Citizen Police Advisory Committee

CITIZEN POLICE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES September 19, 2017 6:00 p.m. The Citizen Police Advisory Committee met in regular session on Tuesday, September 19, 2017, at 6:00 p.m. in the Executive Conference Room at City Hall, 800 Municipal Drive, Farmington, New Mexico, 87401. Members Present: Chair Deb Dumont; Patricia Simpson; Rose Grey Members Absent: Chuck Culpepper; Julie Blair; David Bratcher City Personnel Present: Police Chief Steve Hebbe Cpt. Baric Crum Corporal David Griego Jennifer Breakell, City Attorney Kim Parrish, Executive Assistant I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairwoman Deb Dumont at 6:03 p.m., and there being a quorum of members present, the following proceedings were duly had and taken. II. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS Patricia Simpson moved to approve the minutes of the July 18, 2017 regular meeting as presented. Deb Dumont seconded the motion. Motion carried. III. CHIEF’S REPORT Chief Steve Hebbe gave a summary of all the promotions they had done with the Police Department over the past few months. He stated that they had brought back a captain position, several new lieutenants, and many more officers were promoted down the chain. So now he is working to get them trained. They have sent four of the supervisors down to Albuquerque for command school. Chief Hebbe discussed some events that will be happening over the next few weeks that will have a police presence, which include National Night Out on October 3, the Shiprock Fair Parade, and also the LGBTQ Pride parade here in Farmington. He stated that they are recruiting for the January police academy right now. He is pleased with results of the recruiting, but said they have still been struggling to get many of them through the full academy. Chief Hebbe mentioned that they are looking at changing the structure of policing districts to better use data and detect patterns in different areas. Lieutenants will be assigned to each district so they can see things happening in their district and monitor any patterns. Chairman Deb Dumont asked if there had been an increase in any particular crime around Farmington. Chief Hebbe mentioned that auto burglaries had been fairly common in certain areas of town, but now they are seeing more commercial burglaries with really no pattern. He discussed the new “Catch and Release” court rules, which means they are no longer detaining people who have not actually been convicted of a crime. We’ll hear more in the coming months about how this progresses, and see what some of the repercussions are. IV. INTERNAL AFFAIRS REPORT David Griego gave an overview of the July and August Internal Affairs reports. He noted that the department had 2,036 more Use of Force calls compared to 2016. He discussed again the policy changes last year concerning Use of Force, and that they are documenting a lot more incidents than before. Chief Hebbe is comfortable that they are using force only when needed, but that they are also being more proactive, which also means more negative contacts. V. NEW/OLD BUSINESS a. MEMBERS – none. b. CITIZEN INPUT – none. VI. CASE REVIEW Patricia Simpson made a motion to go into closed session, seconded by Deb Dumont to do an IA case review. All voted in favor; motion carried. Following the closed meeting, during which meeting the matters discussed were limited only to those specified in the motion for closure; a motion was made by Patricia Simpson to open the meeting for further business. Deb Dumont seconded the motion; motion carried. 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