Public Safety Committee

PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE November 25, 2019 A meeting of the Public Safety Committee was held this date beginning at 4:02 p.m., at 80 Broad Street, City Hall, First Floor Conference Room Notice of this meeting was sent to all local news media. PRESENT Councilmember Shahid, Chair, Councilmember Lewis, Councilmember Seekings, Councilmember Wagner and Mayor Tecklenburg Staff: Chief Reynolds, Chief Curia, Lieutenant Bruder, Susan Herdina, Steve Ruemelin, Janie Borden, and Bethany Whitaker Also Present: Lakesiya Cofield, Court Director, Joyce Downs, The Honorable Thomas P. Morrison, The Honorable Michael A. Molony The meeting was opened with an invocation given by Councilmember Lewis. Approval of Minutes On the motion of Councilmember Seekings, seconded by Councilmember Wagner, the Committee voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the October 18, 2019 meeting. Update from Municipal Court Administration Chairman Shahid stated that at the last meeting, they had received information concerning the backlog of cases. There were a total of 540 pending jury trial cases, involving 396 defendants awaiting jury trials, plus an additional 167 DUI pending jury trials. They had received a very detailed report as to the information, and it was comprehensive. They had asked the Municipal Court staff to come back with ideas on how to reduce the pending cases. In the Ad-Hoc Budget Committee meetings, they had talked about proposing an increase in the Court Administration budget by adding a part-time DUI judge and a part-time DUI prosecutor. Ms. Cofield stated that they were looking at implementing a DUI Court which would include a DUI prosecutor and a DUI judge. The steps that they had talked about was to integrate the new DUI prosecutor into the existing prosecutor schedule that they already had for 2020. They wouldn’t add any additional weeks for jury trials. They would just plug in the DUI prosecutor and judge so that they could work hand in hand to help get rid of the back log. The current process in place notified the defendants and victims of their schedule. They would start scheduling January 2020 pre-trials during the second week of December. It was recommended by a judge to have the DUI judge to also try any DUI trial and absence cases. There was also a recommendation to make sure the court room had adequate audio/video equipment. In the interim, she had reached out to the Court Administrator in Mount Pleasant because they had a DUI Court. That would be helpful to get some ideas that they might not have thought of. They would also have a separate DUI docket to keep the cases separate. That would increase productivity. Chairman Shahid said that he was very familiar with Mount Pleasant because he was a judge there. They had a dedicated day for all new DUI arrests. That was 10 days after the arrest. It was their initial appearance. Having a dedicated day would be critical and they could pre-set the dates. Then, they would know from the off-set what may happen with that case and whether there would be a jury trial. Chief Reynolds stated that he thought this would be a positive step. He had spoken to a Team 4 officer who had a case that was 2.5 years old. He was excited about the recommendations. Chairman Shahid said in 30 days, the number of DUI cases had gone up from 167 to 183. Ms. Cofield stated that for the 2017 cases, out of the four, one was scheduled for December 2nd in hopes that it would be resolved. Another was schedule for December 16th and two were scheduled for that week, but there had not been an update on what happened with those cases. It was possible that all four could be resolved. Judge Molony stated that this process would be great. Technology was important. With DUI cases, they had the dash cam footage, the sobriety test, and a lot more hoops to jump through. It was a question of resources and focusing in on cases. Councilmember Lewis asked how long it took to try a DUI case. Judge Molony said that he hoped they could be done in half a day, but that was never guaranteed. At a minimum, it was 3- 5 hours. Chairman Shahid stated that Mount Pleasant had two courtrooms and asked if they had any space for another. Ms. Cofield stated that the DMV was moving from their location at 180 Lockwood and that could be an option. Mayor Tecklenburg said that was the City’s building, so they planned to get all the stakeholders together to talk about the future use of the space. Judge Molony stated that it would be great if they could all the footage needed on one disc. There was also a program at the law school where law students would get everything ready and then they could just push a button. Chairman Shahid asked what kind of equipment they had right now. Ms. Downs stated that they had flatscreen TV’s to hook a laptop to via HDMI. They didn’t have wifi capabilities. Chairman Shahid stated that they should make sure that there was a dedicated IT person there when they were in session. Judge Molony stated that would be helpful. Ms. Herdina stated that another thing they were talking about was to have an officer in the court to help rewrite tickets. They had been talking with Deputy Chief Broughton who would be working on that. Chairman Shahid asked what the protocol was if an officer suspected a DUI. Chief Reynolds stated that every officer out there was expected to be able to make a DUI arrest. They were working on an increased amount of cameras, and technology training to get more uniformed and proficient. They would always have people out there, especially now, with in car video cameras. Councilmember Seekings stated there was still a big back log of non-DUI cases and asked what the strategy was for those. Ms. Cofield said hopefully the prosecutors would try the cases. She didn’t have a separate plan in place. Judge Molony stated that he could help with that and the Gateway Program would be a big help and benefit. They had to talk a self-paced course online and if completed, the case could be dismissed. Councilmember Seekings asked how many cases were eligible for that. Judge Molony stated he thought it would be at least half of the cases. They only got one shot to complete it and it took away all of the paperwork and waiting for people to come in. Chairman Shahid asked what happened if they didn’t have access to a computer. Ms. Downs said they could do it on their phone, or they could do it at the library. Councilmember Seekings asked if there was a coordinator that monitored the program. Ms. Downs said the prosecutor’s office handled it and they had to complete it within 45 days. Judge Molony stated that they could apply this to pending cases, as well. The prosecutor had to offer the program, and the people had to accept. Chairman Shahid said that the key question was how many of the defendants would be eligible for the program. Councilmember Seekings asked if they got input from the public, if that would dissuade them from putting people in the program. Judge Molony stated it was generally the prosecutor’s decision. Councilmember Seekings said that they did still have to clear the cases appropriately and not use the program for every case because it was quicker. Chairman Shahid asked if there was a process where after the jury trial was requested, there was a pre-trial conference. Ms. Downs said there had been in the past, and they would be bringing it back in the new year. Chairman Shahid asked what the problem was that caused it to not work. Ms. Downs said they weren’t disposing of cases in the pre-trial. Chairman Shahid asked how many cases would be reasonable to set a pre-trial conference. Judge Morrison said about 15 cases would be reasonable. They didn’t want to overstack and then not be able to do the pre-trial. Councilmember Seekings asked if they could continue to report back to the Committee. They could have quarterly updates. If they had updates, they would be much better off when it came to the budgeting process, because they would know the Municipal Court’s needs in advance rather than trying to catch up. Chief Reynolds stated that their whole goal was to save lives. They needed to get a good return on their investments in court. They could all do better and he thought this would have a positive effect. They had to think about the cost of officers, opportunities lost by not being on the street, their hourly wages, and their continuing to go to cases multiple times. This was a big step in the right direction. They needed to start doing things differently. The way it had been operating was not very efficient and they weren’t getting the outcomes needed to keep their community safe. An ordinance to amend Chapter 2, Section 56, to expand the responsibilities of the Public Safety Committee to include review of judicial candidates nominated by the Mayor Ms. Borden stated that they had a request to expand the responsibilities of the committee to include having a quarterly report from the Clerk of Court’s office and bringing nominations for judicial candidates before the Committee for discussion. Mayor Tecklenburg said that right now, they had an opening. They would receive letters, and they referred applicants to sign up online. There were about 10 or 12 people that would be interested. He asked if they wanted to look at all the people who had applied. Councilmember Seekings said they could bring 3-5 to the Committee. It would be good to run the Mayor’s top choices by the Committee. Chairman Shahid said they could be the sounding board to help the Mayor. Councilmember Seekings said it didn’t need to be a specific number that the Mayor would bring for review. The Committee discussed what the wording of the ordinance needed to be changed to. Chairman Shahid said that they would be vetting the candidates and telling him which ones were qualified and then the Mayor would make the final nomination. Mayor Tecklenburg asked if it would be appropriate to have the candidates coming to the meeting for an interview of some sort. Chairman Shahid said that the wording gave them discretion on what they could do. They could invite them or they could read the resume. On the motion of Councilmember Wagner, seconded by Councilmember Lewis, the Committee voted unanimously to defer the above item to the next meeting. Having no further business, the Committee adjourned at 5:09 p.m. Bethany Whitaker Council Secretary