Village of Western Springs Public Health & Safety Committee met March 11.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
Members Present: William Siffermann, Chair Alan Fink, Trustee
Staff Present: Chief Brian Budds, LES Chief Patrick Kenny, Fire & EMS Deputy Chief Mike Kelly, Fire & EMS Deputy Chief Daniel Albrecht, LES
Staff Not Present: Shaun O'Connor, LES
Others Present: Alice Gallagher, Village President
Public Present: None
Electronic Attendance: None
#1 Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 11, 2020.
#2 Roll Call
President Alice Gallagher was also present.
#3 Approval of minutes – February 6, 2020
MOTION: Chair Siffermann requested a motion to approve the minutes of the February 6, 2020 meetings. Trustee Fink made the motion, Chair Siffermann seconded and the minutes were approved by unanimous vote.
#4 Public Comment
None
#5 PD - 2019 Annual Report presentation
Chair Siffermann presented the Police Department's 2019 annual report. He thinks it is an outstanding document that reflects the heart and soul of the law enforcement division in Western Springs. It provides an accurate picture of all the public aspects of public service provided to the community. It provides helpful information to the residents and members of the Board to get a glimpse of the work the officers perform, not just in traffic enforcement, but also the public safety and crime prevention. He added that it shows the readiness training that is evident in this document along with the public outreach. He finished by stating that the statistics included adds to the dimensions of all the other areas that are documented.
Chief Budds noted that one of the highlights this year were the awards and recognition section. Chief Budds wanted to note that we took first place in the 2018 Traffic Safety Challenge.
Chief Budds went over the major points of the annual report. The Chief sent out notices to the staff to complete their end of year reports for the areas they were designated to do. This report shows off what the department accomplishes.
Chief Budds noted that some statistics went down and some went up. He noted that car burglaries continue to be an issue. He added that the neighboring towns are having the same issues that we are having. He did report that there has been some improvement in the areas and that may be attributed to getting the message out on social media and at Board Meetings. They are starting to level off, as opposed to some of our neighbors. We will continue to use social media as a tool.
Another thing we started this year was our Youth Citizen's Police Academy. We will continue to do that again this upcoming year.
We had a change in the organizational chart and staffing as well. We went to a twelve hour shift, which has helped with coverage and reducing overtime.
Chair Siffermann asked about the change in relief time. Chief Budds mentioned that the relief time has gone down significantly.
Chief Budds mentioned that the annual report will go on the Village website. Chief Budds noted that our Patrol Division is the largest part of our department.
Calls for service are slightly down. Chair Siffermann stated that interactions with the community can prevent calls for service due to the officers dealing directly with the residents. Deputy Chief Albrecht also noted that with some of the software that we use, what used to be a call for service from certain residents, we can address through the software and that can eliminate a call for service.
Chief Budds went over the training section of the annual report and all the training and training academy that we take part in.
President Gallagher asked where the training academy is. Chief Budds stated it was at the College of DuPage Campus.
Chief Budds noted the one robbery we had both offenders were arrested and pled guilty. Chief Budds added that the number of burglaries stayed just about the same. Most of those were car burglaries.
Chair Siffermann noted that the crime report shows an increase in certain areas but also a decrease in crime. This reflects a significant achievement.
Chief Budds spoke about the School Resource Officer and how busy Officer Niezgoda is. He discussed how much the position has changed over the years. Officer Niezgoda also must work with the school officer at the North campus as well.
Trustee Fink asked how the Peer Jury program recruitment was going. Chief Budds reported that they were still recruiting.
Chair Siffermann asked if any members of the department came from the Auxiliary Unit. Chief Budds confirmed that Officer Niezgoda, Sergeant Madler, and Shaun O'Connor.
Chief Budds went over the personnel section showcasing that we had two Sergeants retire and two promotions. We also hired a new officer, Adrian Breems, who happened to have previously been an intern at the department.
Chief Budds reported that the Internal Affairs section is mandated by our Accreditation Standards. We had one citizen complaint in 2019 that wasn't sustained.
#6 PD - 2019 Community & Traffic Survey Summaries
Chair Siffermann asked Accreditation Manager Chavez to go over the two surveys that were completed. The 2019 Community Survey and the 2019 Traffic Stop Survey. Ms. Chavez went over the process of conducting the surveys. She sends out 15 surveys every month to citizens of Western Springs based on set criteria. The criteria are as follows:
1. The incident involved a Western Springs' resident or a business within the Village jurisdiction.
2. Incident reports, including crashes, can be used.
3. Traffic stop contacts are not selected.
4. Agency members are selected for survey mailing as evenly as possible. The logic is to obtain an overview of the agency as a unit, as opposed to the performance of the employee.
5. The Police Chief and Deputy Police Chief are not selected due to their daily responsibilities, which do not include responding to citizen calls for service. This year there were 180 surveys sent out and 69 were returned for a response rate of 38.3%.
Ms. Chavez went over the Community Survey.
Question one is what was the nature of your recent contact with the police department. The highest response was to report a problem at 24% followed by contacting about a problem at 13%. The most common response last year was to report a problem and the victim of a crime.
Chair Siffermann asked what the distinction between contacting the police about a problem and reporting a problem. Ms. Chavez stated the distinction was to report a miscellaneous report, i.e. to report lost property or to respond to a medical emergency. President Gallagher asked about when it is categorized about reporting a problem. Ms Chavez stated that it varies on the reporting. President Gallagher stated they are just trying to figure out the distinction between the two since they seem to be the same thing.
President Gallagher asked if this is a CALEA standard. Chief Budds stated it was not. President Gallagher also asked if the two questions can be combined. Chief Budds said it could and that we are always trying to improve the survey.
Question three, according to Ms. Chavez, was how you would rate the employee and the results were high for the excellent and good categories. There were no poor selections made.
Question four, according to Ms. Chavez, was the ranking of the top three most important police services. Neighborhood patrol and visibility were both first and property crimes being second. Last year crimes against the person were second.
Question five, according to Ms. Chavez, was how you would rate the Western Springs Police Department. The results showed that no respondents rated the Police Department poorly and an overwhelming amount rated it as excellent or good.
At the end of the survey, there was a section for additional comments. This year we received positive comments about LTACC and there were a few that specifically mentioned officers as well. Chief Budds added that the return rate was good.
Ms. Chavez showed that we kept our increase in responses from the previous years. Chief Budds noted that he did not have to reach out to anyone about their comments or reviews on the survey.
Ms. Chavez then went over the Traffic Stop Survey. Ten surveys are mailed out to citizens every month. The criteria are as follows
1. Only traffic stop warning contacts are selected.
2. Citizen does not need to be a Western Springs resident.
3. Agency members are selected for survey mailing as evenly as possible. The logic is to obtain an overview of the agency as a unit, as opposed to the performance of the employee.
4. The Police Chief and Deputy Police Chief are not selected due to their daily responsibilities, which do not include conducting traffic stops.
There were 120 surveys were sent out and 26 were returned for a response rate of 21.6%
Question one was if the officer adequately explained the reason for the stop, with all 26 stating yes.
Question two was the officer courteous and professional in their conduct and again all 26 said yes.
Question three asked if the officer treated the respondent in a fair and professional manner. All said yes.
The end of the survey allows for comments and the overwhelming amount was positive.
Chief Budds noted that changing the survey might have to wait until next year since we currently have an amount of premade surveys.
President Gallagher also noted that adding or changing a question on the citizen survey to have a medical response answer would help.
#7 Other Business.
-Chief Kenny stated that the Village went through and did an evaluation on the Coronavirus with all staff and created a staffing plan. MABAS Division 10 has a staffing plan as well in case an ambulance gets taken out of service. This virus is more contagious than other viruses. The Village website is where all the information is being presented and is the most up to date.
Chair Siffermann asked if he should report on this at the upcoming Board Meeting. President Gallagher stated she had asked Manager Velkme to report on it.
President Gallagher asked if Chief Kenny was comfortable with the staffing plan. Chief Kenny reported he was. He went over it with the manager and some areas may evolve in the future.
-Chair Siffermann asked Ms. Chavez if she goes out to other departments to help with their mock CALEA assessments as they have done for us. She confirmed that she has attended two mock assessments.
#8 Adjournment
MOTION: Trustee Fink made a motion to adjourn. Chair Siffermann seconded the motion. The motion to adjourn was approved by a unanimous vote at 8:37 a.m.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10FE69DC38kt-WTJmuXB1R42AUhkk7cVd4Eif6a9fGcE/edit
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