Police Community Engagement Board

MEETING MINUTES City of WEBSTER GROVES POLICE DEPARTMENT 4 S. ELM AVE. | WEBSTER GROVES | MISSOURI | 63119 314.963.5300 | WWW.WEBSTERGROVESMO.GOV 8/23/2022 6:36 pm Conference Room Meeting called by Katy Miller Type of meeting Police Community Engagement Board Facilitator Note taker Erin Klippi Timekeeper Erin Klippi Roll Call/Speakers Dr. Scott Groesch (Zoom) In Attendance Lexie O’Brien (Zoom) Chief Dale Curtis Katy Miller Kevin Sombart (Zoom) Emerson Smith John Buck Paul Detrick Centron Feilder Sloan Carfield Agenda Item 3 Approve 5-24-22 Minuets Lexi O’Brien Motioned for approval. Centron Feilder Second. Discussion Conclusions All approved with no corrections Action Items Person Responsible Send to City for Website Erin Klippi 8/24/2022 Agenda Item 4 Introduction of New Members Discussion High School student representative Sloan Carfield introduced herself and gave a brief description of her interest in cultural leadership and social justice. Action Items Person Responsible None Agenda Item 5 Updates/Discussion from Police Department Chief Curtis followed up on the new Attorney Generals Vehicle Stops Report, Discussion providing information on the racial breakdown of warnings vs citations of drivers stopped. Chief Curtis explained to the new members of the Board what a disparity index is, its limitations and the negative effect of a declining minority driving population. A comparison of warnings issues to white and black drivers was also presented with both groups receiving an equal percentage of warnings on traffic stops. Conclusions Action Items Person Responsible None Agenda Item 6 Presentation and Q & A with Jenny Starkey, Director of Public Affairs and Engagement for Webster Groves Jenny Starkey introduced herself and gave a brief description of her prior Discussion meeting with Board Member Lexi O’Brien. Lexi discussed some ideas produced in their meeting including but not limited to making the information on the PCEB landing page more conversational and giving additional links to a calendar of PCEB events. Adding a distribution e-mail and embedded form for citizens to ask questions of the PCEB and adding a quarterly summary to show the results of the PCEB efforts.  Jenny discussed bolstering the city websites Boards and Commissions information pages as many are very brief and lacking engaging content. She further discussed adding boards and commissions information to the city Facebook page, along with the Friday Page and the WKT ad “Inside Webster Groves” Jenny informed the board of the cost of adding a PCEB e-mail to the server (approximately $200.00). Lexi questioned if there was a cost for an imbedded form (there is not) and could that serve the same purpose as a board specific e- mail. Kevin questioned if “hits” on the PCEB landing page were trackable, which Jenny confirmed they were and she would look up the information but acknowledged there were probably few “hits”. Katy questioned if there were other municipalities in the area who might have good Boards and Commissions pages that the city could model after, and Jenny reported there were and she would reach out to her contacts and provide links to municipalities that had particularly well communicated Boards and Commissions pages. Jenny further informed the Board that she also has control of the city Instagram, LinkedIn, Next Door, and Twitter accounts if those were needed for communication. Lexi and Katy questioned how a PCEB city e-mail would work and Jenny advised she would have to look further into the details. Lexi expressed the need for transparency if the Board were to receive any e-mails and Jenny acknowledged that was always a goal. Centron asked if the city’s social media was an “opt in” and Jenny explained that all city social media was public and open to all. Kevin discussed the need for information regarding current crime trends and what the public can do to stay safe and protect property. He further discussed that in past incidents, when an incident garners much attention in social media, more questions come in to the WGPD and the PCEB. Lexi asked if a FAQ can be added to the Board’s page and Jenny confirmed it can. Discussion was had regarding what information to provide to Jenny to make the landing page more robust and how the board would communicate to come to a consensus. Scott led discussion regarding having more officer involvement in the social media of the city to help create more approachability. Chief Curtis acknowledged that the department could do more in that area. Sloan confirmed that the way to engage the younger population would be through Instagram or TikToc, not Facebook or the WKT. Conclusions Action Items Person Responsible Jenny will research the “hits” count and e-mail functions The full Board will engage in e-mail to establish what information to send to Jenny for the PCEB landing page. Agenda Item 7 Updates from Board Members Discussion Emerson informed the Board of an upcoming event at Ivory Crocket Park with the School District and suggested the Board have a table at the event. The Board discussed subcommittees to include 1. Communications 2. Ordinance Compliance 3. Nominating Committee for New Board Chair Established that a work session should be held to determine subcommittees. Review of survey results tabled until September meeting. Lexi discussed the recent North Webster Coalition meeting and the discussions at that meeting regarding the fireworks in Ivory Crocket Park over the 4th of July that damaged the new basketball courts. Chief Curtis discussed the police response to fireworks. Action Items Person Responsible Work session Scheduled Wednesday September 14th @ 6:30 p.m. place TBD Prepare to present slides of survey Kevin Sombart Group comments for presentation Lexi O’Brien Adjourn 7:47 p.m. Kevin Sombart motioned Paul Detrick Second All in Favor Action Items Person Responsible None