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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/13/2023 - Citizen Review Board - Agenda - Regular MeetingCITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING Wednesday, December 13, 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 2. ROLL CALL 3. AGENDA REVIEW 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION a. Public Input – 5 minutes per individual 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. November 8, 2023 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Training: FCPS Defensive Tactics b. Voicemail: None c. E-mail: None d. Case Subcommittee Drawings 7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS 9. OTHER BUSINESS CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING 10. ADJOURNMENT CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING Wednesday, November 8, 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 @ 5:31 PM 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present: Shamera Loose, Melissa Rosas, Elizabeth Grant, Mike O’Malley, Mike Rutledge b. Staff Members Present: Lieutenant Jeremy Yonce, Jessica Jones 3. AGENDA REVIEW 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION a. Public Input – 5 minutes per individual • Kim G. attended to observe for the Honors program that she is participating in, to get supplemental information about the Citizen’s Review Board for a paper she is writing for a Criminal Justice class. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES • October 11, 2023: Mike O’Malley moved to approve the October 2023 minutes, which was seconded by Melissa Rosas. Motion passed unanimously. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Training: Sergeant Mike Boward – FCPS Hiring Process and Police Academy CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING Sergeant Bowen has been with Fort Collins police force for 25 years. He started with patrol and moved from there to field training. He was a detective for property crimes and then became a training officer. Six years ago, he moved into his current role with the Personnel and Training Unit. Sergeant Brown has been with the police force for 27 years. He believes that law enforcement is the same everywhere, but in Fort Collins, officers are truly servants of the citizens, and that is what he likes best. FCPS is a destination agency, meaning that they do not experience a significant amount of turnover in personnel, and their mission statement is “Safety and Service for All”. They take their hiring and training standards very seriously, because it is important to ensure that officers are of the highest quality. One of the goals of the Police Academy is to “hire character, train skill”, which means seeking candidates from a variety of backgrounds who are able to make critical decisions in crisis situations. The Personnel and Training Unit has four training officers and two civilian staff members. Their responsibilities include coordinating attendance and handling all recruiting for both sworn and unsworn positions. They recruit with as wide a net as possible to ensure that the best people are reached and that our candidate pool is a diverse blend of people. They send recruiters to universities and military bases to make personal connections with people who may be interested in joining the police force. Competition for candidates is often fierce, and the amount of people applying for police jobs has gone down in the wake of the pandemic and George Floydd protests. Despite this, standards are held high, because it is important to FCPS not to cut corners in the hiring process just because they are short on staff. Questions from Board Members: Melissa: How many applicants do you get for an entry level position? • It used to be composed of thousands of candidates. After the pandemic, that number has gone down to approximately 200 people or less for each candidate pool. It is important to keep in mind that FCPS has two Police Academies each year to fill. Shamera: Is someone automatically an officer after they go through FCPS Police Academy? Are they able to attend other academies and be hired by FCPS? • While they are able to go through other academies, they will often CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING choose to attend ours even if they have already had training. FCPS will hire all police officers that pass the training for our academy. The good thing about having their own training academy is that they are not limited to hiring people who only have experience. They can hire the best fit and train them to be the best officer. FCPS also has a POST trainer, so police officers who want to work at the state level are able to become POST certified at FCPS Police Academy. Mike R.: If they already hold a POST certification, what do you do? • If they are already certified in our state, they have two options: to enter the training at Week 7, or to start at the beginning with everyone else. It is worth noting that those officers that choose to come in later often wish that they had started at the beginning with us, because of how valuable our training is. Mike R.: Are the agencies using MMPI? • They use CPI, and while FCPS doesn’t have the opportunity to see their direct results, the exam comes with a recommendation which is performance-based and gives indicators for future performance. Trainers lean heavily into scenario-based training, which touches on areas of emotional control, stress control, etc. Trainers get to see their ability to work under these conditions. The hiring process for police officers includes an entry level written exam that tests basic reasoning, along with panel interviews. We provide mentoring beforehand for these interviews, and panelists are trained to give feedback right away. Then the officers go through a series of physical agility tests and integrity interviews, which are polygraph tests that sense voice stress. Intensive background checks are conducted, where recruiters travel to other agencies to interview past supervisors and do home visits to meet with candidates’ families. The final decision is made after this, and then officers begin with onboarding and enter the Police Academy. Kim G.: Does FCPS have a different culture than the Denver Police, and if so, what makes you different? • Their team plays a large part in ensuring that the culture in FCPS is set and centered on a servant mindset. Training makes a big difference, when it comes to the use of force, and while FCPS doesn’t always get it right, they understand that a well-trained officer will make better decisions in crisis situations. Culture can vary from department to department, and is also dependent on the standards set by the Chief of Staff and their training programs. FCPS sets expectations for how CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING officers should treat citizens, and those expectations are grounded in how trainers treat officers when they train them. Traditionally, most people’s idea of a Police Academy resembles military boot camp and involves new officers being minimized as people, with a primary goal of ensuring that the hierarchy stays the same, throughout training and all the way to when they take their positions. Instead, FCPS sets expectations for officers that must be met, including appearance, how to introduce yourself to a citizen, etc. We train in groups, because the competition between officers makes everyone better, but training is about more than just the use of force. We also train in empathy and problem- solving, and communication. There are formal tests that officers have to take, but they are also observed during their day-to-day interactions to see how they work with their peers, and what decisions they make when they think no one is watching. Kim G.: How do you address the “Blue Code of Silence”? This can be viewed through two different perspectives. One perspective about this code is that it focuses on secrecy, and another perspective shows that it is about solidarity with those that came before and those that will come afterwards. No one dislikes a bad cop more than a good cop. Shamera: How many initial candidates make it through the academy? We currently have 40 candidates and have only lost one due to concerns of safety. We will lose some to performance-based issues and some because they decide that they don’t want to be in that space after going through training. Kim G: Do other agencies ever call FCPS for input on how to do better? Yes. FCPS work with other agencies to assist them, and there are other agencies that are doing good things that they reach out to for input as well. Even if an officer leaves FCPS to go to another agency, we know that the police force as a whole has been made stronger. The day-to-day structure of the police academy consists of 22 weeks of training. We have classes during the day, evening, and on weekends, and board members are welcome to visit any time they want. Police officers train from the beginning in their uniforms so that they can become accustomed to it and learn how to work with hand radios. No one is allowed to move on to field training if they don’t meet FCPS standards, but FCPS looks for other opportunities for them when possible. The officers do 16 weeks of field training CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING Shamera: We also have a Citizen’s Academy. Is it connected to the Police Academy? Yes, their unit is in charge of the Citizen’s Academy as well, which is for 8 weeks for 3 hours/night. They are able to bring in subject matter experts to train in both academies. Shamera: How much impact does the chief have on the culture? The chief has a significant impact because he is very engaged. He is there every week, communicating expectations, and he manages a staff that is very skilled at communication as well. Elizabeth: When it comes to recruiting, there are a lot of non-tangibles. How do you test for the necessary skills for your own position? Mentoring is the primary way that we ensure that we have good recruiters. In every space, we expect our trainers to have the skills needed to get recruits up to speed. b. Voicemail: None c. E-mail: None d. Discussion of Citizen’s Review Board Ex Officio Member: • It helps to have diversity on the board and to have someone who has past experience with law enforcement. We used to have a board member who knew a lot about Colorado laws. While Melissa has that past experience, she doesn’t know a lot about Colorado laws. We have both Jeremy Yonce and Jenny Lopez Filkins to advise us on current Colorado laws, which is good, because much as changed since Melissa was an officer. • Having Jeremy Yonce to advise us is imperative to provide an understanding of current FCPS practices, but he does have a stake in the game. It may be useful to have an additional expert who doesn’t have a stake in the game as an employee of FCPS. • Several board members haven’t seen a case yet and are unclear on how they are handled. Would an ex-officio member be able to assist with that? • No, Jenny, Jeremy, and Jessica are there to support the board members as far as procedures are concerned; an ex-officio member would be used to provide expert advise about things that are within the scope of the board. 7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS CITIZEN REVIEW BOARD (CiRB) REGULAR MEETING 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS a. Mike O’Malley went on a ride-along with Trevor Smotherman, who was covering Old Town. He really enjoyed it and the officer was very professional. They received a call about a fight in the back of a pot store. They got to go into the store and see the behind-the-scenes action that occurs in the back. They also received a call from a frat house, where someone had slashed someone else’s tires. b. Shamera will be going on a ride-along on November 20th, and Elizabeth is scheduled for scheduled to go this Saturday. 9. OTHER BUSINESS a. Mock Training: Board members are interested in setting a mock case to train on. Jeremy can bring in information on an old case that was previously reviewed by the board, and the board can review it again, drawing names to see who would be the chair of the subcommittee, and one of the members that hasn’t had a chance to be the chair would have an opportunity to see what it would be like. Board members are interested in including information about cases that are related to altercations and defensive tactics. It may be best to wait until vacant board member positions are filled so that new members have an opportunity to learn as well. 10. ADJOURNMENT – Mike R. moved to adjourn, seconded by Elizabeth @ 6:57 PM. Citizen’s Review Board Schedule for 2024 • January 10, 2024 – 222 Laporte Ave, Colorado River Room • February 14, 2024 – **TBD – (Potential Location: 281 N. College Ave, Conference Room A) • March 13, 2024 – 222 Laporte Ave, Colorado River Room • April 10, 2024 – 281 N. College Ave, Conference Room A • May 8, 2024 – 281 N. College Ave, Conference Room A • June 12, 2024 – 281 N. College Ave, Conference Room A • July 10, 2024 – 222 Laporte Ave, Colorado River Room • August 14, 2024 – 222 Laporte Ave, Colorado River Room • September 11, 2024 – 222 Laporte Ave, Colorado River Room • October 9, 2024 – 222 Laporte Ave, Colorado River Room • November 13, 2024 – 222 Laporte Ave, Colorado River Room • December 11, 2024 -- 222 Laporte Ave, Colorado River Room