Citizen Police Advisory Committee

CITIZEN POLICE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES January 15, 2013 7:00 p.m. The Citizen Police Advisory Committee met in regular session on Tuesday, January 15, 2013, at 7:00 p.m. in the Executive Conference Room at City Hall, 800 Municipal Drive, Farmington, New Mexico, 87401. Members Present: Deb Dumont, Chairman; Joel Irvin, Patricia Simpson Members Absent: Chuck Culpepper, Steve Grey, and Rosalie Maez City Personnel Present: Kyle Westall, Police Chief; Taft Tracy, Internal Affairs Lieutenant; Jennifer Breakell, Deputy City Attorney; Jason Eley, Assistant City Attorney; Todd Johnston, Code Compliance Supervisor; Mark Romero, Code Compliance Officer; Kim Parrish, Administrative Aide Guests: None I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairman Deb Dumont at 7:00 p.m., and there being a quorum of members present, the following proceedings were duly had and taken. II. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING Deb Dumont moved to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of November 20, 2012 as presented. Joel Irvin seconded the motion. Motion carried. III. CHIEF’S REPORT, CHIEF KYLE WESTALL Chief Westall mentioned that they completed the initial draft of their complaint form, to include a Spanish version. The Police Department has a number of Spanish- speaking officers to help citizens fill it out. He stated that they have looked at a new computer program to deal with accident reports, and put them onto the internet. That way the citizens can have direct access to their reports, and insurance companies can pay to get reports also. Reviewing accident statistics, in the past 20 year period, accidents have gone down about 10%. Over a per capita basis, where population has almost doubled, some of that could be attributed to good law enforcement. The Police Department has also focused their concentration of ticket-writing in places of higher accident rates. By doing that, we’re able to keep numbers low. He stated that the SWAT team was busy over the holidays. There were several incidents that all ended in a successful manner, without any officer injuries. Chief Westall stated that recruiting continues to be a struggle. The Police Department is down about 15 officers at the moment, which is not terribly unusual.  He stated that he will not fill specialty positions until Patrol is fully staffed, since they are the backbone of the organization. The chief invited the board members to the department awards ceremony on January 31 at 6:00 pm, at the Civic Center. He discussed a meeting he had with State representatives about the proposed changes to the PERA program. They believe they need to make sweeping changes, but we want them to make smaller, incremental changes. We use our retirement package as a big retirement tool. He will continue to watch it through the legislative process. If their changes are passed, we could possibly lose about 10% of the department, including several from the command staff. Sgt. Scott was involved in an officer-involved shooting on January 1, 2013. State Police are doing the investigation. From every indication we have, it seems to be legally justified. It was also well-captured on video. IV. INTERNAL AFFAIRS REPORT, LT. TAFT TRACY Lt. Tracy explained the monthly Internal Affairs reports, which include IA allegations and citizen complaints. He stated that there was one added “Use of Force” complaint, which is the only pending investigation at this time. They also added the breakdown of responses to aggression to the end of each report. Lt. Tracy asked the Committee if they had any questions about the Internal Affairs reports. There were none. V. TRAINING—CODE COMPLIANCE, TODD JOHNSTON Todd Johnston gave an overview of Code Compliance and their role within the Department and enforcing City ordinances. He gave the committee a list of the most common complaints that they receive. He also explained how they do things differently now than when Code Compliance was under Community Development, and how voluntary compliance is much higher. VI. OLD BUSINESS None. VII. NEW BUSINESS Patricia Simpson was introduced as the newest CPAC member. Jason Eley was introduced as the new Assistant City Attorney, who will be coming to the CPAC meetings in place of Jennifer Breakell. Deb Dumont stated that she did her annual ride-along with the Police Department. VIII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Committee, and, upon motion duly made and seconded, the meeting was adjourned. ____________________________ ______________________________ Deb Dumont, Chairman Kimberly Parrish, Secretary