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HomeMy Public PortalAbout09-09-21 Regular Meeting 101 E. Orange St., PO Box 429, Hillsborough, NC 27278 919-732-1270 | www.hillsboroughnc.gov | @HillsboroughGov MAYOR’S TASK FORCE MINUTES | 1 of 4 Minutes MAYOR’S TASK FORCE ON RE-IMAGINING PUBLIC SAFETY Remote regular meeting 7 p.m. September 9, 2021 Virtual meeting via YouTube Live Town of Hillsborough YouTube channel Present: Mayor Jenn Weaver, Judit Alvarado, Sujata Bijou, Patricia Harrison, Chloe Johnson, Jason Knapp, Hathaway Pendergrass, David “Hooper” Schultz, Marc Xavier, and Allison Zirkel Absent: Shannon Blue, Keith Cook, Rod Jones, Tracey Little Staff: Police Management Analyst Eli Valsing 1. Welcome Mayor Jenn Weaver called the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m. Weaver said that Chief of Police Duane Hampton was not at tonight’s meeting because he was at a training with officers. 2. Roll call Police Management Analyst Eli Valsing called the roll and confirmed the presence of a quorum. 3. Audience comments not related to the printed agenda None. 4. Items for decision A. Minutes from meeting August 12, 2021 Motion: Hathaway Pendergrass moved approval of the August 12, 2021 minutes as submitted. Allison Zirkel seconded. Valsing called the roll for voting. Vote: 8-0. Ayes: 8. Nays: 0. 5. Items for discussion A. Finalize recommendations from two small groups 1. Group A – Mental health calls and traffic stops Mayor Weaver shared the recommendations as submitted by the group August 12. Weaver asked if this draft had an update. Alison Zirkel said in reference to adding a social work position to the police department, a new, proposed recommendation was to add that position to the town staff, outside of the police department. This adjustment would mean this person could work with issues that arise outside of the need for law enforcement and potentially increase the public trust for this initiative. Weaver read the mental health recommendations. Regarding the second recommendation, to increase training, Zirkel suggested the recommendation change to ensure all officers are CIT trained. Since it is MAYOR’S TASK FORCE MINUTES | 2 of 4 already a goal of the police department, she expected the funding is already in place. Training for other relevant training is also important, such as domestic violence and behavioral health. Chloe Johnson asked how the third recommendation for a social worker added to the town staff related to the first recommendation for a county-wide mobile mental health crisis response service, and would the town’s social worker position be necessary for the county wide service to work? Weaver said it would be good to review what was said on this question at the last meeting. She also said it is not necessary to address feasibility regarding the administration of these recommendations. Marc Xavier asked if the revision to the third recommendation meant in regard to the original recommendation. Weaver clarified that these recommendations have not been accepted or rejected yet by the town staff and that the first part of the third recommendation will still be included. Zirkel said the first recommendation is meant to address the deficit of behavioral response county wide and the third recommendation addresses the mental health response in the town itself. Group A submitted a short version and a long version of the traffic stop recommendations. The long version also includes the revision to the mental health recommendations and some new recommendations related to Orange County diversion and deflection programs, recreation, and violence prevention. Weaver read the short version. Hathaway Pendergrass said for the second recommendation he would like to see the language adjusted to say the HPD will make a commitment to “not pull people over”, rather than to “cease pulling people over”. He also said that in recommendation four he believes we need to consider that the terms contraband and imminent safety risk are open to different interpretations, and consequently, the recommendation is too broad. However, he does not have an idea for alternative wording. Zirkel suggested that this recommendation might be something the advisory board would consider. Pendergrass agreed. Weaver suggested keeping the recommendation, with very simple wording. Johnson agreed that it should stay in the list because it is important to have policies that prevent pretextual stops. Hooper Schultz agreed with Johnson. Zirkel suggested leaving out the second part of recommendation four because it was already described in recommendation two. Johnson suggested a reference to recommendation two would be useful. Pendergrass said the specific reference to recommendation two would be the second sentence in the short version. 2. Group B – Hillsborough Police Department practices and use of force Weaver shared the written recommendations from Group B on her screen. She began with the Use of Force recommendations and read them aloud. Johnson asked about the use of the term “tactical gear” and requested feedback from the group if it is the best term to use to for the intent of this recommendation. Xavier said using the term shows the emphasis on removing some equipment, without going to a granular level, and he thinks that it is the proper term. Weaver asked if the intent behind this recommendation is that different types of uniforms would have a different “show of force”. Patricia Harrison agreed and said that some bullet proof vests can be worn under a regular shirt, so officers do not appear as if they are going into combat. Weaver read the HPD Procedures recommendations aloud. Weaver asked for clarification regarding the community office recommendations. Is it about existing offices or requesting they be added? Harrison said Fairview has a Community Watch. She also mentioned that some neighborhoods have buildings with places to post information. Also, churches could be used to share information. Weaver read out the hiring the training recommendations. MAYOR’S TASK FORCE MINUTES | 3 of 4 B. Group discussion and vision for recommendation on standing advisory board To begin, Weaver read through the Town Values recently adopted as part of the town’s most recent budget process because they are a good framework for policies and practices that the town boards are working on. Next, Weaver asked the question, “What is the problem we are trying to solve?” Johnson said we do not have a third party that reviews complaints and policies and provides recommendations. Schultz said a problem is the disconnect between the community members and the police department. Zirkel said some community members feel over-policed and that their underlying issues they face such as poverty, addiction, etc. are not being addressed outside of policing. Zirkel also said police are asked to respond to things that are not in their area of expertise, that they are not necessarily trained to do. Bijou said there is a lack of review of the data with a focus on racial disparities and other issues, especially considering the racial disparities seen in the traffic stop data. Johnson said the responses to address the racial disparity will need evaluation regarding their effectiveness. Harrison said the HPD needs to be more racially diverse. Bijou said the lack of review of use of force incidents outside of the police department is a problem. Weaver reviewed Group B’s work on the advisory board recommendations, related to use of force (item c). She reviewed in more detail the overall recommendations for the advisory board. Weaver asked if there are any other specific recommendations about the advisory board? Zirkel said it should be included that meetings and minutes would be made public. Zirkel also mentioned the Durham Community Safety and Wellness task force to use as an example of how a group like this might move forward. This link for the Durham task force was shared in the chat https://durhamnc.gov/DocumentCenter/View/38109/Durham-Community-Safety--Wellness-Task-Force- Bylaws-Final?bidId=. Zirkel said there is a deficit of community violence prevention programs that would help prevent people from needing to call the police. C. Plan for forwarding recommendations and relevant materials to the board of commissioners Weaver will use the two groups’ written recommendations, along with notes from this meeting, to write up the recommendations, which she will share back to the group for their review via email. After the task force has finalized these recommendations Weaver will create a report that includes an introductory letter she will write, the purpose and charge of the task force, a list of the members, and their recommendations. This report will be sent to the board of commissioners, Chief Hampton, the town attorney, and the town manager for their review and will be part of the public record. Zirkel said she wants to be sure that support from the HPD of the developing efforts in Orange County to increase deflection and diversion operations be included in the recommendations, and Weaver confirmed that it would be. Weaver said she would have a draft of the report available for review by the task force in one week. 6. Next meeting date This is the last meeting of the task force. Weaver thanked the group for their efforts and that this work has ongoing urgency. MAYOR’S TASK FORCE MINUTES | 4 of 4 7. Adjournment Weaver adjourned the meeting at 9:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Eli Valsing Police Management Analyst Staff support to the Mayor’s Task Force on Re-imagining Public Safety Minutes from meeting September 9, 2021, approved by email: January 28, 2022 Vote: 7-0. Ayes: 7. Nays: 0. From:Allison Zirkel To:Jenn Weaver Cc:Eli Valsing; Sujata Bijou; Jason Knapp; Hathaway S. Pendergrass; Rod Jones; Shannon Blue; Tracey Little Subject:mental health recommendations Date:Sunday, August 8, 2021 3:04:41 PM Hello Mayor Weaver, Our subgroup has come up with these three mental health-related recommendations for your review. We discussed traffic stops at our last meeting and will share these recommendations, along with a few others, soon (hopefully before our Thursday meeting). We all did feel that it would be wise to try and obtain community input prior to finalizing the recommendations. Thank you! Recommendations (mental health crisis response) 1. Collaborate with other local jurisdictions (OC Sheriff's Office, CHPD, CPD, Mebane PD) to pool funding resources and develop a coordinated, county-wide mobile mental health crisis response service. This county-wide effort should also look at restructuring the 911 call system by either enhancing training for 911 operators so that they can divert mental health crisis calls to non-police behavioral health first responders, OR by establishing an alternative emergency number for community members to call in case of a behavioral health crisis. 2. Increase training: Allocate funding for CIT (Crisis Intervention Training) so that all (100%) officers can be CIT-trained (this is already a goal of the Hillsborough PD). Assure that other first responders are also CIT trained (EMS, Fire Department). Explore whether additional training could be beneficial, depending on what data shows in terms of incidents in our community (e.g. the intersection of domestic violence and behavioral health, Mental Health First Aid), and allocate funding for additional training. 3. Allocate funding to add a minimum of 1-2 social workers to the Hillsborough Police Department. The social work position would serve as a co-responder to crisis calls while also responding to calls without an officer present, when safe and appropriate. The position(s) would also focus on preventative and follow up work, reaching out to community members to assure they are connected to needed resources. It would also serve as a consulting role for the police department with regards to behavioral health (mental health, substance use, and intellectual/developmental disability) issues and needs in our community. Lastly, the social work position would review and track crisis response data, disaggregated by demographics (with a focus on racial disparities), to critically analyze effectiveness of responses and to identify underlying causes of behavioral health crisis calls (e.g. social determinants of health). Traffic Stop Recommendations (short version) Mayor’s Task Force on Reimagining Public Safety – Hillsborough, NC 1) Expand current traffic stop reporting data set to include all significant citizen interactions including but not limited to public complaints, use of force incidents, marijuana arrests, community events, mental health crises and vehicle pursuits. (per CH-Carrboro/Northern Orange Branches of NAACP’s Memorandum of Understanding with law enforcement agencies) 2) Make a commitment within the HPD to cease pulling people over using the traffic code as a pretext for suspect criminal behavior. Limit the investigation during a traffic stop to the reason for the stop (with the exception of situations that pose a risk to public safety). 3) Cease low level (regulatory) traffic stops (equipment violation, expired tags, license plate light out, broken taillight). 4) Implement use of a written consent card. Stop searches for contraband following traffic stops, unless there is an imminent safety risk (See #2). 5) Reallocate funding to develop resources to assist people with fixing minor vehicle maintenance issues as well as assistance with registration/insurance renewal payments (for those who meet certain income eligibility criteria). We also recommend that Hillsborough begin contributing support to the Orange County Criminal Justice Debt fund and expand this fund to include assistance for costs related to vehicle maintenance and registration/insurance renewal. 6) Cease regulatory checkpoints altogether. Traffic Stop Recommendations 1) North Carolina General Statute 143B-903 requires police agencies to keep statistics on traffic stops. Hillsborough began collecting this data in 2014: North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (ncsbi.gov). Recommendation: Expand current traffic stop reporting data set to include all significant citizen interactions including but not limited to public complaints, use of force incidents, marijuana arrests, community events, mental health crises and vehicle pursuits. (per CH-Carrboro/Northern Orange Branches of NAACP’s Memorandum of Understanding with law enforcement agencies) 2) A problematic trend noted by expert analysts has been the use of the traffic code to conduct a criminal investigation. Traffic stops as a pretext for an investigation leads to disparate outcomes. Recommendation: Make a commitment within the HPD to cease pulling people over using the traffic code as a pretext for suspect criminal behavior. The goal of this recommendation is to stop searches for contraband following traffic stops, unless there is an imminent safety concern. A more concrete policy to guide this commitment is to limit the investigation during a traffic stop to the reason for the stop. For example, if someone is pulled over for broken headlight, then the subsequent investigation (and conversation) should be limited strictly to the headlight issue, barring extenuating circumstances that pose imminent threat to public safety (e.g. person is visibly intoxicated). Reasons underlying this recommendation (and some data) Since Hillsborough began collecting data in 2014, HPD has made a total of 9,948 traffic stops. Out of this number, 367 led to searches, 143 led to contraband hits derived from these searches, which led to 70 arrests. Racial disparities are found throughout traffic stop data: African Americans are stopped at a higher rate than their overall population in all jurisdictions reviewed (Hillsborough 2019: 33% of traffic stops vs. 21% of overall population), in non-moving traffic violations (vehicle equipment and vehicle regulatory, 2019: 54% white vs. 37% black*), subsequent searches as a percent of total traffic stops (2019: 8% black, 3% white), demographic breakdown of total traffic stop searches (2019: 39% white vs. 60% black*), arrests derived from traffic stops (2019: 43% white, 51% black, 5% Hispanic*) *Hillsborough demographics: 64% white, 21% black, 11% Hispanic Vehicle equipment violation is the most common reason for a traffic stop (2019: 31%), followed by vehicle regulatory violation (25%). 3) Cease low level (regulatory) traffic stops (equipment violation, expired tags, license plate light out, broken taillight). When these issues arise in the context of another reason for a stop, provide person with information on how to obtain cost assistance (see #6). This allows for more time to focus on more pressing community safety concerns, such as speeding, DWI’s, and running red lights and stop signs. This has already been implemented in other jurisdictions including Fayetteville and Chapel Hill. Activists Demand Traffic Stop Ban in Fight for Policing Reform (insider.com) 4) Although the HPD reports very few consent searches, we still recommend use of a written consent card, to support and educate people in understanding their rights. However, data shows that as consent searches decrease, probable cause searches increase, resulting in no real difference in tickets and arrests made following a traffic stop. Recommendation: Stop searches for contraband following traffic stops, unless there is an imminent safety risk (See #2). 5) HPD reports that they make routine efforts to provide education and give warnings rather than ticket people. Chief Hampton noted that the vast majority of vehicle stops for equipment violations do not lead to a charge, and that officers regularly help people fix their vehicles. To further this spirit of aid, we recommend reallocation of funding to develop resources to assist people with fixing minor vehicle maintenance issues as well as assistance with registration/insurance renewal payments (for those who meet certain income eligibility criteria). Orange County currently has a criminal justice debt relief program however the Town of Hillsborough currently does not contribute money to this fund (Chapel Hill and Carrboro do). We recommend that Hillsborough begin supporting this fund (which is available to all residents of Orange County) and support expansion of the fund to include assistance for costs related to vehicle maintenance and registration/insurance renewal. 6) Cease regulatory checkpoints altogether. Although the HPD reports only doing a very small number (2-3 in 2019, 2 in 2020, often to help other agencies such as the NC State Highway Patrol), we recommend that these checkpoints cease altogether. Revision to mental health recommendation: Instead of adding the social work positions to the HPD, have them work under the Town of Hillsborough, and in collaboration with the PD. This may increase capacity to build trust and would allow for response to situations in the town that fall outside the realm of law enforcement yet within the realm of enhancing public safety. New recommendations Support expansion of diversion and deflection efforts underway in Orange County and fully partner with these initiatives. Reallocate/increase funding into establishment of accessible recreational opportunities for youth and other members of the community that are located in or accessible to areas where there are statistically higher numbers of calls for law enforcement. Reallocate/increase funding for community-based violence prevention programs and other initiatives that increase neighborhood capacity to address harm and violence within their own communities. Citation: “Traffic Stops in Hillsborough, NC, 2019”: Published by Hillsborough Police Department for the Mayor’s Task Force on Reimagining Public Safety March 2021 Recommendations 1. Advisory Board Recommendations. a. We strongly recommend that a standing Advisory Board be convened, populated, and supported. We imagine that a small number of dedicated citizens and community leaders would be ideal; five members would allow for a diverse group of community members but would be small enough to develop a close rapport among the members. “Diversity” to us meant: variety in ages, races, ethnicity, races, experience, and perspective. b. We imagine that the Advisory Board would continue to conduct research into police practices and continue to issue recommendations to the Town Board as necessary. c. Another, very important, function of the Advisory Board would be to review Community Complaints regarding the use of force or about other police conduct. Many Police Review Boards across the country have failed, and many reports show this is due to inadequate authority or because of lack of information. Policies should be adopted to avoid this outcome in Hillsborough. (see 2.a.i. below). 2. Use of Force Recommendations a. The Advisory Board should hear community complaints and be able to promptly respond to community members. i. The Police Department should be given incentives to cooperate with the Advisory Board by providing case information including police reports, ability to interview officers at the scene in question, and body camera footage. 1. The current HBO policy is to store body camera footage for 90 days for incidents that do not end in arrest. A policy should be issued that if a complaint is filed on any incident, the body camera footage should be kept as long as the incident is under review (either internally or by the Advisory Board). 2. Per N.C.G.S. § 132-1.4A(c), the head of the custodial law enforcement agency can disclose a recording to any person whose image or voice is in the recording. If that person is also the person making the Complaint to the Advisory Board, a policy should be written where the presumption is that disclosure of such recordings will be granted to a person whose image or voice is in that recording, AND that that person can show the recording to the Advisory Board (without making a copy of the recording as is prohibited in the statute). The Advisory Board will be allowed to advise the person making the complaint on the proper procedure to request the recording. a. Alternatively, the Advisory Board shall be granted limited authority to act as the personal representative of the person in the recording N.C.G.S. § 132-1.4A(c)(2) in regards to this issue (obtaining any recordings in the custody of law enforcement regarding the incident under review) and then be able to apply to the head of the custodial law enforcement agency for the recording themselves. b. A note: there is an effort in the state legislature to make all police recordings public record. b. The current Use of Force policy is vague. The Advisory Board must suggest and/or create clearer policies about when use of force is justified. c. An issue related to use of force is a show of force. Procedures shall be developed where officers do not need to be in full tactical gear to respond to non- criminal, or non-emergency calls. The Task Force had a community comment about a call for a non-urgent manner for which that citizen had police arrive at his house in full tactical gear, which was quite intimidating. Officers should dress for the type of call to which they are responding. 3. HBO Procedures a. Police Officers should be more involved in the community. i. Establishing policies where officers can attend community events in street clothes (off-duty), or at least dressed down. 1. Officers should have a stand at First Friday events. Something like a popcorn machine would be cheap and would draw people in, allowing Officers to talk to community members. 2. Officers used to go to the Community Garden in Fairview; this practice should be revived. 3. Fairview Live is another opportunity for Officers to attend community-specific events and do outreach to improve relations (and potentially recruit). ii. Meetings with various Hillsborough communities should be standard on a quarterly basis. Outreach for these meetings should be a focus for officers. Chief Hampton reported that the annual Community Summit isn’t well attended. Having meetings with specific neighborhoods might increase participation. Other ideas to increase participation in the meetings: 1. Building relationships and trust with communities first is crucial to have police presence at community events/meetings. Connecting with community leaders to act as bridge builders could help develop these relationships. 2. Each community has an office, officers could post in those offices about Community Forums or events there so that more people know about what is happening. 3. In general do more outreach to people that are connected to the communities they are trying to reach. Word of mouth is really one of the best ways of outreach; connect with leaders in the community. b. Hiring & Training i. Advisory Board should do exit interviews for Officers leaving HBO to be able to independently ascertain the factors that lead officers to leave HBO. Any observations or recommendations should be reported back to the Police Department. ii. The Advisory Board should also participate in the hiring process to review methods of interviewing and selecting candidates. Are interviews currently panel interviews? Are scenarios provided to interviewees to help determine how they would react in certain situations? The Advisory Board could play a role in strengthening the interview process. iii. Those involved in recruitment should themselves be diverse. If administrative staff need to be added to the recruitment team in order to achieve a diverse recruitment team, then do that. Potential candidates need to see that people like them are present in the Department. iv. We recommend that the salary offer for a Black, Indigenous, or Person of Color (BIPOC) potential candidate be increased to further incentivize strong BIPOC leadership in HBO. We say this knowing that HBO’s current rate of compensation is equal to or above compensation in other local jurisdictions. A further increase would demonstrate commitment to hiring diverse staff in leadership roles and put emphasis on the importance of that goal. v. There is already some racial awareness training for HBO officers. MOre hours of this training should be made mandatory.