Target Zero Teams Community Outreach grant in an amount of $8,000, amend the budget, and authorize expenditure of the funds in accordance with the grant terms acceptable to the police chief and city attorney. Motion PASSED 3-0. S. Cost Benefit Analysis Presentation - The Vera Institute - Information only Assistant Chief Straus provided an overview. Chief Thomas initially tasked command staff and agency with a goal to find new and innovative ways to increase efficiencies in the department to due to the recession and the proper use of public funds. Debra Leroy, Research & Development Analyst, researched the cost benefit analysis technical assistant program through the Vera Institute. The program provides for training staff on how to do cost benefit analysis, when/how to use it, that will help the city better define where money is spent. Over the past year, many employees have learned this skill. The advantage of this concept is that, not only do you get a cost analysis (which is difficult to do on public policy), but it will also identify downstream social costs. Assistant Chief Straus indicated that Debra Leroy has done a terrific job on this project and has taken the lead on this project for the police department. Debra Leroy presented information on the technical assistance. The City received the technical assistance through the Vera Institute of Justice. Tina Chiu, Director of Technical Assistance and Carl Matthies, a Senior Policy Analyst will make the presentation today. The City formed a workgroup of leaders and decision makers including Dana Ralph, department directors through criminal justice system and a representative from the finance group. From that group a core group of technical users was formed to work with the Vera Institute including Sheila Knapp, Support Services Manager in the Police Department, Kevin Axelson, Police Crime Analyst, and Barbara Lopez, Financial Planning Manager. Carl Matthies presented information on the intelligence lead policing program and talked about the implied range of benefits since 2007. Comparisons were made to neighboring jurisdictions in addition to comparing the years 2007 - 2010 (when intelligence lead policing was in place) to 2004 - end of 2006, a period that Kent did not have intelligence lead policing in place. Public Safety Committee Minutes June 11, 2013 2 Councilmember Boyce requested clarification on how comparisons were done. Councilmember Thomas requested clarification regarding population comparisons. Carl provided information regarding monetary costs to the criminal justice system per offense (robbery, residential burglary, motor vehicle theft). Councilmember Ralph asked for clarification regarding the cost per victim vs. the criminal justice system costs. Carl recommended a full cost benefit analysis. Other benefits that might be realized would include increased community cohesion, in addition to a reduced fear of crime. Debra presented information on analysis of jail programs to help control costs and jail population while maintaining public safety. The analysis was done on the supervised work group and took into consideration the costs and benefits, including how program(s) impact the community. A comprehensive cost benefit analysis would consider the total impact of Work Crew to society, not just jail bed days saved. Debra gave credit to Josh Rinaldi from the Vera Institute for all of the work he did on this study. Chief Thomas thanked everyone that participated in the study and indicated that he would like to use CBA to respond to the city council's requested the police department look at programs to see if they have the capacity to take on additional people/programs and what that cost benefit would be. This has been a beneficial analysis. The police department will continue to use this program to help the police department be effective and efficient while still maintaining public safety. Councilmember Ralph thanked everyone involved and indicated that she was impressed with how this process allows departments to monetize the social benefits of their work. Councilmember Thomas asked for clarification regarding the jail population and work crew. Chief Thomas indicated that the city needs to analyze if the city of Kent can be a regional provider for other jurisdictions sending inmates to participate on work crews. Councilmember Boyce asked what the next step is. Chief Thomas indicated they are taking on a project to see if it makes sense for the City to do programs on a regional basis and will report to Council in August. The department will continue to perform crime analysis and may look into hiring an additional crime analyst to have someone working seven days a week. The Chief indicated this is different than predictive policing used by Seattle. He stated that the police department will continue to look at crime and intelligence - visit weekly - and deploy personnel where we see issues. Councilmember Ralph indicated that the grant was for technical assistance to teach our employees how to perform a cost benefit analysis and the work crew and ILP were sample projects. Going forward, we now have the skills to perform an analysis on the program. 6. Interlocal Agreement for Services of Valley Special Weapons and Tactics Team Chief Thomas presented information regarding the Interlocal Agreement between the regional SWAT to formalize the agreement that if the city is called into other jurisdictions we are covered for those services. Councilmember Thomas questioned why Covington and Maple Valley and Sea Tac are not included in the agreement. Chief Thomas indicated that they may contract with King County. Public Safety Committee Minutes June 11, 2013 3 After deliberating, Councilmember Thomas MOVED and Councilmember Ralph SECONDED a Motion to recommend the City enter into an Interlocal Agreement for Services of Valley Special Weapons and Tactics Team with terms and conditions acceptable to the police chief and city attorney. Motion PASSED 3-0. 7. Chief's Update — Information Only Chief Thomas updated the committee on issues since his last update. The Department is currently investigating two death investigations. Both victims were targeted, suspects were known to victims and the police department believes that drugs were involved and one case - gang activity is likely. These two incidents are not random acts of violence. The police department continues to stress the importance of prevention through youth programs, and drug prevention programs that intervene and prevent violence before it occurs. Councilmember Boyce asked if the police department relies on other jurisdictions to help investigate. Chief Thomas indicated that the City ensures that the Police Department uses any available resource to ensure that these crimes are properly and thoroughly investigated. Councilmember Boyce indicated that the July gth committee meeting will be cancelled, the next committee meeting will be August 13th and National Night Out is scheduled for August 6tn Councilmember Thomas recognized that Assistant Chief Bourne will be retiring this month and will be greatly missed. Adiournment Councilmember Boyce adjourned the meeting at 6:25 p.m. Kim A. Komoto Public Safety Committee Minutes June 11, 2013 4