HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-10-02 PD CAC MinutesRoxana Kennedy
Chief of Police
MEMBERS:
Ray Aragon
Martin Barros
Gustavo Bidart
Norma Cazares
Patty Chavez
Takisha Corbett
Jose de la Garza
Henrietta Harb
Marla Kingkade
Peter Mabrey
Anthony Millican
Gerry Sablan
STAFF:
Captain Vern Sallee
Captain Phil Collum
Captain Eric Thunberg
ASM Jonathan Alegre
DCA Carol Trujillo
SAS Cathy Miller
MINUTES
A REGULAR MEETING OF THE COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
CHULA VISTA POLICE DEPARTMENT
315 FOURTH AVENUE
CHULA VISTA, CA 91910
CALL TO ORDER: 2:04 PM
ROLL CALL:
3'd floor training room
October 2, 2019
2:00 PM
Present: Martin Barros, Norma Cazares, Takisha Corbett, Jose de la Garza,
Henri Harb, Marla Kingkade Peter Mabrey and Gerry Sablan
Not Present: Ray Aragon, Gustavo Bidart, Patty Chavez and Anthony Millican
City staff present: Roxana Kennedy, Eric Thunberg, Phil Collum, Vern Sallee,
Jonathan Alegre, Joseph Walker, Carol Trujillo and Cathy Miller
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
Two members of the community attended, as well as retired member Ternot
MacRenato. Community members Ms. Aurora Murillo and Dr. Eric Oneal were thanked
for attending. Dr. Oneal, retired from the Navy after 23 years was doing doctorial
research on community policing and was interested in CVPD. Ms. Murillo had an
incident occur and made it a priority to attend with the suggestion of additional
education to the parents of the community with police procedures in order to build
trust.
1. Approval of minutes of March and June 2019 minutes.
Motion to approve the March 2019 minutes was made by CAC member de la
Garza and seconded by CAC member Barros. All accepted no abstentions.
Motion to approve the June 2019 made by CAC member Cazares and seconded by
CAC member Barros. All accepted no abstentions.
2. Chief's Comments:
Chief Kennedy recognized Ternot MacRenato for his 16 years of service to the
Chief's Community Advisory Committee and to the community of Chula Vista. He
was presented with a Chief's coin. Mr. MacRenato was proud to serve on the
committee and thanked the members and the chief for allowing him to serve and is
available for any kind of support needed by either the committee or the police
department.
Chief mentioned working on a long-term staffing plan to present to council on
10/15/19. Measure A will allow hiring of additional officers to keep the community
safe. Thanked those who supported the Measure A 1/2 cent tax to give more
officers.
Discussed Priority 1 (P1) and Priority 2 (P2) calls and response times. GMOC goals are to respond within
6 minutes for Pts and 12 minutes for P2s. CVPD would only meet these thresholds if there were
additional officers but have made progress by creative community policing. CAC member Corbett asked
what is the difference between a P1 and P2. P1 is emergency calls regarding immediate life and death
calls (shooting, rape). P2 slightly less danger to a person (DV with no reported injuries or weapons or a
disturbance of a person or some crimes occurring but not life and death).
Captain Collum will be attending a three-month FBINAA academy and will return at the end of
December. Command usually goes through this leadership training.
Discussed the Drag Queen Story Hour (DASH) protest on 06/19/19. Concern over the community had
police stage a safe area for children as well as keeping both sides of the protestors protected. Was
extremely organized and safe. Overtime costs were $20,400. Command was extremely pleased of how
the department stepped forward and kept the community safe even though tempers and emotions
were high. CAC member Cazares appreciated how everything was handled and was grateful no one was
injured. CAC member Kingkade said you can not put a cost on a person's life being injured so $20,000
might appear to be a lot but in the long run it was worth the pound of prevention.
Mr. MacRenato asked if the preparation was due to the news media and if this is usual. Captain Collum
said the preparation was calculated as the potential of what could happen, the same as if active
shooters and drive by shootings. DCA Trujillo reminded the board this was not just a library event but
there were events before and after the DASH protest with the potential of a large amount of people
blocking traffic. It was a complicated effort to plan based on the event and the history seen in other
communities. Chief Kennedy said CVPD even brought in DCA Trujillo to watch the drone feeds and
believed it went well for what could have happened.
Chief Kennedy gave the following staffing figures since her promotion to Chief in 2016:
• 49 recruits
• 20 laterals (from other organizations)
• 37 professional staff
• 60 promotions
18 are in field training
• Unique diversity— 15.49% female officers
Chief Kennedy invited members to the 10/22/19 grand opening of the new dispatch center. An outlook
invite will be sent for 2:00 pm to see the new state of the art center.
CVPD is ADL compliant and the department has been trained. CVPD does four times more the training
within SD county.
Members were invited to attend National Coffee with a Cop 10/03/19 from 8:30 to 10:30 (2326 Proctor
Valley Road). CVPD attends 4 events a year — once in each district.
3. SANDAG Community Survey — A third party survey was sent to 4000 community members in March
2019. Results were given July 2019 and is available on the CVPD website complete with GMOC response
times and stats. The community appears to be satisfied with the department. Community concerns
include homelessness, drugs and crimes in parks.
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Crime levels might be inaccurate due to social media posts rather than contacting the police directly.
Police cannot respond to crime if no one catts it in. CVPD is trying to educate the community on
reporting and requests CAC members make sure to remind others in their spheres to report to police
and not just on social media. Community also requested more visible patrols, focus on traffic and faster
response times.
CAC member asked if Measure A will provide additional officers across all the district and reduce time
threshold. Chief Kennedy said PD wants to improve response times and additional officers will put the
community at peace when they see an officer in the area as well as being a deterrent.
Captain Collum said the SANDAG survey revealed a greater wish of involvement between the
community and law enforcement. Some of the programs the police department has is quarterly "Coffee
with a Cop" events or working with the schools on educational meetings.
CAC member de la Garza asked if patrol vehicles cross over into other districts. Captain Sallee discussed
how the city is broken into 4 sectors where uniform will stay in that sector for their shift. CAC member
de la Garza asked about the Dispatch Real Time. Captain Thunberg discussed the new computer
upgrades which will show the location of the vehicles and their driving speeds.
CAC member de la Garza asked when a body worn camera (BWC) is activated and if it is manual. Every
officer has a BWC and will activate it depending on the call for service. Another possibility in the future
is to supply vehicles with a camera.
Mr. MacRenato brought up homeless issues in Chula Vista and asked about local government help.
Chief Kennedy reminded CAC members being homeless is not a crime and of a recent grant awarded to
NCPD and CVPD which partners with "Alpha Project" who provides services and case management to
the homeless. PERT clinicians are assigned to the team as well.
SPSA Walker discussed a dashboard a SANDAG study posted on the CVPD website that shared a study
out of 834 homeless interviewed, 313 don't wants services and 37% don't want help.
4. Drone Program:
Captain Sallee discussed the Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) that has allowed CVPD a lot of positive
recognition on being the only city approved by the FAA to fly drones as first responders on Priority 1 and
Priority 2 calls. Chief Kennedy and Captain Sallee were presenters at the IACP conference in Chicago on
the work done in CVPD.
CVPD has 2 drone sites and the program is a powerful descalaton tool. CVPD recently reached 1000
flights and assisted in approximately 126 arrests. As of right now the department is researching a
possible site out east and is looking for funding.
It was asked if Southwestern College can be used as a third site. As of right now, expansion would be
too expensive for equipment and staff.
Latest beta testing is "Live911" which lets the drone operator immediately dispatch UAS to 911 locations
in the city. Working out the bugs now (location pinpointing and geofencing). Experienced operators can
determine demeanor of phone call (high stress situation) and advise responding officers.
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CAC member Corbett asked about the problems with cell coverage with Verizon and the effect on the
drones. The drones do not use Verizon, it was media misrepresentation and the drones will not be
impacted.
CAC member Kingkade discussed the county wide best practice policy on descalation and commended
the department for using the UAS.
Chief Kennedy discussed CVPD being the pioneer of UAS and in five years it will be mainstream but
working with the FAA to tailor to the organizational needs is important as well as keeping it funded.
CAC member Harb asked about manned helicopters. UAS will be used 75% of the time and be just as
efficient. CAC member de la Garza asked how many UAS does CVPD have. The total is 4, the newer
ones are more compact and are more reliable in flying and longer battery life. Cheaper to send a drone
than a helicopter. CVPD has done information on the website. Dr. Oneal mentioned research on UAS
with battery life should CVPD get a third site such as Southwestern College. CAC member Sablan asked
about the removal of line sight if CVPD did have a site out east. Captain Sallee discussed the need for air
space awareness and the need for visual site (no more than 400') to ensure safe flight operations.
5. New Neighbors Platform:
Captain Collum discussed MOU with the Ring platform (purchased by Amazon). The platform is a social
media post in which you can share a video or post a text. The website is designed for each
neighborhood, which a customer would sign up for on-line. The police are not able to obtain any
specific information of the poster unless shared by them. They are not able to see the exact address
and a map shows only generalities. CVPD can send out to the platform, just like Twitter, information to
share with the community. The difference between Ring and Nextdoor are the videos.
CAC member Sablan asked if this could be used in lieu of calling the police. The police do not monitor
any social media platform 7/24 so community must call into dispatch for immediate response. Ring also
does not have someone monitor all posts.
CAC member Cazares asked if there ACLU issues with Ring and UAS. Captain Collum said ACLU did
express concern however the police do not have access to anything specific if it is not shared. The police
see what any member of the community would see which is public domain.
CAC member Corbett asked if there was potential for profiling. Ring members can opt out to share
footage with police.
CAC member Sablan asked how is CVPD and the Ring MOU linked. The MOU outlines certain restrictions
the police can do. For example, no advertising. Facts are provided in order to dispel any misinformation
or concerns.
CAC member Harb asked if at the next meeting CVPD could provide if there has been an increase in
crime. CAC member Kingkade would like officer wellness discussed at the next meeting.
The meeting concluded at 4:02 hours. The next scheduled meeting will be Thursday, December 5, 2019
at 5:00 pm.
fv"Xi, -
Cathy Miller Sr. Administrative Secretary
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