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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCitizen Review Board - Minutes - 10/11/2023CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING Wednesday, October 11, 2023, at 5:30 PM 222 Laporte Avenue, Colorado River Room (Main Floor) This information is available in Spanish or other languages at no cost to a person who would like this information translated or communicated in Spanish, or another language. Please call (970)416-4254 or titlesix@fcgov.com to make a request for information in other languages. Esta información está disponible en español u otro idioma, sin costo para la persona que le gustaria esta información traducida o comunicada en español u otro idioma. Favor llame al (970)416-4254 o a titlesix@fcgov.com para solicitor información en otros idiomas. Auxiliary aids and services are available for persons with disabilities. TTY: please use 711 to call (970)221-6753. 1. CALL TO ORDER – Called to order by Shamera @ 5:36 PM 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present: Shamera Loose, Elizabeth Grant, Melissa Rosas, Mike O’Malley., Mike Ruttenberg b. Staff Members Present: Jenny Lopez Filkins, Senior Assistant Attorney, Lieutenant Jeremy Yonce, Jessica Jones 3. AGENDA REVIEW 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION a. Public Input – 5 minutes per individual (None) 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. September 13, 2023 b. Corrections: Sally Lee was absent without notice, Melissa Rosas was present at the meeting • Mike Ruttenberg moved to approve the September 2023 minutes, which was seconded by Mike O’Malley. Motion passed unanimously. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. FCPS Executive Staff Meet & Greet: • Attendance: Jeff Swoboda, Chief of Police, Greg Yeager, Deputy Chief of Police, Adam McCambridge, Assistant Chief, Kristy Volesky, Assistant Chief, and Justin Allar, Director CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING • Chief of Police, Jeff Swoboda introduced the group and conveyed that FCPS values the board’s purpose and they are eager to learn about what the board would like to hear about, like more scenarios training, which is important part of officer training as well. • Always trying to improve, but our officers really rise to the occasion time and time again; they place a high value on training officers in stressful situations. • They use discretion in discipline and ensure that officers have the resources they need. • New officers are in their early twenties and are often dealing with very stressful situations, so ensuring that they are trained and have the behavioral health resources they need is essential. • FCPS is willing to attend a CiRB meeting whenever board members request it. • FCPS is happy to answer questions. Board members are also welcome to do ride-alongs to get first-hand perspectives. Board Member Questions: • Melissa: Your average citizen hasn’t experienced police trainings. Do you ever use citizens for your role players? • We usually use trained officers because they understand what the expectation is for how that officer should perform in that task. • In active shooting scenarios, they do ask community members to participate. • FCPS is open to looking for new scenarios in which the community could be involved, but it has to be approached with caution. • Officers in training are able to receive feedback from trainers, and they hire professional actors for CIT (Crisis Intervention Training); if members want to be involved, please let FCPS know. • Shamera: With the new mental health facility that is being built, what will change about how officers arrest people? • Lieutenant McCambridge runs the HOPE team; instead of going to PVH, it will allow people to brought to a more holistic place where they are treating all issues. • It will be a huge step forward for the community in Larimer County • Anyone can just walk in at any time, so FCPS can give referrals, or provide them with info; individuals do not need insurance, or money to be treated. CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING • It has a pharmacy and will allow individuals who need it to receive medications. • Laura Walker oversees it on the County side, and it is easy enough to reach Summitstone to get a tour. • The facility has separate entrances for officers and professionals who meet them so that officers do not have to evaluate whether it is mental health or substance abuse. They provide a total detox to patients. • The facility arranges for transportation, so that FCPS doesn’t spend as much time transporting patients to and from the facility. • Shamera: Who manages your social media? • The position is open right now, and FCPS is recruiting for someone who can show empathy, over someone who is just posting a lot on social media. • There will always be those who want to say that FCPS isn’t doing a good job, but there are 180,000 members of our community, and many of them care about the force and want updates on what a good job we are doing. • Mike O.: Is it difficult to continue getting good quality people in as officers? • It is; FCPS has seen the number of applicants decrease over the years, and also faced the challenge of keeping the right number of recruits. • FCPS has many experienced men and women employees involved in recruiting, and they are ensuring that they are engaging university students more, to add to a diverse candidate pool. • FCPS always has a core of candidates that have a passion for helping the community, and the Chief says the agency will go without more staffing if they can’t find officers to meet FCPS standards, rather than hire people who don’t meet those standards. • Even if an officer isn’t ready to be a police officer, FCPS has the option to put them into CSO positions. Another option is to be a dispatcher. These positions don’t require carrying a gun and they don’t have arrest powers, but they are involved with many other aspects of assisting the community. • Records Unit has historically been understaffed. FCPS is in over hired status now. 126 applicants are currently being processed for new dispatchers. • Retention is just as important, if not more important; challenging because there are a lot of different opportunities. Maintaining a CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING high level of professionalism is key. • FCPS is preparing for City growth by hiring more criminalists. FCPS has different teams that focus on specialized crimes, such as cyber security, etc. They are often retired officers. • It gives officers more hours to work on police work, because these teams can backfill for a lot of tasks • Safe Futures: a community organization that works with their unit on Internet Crimes Against Children • We also have a Crimes Against Persons Unit • Criminalist position enables people who are skilled with computers to be hired, instead of attempting to train police officers to do this job. • Jeremy and Chief from Loveland worked on human trafficking and have partnered with the community to ensure that this issue is being focused on. • We are partnering with Outreach Fort Collins for homeless outreach, so that instead of the officer approaching them, they use criminalists and community service officers to approach them and provide resources. • The goal is to cut down on situations in which “a gun and a badge” shows up, when that isn’t what is needed. • Just because the City is growing doesn’t mean we need more cops. • Mike R: What is the promotional path from patrol officer up to criminalist? • • For us, it isn’t a promotion to go into investigations, its just a lateral job transfer. We’ll always have sworn officers to write tickets, but we are growing our use of the professional staff members, in order to do things that don’t require a sworn officer. • There aren’t as many people who want to be police officers. • Beth: How are you protecting your teams, in regards to behavioral health, now since it is harder now to be a police officer? • There are many pieces to this; the agency has had a staff psychologist for 30 years. Officers can see the psychologist, and their family members can see them. • They can make appointments at the off-site location as well for privacy. • 2 times a year, officers can elect to go in to talk, either for issues they are experiencing or anything else. In return, they receive a full day off for taking advantage of the opportunity • They have an organization who is willing to do health scans, and give advice on optimal heart rate, exercise, etc. CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING • FCPS haS a full-site gym, for officers and family members and a twice a year fitness test, that if officers take, they will receive additional time off as a reward. • Peer Support Team: psychologist manages a group of employees who are able to support their fellow employees. • The members of this group also meet with each other to share data • Chaplains: There are multiple chaplains from many faiths. • The program was re-established several years ago; they participate in many aspects of officer’s duties, and know the staff well. • Cordoco: a phone app that has wellness information, such as exercises, meditation, yoga, etc. • FCPS has employees who use yoga to deal with stressors, and it is also taught in the Police Academy • FCPS also try to reenforce the fact that officers are going to make mistakes; as the state moves to remove qualified immunity, officers often feel like they are under attack; they have to have body-cams on at all times, and if they make a mistake, they can be sued. • They are taught to follow protocols so that they are making the right decisions in tough situations. • Mike: I know that as behavioral professional, I can carry a load of about 30 or 40 people. What is FCPS doing to expand resources for officers and what are you doing to reduce the stigma around behavioral health for officers? • FCPS just had a presentation from our new psychologist who explains that they can use our EAP for check-ins and to address capacity issues, and it has people who are culturally competent who are speaking to officers if need be. • Emphasis on behavioral health is spreading to other cities; mental health focus is engrained in this organization because it became important more than 30 years ago, so this is not new to FCPS, even if it is new for others. • The most important thing is getting with the new officers to let them know that if they aren’t talking about tough calls, it is a problem. • FCPS is approaching a staff of 250 officers/dispatchers, and recognize that the program will have to grow, and that they will need to accommodate expanded capacity. • Police officers can also use the new mental health facility, with privacy from citizens. • Jeremy shared experience about after the murder of two children CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING by their father last year, how many employees came to talk to the mental health professionals to receive support. It really highlights the culture of FCPS and how important mental health is. • Shamera: With a new chief in Loveland and a new sheriff, is there more unity between departments? • Yes, FCPS, Loveland PD and the Sheriff’s Office talk all the time; they have always had a strong relationship but expect that collaboration to increase since they all have so much experience with Fort Collins so they understand the workings of FCPS, which makes it easier. • Officers who come from Fort Collins praise the knowledge they gained with the force. • FCPS encourage board members to send feedback about what could be done better, and how things can improve. b. Voicemail: None c. E-mail: None d. Discuss and clarify attendance requirements for board members: • During the September meeting, there was a question about attendance; at that time, Jenny didn’t recognize that there are code requirements for what the attendance requirements are. • Communication was emailed to the board on 09/14 to clarify • If a board member doesn’t meet the requirements, then by operation of law, they are removed from the board. Requirements:  Two absences from regularly scheduled meetings of the board, if prior to the meetings where the absences occurred, the member did not submit written notification of such absence to the staff liaison  Absences for more than 25% of the regularly scheduled meetings of the board in any calendar year, with or without written notification to the staff liaison o Exception: a member has the option of discussing with the board chair prior to meeting that threshold if they anticipate that they will meet this threshold, and then an allowance can be made  For sub-committees, there is a special attendance requirement: CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING o 2 consecutive absences from scheduled subcommittee meetings or three absences from schedule subcommittee meetings in a calendar year, if prior to the meetings where the absences occurred, no written notification of any such absence has been submitted to the staff liaison. • There are two board members who recently fell into this category who are no longer on the board, Sally Lee and Allison Dineen • This information will be added the agenda going forward, if this occurs. • Council will open the application pool, because their terms were ending in March anyway, and those positions will be filled at that time. • Quorum for the CiRB is 4 members. 7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS 9. OTHER BUSINESS a. Jeremy has the days and times that the firearms team is doing their service trainings; if there is one that you want to attend, just let Jeremy know which day and timeframe, and he will let the instructors know. He can also bring more waivers for the board members. b. We have two upcoming trainings, Defensive Tactics and Police Academy Hiring and Recruitment Tactics. c. Defensive Tactics occurs every other month, so members can also observe this training. 10. ADJOURNMENT – Elizabeth moved to adjourn, seconded by Melissa @ 6:56