Citizen Police Advisory Committee

CITIZEN POLICE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES March 15, 2016 6:00 p.m. The Citizen Police Advisory Committee met in regular session on Tuesday, March 15, 2016, at 6:00 p.m. in the Executive Conference Room at City Hall, 800 Municipal Drive, Farmington, New Mexico, 87401. Members Present: Deb Dumont, Chairman; Chuck Culpepper, Patricia Simpson, David Bratcher, Becky Hernandez Members Absent: Steve Grey, Lisa Martin City Personnel Present: Police Chief Steve Hebbe Lt. Casey Malone, Internal Affairs Sgt. Baric Crum, Internal Affairs Sgt. Matt Veith, Internal Affairs Corporal Nate Lacey, Police Training Officer Nick Bloomfield Kim Parrish, Administrative Assistant I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairman Deb Dumont at 6:00 p.m., and there being a quorum of members present, the following proceedings were duly had and taken. II. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS David Bratcher moved to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of the November 17, 2015 as presented. Patricia Simpson seconded the motion. Motion carried. III. CHIEF’S REPORT Police Chief Hebbe gave a recap of the video that had been released in the officer- involved shooting since our last meeting. He said the video showed that the officer had done a good job under difficult circumstances, and that we had fairly good community support and understanding. Chief Hebbe mentioned that the new JIP building/Sobering House is set to open on March 21, 2016. He said this will help fill the role of The Roof, but will provide more space, and will be run by PMS. He also talked about how there have been more shootings of police officers nationally lately. This increased violence towards police makes it a little more difficult for recruiting; however, our Police Department is still faring well in that aspect. They have several officers going through more training. Some of these trainings are in different cities, but they are also bringing in a Critical Incident Training for our officers. Lastly, he discussed that they are continuing to revise their Use of Force policies. They did see a decline last year in use of force incidents compared to previous years. IV. INTERNAL AFFAIRS REPORT Sgt. Matt Veith gave an overview of the November, December, January and February Internal Affairs reports.  He mentioned that these reports are to track code of conduct and internal affairs investigations. He noted that response to aggression and pursuits had dropped dramatically in January and February of this year, compared to last year. Citizen complaints also dropped for this 4-month time period, but Chief Hebbe said that he usually doesn’t mind citizen complaints because it does keep them accountable. V. NEW/OLD BUSINESS a. MEMBERS – none. b. CITIZEN INPUT – none. VI. TRAINING Corporal Nate Lacey and Officer Nick Bloomfield gave an in-depth training on the head tilt technique, which they have been training all of their officers on. This technique is meant to bring somebody who’s resisting an officer under control and bring them to the ground, but in a way that has a much lower chance of injuring the person in custody and the officer as well. This can help deescalate a situation much quicker than other previous techniques. VII. 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