Citizens Police Advisory Group

Hampton Police Division Office of the Chief of Police CITIZENS POLICE ADVISORY GROUP May 3, 2018 SUBJECT: Citizens Police Advisory Group Meeting – 6:00pm MEMBERS PRESENT: Chief Terry Sult Bishop Lamont Moss Mary Bunting, City Manager Charles Powell Jimmy Gray, Councilmember Lt. Jason Price Anne Andrews Angelo Sugg, Jr. James Bailey Jonathan Welters William Beach Cheryl Steele Robert Boester Ann Cherry John Gately Brandi Law, Deputy City Attorney Lt. Col. Tim McCarty Rev. Andre McCloud INTRODUCTIONS: • Chief Sult opened by thanking everyone for attending and agreeing to serve on this committee. o This committee was established pursuant to Council Resolution (#18-0001) which also defines groups roles and responsibilities. Copy of Resolution provided to each member. • Committee members introduced themselves. o Robert “Bob” Boester – Legal Representative - retired attorney and former Chief Deputy Commonwealth Attorney; spent 30 years in private practice. o Lt. Jason Price – Supervisor of HPD’s Community Engagement Unit; oversees Public Information Officers and has a direct report to Chief Sult. o William “Bill” Beach – At-large Representative – Director of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Educational Foundation; has spent 20 years invested in law enforcement o Bishop Lamont Moss – Faith Based Representative - local pastor and retired veteran of the Air Force. Page 1 of 7  Hampton Police Division Citizens Police Advisory Group Meeting – May 3, 2018 o Rev. Andre McCloud – Faith Based Representative - Active with the Neighborhood and Planning Commissions, having served 2 terms for each. o James Bailey – HCS Representative – Security Supervisor for HCS, has been with HCS for 15 years and prior to that was a Hampton Police Officer as a School Resource Officer. o Anne Andrews – Unity Commission Representative – has multiple roles with the City and is retired from TNCC. o Charles Powell – TNCC Representative – Employed by the Police Dept. at TNCC o Lt. Col. Tim McCarty – Military (LAFB) Representative – Oversees the 633rd Security Forces at Langley and has been in the military for 29+ years. o John Gately – At-large Representative - Was in military for 21 years with investigations. o Brandi Law - Deputy City Attorney – legal representative for CPAG and also serves as the legal representative for HPD. o Councilman Jimmy Gray - City Council Liaison for CPAG o John Welters – Neighborhood Commission Representative – works at NASA o Ann Cherry – Civil Rights Organization Representative – Vice Chair of the HCS School Board and is also a member of the NAACP Hampton Chapter. o Mary Bunting - City Manager o Angelo Sugg, Jr. – Youth Representative – student at Regent University. • Councilman Gray addressed the committee, thanked the members for serving and is looking forward to being a part of this group. o Each member was selected based on recommendations from City Council members. o A great group of individuals were put together to form this committee and this will make sure the city is intrinsically positioned to deal with crime. o This group was formed based on the recommendations from the President’s 21st Century Policing Report 1. • City Manager, Mary Bunting addressed the committee. o HPD was proactive from the beginning when the 21st Century Policing Report1 was first released and lots of work had already been done within the organization; however, some items recommended in the report are beyond the City’s and HPD’s scope. o We are excited that members are willing to be a part of this group. 1 President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing – Final Report Page 2 of 7  Hampton Police Division Citizens Police Advisory Group Meeting – May 3, 2018 o The City also has the Citizen Engagement Review Committee (CEARC) – an advocate leadership group that has been trained and is prepared for any potential incident that has the ability to divide the city.  The scope of CEARC is not limited to police incidents but may also include concerns with other City departments, racial issues, LGBTQ, ethnicity, etc.  CEARC will also work with the City’s Management Team and Police. o City Manager echoed Councilman Gray’s sentiments, thanking everyone for agreeing to be a part of this group. • Chief made additional introductions: o Brandi Law, Deputy City Attorney  Ms. Law is the Chief’s legal representative from the City Attorney’s office for HPD and will be attending these meetings as well. o Lt. Jason Price  Has a direct report to the Chief of Police, oversees the Public Information Officers and the Community Engagement unit. o Cheryl Steele  Chief’s Senior Administrative Assistant who will be the liaison for taking notes, scheduling meetings, etc. DISCUSSIONS: • 21st Century Policing Report1 – law enforcement professionals were not surprised with the content of the report when released. o Chief Sult advocated for the establishment of this group long before this report was released with this recommendation. • This group is an advisory committee that will discuss crime prevention strategies, Division Policy and Procedures, any concerns of high liability, etc. • A formal meeting process will be established as we do have to follow legal procedures to include establishing open and closed meetings; tactical or debriefing discussions, etc. o Open meetings are open to the public to attend.  Any communications, including emails, sent out to all committee members are considered public information and can be FOIA’d 2 2 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a United States federal law that grants the public access to information possessed by government agencies. Upon written request, U.S. government agencies are required to release information unless it falls under one of nine exemptions listed in the Act. Page 3 of 7  Hampton Police Division Citizens Police Advisory Group Meeting – May 3, 2018  Email communication to all members can inadvertently create a public meeting; can send email to individual members, but if sent to all members, it creates a public meeting. o Closed meetings will require only members of the committee to attend for confidentiality purposes. o Will need to certify what items will be discussed in open and closed sessions. • Member Training o This group needs to understand how the Division is organized and its strategies and policies. o Will need to discuss how this group will receive training on Division Policies & Procedures and where HPD stands as an organization. Examples of training:  Provide a condensed version of the Citizens’ Police Academy (CPA) / Ministers’ Police Academy (MPA); or  Offer a portion of time at each Committee Meeting for an overview of the areas presented at the CPA or MPA. • HPD Mission o Will also need to discuss the Division’s Mission and its Management Philosophy. • Committee Organization o Pursuant to the Council Resolution, a Chairman and Vice Chairman will need to be elected to run the meetings; Chief Sult will help facilitate the meetings. o Need to be thinking about this for next meeting. • HPD Leadership Philosophy o Chief provided an overview of exactly what he provides to all employees of the Division. o When Chief Sult first came to HPD, saw that there was no clear mission statement for employees to follow; Mission Statement was then changed to the following:  To Prevent Crime and Enforce Laws Through Problem Solving Partnerships. • 4 Pillars to this Mission o Prevent Crime from occurring; begin with a safe place to live work and play; when fail to do this o Must Enforce Laws; Chief demands officers always act in professional fashion; must only be as aggressive as community trusts us to be. o Problem Solving is key to what police do. Page 4 of 7  Hampton Police Division Citizens Police Advisory Group Meeting – May 3, 2018 o Partnerships (stakeholders that have a vested interest in the City); partners to fighting crime, adds additional capacity to the mission.  Community policing is all about trust and relationships with the community; similar to old high school friendships; must mentor and nurture relationships.  Intelligence Led Policing 3 is based on the foundation of Community Policing.  Must form relationships/partnerships to understand dynamics of a community.  Relationships are at the heart of Community Problem Oriented Policing. 4  Chief requires officers to have 2 non-enforcement contacts per day; i.e. positive contacts. • HPD Open Communication Philosophy (360 Communication) o HPD has a Chain of Command / Paramilitary structure. o When not in a tactical environment, Chief has an open door policy so that anyone can speak with him anytime on any subject matter. o This promotes conversation and ideas; concepts are presented openly and are more likely to move forward, than presenting through Commanders or up the Chain of Command; open communication prevents obstacles. o Also allows for notification of inappropriate behavior to reach the top; only takes one person within the Chain of Command to stifle a warning. o Communication is to be presented in a constructive fashion and always respectful; will not tolerate verbal attacks; but may agree to disagree. o Decisions must be supported, whether personnel agree with them or not (be respectful). o Chief holds quarterly Roundtable Meetings with the various ranks to have conversations in an open forum on topics important to the troops; if Chief doesn’t have an answer for them right then, he will find an answer and report at the next meeting. o Chief also has an anonymous suggestion box (online/electronic) that personnel can use to submit questions, suggestions or ideas; this is great for those who are unable to attend the Roundtable Meetings. (anonymity is optional) 3 Intelligence Led Policing – The New Intelligence Architecture, USDOJ, BJA, September 2005 Reducing Crime Through Intelligence-Led Policing, USDOJ, BJA March 2012 4 CPOP – Community Problem Oriented Policing Page 5 of 7  Hampton Police Division Citizens Police Advisory Group Meeting – May 3, 2018 • Discipline Philosophy o Chief requires officers to be professionally aggressive; assuming that an officer or employee will make mistakes but how consistent and fair we will be across the board is important. o Goal is to correct the behavior by using the least amount of discipline for the mistake; object is to fail forward not punish; treat everyone fair and consistent. o Questions must be asked for any discipline:  Was the violation so egregious that the employee should be separated from the Division?  Is the behavior correctible? o 5 Factors to consider:  What is the officer’s past experience that has resulted in the violation?  What is the officer’s past record?  Was the violation intentional or unintentional?  What was the motivation that caused the officer to commit the violation?  What was the degree of harm? i.e. injury, damage, etc. • Harm to an officer’s reputation is the most severe; a tarnished professional reputation, tarnishes both City and Division as well. • Untruthfulness or stealing – Zero tolerance policy; will fire immediately for these infractions. o Reasons: Must release this information to prosecutors in Court; officer is found not credible; unable to testify in court; case compromised. o Chief has a responsibility to have trustworthy officers on the force. • HPD Policies o Two policies to discuss with this group beginning next meeting:  Pursuit Policy – will be distributed prior to next meeting.  Use of Force Policy – will discuss once video simulator in place (see further info below) o Need to determine what the community standard should be - the main focus of this group. o City Manager has assisted the Division in acquiring a video simulator that demos what officers face when making split second decisions; will have this simulator up and running prior to discussing the Use of Force policy. Page 6 of 7  Hampton Police Division Citizens Police Advisory Group Meeting – May 3, 2018 o Will also discuss why officers do what they do or how they might handle a situation the way they did. Examples:  How officers execute or serve a warrant;  Why officers take certain procedures to enforce the law. o Want this group to understand these concepts so they can communicate that information to the community; having the knowledge of “why” will help the community to understand. o Accreditation standards require the Division to review and update policies constantly. • Internal Investigations o 5 reasons why internal investigations are performed:  To ensure the officer did the right thing;  Make sure the Division prepared the officer correctly (thru training);  Do training strategies need to be adjusted?  Review equipment considerations.  Do any policy items need to be reviewed? o Policy provides guidance to stay within a decision boundary. o Officers need to know certain policies within a split second; some policies they have to refer to; these will be discussed at future meetings. • Community policing has been re-energized throughout the Division since Chief Sult began. • Division’s top priorities: o Guns o Gangs o Drugs • Chief is working with the City Manager to add additional police officers so we have enough officers to handle both calls for service and community engagement activities or CPOP4 to help improve HPD’s operational capacity. NEXT MEETING: • City Manager suggested meeting in June and then every other month thereafter (bi-monthly); will send out a projected schedule. • Will discuss and vote at next meeting for Chair and Vice Chair. Meeting adjourned Page 7 of 7