Citizens Police Advisory Group

Hampton Police Division Office of the Chief of Police CITIZENS POLICE ADVISORY GROUP June 13, 2019 SUBJECT: Citizens Police Advisory Group Meeting – 6:00pm held at HPD’s Townsend Community Rm, 5th Fl. MEMBERS & HPD PERSONNEL PRESENT: Robert Boester, Chairman Charles Powell Chief Terry Sult Angelo Sugg, Jr. Steve Bond, Assistant City Manager Jonathan Welters Anne Andrews John Gately Brandi Law, Deputy City Attorney Rev. Andre McCloud Bishop Lamont Moss GUESTS IN ATTENDANCE: Sgt. Mary Shackelford, HPD Court Liaison Officer MEMBERS ABSENT: James Bailey Ann Cherry William Beach Jimmy Gray, Vice Mayor Lt. Col. L. Martin OPENING: • Chairman, Robert Boester, opened the meeting. • Minutes from the April 11th meeting – Chairman Boester asked for a motion to approve the minutes. o Motion made from the floor and seconded. o All approved. o Minutes from the April 11, 2019 meeting were approved. Page 1 of 6  Hampton Police Division Citizens Police Advisory Group Meeting – June 13, 2019 DISCUSSION: • Definitions: o Homicide - killing of one human being by another ruled justifiable. Not unlawful o Murder - technicality from legal perspective - every murder is a homicide but every homicide is not a murder. • Looking for ways to obtain information on why so many young folk are committing violent crimes; juvenile probation is unable to share such data; still looking for other ways to gain access to this information. • SHOCAP 1 – group focused on youth offenders who commit violent crimes; once such group is established and approved by law, then the group should be able to share such information with appropriate law enforcement and other SHOCAP committee members. o Sharing of restricted information otherwise, has become a problem to be able to thoroughly conduct a social autopsy on a juvenile’s life of crime. • Peninsula Violent Crime Summit – June 17, 2019 – Chief Sult and U.S. Attorney’s Office hosting at NASA – discussion centered on gun violence on the Peninsula. o Morning session is for law enforcement to discuss the driving factors of gun violence. o Afternoon session, community partners invited to receive their input on what they believe may be some of the factors associated with gun violence. o Several CPAG members selected to attend the community portion (afternoon). OVERVIEW OF HPD’S NEW COURT LIAISON POSITION – Sgt. Mary Shackelford: • HPD’s shifts are 12-hours and many officers incur a fatigue factor due to having to also attend court after their shift, especially for night shift officers. • Court Liaison position was established to have that person look out for the officers to ensure they get in and out of court quickly and efficiently. • There was a disconnect between the officers schedules, court schedules and Commonwealth Attorney’s schedules. • About a month ago, Sgt. Shackelford was selected for the position and she has made a significant impact in streamlining the court processes for officers, which has also benefited the Commonwealth Attorneys and Courts as part of Pillar 6 of the President’s 21st Century Police Report. 1 SHOCAP – Serious Habitual Offender Comprehensive Action Program Page 2 of 6  Hampton Police Division Citizens Police Advisory Group Meeting – June 13, 2019 • Primary goal is Officer Wellness, especially for those officers who work a 12-hour shift; they have short weeks, long weeks and then coupled with having to attend court, can be very exhausting on the officers sometimes equating to 7-8 days of work straight. • First focus was to meet with all the judges in the lower courts, General District Court and Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court to establish assigned court dates for our shift officers. o Can’t always guarantee they won’t have court on their days off, but what we can do is ensure the officers know when their court date has been set. o After meeting with the Judges and they discovered the fatigue factor of our officers, they were quick to work with HPD on establishing a better schedule; the Commonwealth Attorney was also ready to work with us as well. o Because the Judges are now aware of this fatigue factor, the court’s docket schedules are now worked around officers schedules vs. Defense Attorney’s schedules. o As attorneys prepare for their cases, many times they discover they do not need the officer to appear in court; they can now call Sgt. Shackelford, the Court Liaison Officer, and she will ensure that officers are notified ahead of time that they do not need to appear in court; saving the officers valuable time and so they are not sitting in court unnecessarily if not needed. o Should the attorney need additional information before the court date, the Court Liaison can now ensure that the information is sent to the attorneys in a timely manner; helps to streamline the process of having one person to contact vs. several different officers or supervisors. o Officers are held accountable, prepare for cases appropriately and the information is received by the attorneys for a successful prosecution. o Commonwealth Attorney’s office is also assisting in training for offices to notify them of any changes to the code or other important factors pertinent to prosecution of cases; most of this training is done on-line which also tests the officers on the materials, creating a well-rounded officer. • Have had a positive response from the officers as well as the Commonwealth Attorneys; processes are better streamlined and communication has greatly increased. • The Commonwealth Attorney is also holding his attorneys accountable and if there is a problem on their end, it is addressed immediately. • Court Liaison also has access to the court Dbase to view dockets to determine which officers are required to attend court, etc. • If a court date needs to be rescheduled (continued), Court Liaison makes sure the correct protocol is used so everyone is aware. • Any update to the laws, the Court Liaison makes sure that officers are made aware of such changes. Page 3 of 6  Hampton Police Division Citizens Police Advisory Group Meeting – June 13, 2019 • Officers’ schedules are now taken into account when the Commonwealth Attorneys set cases for trial, which benefits both officer and attorneys. • Question: Is this program unique to Hampton or do other jurisdictions have similar programs? o Some agencies in the area, Newport News and Portsmouth, do have similar programs. HPD’s Court Liaison does collaborate with their agencies representatives to see what their best practices are that might benefit HPD officers. o Want officers to know that HPD looks out for their officers or if they need help with their cases, we offer assistance. • In JDR and Criminal Courts: o Night Shift officers have the morning docket. o Day Shift officers have afternoon dockets. • We are also attempting to take care of officers during their days off; many of them were having to come to court on their days off, defeating the purpose of having a day off. • We provide updated Rosters to the Commonwealth so they can work around the officers’ schedules. • Question: Is sleep deprivation or exhaustion used as a defense tactic? o No, it is on a case-by-case basis; however, when Judges hear that the officer was late getting off work, they have been amenable to continue the case to another date working with both the Commonwealth Attorneys and the Defense Attorneys as well. • We do offer “Quiet Rooms” in each Sector Office as well as Headquarters; if officers feel fatigued, they can go to the Quiet Room and catch a quick nap prior to attending court. • HPD switched from 8-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts several years ago because we were not in compliance with federal laws. o The working group was formed to review options for changing shift hours and they unanimously elected the 12-hour shift option as the shift of choice. o 12-hour shifts offered more flexibility to have more time with families, while also increasing the number of officers on the street.  Officers have a short week and long week and every other weekend is a 3-day weekend; work days equate to no more than 3 days in a row.  Most officers who complain are those not assigned to the 12-hour shift; many of the committee members assigned to review shift options were Page 4 of 6  Hampton Police Division Citizens Police Advisory Group Meeting – June 13, 2019 the nay-sayers; after their research, they became proponents of the12-hour shifts.  In the future, may work towards power shifts mixed in with the 12-hour shifts, but cannot do that until staffing levels improve. • Sgt. Shackelford is now working towards meeting with the Circuit Court judges to see if they can work with our officers’ schedules to help avoid the fatigue factor. o May be a bit trickier due to jury trials scheduling. • In the grand scheme, Officers and attorneys have been very receptive to this addition, especially since they now have a single point of contact to work with. • If measured in hours, so far it’s projected to save approximately 2,080 Officer hours a year in court duties; a significant savings in overtime monies as well. • Question: What is PoliceOne? o PoliceOne is an online training program where the Training Unit posts updates and bulletins to educate officers; officers are required to login to their accounts, read through the material and then they are tested to ensure they read carefully and understand the information presented. o This form of training saves money and officer time so that they don’t have to be taken off the streets and put in a classroom; they can do the on-line training right from their MDT’s in their vehicles. o Materials covered include, on-line training, policies, training bulletins, etc. • Next Steps: Lt. Persons is working from the Investigative side and with our PERF 2 partners to streamline our investigations to produce the best case possible in a timely fashion for presentation to the Commonwealth Attorneys for the best prosecution; in particular for homicide cases. o Want to educate street officers, so they can have cases well documented prior to it reaching the detectives; typically within five (5) working days so prosecutors can receive the information well in advance and have ample time to review prior to the court date. • Question: Clarify “cases cleared”; does this follow FBI guidelines? o Three (3) ways to clear a case:  Clear by arrest – person arrested and sent to jail.  Cleared exceptionally – prosecutable case, but for some reason case is not prosecuted (i.e. person deceased, person in prison in another state, etc.)  Unfounded – looked at facts presented and information shows crime did not occur. 2 Police Executive Research Forum Page 5 of 6  Hampton Police Division Citizens Police Advisory Group Meeting – June 13, 2019 o If case is cleared, it has been closed having met one of three (3) ways as mentioned. o Case open – has not been cleared by one of the 3 ways; will only close if has met criteria to be cleared. o Active – case remains open and case still being investigated. o Inactive – have run down all leads, nothing further to act on but if something comes up, will re-activate investigation. o If case not cleared by one of 3 ways, case will remain open until the statute of limitations runs out. DISCUSSION: • Youth Representative(s) o Need to look at assigning a youth representative to this committee. o When this committee formed, recommendation to Council was to have two (2) youth representatives. o Angelo Suggs is one representative but need another one; would like to have someone younger who is not afraid to speak with this group. o If any members have recommendations, please pass the names along to Chairman Boester or Chief Sult so proper vetting can be performed; cannot have anyone with criminal convictions (i.e. felonies, etc.); they will also have to sign a non-disclosure statement and be approved by City Council. o Would like to have a youth representative between the ages 18-24. o Anyone interested, have them also complete an application on-line under the Boards and Commission page on the City’s website. • For those signed up to attend the Violent Crime Summit on Monday at NASA, please make sure you arrive by 1:30pm. NEXT MEETING: • Chairman announced that the August 1st meeting was cancelled. • Next meeting: Thursday, October 3, 2019, 6pm o Location: HPD’s Townsend Community Room, 40 Lincoln Street, 5th Floor. Meeting adjourned at 1906 hours. Page 6 of 6