Police Commission Minutes 02/05/05

The Rochester Police Commission held their regular monthly meeting on February 2, 2005. Present at this meeting was Chairman Dumont, Comm. Flanagan, Comm. Stenhouse, Chief Dubois Capt. Allen, Capt. Taylor, Capt. Callaghan, Attorney Grossman, Secretary Warburton, members of the public and the media.

Mr. Donald McCallion, 184 Washington Street, Rochester, NH. Mr. McCallion noted that he is a Lieutenant and site supervisor for Reliable Security at the Lilac Mall. He is responsible for officers under his watch and for the rules and regulations of the mall for the safety of the mall and all its patrons.

He noted that one of his security officers was assaulted which required medical treatment. While a warrant for the assailant has been issued, he feels this case has not been given the priority it deserves by the Rochester Police Department. He surmised that if a Rochester Police Officer had been assaulted, the person would be already be arrested, in jail. Is it because it’s a security officer that no one seems to care? Mr. McCallion stated, “I care. I won’t stop until justice has been done.” Mr. McCallion stated that he has spoken with Commissioner Stenhouse and also to Commissioner Flanagan and Chief Dubois and is still waiting for a response. He said the new phone system must be great, but you can’t get a hold of anyone.

Chief Dubois, with the Commission’s permission, responded. He advised when criminal investigations are conducted, supervisors of victims cannot be told the whole event. There are always two sides to every story. The investigation into this case is not as simple as it may appear to be. The police officer investigating this case did an outstanding job. The officer received a lot of help from the Mall Security. Several interviews were conducted.

Law enforcement has an obligation to find justice, not just satisfy victims. I am more than satisfied with the work the officer did in this case. I can sympathize with the supervisor and his desire to bring this person before the judicial process. After developing probable cause, a warrant was issued. However, the suspect is evading law enforcement at this time.

A. Building “punch list items” Update: Capt. Allen reported out on a couple of issues with the building. The magnetic lock was addressed and fixed, today. The snow on the roof was to be addressed through snow guards. This was missed at all levels in the review. The guards were part of the original bid and they have been ordered. The heat in the sally port was also addressed. It has been determined that the pilot lights are blowing out when the sally port doors are open. The City has authorized payment to the vendor to fix that.

We had an energy audit by PSNH to discuss ways that we can save energy costs. We are overspent in our electrical line and funding had to be transferred to cover it. The audit produced several recommendations that we are looking into with Public Buildings. At this point, as a staff, we are doing what we can to conserve as much as we can.

The outage of the phone system was reviewed again with our staff, various telephone vendors and city hall staff. It appears it may be the result of a bad cable and that is being addressed.

1. SOP 05, Adult Arrest Procedures. Chief Dubois recommended holding this for an additional month, as more updates have been made to this procedure. It will save having to bring it back again next month for re approval. The Commission agreed to table this for another month.

C. FY 06 Budget. Chairman Dumont advised that he had studied the proposed budget. What was the overall increase? Capt. Allen said preliminary numbers that have not been solidified with the City’s finance office show a 6.2% increase for police and a 9.2% increase for the dispatch center. The increases can be attributed to requests for staffing in both areas, and upgrading vehicles.

We have proposed three vehicles for patrol, two replacement front line cruisers and one SUV. We also want to broach a leased vehicle for the Investigations division, for a total of four cars.

In personnel, we are asking for one new sworn position. We have approached this aggressively in the past, without much success. Last year we did an internal study and while we can use National standards as a guide, the internal study holds much more weight. Other staffing includes increasing a part-time support person to full time.

Comm. Flanagan stated that he is hearing concerns related to our response time to calls. He said, “Although we have a priority system to answering calls, are we asking for enough people? This city is not getting smaller.” I heard from a citizen that it took 90 minutes to respond to an accident. Even without personal injury, that seems crazy.

Chief Dubois stated those types of calls come in to the Commission, to me, to the supervisors, to the City Manager’s office and some are forwarded by Councilor’s to the City Manager. We do have to prioritize the calls. This is not unique to Rochester, it happens throughout the Country. Our response to priority calls is good. However, our aggressive requests for staff have not netted any results. We can modify our requests in the budget if the Commission desires us to do so.

Comm. Flanagan stated that if we don’t have enough people and we don’t keep a watch on this, it could present problems. Chairman Dumont countered that in a perfect world we would have six patrol cars on every shift. We have asked for more resources and been turned down. You do the best you can with the priority system we have in place.

Comm. Stenhouse stated that as a Department along with the Commission we have to do more to educate the public on services available versus fiscal realities. Many of the calls we are handling today, people handled those themselves years ago. How to handle your kids, barking dogs, etc. are calls that stress out the resources of law enforcement. You can’t add enough people so that all calls are responded to within 3 - 4 minutes. We are not going to get the 8 - 10 people that we need and that’s not because anyone has been bad, it’s because the Fire Department needs 8 - 10 people, DPW needs 8 - 10 people, the Schools need teachers. In the old days you treated a barking dog complaint like a robbery. But it is not going to happen that way in the 21^st century and it never will again, anywhere in this country. You do the best you can with what you have.

1. Facial Hair Program. Chief Dubois stated that we are at the six-month mark to review this. We raised approximately $1400.00 for local charities through the program. There have been no grooming standard’s issues. We haven’t raised any additional donations since the original start date. The Commission agreed to continue the program for another six months noting that its best to review it every so often.

2. Customer Service Surveys. Chief Dubois stated that we started this program some time ago. Our return rate, even with the SASE’s enclosed, was less than 25%. We plan to discontinue this program. Instead we are considering a phone call back program that will accomplish the same thing, without added postage fees.

3. Contract Negotiations [Veto] and Legal Fees. Comm. Flanagan asked about the City Manager paying for the negotiator (Warren Atlas) out of his budget, like he said he would. Mr. Atlas attended those council meetings at the City Manager’s request. We didn’t ask for Mr. Atlas to attend and we shouldn’t have to pay this bill.

Now the City’s finance officer is saying that it will come from the Police Budget as it is all related and further that the Police Commission does not have any budgetary control over the Police Department. If Bob Steele said he was going to pay for it, then he should. I don’t know what we can do about it, but I’m tired of hearing that the Police Commission doesn’t have the control [to deny spending this money.]

Chairman Dumont said, as far as the contract goes, last night, it was the same old thing, with the veto standing, thus rejecting the contract. We drafted a contract that was identical to the Fire and we thought it would sail through. How could we go wrong if we followed their footsteps all the way through? We were at 20% of the health contributions by the third year, and the amount of money was the same. While it passed through the Council by a vote of 7 - 6, that vote was vetoed and last night not all of the Council attended the meeting. Mr. McManus was not there. His attendance would not have mattered, as no one changed their vote. This is anti-Commission and I am at a loss of what to do.

Comm. Stenhouse asked if we feel it’s fruitless to go on. Should we cut our losses? We need input from the collective bargaining unit. We should also meet with the City Manager and find out from him what parameters he thinks he can get the Council to buy. We have to decide if they want a contract before the next election. We have to be willing to make sacrifices, but they should not be deprived of a reasonable wage.

Comm. Flanagan said, “I feel bad that we haven’t got a contract for the men and women of the Police Department. We offered the same contract that was approved for Fire and I have a hard time swallowing that they wouldn’t do for the Police. The idea that we should all be the same, well, we aren’t. Lawyers don’t make what doctor’s make. Teachers don’t make what janitor’s make. Yet they all work hard. Police Officers don’t take this job for the money. They should be treated fairly. If the Union so chooses to go to arbitration, that would be their call. I don’t know what else to do.”

Chief Dubois did wish to make some public comments about the officers under his command. He has had people ask him how all of this is affecting the Officers morale and our service in the City. Chief Dubois thanked the Officers and the Commission for the work they are doing. The supervisors are doing an outstanding job keeping officers focused on why they became officers in the first place. He said, “I am confident that we will be able to come to some agreement.”

B. Three Year Plan: Review and Discuss. Chief Dubois said that each time we prepare the budget; we like to look at our three-year plan and make any adjustments. We are looking at fleet replacement as a focus. Over my career we have gone from a replacement program of four cars per year, to three cars per year, and now to two cars per year. There is a decline in the quality of the fleet. For each year you reduce the number of replacement vehicles, it has an effect on the back line vehicles, including those retired to the investigation’s bureau. These investigators take these cars out of town and sometimes out of state in their duties, and these cars are breaking down. It has happened to me [Chief Dubois] twice. We want to put a system in place to upgrade both the ISB and Front Line cars, or put more emphasis on those that we retire to reserve vehicles, so that they are in better shape.

Comm. Stenhouse said a replacement plan of only two per year, for a city this size is a concern. Where he worked previously to Rochester there was a plan of four per year, and that was several years ago. Comm. Stenhouse inquired into the laser technology for the bumpers of cruisers. We should check further into this with our property and liability carrier.

Comm. Stenhouse asked for an expanded explanation of the risk management component to comp stat. Capt. Callaghan stated that we are doing this now. We are tracking things like simple assaults on police officers, pursuits, use of force incidents, injured officers, officer involved shootings, complaints on officers, collisions with police vehicles, as well as award recommendations and letters of thanks.

Capt. Callaghan said for example we would track assaults, what types they are and take steps to keep them from happening, not so much the fault of the incident as to possible approaches to doing things differently. We could review use of force training, equipment, etc. A good example of this would be the accident involving the OHRV. We determined that more training is needed and thus have suspended the program until we can coordinate that training with the NH Fish and Game Department.

Comm. Stenhouse asked what is the realistic outlook toward achieving accreditation? Chief Dubois responded that it is a goal of ours that always comes down to staffing. If we can get to and maintain the existing authorized strength of 53 sworn, we feel confident that we could make some serious inroads, at the state level. We think that would be a great place for us to start.

Our problem is retention. This is the highest turnover we’ve had since I [Chief Dubois] was appointed, and there is no end in sight. We heard today that there is another officer very close to an appointment with another agency. Including military activations, resignation vacancies and officers in training, we are down eight positions. If we could maintain 53 officers, we’d be in good shape.

1. Patrol Bureau. Capt. Callaghan reported on the risk management section of comp stat. We are tracking activity every four weeks. For the period of 12/25/04 through 1/21/05 we are down 320 hours due to military leave, 32 hours for spousal, eight hours for workers compensation, 140 hours of sick time and 240 hours for comp and vacation time. We are working on reducing sick time, comp time and spousal time off.

I am extremely proud of the officers in patrol in their field activity this month. They have increased motor vehicle activity 114%, stopping 647 cars that resulted in eight arrests and 137 summonses. Our accidents are down 3% over this time last year. What is significant about that is that we only had five inches of snow last year. To date, we’ve had 35 inches of snow, and two ice storms.

The Commission inquired if we can show officer generated activity versus dispatched activity. It was noted that we can do that and have done that in the past. We can work on that.

Capt. Callaghan stated that our goal this year is to increase motor vehicle activity. Officers spend about one hour on an average accident. We have 1100 accidents per year. We are looking at the 10 - 12 roads in the city that have high activity, including accidents. Based on the success of our intensive enforcement on Route 11, time permitting, we want those sector cars to get to those areas. We are using our resources the best way we can to make us more efficient and improve the quality of life.

Capt. Callaghan provided the Commission with a map that showed locations that have been the victims of paint ball attacks recently. Chief Dubois said that patrol has analyzed this data and has come up with a plan of attack to respond to those incidents. They are also increasing field contacts in certain areas. Those field interviews are forwarded to the Detective’s division to analyze the crimes they are currently working on. A recent field interview card did yield good information and a suspect in a crime. This is showing early, positive results.

Comm. Stenhouse asked if this is a software program that we could market to others? He was advised it is data that is already in our record’s module that is pulled out and plotted on a map in PowerPoint. Comm. Stenhouse asked for the amount of time this takes. Capt. Callaghan said each Lieutenant is assigned certain crimes to report out on. They spend approximately 8 - 12 hours per month for the activity. They also review reports in hopes they might identify patterns and catch this stuff early. The patrol secretary then compiles the gathered data. There is a lot we can do with this if we have the time and personnel to do it.

2. Support Bureau. Capt. Taylor reported that communications logged 4104 calls this month to the center. Police had 3933 calls and fire 171. Our part time dispatcher resigned this month, having accepted full time management employment in the private sector.

Prosecution brought 104 defendants before the district court. Of those 67 were guilty, 30 were other dispositions, such as placed on file, diverted, defaults or indictments. We had six nol prossed and one not guilty. The Juvenile officer had 17 review hearings. He also had 29 arraignments, six emergency hearings resulting in six true findings, eight diversions and one placement. The grand jury totals for January were 37 cases. Of those, 12 were presented and all were true bills. Nineteen cases were held, most waiting for evidence processing.

Chairman Dumont asked how many persons we transport to the county jail in a month’s time? The exact numbers were not available. It can fluctuate. Chairman Dumont stated the County is getting ready to do video arraignments and that should save some money. Chief Dubois concurred; it will save time and money. Once a prisoner is transported, we must monitor them at the district court until their case is called. It takes officers from the street. This will be a huge benefit. Chairman Dumont said that it will also be better for the County, with less traffic in and out. It can all be done in one room.

From the training and hiring division, Sgt. Triano is just finishing up the command-training program at Roger Williams University. He graduates this Friday. Officer Ouellette is gearing up for solo patrol, hopefully by the end of the month. We have four background investigations on going for new positions.

3. Admin Bureau. Capt. Allen reported that money had just been transferred to the electricity and communications line. The phone bill has more than doubled. We are watching both of these lines.

There are some equipment issues to update the Commission on. The Council set aside $25,000 in a CIP for the AVL/GPS project. We recently applied but were denied grant funding for this. We have been discussing this with the vendor and the costs have significantly reduced, to the point that we could get this up and running this year by downsizing the number of cars to install it on. We are looking at just the front line fleet at this time and are negotiating with the vendor on this aspect.

We also met with the Reverse 911 vendor. This was approved for grant funding. That is an outstanding program and we hope to have this all in place in just a few months. There have been some upgrades to their software and we were able to see a demo on the program.

The new computers from LLEBG monies have been distributed in the building. We received the web cam and MIS staff is working on getting up to speed on that as well as working on ways to deploy that for various uses. Additionally the upstairs interview control rooms have been outfitted with their technology and that is also working well.

Comm. Stenhouse asked about the phone and electricity bills being over. Did we get estimates from the architects and engineers? Capt. Allen reported that we did get estimates and they were fairly close, however the appropriation in those lines was reduced. Comm. Stenhouse asked if we planned for that in the new budget? Capt. Allen advised that we had requested the funds for that.

A. Appreciation and Recognition. Letters recognizing Department members this month include: The Academy St. Coalition recognizes Det. Eric Dugas for his commitment to the Community Policing Partnership in the A.S.A.P. neighborhood. Det. Dugas is recognized as Employee of the Month for February. Off. Theresa Lustwerk and Specialist Edie Lewis are thanked by a citizen for prompt and effective response to a welfare check. Det. Eric Dugas is thanked by Gerry’s Pantry for donations organized within the Police Department for the holiday season. Officers Jim Fox, Mike Lambert and Chris Mangum are thanked by the Miehle family for prompt and efficient response to a burglary alarm at their home. Sgt. Deluca is recognized by Lt. Gould for his efficient and creative use of the comp stat program to resolve a rash of criminal mischief incidents in a local neighborhood.

Capt. Taylor wished to commend the joint efforts of patrol and detectives regarding the information developed from the Academy Street coalition, which when corroborated led to a surveillance and six drug-related arrests on that Street.

A. Financial Reports - January 2005. Comm. Flanagan noted that we are 94% spent in the clothing line. Capt. Allen stated that was true and we just made a transfer to that line. We have had six new officers this year, and limited items of existing equipment to outfit them with. For most of these officers, we had to completely outfit them, which was not anticipated. Comm. Flanagan inquired into the cost of the knit caps? Capt. Allen stated they were relatively inexpensive, about eight ($8.00) dollars each.

B. Final Audit Report by Vachon and Clukay on Police Overtime in FY04. Comm. Stenhouse stated at some point it would be a good idea, as a policy matter and nothing else, to review private duty pay in relation to exempt vs. non-exempt employees.

1. Phone System. Comm. Flanagan brought up the phone system, echoing comments made during public input that our phone system is not efficient and that calls into the center ring busy for minutes on end.

Comm. Stenhouse stated that we have a problem with people not returning calls, not so much a problem with the system itself. Timely return of phone calls happens in his company also. It doesn’t mean it’s right, but it happens. People tend to think they can ignore the calls if they have work to do. However, when dealing with the public is part of your job, then returning your calls is your job.

Chief Dubois stated that he does get complaints from citizens that say they have left several messages. We are dealing with those types of complaints aggressively. Citizens are advised that they should call my office if they are having difficulty with an employee not returning calls. We’ve heard it too much to say that it doesn’t happen.

Comm. Flanagan MOVED at 8:25 P.M. to hold a non-public session for the purpose of personnel and legal matters. SECOND by Comm. Stenhouse. The motion PASSED by roll call vote, Comm. Stenhouse-yes, Comm. Flanagan-yes, Chairman Dumont -yes. The non-public session closed at 8:51 P.M. on a MOTION by Comm. Stenhouse. SECOND by Chairman Dumont and PASSED unanimously.