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HomeMy Public PortalAbout09-09-21 Agenda Regular Meeting 101 E. Orange St., PO Box 429, Hillsborough, NC 27278 919-732-1270 | www.hillsboroughnc.gov | @HillsboroughGov MAYOR’S TASK FORCE AGENDA | 1 of 2 Agenda 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 Due to current public health concerns, this meeting will be conduct remotely using Zoom. Public comment instructions are available below the agenda. 1. Roll call 2. Audience comments not related to the printed agenda 3. Welcome 4. Items for decision A. Minutes from meeting August 12, 2021 5. Items for discussion A. Finalize recommendations from two small groups 1. Group A – Mental health calls and traffic stops 2. Group B – Hillsborough Police Department practices and use of force B. Group discussion and vision for recommendation on standing advisory board C. Plan for forwarding recommendations and relevant materials to the town board of commissioners 6. Next meeting date To be determined 7. Adjournment Public Comment Instructions For agenda items and items not on the agenda Public Comment ― Written Members of the public may provide written public comment by submitting it via the police management analyst contact form by noon the day of the meeting. When submitting the comment, include the following: • Date of the meeting MAYOR’S TASK FORCE AGENDA | 2 of 2 • Agenda item you wish to comment on (Example: 5.C) • Your name, address, email and phone number Public Comment ― Verbal Members of the public can indicate they wish to speak during the meeting by contacting the police management analyst through the analyst’s contact form by noon the day of the meeting. When submitting the request to speak, include the following: • Date of the meeting • Agenda item you wish to speak on (Example: 5.C) • Your name, address, email and phone number (The phone number must be the number you plan to call in from if participating by phone.) Prior to the meeting, speakers will be emailed a Zoom participant link to be able to make comments during the live meeting. Speakers may use a computer (with camera and/or microphone) or phone to make comments. Speakers using a phone for comments must use the provided PIN/password number. The public speaker’s audio and video will be muted until the task force gets to the respective agenda item. Individuals who have pre-registered will then be brought into the public portion of the meeting one at a time. For concerns prior to the meeting related to speaking, contact the police management analyst at 919-296-9540 or through the contact form. 101 E. Orange St., PO Box 429, Hillsborough, NC 27278 919-732-1270 | www.hillsboroughnc.gov | @HillsboroughGov MAYOR’S TASK FORCE MINUTES | 1 of 6 Minutes MAYOR’S TASK FORCE ON RE-IMAGINING PUBLIC SAFETY Remote regular meeting 7 p.m. August 12, 2021 Virtual meeting via YouTube Live Town of Hillsborough YouTube channel Present: Mayor Jenn Weaver, Sujata Bijou, Patricia Harrison, Chloe Johnson, Jason Knapp, Hathaway Pendergrass, Marc Xavier and Allison Zirkel Absent: Judit Alvarado, Shannon Blue, Keith Cook, Rod Jones, Tracey Little, Hooper Schultz, Staff: Police Management Analyst Eli Valsing 1. Roll call Mayor Jenn Weaver called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Police Management Analyst Eli Valsing called the roll and confirmed the presence of a quorum. 2. No audience comments not related to the printed agenda 3. Welcome Mayor Weaver welcomed the participants to the meeting. 4. Items for decision A. Minutes from two meetings: May 13, 2021 and June 24, 2021 were approved by the task force in one vote. Motion: Hathaway Pendergrass moved approval of the May 13, 2021 and June 24, 2021 minutes as submitted. Chloe Johnson seconded. Valsing called the roll for voting. Vote: Ayes: 7. Nays: 0. 5. Presentations from small group meetings. Mayor Jenn Weaver suggested the individual groups present their findings directly and offered to assist with facilitating the conversation. A. Mental Health Calls and Traffic Stops – Group A Group members attending: Sujata Bijou, Jason Knapp, Hathaway Pendergrass, and Allison Zirkel Other group members: Tracey Little, Rod Jones, Shannon Blue Allison Zirkel read the first mental health recommendation: 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- MAYOR’S TASK FORCE MINUTES | 2 of 6 police behavioral health first responders, OR by establishing an alternative emergency number for community members to call in case of a behavioral health crisis. Sujata Bijou read the second mental health recommendation: 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. Zirkel read the third mental health recommendation: 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). Zirkel said these recommendations are presented for review and suggestions. Weaver asked the group members to share some background on the discussion that led to these recommendations. Regarding the first recommendation Hathaway Pendergrass said the group reviewed the information presented to the task force and, also, reviewed the recommendations that Chapel Hill’s task force presented recently to see how we could work with the other communities. This was done with the idea of pooling resources due to the funding realities for Hillsborough as the smallest jurisdiction in the county. The first recommendation came out of this consideration. Jason Knapp said that the second recommendation originated with one of the statistics presented by Dr. Baumgartner, which was that 60% of officers are involved in training. So, this prompted the thought that we may have a need for more training, such as homelessness and substance abuse. The number of social workers recommended is in some effort to cover more than just 9-5, M-F a time frame. Regarding the third recommendation Zirkel said an area of common agreement in the group was that some mental health calls did not need to involve police officers. Pendergrass mentioned part of the role of this position would be for follow up work, which can also be preventative. So, not just to respond, but also to assist throughout traumas individuals might be facing. Chloe Johnson asked if anyone knows of examples of situations where social workers work in police departments. Patricia Harrison shared an example from when she worked in community mental health in Mississippi. She was part of a crisis intervention team as a mental health therapist. The team worked along with the police department on a 2-week rotation schedule, during which they were on call for the department. Each member of the team received additional pay and additional training. It was an option for employees. They would meet officers at the emergency room and worked together with law enforcement. Knapp mentioned a similar program in Dallas. He shared an article with more details. https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/dallas-has-been-dispatching-social-workers-to-some-911-calls-its- working-11810019. Pendergrass mentioned that Chapel Hill PD has a crisis unit, with approximately 8 employees and that the sheriff’s department is starting a mental health unit. Zirkel mentioned the models the task force MAYOR’S TASK FORCE MINUTES | 3 of 6 reviewed at the January 2021 meeting, including the Cahoots model in Eugene Oregon and suggested that the process of considering this recommendation should include a careful review of models that are working. She also suggested the recommendation should include that responders are not necessarily social workers, as was the case in Harrison’s example. Zirkel highlighted that social workers have a specific focus on social disparity and so are trained in more than just mental health. Johnson commented she liked that the third recommendation goes beyond some of the models that had been reviewed, to include the suggestion that the position could participate in reviewing data and identifying trends. Weaver asked if it was possible that the third recommendation and the first recommendation would be somehow be combined? Pendergrass said he could see the position in recommendation 3 being a shared position. Zirkel said the first recommendation was more targeted towards a better crisis response system in Orange County overall, separate from law enforcement having to respond to mental health calls, while the third recommendation was more specific to a position within the police department. Weaver thanked the group for this effort and asked if they had recommendations to make on traffic stops. The group shared some written recommendations on this topic, with the caveat that they had not been reviewed again by the group since being written up. Bijou and Knapp shared 1) Begin distribution of consensual right cards at each traffic stop (officer gives to driver to complete), 2) cease regulatory traffic checkpoints, 3) deprioritize regulatory traffic stops, and 4) collect and analyze traffic stop data with a focus on race and gender demographics; share collected data with the public. Another consideration was the creation of an advisory council, that would give people a place to share their complaints. In addition, the following recommendations were shared by Bijou. First, to limit visible weaponry in traffic stops and behavioral health responses. We talked about the need to evaluate the necessity of carrying and showing weapons in these situations. Four tiers related to risk/necessity are as follows: 1) carrying no weapons, 2) carrying weapons but not displaying them, 3) carrying and displaying non-lethal weapons, 4) carrying and displaying lethal weapons. Second, separate and apart from the Hillsborough Police Department, the need for collection, analysis, and publication of data in the Orange County Court system related to racial and economic disparities and to convene a task force to evaluate the use of SRO's in Orange County/Hillsborough Public Schools, which are part of the Orange County Sheriff's Office. Pendergrass addressed the second and third recommendations to clarify current practice, as well as to highlight the difference between the two recommendations. He asked to confirm that the Hillsborough Police department no longer conducts regulatory check points (the second recommendation) and is currently deprioritizing regulatory traffic stops (the third recommendation). Eli Valsing said she believed that to be an accurate understanding of Chief Hampton’s comments. Weaver said a request was respectfully made for Chief Hampton to not attend tonight’s meeting, in interest of promoting a different kind of conversation, so that everyone was aware of why he was not present. Zirkel said the group discussed individual’s experiences, particularly people of color, when they have been pulled over related to treatment, the power dynamic, and the related stress. In addition, the conversation included a discussion of community review board models and recommendations. The group did not develop specific recommendations, instead discussed that community members should have an avenue to file complaints that is outside of the police department. The group saw a need for this type of review board but did not have time to complete this conversation. Weaver asked if the group discussed how the use of consent to search cards was related to more probable cause searches. Pendergrass said this is to be expected, due to the need for a search to be legal and this recommendation was included for further discussion. Johnson commented if it becomes a recommendation, then tracking traffic stop search cases through to the resulting court cases would show if cases are being dismissed due MAYOR’S TASK FORCE MINUTES | 4 of 6 to lack of probable cause. Pendergrass mentioned police data and the court data are two separate systems, and neither has access to the other. Valsing confirmed this is correct and did not know another way to do this research than to track each individual case. She also stated that the HPD Traffic report shared with the task force includes consent and probable cause data. Johnson said the data suggestion was something the advisory board might undertake. Weaver stated that it is good to include things like this, which might be ‘pie in the sky’, but would be helpful to have. Zirkel said data analysis is very important and perhaps the recommendations could include the hiring of a full-time person to undertake data analysis. Weaver asked if the regulatory check points were deprioritized or discontinued, and Valsing confirmed that it was discontinued with one of the reasons being the department did not have the capacity to conduct them. Weaver asked if the 4th recommendation, related to the race and gender of traffic stops, was different than the information already reported to the state. Bijou suggested this was recommended as a task for the advisory board, in terms of reviewing the data on a regular basis. Valsing said that data is reported to the state monthly and is available through a web portal. The HPD 2019 Traffic report presented to the task force included some of the same data and in addition, connected the initial reason for the stop to the resulting charges. We have the data for 2020 as a full year and are currently developing quarterly reports for 2021. Chapel Hill and Carrboro also report their police data on a quarterly basis. Weaver summarized the group’s comments regarding the advisory board role, to review data that is collected, review reports, and be a place for complaints outside of the department. Bijou said also, it could also be useful as a place for individuals to talk about their experiences, even though it may not be characterized as a complaint. In relation to the recommendation related to visible weaponry, Zirkel said they also discussed the question of the need for any weapons at all. A risk assessment could be conducted to determine which kinds of calls require the different levels of weaponry, or no weapons. The question was raised of whether the county currently collects data related to racial and economic disparities in the court system because more information on this topic would help in refining the recommendations related to the collection of demographic data in the court system. Weaver asked if the group would want to refine this list of recommendations. Pendergrass said he feels the group should review their traffic stop recommendations and bring them back to the full task force at the next meeting. B. Hillsborough Police Departments Practices and Use of Force – Group B Group members attending: Patricia Harrison, Chloe Johnson, Marc Xavier Other group members: Judit Alvarado, Keith Cook, Hooper Schultz Chloe Johnson said that most of their discussion included references to how an advisory board would be useful related to the issues being discussed and so, their first recommendation is that an advisory board is needed. 1. Strongly Recommend an Advisory Board with 5 people, with diverse backgrounds: age, race, ethnicity, experience & perspective. Community leaders. The second recommendation addresses the main roles of the board. 2. Community Complaints Advisory Board should hear community complaints and be able to promptly respond to community members. In interest of giving the board more information regarding complaints the recommendation is the board gets access to body camera footage and any other information the officers will voluntarily share. Johnson raised the question of whether the advisory board could be appointed as the complainant’s personal representative to gain access to the footage. Recommendation 3. Police Officers should be more involved in the community. Establishing policies where officers can attend community events in street clothes (off-duty), or at least dressed down, would help build MAYOR’S TASK FORCE MINUTES | 5 of 6 relationships outside of stressful situations. At least quarterly meetings with communities, especially in the neighborhoods where there is more police activity. Each community would have an office, officers could post in those offices about Community Forums or events there so that more people know about what is happening. Another option would be going to the neighborhoods where people might congregate and advertise opportunities to meet with the police. 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 and connect with leaders in the community. There should be a budget for this. A popcorn machine would be cheap and well-loved and could be used at events like Last Friday. Return police officers to the Community Garden in Fairview and any similar initiatives in other neighborhoods. Fairview Live is another opportunity for officers to be involved (when it resumes). Patricia Harrison continued presenting the recommendations. 4. Use of Force – the advisory board must create/suggest clearer policies about when use of force is justified. In addition, establish policies where officers do not need to be in full tactical gear to respond to all calls and includes options such as body armor worn underneath the clothing. 5. Hiring and training – The advisory board would do exit interviews for officers leaving HBO PD to do an analysis on officer retention and they would participate in the hiring process. Do the current practices include scenario questions and panel interviews? To diversify the recruitment process, have people of color work on recruitment. Budget more money for a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) officer in a leadership position. Make more racial awareness training and practices mandatory. Harrison said the discussion included relevant current events. Marc Xavier said that black people involved in the hiring of black officers would be helpful for keeping officers. Mayor Weaver reviewed of all the recommendations, begging with a question about the community leaders recommended for the advisory board. Xavier said he sees this recommendation as needing more specificity, or it could be removed, because it may be a little ambiguous. Johnson said she remembers the reason for it being included was about leaders in the various neighborhoods, and Harrison said it does not need to be an elected official, but individuals in the community that want to take part and step up. Weaver said that this list of recommendations may need to be vetted by the town attorney, specifically related to the suggestion that the advisory board have access to the body camera footage. Pendergrass said that you must go through a judge to get access to body camera footage, and it would not be possible based on the way the statue is written. Johnson asked if the person in the footage would be able to give it to the advisory board. Pendergrass said they have a dissemination option, but that happens infrequently. Weaver noted that both groups have recommended that an advisory board is needed. In relation to the third recommendation, Harrison noted the department hosted a National Night Out event at Gateway Village, which was a good first start. Weaver asked if the quarterly meeting recommendation was intended as something similar to the Fairview Community Watch, in more places throughout town. Harrison said last month was the first month Officer Matthews came back to the Fairview meeting, and they were happy to have her there. Harrison said her attending will be an asset because she is trusted in the community. The discussion also included the idea to have regular opportunities to talk with officers in other communities. Regarding the use of force recommendation, Bijou asked if the advisory board would have the authority to write policy? Johnson said she imagined that would not be possible, but rather that the board might make suggestions for the department to implement. She edited the document slightly and said they group could discuss further how to present that recommendation. Regarding the recommendation about budgeting more money for hiring a person of color in a leadership position, Johnson emphasized that this means offering a higher salary to get a person of color in the position. MAYOR’S TASK FORCE MINUTES | 6 of 6 Weaver reviewed questions related to next steps for the task force. First, do groups need more time to meet separately? Both groups said they would like to begin the process of further review by email and determine if they need to meet again. Zirkel also suggested that if others outside of group A would be interested in being involved in the traffic stop conversation that it would be welcome. Weaver said she would like to check with the town attorney regarding document sharing and meetings with the full group, outside of the regular meeting time, before going forward with that suggestion. Zirkel then suggested it would be best to stick with the regular groups. Weaver reviewed the suggestion from Group A regarding community input on the mental health recommendations. Weaver said, that yes, overall, the community should contribute to the recommendations. Weaver said she wants to be deliberate about when that input takes place, and to be careful of information being disseminated to the public before the town board has had an opportunity to weigh in on how these may, or may not, be put into practice. Pendergrass said he thinks that this is the Mayor’s task force, and however the Mayor decides information should be disseminated would be appropriate. Zirkel clarified that the idea of community input was more about being sure that ideas of community that we might not be thinking about are included, rather than getting feedback on the specific recommendations. Johnson agreed, and said she thought it would be helpful to hear from people who have had experiences with the police department to see if they are missing any big issues. Weaver said that we do have other venues in the community where some of these conversations have taken place, and there has been law enforcement response. In addition, it is important to keep boundaries because of the limited time frame for the task force. There will be room for comments on a final set of the recommendations in a public forum. The value of public input is not in dispute. Weaver asked if there are topics the group would like to have more discussion about that need to happen in the full group? Zirkel and Knapp both said they would like to see more discussion regarding the advisory board. Weaver said she thought that Chief Hampton would like to respond to some of the recommendations, specifically about things the department is already doing. Weaver suggested that the September meeting would focus on specifics regarding the advisory board and a conversation with Chief Hampton regarding the recommendations and that in October, the task force would be able to finalize their recommendations. Bijou asked if there would be additional task force effort at the time of the presentation of the recommendations to the board? Weaver said once the recommendations were finalized the group would no longer meet, but she hoped they would participate in the meeting when the recommendations are presented to the board. 6. Next meeting date September 9, 2021 7. Adjournment Weaver adjourned the meeting at 8:54 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Eli Valsing Police Management Analyst Staff support to the Mayor’s Task Force on Re-imagining Public Safety Approved: Month X, 202X CITY HALL Young said the program was resulting not only in fiscal savings, but also better care. "People now call 911 and ask for the RIGHT Care team," he said. The city now plans to expand the program citywide. Two more first-response teams will be added by Dallas Has Been Dispatching Social Workers to Some 911 Calls. It’s Working. LUCAS MANFIELD DECEMBER 10, 2019 4:00AM Last year, Dallas' police and fire departments teamed up with Parkland Hospital to rethink how they responded to 911 calls involving mental health crises. They placed a social worker inside the dispatch center to triage calls and sent out a special team staffed with a mental health professional whenever possible. They targeted South Central Dallas, the area with the highest concentration of mental health- related calls. The hope was that social workers could handle these cases without relying on the city's overcrowded emergency rooms and jails. The results have been promising. In 2019, the volume of psych patients at Parkland's ER rose 30%. But the trend has largely been reversed in areas covered by the program, which is called RIGHT Care. The number of psych patients arriving from those areas dropped by 20%.  Kurtis Young, the director of social work at Parkland, called the results "remarkable" and cited them as evidence that the program is working. "We think that was significant enough that this program is having an impact." y p p p g y p y mid-2020, and additional training will be provided to police and firefighters. The program created a special mental health team — made up of a paramedic, a police ocer and a social worker — that would respond to calls in South Central Dallas. tweet this The program was announced in 2017, imagined as a way to divert "super-utilizers" from the city's criminal justice system. Of these 6,000 people — most in poverty — the vast majority were receiving no health care for their mental illnesses. The City of Dallas receives 1,500 mental health service calls per month, each of which results in the dispatch of five police officers. Rarely do those calls result in referrals to mental health care services. As a result, people with mental illness repeatedly end up in Dallas County Jail, which has become the county's de facto mental health treatment provider. Recent estimates put the number of inmates with mental illnesses at a quarter of the total jail population. "We're trying to break a cycle," said Kevin Oden, the program's coordinator, at a briefing before a City Council committee Monday. The program created a special mental health team — made up of a paramedic, a police officer and a social worker — that would respond to calls in South Central Dallas. It was modeled off a similar program launched in 2012 in Colorado Springs, and it is the first of its kind in a major city like Dallas. Social workers help the department triage calls and determine whether an individual is violent or simply needs basic help with taking their medication. Young acknowledged there have been some growing pains, as members from the various agencies learned to work together. One problem they had to work out: Who was going to drive the car? "Putting them all in one vehicle has had its fun challenges, but at the end of the day, everybody came together because it was for the betterment of the patients," Young said. The original grant that is funding the pilot runs out in May, but the North Texas Behavioral Health Association has stepped in to support it through next year. State grant funds are available after that, thanks to recent state legislative efforts to fund local mental health initiatives. The NTBHA coordinates mental health care in Dallas and the surrounding counties. It's made diversion programs a priority in recent years and just launched a new facility devoted to helping people with mental illness get back on their feet after being institutionalized. In all, the city projects that the program will divert 18 officers away from mental health calls to more high-priority areas.  Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our terms of use, our cookies policy, and our privacy policy The Dallas Observer may earn a portion of sales from products & services purchased through links on our site from our aliate partners. ©2021 Dallas Observer, LP. All rights reserved.