Police Commission Minutes 05/03/2006

The Rochester Police Commission held their regular monthly meeting on May 3, 2006. Present at this meeting was Chairman Flanagan, Comm. Stenhouse, Comm. Dumont, Chief Dubois, Deputy Chief Allen, Capt. Callaghan, Capt. Dumas, and Secretary Warburton. Also present were members of the Department, their families, the public and the media.

Chairman Flanagan MOVED to accept the minutes of the April 5, 2006 regular meeting, and the April 18, 2006, Special meeting as written. Comm. Dumont SECONDED the motion and it PASSED unanimously.

A. Oath of Office. The oath of office for promotion to Captain was given to Scott Dumas. The oath was also given to newly promoted Sergeants’ Anthony Bossi and Eric Dugas. The families of all were on hand to participate in the badge pinning ceremonies.

1. National Peace Officers Memorial Week: Chief Dubois noted that National Peace Officer’s Memorial week is scheduled for May 14 - 20^th. On behalf of the Department and Commission he thanked Mayor Larochelle for issuing a proclamation marking this important week in law enforcement. Flags are scheduled to fly at half-staff on Monday, May 15^th for National recognition and on Friday, May 19^th for State recognition.

2. A certificate of Appreciation: A certificate of appreciation was prepared for Susan Morris of the Code Enforcement office for “pinch-hitting” and being a team player assisting the Police Department with an unforeseen staff shortage. Chief Dubois noted that Susan was a great help to us when we were in a bind. The cooperation of the City Hall staff in facilitating this was also noted. This was beneficial to the Department and to the City as a whole.

3. Distinguished Unit Action Award: Captain Dumas made this presentation. He said this call was the start of a good streak in solving some crimes dealing with burglaries in the City. This award is designed for a call like this. It takes many people in different realms to get this job done, from patrol officers, to detectives, supervisors and dispatchers. This call for a robbery at a convenience store came in at 6:05, and by 6:55, we had two people in custody. We were teaching the citizen’s academy that night and it was beneficial for them to see just how quickly these things happen and can come together. This was because of the work of the members on that shift that night. Capt. Dumas noted that the quality people working at the Department make his job easier.

The distinguished unit action award has several levels. The first time you receive it you get a bar for your uniform. The subsequent times you receive it you place a star on that bar. By the sixth award, the silver stars are replaced with a gold star, and you can continue to accumulate silver stars thereafter. The following members were recognized:

Lt. Taylor – 1^st silver	Sgt. Deluca – 3^rd silver
Sgt. Triano – 3^rd silver	Sgt. Bossi – 1^st gold star
Off. MacKenzie 3rd silver	Det. Mangum – 1^st gold star
Off. Livingstone – 3^rd silver	Det. Frechette – 1^st silver
Det. Boudreau – 2^nd silver	Dispatcher Carll– certificate
Off. Emerson – 1^st silver	Dispatcher Reinert – certificate
Off. Morgan – 2^nd silver	Dispatcher Daigle – certificate
Off. Kimbrough – 1^st silver
Off. Ouellette – Bar

4. Commander’s Coin Recognition. Chief Dubois also recognized George Cahill with a commander’s coin for his work in filling in as a shift supervisor over the past few months, in addition to his training duties. He did a great job and the entire command staff had made note of it.

5. Commander’s Coin Recognition. Also recognized with a commander’s coin was Matt Kanner from Foster’s Daily Democrat. Chief Dubois stated that Matt has had a lot of interaction covering the Rochester police beat for Foster’s. He has been a good journalist to work with. When what he has had to report was not flattering, we took our lumps. “We appreciate the relationship that has been built and wish you luck in your position at the Portsmouth bureau.”

6. Bureau Transfer, Recognition. Officer Eric Ball was recently transferred into the Detective Bureau. He will be investigating property crimes. He’s had a distinguished career with us thus far. He recently returned from a tour in Iraq.

Chief Dubois thanked all the family members present. He said, “We appreciate the family turnout. The support from home is critical to the members here.” ”We appreciate your coming to share in our celebration of the success of these men and women.”

C. Asset Forfeitures: Deputy Chief Allen reported that we were notified by the Department of Justice of two separate drug cases, where assets were seized. Through the equitable sharing program, our portions of those assets are $802.14 and 751.17 respectively. We ask the Commission to accept those monies for our Account 910 and to forward the same to the City Council for supplemental appropriation.

1. Patrol Division: Capt. Dumas advised that the Citizen’s Academy graduated on April 25, 2006. It was a rewarding program to be involved with personally. The citizen’s feedback has been excellent. All the officers who took part enjoyed their roles. We look forward to hosting another one.

Wallace Street continues to be an issue we deal with daily. We hope to try and resolve some of these issues. There is a meeting of the Public Safety committee on May 4, 2006 to discuss traffic flow patterns.

We are just about a quarter of the way through the year. Our numbers, overall, property crimes and crimes against persons are down for the year. There have been some increases in burglaries, but so far there has been no discernable pattern. We are looking at items that are taken to see if we can come up with a strategy to impact this through communication and coordination between both the patrol and investigation divisions.

Comm. Stenhouse noted that burglaries are up, but it’s not by huge percentages. There has been a lot of activity and it’s obvious you are working hard on resolving the issues.

2. Support Division: Capt. Callaghan in conjunction with Capt. Dumas’ report said that burglaries are up, but our arrests for burglaries are also up. The national average is approximately 13%, and we are at 33%.

3. Executive Report: Deputy Chief Allen reported that our budget remains within the bottom line. There have been transfers made due to fuel shortages and electricity bills. There are four pay periods left in the budget. We are 3% under where we should be at this point in the year.

Comm. Stenhouse noted that the fuel lines could realistically be at $45,000 this year. However, this is due to issues beyond the Department’s control. Everyone is feeling the pinch.

We’ve received notice of another Justice Assistance Grant that the County will be applying for. If accepted, we may be the recipients of slightly more than $12,000.00, and we will make decisions on what to use those funds for once confirmation is received.

As reported a couple of months ago, our dispatch center is scheduled to get two brand-new consoles, with a value of slightly less than $200,000 dollars, through LAWNET. Our radio vendor has advised that equipment is in, and we can set up installation soon. This is the reason why the wireless headsets Chairman Flanagan asked about have not been purchased. We have requested funding for them in the upcoming budget. We will be switching from an Orbacom unit to Motorola units. There would be compatibility issues to purchase them prior to the upgrade.

The Council reviewed our Crime Analyst position last night, as part of the personnel handbook/merit plan. There is a 30-day window where they can veto the position, otherwise it will adopted after the 30 days. We got some positive feedback. The position is critical to our comp. stat process and a valuable position to the Department. We hope for the full support of the Council.

The Commission noted that this is a civilian position, not a sworn position. Deputy Chief Allen confirmed that we converted a Secretary 1 position to this. We have been trying for some time to get this done, and this was good timing for us to do it now.

A. Appreciation and Recognition: Chief Dubois is thanked by DMV Director Beecher for kind words about Executive Major Wayne Perreault’s assistance to the Department on March 10, 2006. Supv. Martha Swats recognizes Specialist Griffin for researching a call with limited information, which eventually led us to getting help to a person in need. Off. Don Funk is thanked by Mrs. Chick for the positive influence the Department has had on her child. Off. Don Funk is thanked by the “First Grade Frogs” of the East Rochester School for a tour. Off. Loconte is recognized for excellent motor vehicle work. Mr. Longo thanks the Department for citizen’s academy experience. Off. Loconte is thanked by a victim of domestic violence for his intervention in a situation, which has led to a positive outcome thus far for the family.

1. Accreditation: Deputy Chief Allen noted that the Department applied for funding through the Local Government Center for assistance with accreditation. The LGC makes $500.00 available to agencies for this. We’ve been notified that we were approved for the funding. It will be used to purchase things like file cabinets, file folders, etc. We would ask the Commission to accept the funding and forward the same to the City Council for a supplemental appropriation to our budget for that use.

Comm. Dumont MOVED to accept the $500.00 from the Local Government Center for accreditation, and to forward the same to the Council for appropriation. SECOND by Comm. Stenhouse and open for discussion.

Capt. Callaghan said that we are trying for level one accreditation at this point. We don’t believe that it will require any changes to the facility. It’s basically putting the files together regarding our standards. We anticipate reaching this by early next year.

Chief Dubois replied that it’s not a window, per se. The issue has been at the National level. Some states have not been applying the standards properly. NH is not one of those states, however, CALEA is changing things nationwide. We need to get our foot in the door before they do that. Capt. Callaghan has set a time line to achieve this by early 2007.

NH is one of the State’s that parallels the National program. If we reach the top level in NH, we will have met the standards for National Accreditation. It doesn’t mean we are nationally accredited however, as that costs a significant amount of money. We can get almost as much through the State program. “I am interested in the National, however, I want to be on firm footing with the State program first. And at this juncture, it will not cost as much.”

"The Commission is correct that we have allowed other priorities to top this one, but we are putting our feet to the fire so to speak to get this done by that time line. We will report monthly to the Commission as an added incentive to meet those deadlines we have set."

Deputy Chief Allen responded when we drafted the policies related to our team, they were done with accreditation standards in mind. It is the way the team is trained and called out that is the standard. I don’t believe there is a standard for the number of officers on a team. It geared more toward the number at a scene, and that is advisory not mandatory. However, as discussed with the Commission, we are working on this issue in the County to expand our team, not only externally, but with added officers internally as well.

Chief Dubois stated that if our work at the County level comes to fruition, we would have 21 officers on our team. The issue remains that the standard may recommend 21 officers to a scene, where we would have 21 to draw from, and not all of them would be available each and every time.

Deputy Chief Allen stated this all takes time. SWAT one & two are mandatory classes for being on a team. Then you have to train with the team for cohesiveness. We held a test over the previous weekend for officers externally. We are currently collecting names internally to get more officers. This is moving along and we hope to have some good progress by the end of the month.

Chief Dubois also noted that from manpower standpoint a commander assesses these scenes. If we needed more officers than could be pulled with our own resources, we can enact mutual aid with other area teams.

Chairman Flanagan MOVED to enter a non-public session at 7:56P.M. for the purpose of personnel and legal matters. SECOND by Comm. Dumont. The motion PASSED by roll call vote, Comm. Dumont-yes, Comm. Stenhouse-yes, Chairman Flanagan-yes. The non-public session closed at 8:11 P.M. on a MOTION by Comm. Dumont, SECOND by Comm. Stenhouse and PASSED unanimously.

Comm. Dumont MOVED to award a merit increase, based on a passing evaluation to the next step in the contract for Off. Chris Mangum. SECOND by Comm. Stenhouse and PASSED unanimously.