Public Health & Safety Committee

TUMWATER PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING January 10, 2023 Page 1 CONVENE: 8:00 a.m. PRESENT: Chair Leatta Dahlhoff and Councilmembers Peter Agabi and Angela Jefferson. Staff: City Administrator John Doan, City Attorney Karen Kirkpatrick, Police Chief Jon Weiks, Fire Chief Brian Hurley, Police Commander Jay Mason, Dr. Oliver Bowers, Police Management Analyst, Police Lieutenant Kenneth Driver, Legal Assistant Sharleen Johansen, and Police Administrative Manager Laura Wohl. CHANGES TO There were no changes to the agenda. AGENDA: ORDINANCE NO. City Attorney Kirkpatrick reported the proposal represents an update to the O2023-001, UPDATE City’s criminal code to incorporate new statutes within the code and delete TO TUMWATER provisions that no longer are applicable or were moved to other state MUNICIPAL CODE statutes. The committee was provided with a list of new statutes and a list TITLE 9 CRIMINAL of deleted statutes. CODE: Councilmember Jefferson asked for information on several of the proposed major changes. City Attorney Kirkpatrick advised that the focus of the update involve changes adopted by Legislature overhauling police practices. Provisions applicable to restraining orders have been consolidated in the statutes. The update is a housekeeping action to ensure the City’s codes are in alignment with state statutes. The City’s code includes a catchall provision to account for changes in legislation to ensure that new statutes are applicable to the City. Legal Assistant Johansen acknowledged a request to provide a hard copy of the proposed changes to Councilmembers Jefferson and Agabi. MOTION: Councilmember Jefferson moved, seconded by Councilmember Agabi, to move Ordinance No. O2023-001 for placement on the January 17, 2023, City Council agenda with a recommendation to approve and authorize the Mayor to sign the ordinance. A voice vote approved the motion. CODE Police Chief Weiks reported the briefing is an annual review of the City’s ENFORCEMENT Code Enforcement Program. PROGRAM UPDATE: Police Lieutenant Driver’s presentation included a review of program goals, complaint process, statistics from 2022, and an update on several code enforcement cases. Police Lieutenant Driver reported code enforcement complaints are received from the community, from other City departments, or code TUMWATER PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING January 10, 2023 Page 2 enforcement officers observing a violation. Most code enforcement violations are resolved through a courtesy letter. If the code violation is not addressed, an inspection of the property is conducted. If the situation is unchanged, the process moves to the notice of violation notification followed by another inspection. In 2022, 54 violations were handled by the Police Department. The majority of the investigations were for overgrown vegetation, abandoned vehicles, and garbage. Most of the violations were resolved through voluntary correction agreements. Several ongoing investigations include the brewery property and a property located off 54th Avenue. The brewery property continues to have overgrown vegetation, fencing removed, and incidents of graffiti. The Community Development Department is working on a correction agreement with the brewery property owner to resolve some of the complaints. The property off 54th Avenue includes numerous junk vehicles, RVs, trash, and multiple people living in travel trailers on the property. Chair Dahlhoff inquired as to whether personality conflicts between neighbors are considered when complaints are received from the community. Police Lieutenant Driver explained that all complaints are verified by the code enforcement officer. Typically, incidents are resolved prior to sending a courtesy letter. The goal is making personal contact with the owner to resolve the issue. Councilmember Jefferson asked about the process for removing abandoned vehicles. Police Lieutenant Driver advised that abandoned vehicles located on private property are the responsibility of the property owner to remove. If the vehicle is located on City right-of-way, the situation depends on a variety of factors. Abandoned vehicles are often towed. Owners of vehicles are contacted and receive information on the process for removal of the vehicle. A timeline is afforded for owners to remove the vehicles before the City pursues other measures, such as removal or levying fines. TUMWATER Police Chief Weiks reported the Council established a priority for the POLICE Tumwater Police Department to develop a Police Master Plan, which DEPARTMENT coincided with the hiring of the Police Management Analyst in March STRATEGIC 2022. Dr. Oliver Bowers is a published criminal justice researcher and is STAFFING PLAN considered an expert in analysis of criminal justice practices. Dr. Bowers, 2023-2028: as the department’s Management Analyst, advises command staff on the unknowns in terms of police staffing. Dr. Bowers was encouraged and expected to challenge all practices. The development of any law enforcement master plan revolves around staffing. Staffing was already identified as a priority and because of the impacts of COVID, police TUMWATER PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING January 10, 2023 Page 3 reform legislation, City population and commercial growth, and the expected attrition of officers over the next five years, Dr. Bowers was tasked to develop a staffing model applicable to the Tumwater community, Because there is no recognized singular or standardized model. Dr. Bowers will review the evaluation process and development of the model, which resulted in the department’s Strategic Staffing Plan 2023-2028. The plan was submitted as part of the 2023-2024 department budget in June 2022. The goal is initiating a discussion to ensure members understand varying factors involved in the staffing model and to seek clarification and obtain input and feedback. Next steps include a briefing on monetary costs and alternatives to maintain levels of services to the community. Dr. Bowers shared that he has been an academic researcher for nearly a decade and earned a doctorate in Criminology and Criminal Justice. He has been published in both qualitative and quantitative research publications, peer review journals internationally, and specializes in advanced methodologies and the application of evidence-based practices. Tumwater’s model is a fully evidence-based model. The period of the model is 2001 through 2022 primarily to address some of the notable increases and changes the department has experienced over the last 20 years. The population in Tumwater increased from 12,000 people to 26,000 people representing a substantial increase. Calls for service increases are approximately 40% to 50%, which fluctuates because of COVID. The trend analysis for calls for services reflects a distinctive upwards trend. Staffing increased from 23 commissioned officers in 2001 to 33 commissioned officers in 2022; however, no increases have occurred in staffing since 2010 except when the City annexed properties in 2016 adding one School Resource Office via a contract with the Tumwater School District. Staffing of the department is significant as the department frequently operates below the authorized level of 33 positions primarily because of training, leave, light duty, and other factors. Although the authorized staffing level is 33 positions, the department continues to perform consistently below the level. Other complicating factors include future retirements, hiring complexities, and supervision considerations. The Department of Justice recognizes four evidence-based approaches to staffing models:  The per capita approach  The minimum staffing approach  The authorized level approach  The workload approach Historically, police staffing has been based on historical precedent and typically had no empirical basis. Only in the last several years of policing TUMWATER PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING January 10, 2023 Page 4 and research have evidence-based policies transitioned to police departments. There is also no national standard for police staffing other than national averages. The use of calls for service per capita, response time and other factors are heavily discouraged because they are not evidence-based, are unreliable, and are inappropriate, which is why issues arise as to why the department is not comparable to many other police departments or similarly sized departments. Similar sized cities have different staffing needs based on different population types, policing styles, and needs of the city. The key to the process is building a model specifically for the City of Tumwater. The per capita model is used by departments across the country. The model is a simple method to determine staffing needs; however police leadership bodies, the Department of Justice, and others do not recommend using the model because the model lacks the ability to provide complex data analysis. The model essentially creates a number, which is an arbitrary comparison between cities and departments. Police Chief Weiks said the per capita model is often utilized because it is easier for the community to understand. The Police Department has never employed a staffing model, which speaks to the need to create a staffing model to include within the master plan. Dr. Bowers reported the minimum staffing model is one of the most commonly used approaches. The primary component is resource availability. The model essentially keeps a department at a minimum acceptable level with no objective components considered. It is often perceived as optimal staffing; however, it is not because it speaks to minimum staffing. The approach requires management to actively monitor and account for vacation, sick leave, light duty, and training to maintain the effectiveness of the department. The authorized level approach is essentially an artificial benchmark created and constrained by budgetary restrictions. Tumwater Police Department has an authorized level of 33 officers but operates with 28 officers. Ideally, staffing should be above the authorized level to account for variables of leave, training, attrition etc. to ensure a sufficient number of officers are available to support the department and the City. The Department of Justice recommends increasing the level at a rate commensurate with relevant factors as part of a long-term strategic plan. The workload approach is a comprehensive, empirically-driven model based on systematic analyses accounting for service-style and agency characteristics. It is based on a mixed methodological approach. The International Association of Chiefs and Police (ICAP) model was developed on a formula using national averages and arbitrary benchmark figures. The approach has been utilized across the country in nearly all TUMWATER PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING January 10, 2023 Page 5 states. Policing researchers and other overseeing bodies strongly advocate the approach because it relies on actual levels of demand and matches the demand with the supply of police resources within the specific context of the city. For Tumwater, the model was established based on the needs of the City and the Tumwater Police Department. Dr. Bowers reported the Tumwater model was developed based on existing research using City data and information on service style, characteristics of the City and department, and trend data since 2013. Councilmember Agabi asked whether the model compares the rate of increase in population with the rate of required additional policing resources. Dr. Bowers advised that type of comparison is not used because using the population to model staffing is inherently problematic and is why that approach in modeling is not used. The model does not compare Tumwater to any other jurisdictions, as each model must be specific to the city. Police Commander Mason added that the model accounts for many factors unique to Tumwater. For example, the City of Tukwila has a population of approximately 22,000 people, which is similar to Tumwater; however, during the day because of the massive amount of retail and industrial uses, the police department is four times larger than the Tumwater Police Department for a similar-sized community in terms of population. Dr. Bowers explained that the Tumwater model is based on calls for service, average time for officer involvement in call for services, multipliers and complicating factors – minimum thresholds used, proactive policing time buffer, and accounting of time-off (training, vacation, etc). The data is further broken down by the bare minimum type of call for one officer and the bare minimum type of call for multiple officers. A simple phone-call follow-up requires approximately 15 minutes. A simple shoplifting incident involving the arrest of a single suspect and the presence of two officers requires 5.5 hours of officer time. Dr. Bowers said the modeling included all the components and is based on the lowest end of the average call (70% of all calls). Assuming other calls required multiple officers, the model assumes the most minimal multiple officer call. Based on combining the data (single and multiple officer response) based on bare minimum, the average call duration was 18.4 minutes. Following the result of the average call duration is the proactive time buffer. The goal of community policing is for officers to spend at least 66% of their time being proactive and not reactive. Community policing requires officers to engage actively with the community to solve problems preventing them from becoming larger problems. Data reveals Tumwater officers spend 45% to 50% proactively policing with a goal to achieve 60%. The proactive time buffer for strategic planning purposes is 66%. TUMWATER PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING January 10, 2023 Page 6 The next dataset is the number of hours necessary to staff a single officer position per year based on 10-hour shift times 365 days equaling 3,650 hours per year. The amount must be adjusted to account for department vacation, training, light duty, sick leave, etc. resulting in the total number of officers required to fill one patrol officer position. The result is 2.2 officers. Combining all datasets within the model, the result is 40.75 positions to staff the Tumwater Police Department appropriately based on all components of policing in the City as of today. Dr. Bowers stressed that the datasets within the model are based on minimums. Chair Dahlhoff asked about the possibility of model forecasting a range from minimum to ideal. Dr. Bowers explained that forecasting ideal conditions can be problematic as it is based on future data. The model is based on datasets of current conditions and needs with an element of future growth factored to 2028. Increasing data ranges, increases the staffing level to 50 positions. Police Chief Weiks noted that once the model is approved, it will be possible to apply the model moving forward. Forecasting five years in the future could result in substantial future cost, which is why the intent is to ensure the modeling is realistic and at a service level that is manageable with the final decision based on the level of service the police department can provide. Police Chief Weiks added that when Mr. Bowers began working on the model, there were no expectations as to the appropriate staffing level for the department. Dr. Bowers noted that the focus of the modeling exercise was to analyze and evaluate staffing needs of the department in today’s environment. Dr. Bowers reviewed other important components of the model. The first is supervision to ensure officers have the guidance to perform at the highest level. Staffing levels need to at a specific level to enable supervisors to supervise. Additionally, the foundation of the model is based on the concept of community policing. Community policing involves forming community partnerships and collaborative relationships between officers and the people they serve to develop solutions to problems to avoid chronic issues. When officers have sufficient time for community policing everyone benefits; however, it does require a level of organizational transformation by alignment of the management structure, personnel, and the systems. Councilmember Agabi contended that in order to achieve an appropriate level of community policing, it would be important to have the ability to forecast the number of officers moving forward. TUMWATER PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING January 10, 2023 Page 7 Police Chief Weiks responded that the first step is achieving agreement on a staffing model to enable the department to forecast future needs. Councilmember Jefferson cited the current staffing level and the model forecast requiring the addition of eight officers and asked whether the model reflects moving from a proactive to a reactive phase of policing. Police Chief Weiks responded in the affirmative noting that the major component has been police reform legislation. Three years ago, three officers at a scene would have generated questions from supervisors questioning the need for so many officers at one scene. Today, three officers are required on many scenes because of the complexities and requirements from police reform legislation. Those requirements increase the time on each call and diminishes the department’s ability to proactively police in the community. Councilmember Jefferson asked about the average daily rate of officers working during a 24-hour period. Dr. Bowers replied that the number of officers would average 28 to 29 officers. Chair Dahlhoff asked about the next steps. City Administrator Doan provided some background information on staffing levels at the police department over the last several years to include the addition of two administrative positions to support the department, the future of community safety response for those experiencing a mental health crisis, and the future of policing in the City based on the current legislative environment and limitations of police response. He noted that the relationship with the community is important. In terms of police funding measures, not many options are available to increase staffing without some additional funding resources. At this time, no independent funding authority is available for police. The 2023-2024 budget includes one additional police officer (sergeant) and two replacement officers specifically to address transition and hiring challenges (hiring, academy, field training). The budget includes funding for police master planning/engaging with the community. Essentially, the question is the level of service the City can afford in terms of the staffing level for police. Chair Dahlhoff asked about the timing of the proposal in the realm of the Regional Fire Authority ballot measure in April and potential amendments to the budget if voters approve the proposal. City Administrator Doan said the next step depends on whether the ballot measure is approved because it will drive the future direction of the City. However, the RFA proposal is fundamentally about funding. It is important to have a conversation with the community about policing and presenting a strategy and associated costs. Community conversations are possible using existing TUMWATER PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES OF VIRTUAL MEETING January 10, 2023 Page 8 tools, such as Tumwater University, a community summit, or a separate workshop/series of workshops on community safety with the business community and residents. Councilmember Jefferson supported pursuing community meetings sooner rather than later. Police Chief Weiks queried members on their respective comfort level with the proposed model and the approach as presented. The committee conveyed support of the proposed model and methodology. Councilmember Agabi requested additional information on the number of officers required per capita as it drives some of the policing goals. He cited information shared during a recent Tumwater University session that spoke to an officer per capita equation. Police Chief Weiks commented on the importance of the committee supporting a model to assist the department forecast the required number of officers in the future. Police Commander Mason said the information shared with the committee accounted for how the police department operates. The basic question is the kind of police department the City should have and the expectations of the police department and the model necessary to assist in identifying all the elements. City Administrator Doan recommended meeting with Police Chief Weiks and Communications staff to develop some concepts for community conversations and present the information in addition to modeling information to the Council for further discussion. The committee agreed with the recommendation. ADJOURNMENT: With there being no further business, Chair Dahlhoff adjourned the meeting at 9:27 a.m. Prepared by Valerie L. Gow, Recording Secretary/President Puget Sound Meeting Services, psmsoly@earthlink.net