Crime Commission Meeting

Crime Commission Meeting Madison Heights, Michigan September 12, 2023 A Crime Commission Meeting was held on Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at 2:30 PM at City Hall - Executive Conference Room, 300 W. 13 Mile Rd. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 2:31 p.m. ROLL CALL PRESENT Martha Covert Margarette Marentette Anthony Roberts Beth Scott Alexandra Iaquinto Council Representative Sean Fleming Alternate Council Representative Quinn Wright ABSENT Jeffrey Hilliard - Excused ADDITIONS/DELETIONS Additions: 1. Discuss media coverage/notifying news stations for upcoming events. Motion made to make the addition for media coverage made by Covert, Seconded by Scott. Voting Yea: Marentette, Iaquinto Roberts, Council Representative Fleming Deletions: None APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion made by Marentette, Seconded by Iaquinto to approve the June 13, 2023 minutes. Voting Yea: Covert, Roberts, Scott, Council Representative Fleming MEETING OPEN TO THE PUBLIC None present REPORTS 1 Chief's Report Council Report Chief's Report 1. K9 Demonstration was a big success. We had (3) K9 Handler officers, Officer Bradley from Madison Heights, Officer Kasdorf from Hazel Park Police Department and Officer Cavanagh from Royal Oak Police Department. We had (4) K9 Officers at the event. The event was about an hour and a half long. The handlers answer questions, posed for photos, gave demonstrations and completed tracks. We can talk about doing this again further down the line. Chairperson Covert said that everyone did a great job. 2. Citizens Academy Last week, we also had the Citizens Academy. We had 12 Citizens attend. Chief did a presentation along with Lt. Koehler, who did a presentation about investigations and crime scenes, Sgt. Rieck gave a presentation about traffic stops and Judge Hunt also did a presentation on the court system. We took everyone on a tour of the police station and had a question and answer session at the end. Maybe for future years, we can change up what we do for our presentations. Maybe a live fire demo, investigations or conduct a traffic stop to show citizens what to do in the event that they are pulled over. 3. Staffing We are currently budged for 10 dispatchers. We are doing well in our recruiting at the moment. We have hired 1 who starts tomorrow and 3 potential people in background so if everyone passes, we will be at full staff for dispatchers. It is a very difficult job, they are dealing with people in crisis. As far as police officer staffing, we are budgeted for 51 officers. At the moment, we have 3 officers that are in field training, 2 officers in background and we have 10 plus interviews this week and next week. Most of them are sworn, either working as an officer in another city or are in the academy at the moment. Commissioner Marentette asked if the new hires come to us with training and their schooling done, do they get a signing bonus. Chief responded that this just changed last week. The new hires are going to be getting a signing bonus unless we put you through the academy. We are also doing lateral incentives to get officers that are currently officers at another department to top out your wages after 1 year of employment. Most other departments are 5 to 7 years for top officer wages. 4. Trunk or Treat Madison Heights Parks and Recreation is hosting a trunk or treat event on Saturday, October 28, 2023 from 1 - 3 p.m. Parks & Rec stated the Crime Commission is welcome to set up a trunk or a table. The event is still in the planning stages and they are hoping to involve all the departments of the city at Civic Park. Council Report Councilman Fleming stated that the Chief covered everything in his report. UNFINISHED BUSINESS Follow up on adding Alexandra Iaquinto in as a full voting member. Council will be voting end of August 2023 meeting. 2 Follow up on K-9 Event at Rosie's Park UNFINISHED BUSINESS 1. Chairperson Covert welcomed Alexandra Iaquinto in as a full voting member. We now have a full voting board for the Crime Commission. 2. Chairperson Covert stated that for the Trail Tunes event, we were not able to have MADD come out to set up a designated driver area. The times for the event kept changing and they were not able to secure them to drive people home if they needed a DD. Councilman Wright stated that he was surprised that there were not more people in the beer tent. The Chief stated that he did not get any reports back from the Police Department about the beer tent. The Chief stated that this was the first year that we have had a beer tent at the Trail Tunes event and there were some reservations in the beginning planning stages about having the beer tent because we didn't want anyone to get out of control. After having discussions with the city manager, he thought that it would be alright to have the beer tent if it wasn't open too late. There would have been more issues if it is open too long or too late. NEW BUSINESS Discuss sub committee meeting for special events Chair person election 2024 Work plan Trunk or Treat event for City 10/28/2023 1. Sub committee meeting for special events Chair person Covert had previously suggested a sub committee for events that the Crime Commission are going to be holding. The sub committee would meet to discuss the planning of the event and handling the expectations and duties for each person in attendance. 2. Chair person election Commissioner Marentette nominated our current Chair Person, Martha Covert to continue as Chair Person for next year. Covert accepted the position. Motion made by Marentette, Seconded by Scott for Martha Covert to continue as Chair Person for this coming year. Voting Yea: Covert, Roberts, Iaquinto, Council Representative Fleming 3. Co Chair person election Chair Person Covert nominated Alexandra Iaquinto as our next co chair person. Iaquinto accepted the position. Motion made by Covert, Seconded by Roberts for Alexandra Iaquinto to be the new co-chair for the Crime Commission. Voting Yea: Marentette, Scott, Iaquinto, Council Representative Fleming 3 4. Media Coverage for special events that the Crime Commission is hosting Commissioner Marentette stated that on the weekends, the news stations will have a segment of what's going on in the local viewing area, such as fun things to do as a family for the day. Is this something that we would be allowed to advertise and if so, what are the requirements? Councilman Wright stated that someone would have to write up a press release and send out the local media for the story to be shown if it is intriguing, they will come out for a news story. Commission Roberts stated that there would need to be structure and guidelines from the Police Chief and from the City Manager. The Chief stated that the police department has a template and contacts at the media for press releases. Commissioner Marentette asked if we do a press release for the Bike Rodeo. The Chief responded no, we use social media and send the flyer out to the schools. For press releases for help with a criminal case, the Chief receives them and also checks with the City Manager. We want our events to be successful but not overwhelming where we are running out of supplies/giveaways for the children. 5. 2024 Work Plan Chair person Covert passed around the work plan template for everyone to review and additions. After discussion, the Crime Commission is working on the work plan for 2024. Some of the events suggested were to host a Cyber Crime Safety presentation, Chair person Covert will check to see if another board is doing something similar, a K-9 Demonstration, a Human Trafficking presentation and an Elderly Crime Prevention presentation. 6. Trunk or Treat event for City 10/28/2023 Madison Heights Parks and Recreation is hosting a trunk or treat event on Saturday, October 28, 2023 from 1 - 3 p.m. Parks & Rec stated the Crime Commission is welcome to set up a trunk or a table. The event is still in the planning stages and they are hoping to involve all the departments of the city at Civic Park. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 3:32 p.m. 4