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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/22/1996 Minutes - Town Hall MeetingMINUTES OF CITY COUNCIL TOWN HALL MEETING JUNE 22, 1996 CALL TO ORDER: 2. ROLL CALL: 3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: M/Ansari called the meeting to order at 9:16 a.m. Council Members Harmony, Herrera, Werner, MPT/Huff, M/Ansari Pledge of Allegiance lead by Tom Ortiz. Also present were: Terrence L. Belanger, City Manager; Frank Usher, Assistant City Manager; Kellee Fritzal, Assistant to the City Manager; and Lynda Burgess, City Clerk. Captain Larry Waldie introduced Sheriff staff members in attendance: Lt. Dave Stothers Sgt. Mary Leef Sgt. Jim Sully Dep. Mark St Amant Dep. Fred D'Andrea Dep. Darrin Walker Dep. Robert Robinson Lt. Stothers expressed appreciation to the City for its support and cooperation. Sgt. Leef described her background and current assignment. Sgt. Sully spoke about his role in gang activity suppression as part of the Sheriffs gang unit. Dep. St. Amant described his duties as liaison between the City, schools and the Sheriffs Dept. Dep. D/Andrea explained his duties on p.m. shift patrol. Dep. Walker explained that his role is as one of three persons assigned_ to the "Special Problems Car." Dep. Robinson stated that he had been assigned to Walnut Sheriff station since 1988. Also works the "Special Projects Car." Doesn't handle routine calls which gives them the opportunity to work more closely with narcotics and OSS. Public Questions: Al Rumpilla - Recommended that the Council install in the Community Volunteer Patrol Car a radio hook up into the Sheriffs station similar to that which is installed in the car in San Dimas. JUNE 22, 1996 PAGE 2 Capt. Waldie explained that there is no room on the Sheriffs current radio frequencies for communications of this type right now. Would not object to installing such a device if it were feasible --cannot be tied to the Sheriffs own frequencies. CA/Verner - Mr. Rumpilla also mentioned connecting to a public works channel. Capt. Waldie stated that a channel could be made available for this purpose. CM/Belanger stated that the City currently has a public works radio and that a connection could be installed in the Community Volunteer Patrol car. Roger Myer - Are school police tied into the Sheriffs station? Capt. Waldie explained that again there is a traffic problem over the Sheriffs current available frequencies so the school police are not connected. Roger Myer - Asked if the gang activity is coming from other areas. Sgt. Sully explained that the Sheriff is working with D.B. gangs at this time which is sending them into other communities such as Brea and Pomona. Gangs are not coming from other areas. Further, he stated that his deputies are present in the schools as least three days a week. Will be present at school open houses this next year at which discussion of the proposed truancy ordinance would take place. C/Harmony - Hasn't there been some experience with gang recruitment going on? Sgt. Sully explained that as long as there are gangs, there will always be recruitment going on. Regarding memberships in the Crips and Bloods, there is no recruitment currently going on in D.B. Mr. Myer asked whether the proposed truancy ordinance would help cut down on gang activities. Sgt. Sully stated that such an Ordinance would be very effective and helpful. Dep. St. Amant stated that one Crip member moved into D.B. a while back who attempted to recruit at one of the middle schools. His activities were effectively suppressed. JUNE 22, 1996 PAGE 3 MPT/Huff asked about programs/activities to work with the Pomona School District. Further, what is the scope of the gang problem? Is it growing worse or better? Capt. Waldie explained that the Sheriff has met with the Pomona School District and the Pomona Police Dept. which stated that they do not have the resources to put together some of the programs that exist in the Walnut Unified School District. D.B. is totally surrounded by heavy gang activity in other cities. Sgt. Sully stated that gang activity has increased over the past 2 1/2 years but it is difficult to assess whether there is more activity because_ the community is more educated and more people are reporting incidents or whether there is indeed increased activity. Gang unit case load is way below what it was two years ago. C/Werner expressed appreciation that D.B. is doing so well in fighting off gang activity from other cities. Isn't being a member of a gang illegal? Sgt. Sully stated that, in some instances, being a member of a gang is illegal but usually becomes illegal when a civil lawsuit is filed. Several cities have tried to establish injunctions on gang members but the courts have not upheld these injunctions. Gangs in this area are usually Asian or pacific islander. Dep. St. Amant explained that the Crip member in a local middle school did manage to recruit some followers as far as style of dress was concerned. He talked to the parents of the other members who immediately took care of the clothing their children were wearing. This Crip member just graduated from Chaparral Middle School and will be going onto D.B.H.S. in the fall. He is known to be a problem and will be sent to Del Paso at the first sign of trouble from him. C/Harmony asked how we can be sure that we aren't over zealous in enforcement of these things on young people? Capt. Waldie explained that resources aren't available for the Sheriff to conduct a full "sweep" of the area. Dep. St. Amant stated that there are a lot of burglaries taking place during the day. Sheriff staff feels that these are conducted by truants and some of it could be coming from students who are on "home study." C/Herrera stated that students are on home study for a lot of reasons including injuries, illness, emotional problems, parents options, alternatives for being expelled from the school system, etc. JUNE 22, 1996 PAGE 4 C/Werner stated that the school districts should notify the Sheriffs Dept. when students are relieve of the responsibility of attending school classes each day. Darwin Hippen re truancy ord.--is this actually going to be adopted? Capt. Waldie explained that the proposed ordinance is only for enforcement of truancy during the day, not for curfews. Mr. Hippen thanked Sheriff staff for their enforcement of a particular stop sign near Quail Summit School. Also expressed his support of the gang suppression activity. Capt. Waldie explained that the level of patrols are still the same but that there have been some schedule changes. Patrols move from area to area within the City based upon the activity. No reduction of staff or vehicles at the Sheriff level. Mr. Hippen asked the City to attach "school crossing" signs to stop signs in the neighborhoods of the schools. Parents could help fund this project. C/Belanger stated that the neighborhood around Quail Summit is currently the subject of a traffic study and workshops are being held with residents. Debby O'Connor, Bower Cascade - suggested enforcement of parking problems around the schools such as red curbs in front of Lorbeer Middle School. Parking lot at Lorbeer with handicapped and red curbs is never enforced, either. Suggested that the Community Volunteer Patrol be assigned to be in front of the schools for a short time each day to curb the amount of jaywalking that takes place. On another issue, what can citizens do about a young person who rides a dirt bike up and down her street? Also concerned about the use of double yellow lines recently installed on several residential streets. Capt. Waldie explained that he will look into the scheduling of personnel in the areas of the schools. Regarding the dirt bike, deputies will have to see the person speeding. Regarding wheelies, etc., these fall in the category of reckless driving and can be pursued through the District Attorney. Dep. St. Amant will contact her to follow up on this matter. Regarding the issue over the double yellow lines, a Sheriff staff member will get back to her. In his opinion, he did not feel that double yellow lines reduce speed but should reduce the amount of passing taking place on her street. Craig Clute - Expressed concern about the Neighborhood Watch program JUNE 22, 1996 PAGE 5 and the problem with stolen vehicles. Would like to see the Neighborhood Watch program re -instituted. Capt. Waldie stated that the Neighborhood Watch Program is a very important tool for enforcement. The Sheriff Dept. is in the process of reviving this program and Dep. St. Amant will be working on setting up meetings for this purpose. Lt. Stothers stated that there has been a 25°% increase in auto thefts over the past year. Mr. Clute - interested in traffic enforcement through neighborhoods. Understands that the City does not contract with the Sheriff for commercial truck enforcement. Are there any suggestions to be made regarding the parking problem around D.B.H.S.? Dep. St. Amant stated that he is working with the H.S. to provide more on - campus parking to deal with this problem. Regarding commercial trucks, violations are covered in the City's contract for traffic enforcement. C/Werner stated that Council is looking into giving the Community Volunteer Patrol the ability to write parking tickets. CM/Belanger stated that the City does not contract with the Sheriff regarding commercial vehicle safety enforcement because we don't have that kind of commercial truck activity. Dep. St. Amant - Highway Patrol deals with commercial trucks on Brea Canyon Rd. and Tonner Canyon Rd. Mr. Clute - Traffic studies seem to be resulting in more stop signs being installed which are now becoming "yield" signs rather than "stop" signs. Could some regular enforcement be scheduled? Roger Meyer - On the parking problems involving W.V.U.S.D.--does the school police work on parking citations? Capt. Waldie felt that their role was limited to enforcement of problems on school campus rather than on the streets. M/Ansari left the meeting at 11:00 a.m. Mary Jefferson complained that it appears as though young male drivers are being harassed by Sheriff deputies. What is being done to build trust with youth? What kind of training are the officers receiving regarding working with youth? JUNE 22, 1996 PAGE 6 Capt. Waldie did not feel that the Dept. deals with youth in a harassing manner. He explained the training programs that are given to the deputies so that they deal with the public in a respectful manner. Sheriff staff will also be training through the Museum of Tolerance to get an understanding of what people have been through out there. Dep. St. Amant stated that since her son was a new driver, he may have been stopped because he looked so young. There are many youths out there driving without licenses. A lot of deputies give out warnings to youths such as these. Ms. Jefferson described two incidents in which officers did not seem to respond properly. How does the public know a report is filed? How can citizens get copies of these reports? Lt. Stothers explained that the police report involving victimization of her son should have been made available to her. Normally, officers give the public a slip of paper with the report number on it. He suggested that the public contact the Sheriff Station following an incident to ensure that a police report was taken. Ms. Jefferson suggested that all deputies carry business cards to give to — the public when taking incident reports. Dep. D'Andrea stated that most deputies on patrol give out business cards. He suggested that Ms. Jefferson's sons consider taking a ride -a- long with deputies. Mr. Rumpilla asked if Walnut Deputies are currently using tape recorders while out on patrol? Capt. Waldie stated that the use of tape recorders by deputies are wonderful tools to show the courtesy with which Deputies treat the public. Currently, Deputies purchase their own recorders but the Sheriff Dept. provides tapes. Funding is being sought to purchase recorders for all Deputies. Mr. Rumpilla suggested that the City consider assisting in the funding of recorders and batteries. Let the public know that the officers could be taping their confrontations. M/Werner suggested that perhaps some of the service clubs in the area could consider funding of these tape recorders. C/Herrera stated that CDBG monies have become available through the Federal Justice System to D.B. so purchasing of this equipment may be JUNE 22, 1996 PAGE 7 permissible under this program Mr. Myer - stated that he hadn't seen the motorcycles much lately --could more of them be provided? Capt. Waldie stated that motorcycle officers are somewhat limited in their enforcement duties. Would not want to take away a car in order to provide another motorcycle. CM/Belanger pointed out that the broadcast of this meeting will take place on the evening of June 24th. Meeting adjourned at 11:45 a.m