 Can you hear me? I can hear you, but I think I'm not sure if Commissioner commissioner Garrison and Commissioner Rao. Can you hear us now? Yes. Okay. Great. Okay. We're gonna get started Jessica, we just can't see you so it's gonna be blind They're gonna try and fix this while the meeting is going, but we're gonna get started So just listen and hopefully we will appear I'd like to call this meeting of the Burlington Police Commission to order on June 27 2023 at approximately 6 0 8 I'd like the minutes to reflect that we have a quorum present with Commissioner Cox Keith Saguino and Oski present and Commissioner Rao and Garrison present remotely The next item on the agenda is emotion The the to adopt the agenda Um, may I have a motion to amend the agenda to remove item 7.1 title commissioner Saguino's document presented the joint charter change in public safety committee The item is duplicative and will be covered under agenda 5.7 Okay, let's move by Commissioner Keith seconded by Commissioner Rao Are there any other changes to the agenda? Seeing none may I have a motion to adopt the agenda as amended? Move by Commissioner Keith seconded by Commissioner Cox Any objections? The agenda is adopted The next item Is the minutes May have a motion to approve the minutes of the police commission meeting on tuesday may May 23rd Commissioner move by Commissioner Keith Second seconded by Commissioner Cox uh any discussion or amendments Any all in favor All right It's not present so I must stay Commissioner Keith is not voting. He was not present The minutes are adopted The next item on the agenda is the public forum Are there any members of the public that would like to address the commission? Please raise your hand and I'll call on you Great, um, please try and limit your comments to three minutes if possible Um, I'll start with you Yes, please sit at the and turn on the microphone And tell us your name when you start and where you live. Thank you Good evening chief murad Congratulations Can you um speak into the microphone and push the button till the green light comes on so we can all hear What important things are going to tell us congratulations chief murad did I pronounce your name correctly murad or murad murad congratulations on your Regrettably belated appointment by the city council And uh, good evening commissioners Just want to speak on a very brief. Would you tell us your name? Dale g'dildig Uh, just wanted to speak on a very brief matter. I probably I most likely will not meet my uh need my allotted three minutes We should speak about, uh A problem which I anticipate effective January 1 Next year Here in burlington Now I happen to be I happen to be a recent transplant from new york city I came here during the covet period three years a little over three years ago incidentally, uh I understand the chief is what served as in on the nypd And coincidentally He served in the three four precinct in upper manhattan washington heights where i've been residing almost all my life And uh The point I wish to make is uh anticipation of an of an upcoming problem And that has to do with the fact that the green mountain transit bus company Perhaps i misstated its precise name will start charging a fare next year And uh, that that fair has been in moratorium for several years on account of Of the covet crisis um And the problem I anticipate relates Relates to my experiences in new york city The problem has to do with uh, I anticipate is fare evasion um, I understand and it was published in the new york times that in City of new york, which also, uh, at least on the buses suspended Free uh suspended the collection of fares 38 of the riders are currently evading the fare and um It's gotten to the point and this is as of last month. I mean this article and my observations It's gotten to the point where the bus drivers are Will not confront the fare evaders who enter through the back of the bus the front of the bus and And uh They're not challenged So since burlington in a way is a in a way is a microcosm of new york city in every other big city When the fare resumes I anticipate the possibility that uh, there may be People who are accustomed not to paying the fare for several years We'll try to evade the fare and i'm just wondering how that can be enforced Now logistically if there are some 11 buses In the city of burlington at any given time you cannot a lot 11 police officers to accompany the drivers So my comment is that Uh, I hope i'm not being unduly pessimistic, but people who are accustomed not to paying the fare Uh, especially among the younger cohorts May challenge May And not accustomed in recent years may decide to test out Whether or not the city is serious about collecting a bus fare and If I were a bus driver, I would not want to get into the face of people who are trying to get on for free so I'm just one. I just wonder I hope i'm not unduly concerned But i'm i just want to prepare the city for that possibility Uh, and uh, as a matter of fact if I belong to the bus driver's union With all the other responsibilities drivers have I would have tended the re and I did not attend that personally But I would have I would be in favor of not assuming that task that responsibility which uh When one is confronting fare evaders The confrontation can become very nasty and unpleasant and I see the possibility that the new policy May very well be unenforceable as I said before you cannot have a With a limited, uh, police force here. You cannot assign A police officer to every bus Thank you. Thank you for your comments Thank you, uh commissioners Please chief, uh Thank you for being here of course and congratulations as been said before your belated Uh nomination to the post I feel like you've been uh, that you just state your name for the record. Thanks. Uh Romeo von herman. I am award aid resident I work for green mound transit That was just being spoken about and certainly I concur Uh, what my fellow resident is stating um, but uh, I just wanted to take a moment to Certainly congratulate the chief for a well-earned Uh position and a long trek you've taken to where you are today I wanted to say this this past when you were being nominated, but I know the uh Uh, I wanted to wait until the desk has settled down before I had my say in public Um, I know this is a very thankless job to have But at the same time it's a very vital job to have and this also goes for the entire commission as well um Going to the Other key issues that i'm here for is the recruitment level at the department and um I'm noticing something very special that is happening, which I think That you are responsible for that happening at the department, which is diversifying The department with respect to the folks that are out there responding to issues Um every week at the transit center. I'm seeing brand new faces coming in From all aspects of of backgrounds and uh genders and you name it and so on and so forth And I did say to myself that I really like what you are doing with respect to Having an equitable force that is reflective of the community and um, and i'm noticing there's a lot of The level of communication between us the community and department members have become much more um cohesive and very accepting uh, I'm not seeing the level of uh from at least What has been said in the past like aggression or Falsful response of communications with community members, but much more compassionate communications Which genuinely at that I do applaud what you're doing with respect to that And even today, uh, I had an interaction with one of your One of the officers who came to the transit center. It was a very pleasant conversation that we had The officers was very genuinely wanted to know how we're doing. How's everything going? Is there anything that? That can be done and if anything is happening just to keep You know the officers in mind and if we needed anything that they will respond in timely manner Which I think that exchange in itself gave me much more assurance that I have something to fall back on as somebody who Basically manages a transit center here in the city so Another thing that I'm super excited about is knowing that actually the four folks that actually just graduated I'm familiar with at least a couple of them personally so So it was good to see their names on on the paper and know that hey, you know what? People that I know personally are actually graduating from the academy and that later on if they show up That you know, I feel comfortable knowing that they're there to help me out and You know, I don't feel like a stranger to them, you know, so In any event, uh, just want to just show my gratitude I know it's not an easy job to have and I know you've taken a lot of heat from the public And as as you should this this is a job when you do public service It comes with a lot of ups and downs and you will be asked tough questions and You know, uh, we're definitely we're not looking somebody who is a yes man to be in that post and you have definitely Prove yourself that you will take a challenge as it comes And so I'm glad that you accept the challenge from us directly from the community So long story short. Thank you for your service. Thank you for savers well savers as well The commission and I look forward to remain productive member of the community. Thank you Thank you. Thank you very much for your comments The next item on the agenda is the chief's report and before I turn it over to chief mirad just to pile on I'd like to also congratulate the chief on his appointment and thank him for his continued service to the people of burlington Thank you so much commissioner. Thank you for that and also for for the opportunity to deliver the report It was sent out. I believe last week and it was we've posted it publicly today I I I just wanted I arrived this morning after I think a nine and a half hour flight from vacation so uh flew in to logan and drove back here, uh and and um and glad this is here and if I Dose at any point in this meeting. Please. Please forgive me Uh, but I'm I'm excited to be able to talk about this. So here's our first page Um over the past since our last meeting with the police commission We had the marathon marathon's a wonderful event really really happy To um be a part of that and and have a lead role in that obviously run vermont does all the hard work And they're tremendous volunteers, but we were able to to take our resources and cover a marathon that's changed a little bit It's a smaller event that it has been in the past And that's partly because of diminished Sign ups, but also a component of it is our Ability to to field as many officers as we have had in the past and then we're just not as able to do that But it's still a terrific event and I really really love the opportunity to get it out there with the public Um, this is a note about that confirmation that several of you have mentioned the the mayor convened a tremendous number of of supportive folks from the community That were there for that announcement event. Um, I'm very very proud that you know My father is there in the light blue shirt in the front row My wife is standing next to him in the darker blue shirt Former mayor clavell as well But so many others who are in that audience and and i'm really proud to Have made connections with all those people over the past Three years of being in the role Um, and then the letter next to it is one that I sent out internally The day after the confirmation Which happened about a week or so after this or two weeks after this photo was taken The next slide. Thank you The academy graduation. Um, and uh, romeo mentioned some of this in public comment There are familiar faces in this group. We had a total of six who were hired in february One of those six did not make it through the academy One of those six was injured during the academy and will Rejoin the next class when it begins in august. He'll actually join it when he Was injured so he'll he'll join it in progress sometime in september But the four who did Make it through until the final graduation include two Members who were previously community service officers or cso's and so they are familiar faces here in burlington They were out doing cso work For the the previous year plus Another young man also a familiar face here in burlington. He's a graduate of bhs A graduate of shampoong college. In fact, his His final semester at shampoong was also conducted as his academy training. So the the college allowed that That's him getting a hug down in the lower right corner bebekah rung is from a new american community here in burlington. Um, and The our interviews during his background process were uniform And this is one of the nicest guys there is And really happy to have him as a new member of the department And then not a familiar face in the city, but Someone whom i think is going to be a terrific police officer and was in fact the president of the academy class Is is there in the upper right? and He is A person kim lockerby as a as a long history In the military was an exemplary police recruit down at the academy And is already Showing a solid head in the in the field. They will be on field training through September slash october We after the 16 weeks of the academy we give them 580 hours of additional instruction as field training That's a phased process They are they have to be with a trained officer a fully trained Certified level three police officer Who acts as their field training officer? We hold we call the whole program fto Which gets kind of confusing because the field training officer who is the instructor is an fto The program is the fto program and they are said to be in their fto We use the acronym sort of across the board for all of it, but um, they will initially be With another officer towards the end of the process that other officer is it goes into plane clothes and basically Is completely hands-off and they really run each interaction on every call for service that they attend But it is a long process. It's the longest in the state that we know of and uh, it's very thorough So, um, we will consider them. We don't consider them solo effective officers at this point We will not consider them solo effective officers until uh late september early october Next slide, please. Thank you. Uh, so this is the sworn officer headcount total. Um, we are currently at 64 But I just signed off on two new applicants whom i'm hopeful will be joining us for the august academy There's a third applicant. I know of for the august academy. I hope to have four possibly five And we have a couple of laterals who are Interested in the department as well. So we're working hard on on getting those numbers up This is where we are For available so that 57 available does not include those four officers who are on fto so They're out there, but because they can't act on their own and and really have to be shattered at all times By another officer. We don't consider them to be effective alone um The 64 is broken down in those in the pie chart that you see there and we currently have 26 officers on patrol um Well, when I say currently I mean as of the 15th when when this was produced. I did this just before I left It's just the last thing. I think I sent to shannon before I I left for for vacation um We talk about these uh each month, of course as well, uh, we currently have six csos five csls One of those officers, uh Is a is currently a csl So we're we're taking an officer who who was a street outreach worker Move to being a csl and now is going to move towards being a police officer I personally think that's a terrific progress, right? I think that it shows that we're the kinds of people that we're bringing into the department And and let's be honest. We need officers like officer locker b as well somebody with with deep military experience who's got Certain kinds of skill sets that come Not only from the military, but but oftentimes at a different level from the military But we also want folks like this Candidate who's been a street outreach worker is currently a community support liaison and will be a police officer And one of our officers right now is also a former street outreach worker who is one of our two marketplace officers We have two officers who are assigned to the marketplace in city hall park One of whom used to be a street outreach worker Next slide, please We've posted some new videos online. This is work tremendous work done by Sarah team hernandez and shan shan chen They have put together some terrific videos about our Several different parts of the department our csl program Our and now one about our eru The eru stands for the emergency response unit. They are all none of these officers is specifically tasked to this unit We don't have the headcount for that and frankly Even if we were Back at a higher staffing level, we wouldn't have a permanently staffed emergency response unit We're just not a big enough department for that But we did formerly have an emergency response officer who was an officer whose job it was To maintain the equipment to maintain training to make certain that we were following best practices and staying abreast of Of the newest kinds of technologies, etc. That are available for this They have been doing these these are training pictures They were clearing in in the picture the largest picture there on the left. They were clearing the old ymca Which unfortunately we've had to do a couple times now because people have been breaking into it This is the revised priority response plan. I try to include this in every report next please Thank you. And this is incident volume as of uh, June 15th. So year to date as of June 15th You'll see that, you know, we are we're way up this year compared to the previous two years But we are We're we're back in line with where we were before the pandemic in 2019 And unfortunately, of course, we're facing that with 50 fewer police officers on the road Uh, as you saw in that previous slide, we have, uh, 26 officers who are non-supervisory officers who are dedicated to patrol Uh, in 20 as as recently as 2018 we had 52 Non-supervisory officers dedicated to patrol. Um, so we are down by half But we've created these other roles, uh, including, um, community support officers community service officers. We are, uh, Using the priority response plan stacking a number of calls Directing a number of calls to online reporting Together those are about 25 and then about another 25 go to Either cso's or csl's and so Yes, we are facing an increased workload with 50 fewer officers, but we also are you know, those 50 calls That match the 50 missing officers are either being handled by new resources or they're being stacked or or sent to online reporting Uh, these are the the same categories that we do each month. Um, and where they are They are you know, you'll see there that, um overdose is not improving at all. Uh, it's still shockingly high I don't have a graphic for it this month. Uh, as I said, I I put this together I think on the 16th is the day I left which is when these numbers would solidify because they go through the 15th So I couldn't run, uh, this year's numbers until the the end of the 15th Um, and I didn't get the graphics from our, uh, data analyst. I wasn't able to include those in the the graphic chart Um, but it would show you what we've seen in previous charts, which is something that's that's really shocking and Troubling, uh, particularly around overdose Next please A reminder as always that we are hiring that we're working hard to try to rebuild officers, but also, uh, to get aboard new cso csls and still we're working on rebuilding dispatch as well So the the department as a whole is is working on that. Um, and you know, we we remain one of the best compensated agencies in the region I think we also have You know one of the the best mandates in the region. I think this is a terrific city to serve I think people who come here get The kind of experience that you really can't get in other any other agency in vermont And the more we rebuild and regrow the more we can start to have some of the specialty roles that we've had in the past And have those available for career opportunity as well And that's what I got Thank you chief. Thank you Do commissioners have any questions for the chief? commissioners aglino Hi chief mirad welcome back from vacation. Thank you very well rested I wanted to share with you a question that I had from a constituent To see um, I'm not sure that I was able to respond to it adequately He made the point that um There are i'm going to read a little bit from his note. There are numerous residences in burlington where drugs are being sold and um There's concern about what the police are doing about it And he mentions that looking at the city website He sees that drug dealing is a low priority crime for the police department And he asked is it true that the police are not arresting any drug dealers? My understanding is that it takes quite a bit of time for detectives to build a case when there is a drug house and so That's what may look like inaction But in fact there is work going on behind the scenes And I just wondered if if I have that correct or if you could add or expand on that in any way Yeah, thanks for the opportunity to address that. Uh, you know previously Gosh, I guess it would probably be About a year and a half ago now Uh, sergeant then sergeant mike bellovo who was running the drug unit came and and talked to the commission And it might be good to have that happen again Sergeant bellovo is now a lieutenant. He's in charge of the detective bureau as a whole But we have another sergeant. Uh, phil trembley who's in charge of the drug unit Yes, they're they're the gist of what you had there is is absolutely accurate commissioner. Uh We we do know that there are places where where drugs are being sold in the city obviously The overdose rate is is proof that there is drug use in the city and drug sales in the city We do take drug tips those tips have gone up quite a bit over the last Three years the the tip hotline is the very first button. I believe on the burlington police department home page Where you can make a tip about anything any kind of drug activity that you observe With regard to drug activity the bulk of our antinarcotics work is Is oriented at sellers and and somewhat significant sellers people who are moving Large amounts of product That does take a lot of work. Uh, it includes, you know None of this is is trade craft secret you can watch, you know You can watch hbo's the wire from from the very early 2000s and and learn what a lot of this is It's it's a lot of it involves either working with confidential informants or working with undercover Officers or doing wire taps or some combination of all three Ultimately you have to be able to prove that you purchased narcotics from person x Uh in order to arrest person x and get a search warrant for person x's house or location Um, and that can be very challenging Person x is oftentimes very unwilling to sell narcotics to people that person x doesn't know Person x may have multiple people who are involved in the sale one person hand the drugs One person handles the money one person handles the the request that comes across in the first place So there are lots of ways that make that challenging We do not do street enforcement narcotics work for the most part We we did a little bit at the very beginning of the summer when we were attempting to set a new baseline for city hall park But the fact is that both our community and uh law enforcement in general don't feel that That street narcotics work is is The juice is worth the squeeze as it were You have uh open air when there's open air drug dealing that is something that you have to address and figure out how to deal with But but location drug dealing is generally addressed through long-term narcotics operations And the fact of the matter is that begin based on the volume of narcotics that is out there None of this is about actually getting a handle on the drug volume itself This is about addressing quality of life issues that come to blight neighborhoods Uh a single residence on a block can really ruin the quality of life for that block whether it is people coming to the doors in various states of You know need to feed their substance use disorder and causing discomfort and and uh Sometimes ancillary crime in the neighborhood break-ins car larcenies, etc The traffic that comes back and forth vehicle traffic, etc The fact that sometimes these locations are not well kept When you are if you are dealing drugs out of a location Making certain that you are mowing the front lawn isn't necessarily your highest priority And while that is I don't mean to be flippant about that It is a is something that can that can affect the neighborhood, right? And it's not mowing the lawn of course It's it's the fact that you've got people that are coming in and coming out It makes streets feel unsafe for children to play it makes people not uh, you know to question How what is happening to my home? How do I feel in my own neighborhood? So oftentimes our work on these is really about addressing that quality of life issue Attempting to make an arrest or execute a search warrant that essentially shuts that location down for some period of time at least And buys a breather for the other people in the neighborhood Is that going to have a drastic impact on the volume of drugs in the city? No, it is not nor is it really going to have a huge impact on on you on use In fact, you know, there's some recent studies out that say that uh use and overdose actually increase after large drug busts At that super early work That's a study that it only recently came out and there's only one of its kind at this moment But it exists as a theory out there instead what I see the value of for our narcotics work is recognizing that Uh, the certain locations can be real problems for a neighborhood and the better we can address those The better we can make the quality of life of our neighbors um that said Not infrequently we make arrests and the person is out Sometimes more quickly than the officers are done are done with their paperwork Um, that person gets released that person may go back to that same residence eviction is not a police process and it's a lengthy one and uh You know the the dent that we make if we happen to make a seizure on a on a day when Product has just come into the location. Even that isn't really a big dent necessarily And so sometimes the work that we do doesn't have a it has an impact that is short lived And neighbors notice that and can grow frustrated by that Uh, and we'll have to take another bite at an apple, but we currently have I think We have one full time non-supervisory detective in the drug unit at the moment. Um No, I'm sorry. We have two we have two non-supervisory detectives in the drug unit right now Uh, that's smaller than it has been in the past They're doing really good work to try to stay on top of all these drug tips But there are more than there have been in quite some time Um, so it's it is something of an uphill battle. Thank you. Are there any other questions commissioner cox Thank you Congratulations. Um, I had just two sort of minor questions or quick questions one is For um for people that are veterans. It's very difficult to Um Get the sorts of supports that would be useful I think if people are houseless or you know struggling with mental health issues and that sort of thing In long reach california, they have a complete street outreach team. That's all veterans And so because they have a very large veteran population And it tends to work really well because people also are suspicious of the va for various reasons and so, um, I don't think our population of veterans is large as long beach, uh, californias is But I think that it might be useful if you could Talk to your folks about seeing if One of the hires in the near future could be a veteran for either street outreach or csls That would be in a non Uniform officer position, but that could give Supports and be able to talk to somebody veteran to veteran So that's one thing the other thing I was thinking about is on your val core numbers um There's been some research regarding domestic violence Incidents and how many of those involve actually underneath or underlying The incident is a mental health issue either by the perpetrator by the victim or both And uh, there was one study done I think in australia Where they actually dug down into like every report and did like word searches and stuff and it turned out it was something like 80 of dv cases Had a mental health component And certainly if a person's a victim of dv Then they'll have trauma and that sort of mental health impacts from the event itself But I was wondering because on your val core on your chart Like mental health issues is one column dv is one column But I was sort of interested to know if I could maybe sit with your Numbers person And kind of play around with some of these different um statistics that we can get from scientific studies that um Take take it to the next step in terms of analyzing the type of case And what that means in terms of the need for example the need for mental health supports Yeah, uh, no, no, that's a terrific suggestion. Um, so the The mental health to to deal with the second first, uh, mental health issue is is a call for service that is only about the mental health component There's a check box for mental health that could be checked for any incident It could be a car theft incident or a domestic violence incident Or a retail theft incident and mental health could be checked on that if the officer Sort of believes that that mental health is is clearly a component The our dv po and our domestic violence victim advocate are both in the cape unit So they both sit with our uh with with our cape unit and so that that crossover I'm hopefuls help is happening I mean, certainly when we have a domestic violence incident that has a victim who has Either trauma or or has mental health that that may be preceded or is stemming from the domestic violence That becomes a component of the work that the dv po and the domestic violence victim advocate, uh, do Um, and and they work to address that to find appropriate resources, etc Uh, so yeah, I think that that is, uh, I I think that certainly the data analyst would be interested Talk with you about how to do that and how to sort of mine some of those things but The easiest thing would be to go to the checkbox and say how many of these domestic violence incidents have that checkbox as well Um, and I don't I don't know for sure how high it will be part of the issue is the fact that you know officers Their threshold for acknowledging that something has a mental health component or not is is going to be a little bit Higher than for example, certainly a mental health care worker But also for that matter than than a statistician might want. Uh, the statistician might want it to be a little bit more To to really get into the narrow sort of definitions of it But the officer needs to really be able to say this person who committed retail theft Was clearly exhibiting a mental health break as well or mental health issues. I mean on some level Any crime may have a mental health component It's not it is not quote-unquote In a statistical sense normal to commit crime nor is it in a statistical sense You know normal to have a substance use issue substance use itself is often a mask for for mental health And and vice versa, right? So the crossover there. I mean on some level we could call every single Overdose a mental health issue as well. Um, we're certainly not there as a police department I don't believe the science is there for for laypeople or officers for that matter to sort of make that distinction Even though I think that that is a direction that that medicine is increasingly thinking about But it's taken us a long time as a as a society to acknowledge that Substance use is in fact a disease and not a moral failing And so getting to the point where we also say it's not only is it that but it's also a form of a mental health issue As well, I don't think you know, we're on that road. So we'll see I think in part it's like my concerns are borne out of for example the announcement regarding the cuts to The Howard center programs. Yeah, and it just seems to me that that would be going in the wrong direction In terms of just wanting to have more supports community-wide And so I think you know Maybe I could send a note to shannon and ask if I could meet with the your Data person. Yeah, just kind of play around with some of the ideas. That would be perfect. Thank you Yeah On the veteran issue. Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you commissioner for I apologize veteran. Yeah, obviously We hire veterans all the time for police officers. I don't believe that we currently have any who are Oh, yeah, yeah, we do we do have a veteran who's a cso And I don't believe we have any who are csls at the moment Uh Would love to try to to get somebody in as you point out, you know, our Our population of people requiring service Is not heavily veteran Certainly not the way you'd see in areas like long beach or san diego or other cities, you know Virginia for example newport where where you have a large military presence We don't we don't see that here so much Uh That said it would be great to have those Somebody with those skills on the csl team on the community support liaison team Thank you. Any other commissioners have questions for chief mirad on his report Seeing none. We'll move on to the next agenda item, which is commission business The first item is um, I just some announcement from commissioners of lino Thank you commissioner oski As some of you may already know, I've decided to step down as co-chair of the police commission It's been important work and it's been an honor to help the commission become Uh an independent body that provides civilian oversight And it's been very rewarding work. That said the extensive time commitment. This is taken Um During this this stage of the commission's evolution Has really become unsustainable for me and is impinged on my ability to do my day job And just to give you a sense of the workload. I would say in the last year I've spent between 20 and 25 hours a week Doing commission work many many weeks of the year And I think it points to the broader fact that the changes in the commission and the role of the commission Require a significant time commitment both from co-chairs as well as commissioners And in fact for that reason the commission made a request to the city council And the mayor's office to provide funding for a monitor A staff position that exists on many civilian oversight bodies in the united states Were we to have this position it would substantially Reduce the workload not only of the co-chairs but also of commissioners as well I think it would also add a significant amount of expertise that the commission needs in terms of Performing its role and I think it would probably also lead to less turnover on the commission As the work becomes so much more intense that it has in the past And so I'm hopeful that the city council will respond positively to that request So let me just say that I I want to thank my fellow commissioners for their work over the past A couple of years that I've been in this role and their support For me to me and my role as co-chair And I look forward to continuing to assist the commission to do its work in oversight. Thanks Thank you commissioners Ceglino and thank you so much for all that you have done for this commission and for the city of burlington I know that your efforts Will continue and we look forward to keeping you close by That brings us to the next agenda item which is electing a co-chair I'm sorry I have a few words Okay in response to commissioner Ceglino. I want to thank her publicly as well Thank you commissioner Ceglino for her tremendous Service to the commission and being a strong and vocal advocate for chair in impartial policing Bahrain chief murad's words and I hope I don't misquote you Chief here She has been instrumental in bringing speakers to the commission and has offered her time advice and guidance on both policy and personnel matters Having said that I look forward to continue to work with her as an Distinguished expert in this field. So those are my few words. Thank you commissioners Ceglino Thank you commissioner rau For the electing of A co-chair. Are there any nominations commissioner rau? Do you have a nomination? Yes, I I nominate commissioner cox Commissioner rau nominates commissioner cox to serve as co-chair. Are there any other nominations? Seeing none will vote on the nomination of commissioner cox to serve as co-chair of the burlington police commission All in favor, please say aye Aye Any opposed Great the ayes have it and commissioner cox is elected as co-chair of the burlington police commissioner. Congratulations Commissioner cox The next agenda item is discussion and approval of ddo3 I'm going to turn it over to shan and tremel from the bpd for any comments on the current draft and then to commissioners for comment I've never joined you from this side of the table Welcome. Thank you So the revised directive that was posted and for review incorporated the Suggested changes in Indicators of bias policing and I didn't know If there was any comment or updates commissioners that we know Just to say that this version reflects The proposed edits that we made with regard to examples last time and I believe a few edits by commissioner oski and my This was communicated with the rest of the commissioners and there were no changes that I was aware of I do have a couple of outstanding issues The in Section two policy sub c The list of it says citizenship immigration status national origin Ethnicity gender gender identity and sexual orientation Should have no bearing on an individual's treatment in the bpd custody that doesn't track with The list of Characteristics under personal characteristics, so I know your comment here is should we just say personal characteristics And I say yes, we should just say personal characteristics But then personal characteristics should also include citizenship and immigration status And then they will track the one other additional Characteristic that I think might be timely to include and I Probably needs a conversation is housing status There are There are Laws that protect Not necessarily in vermont, but in other places that protect Against discrimination based on housing status And it is, you know, obviously a big issue right now And there's no reason for people to be treated differently based on their housing status alone So I had proposed that originally and I'm wondering if commissioners have any comment about including that I think I looked at a lot of fair and impartial policing policies And I haven't seen housing at any of those that said I think that it's an astute observation And I think it makes sense to include it And I would just add that Given that we don't have the final document here that We might want a motion that empowers you to to take the spirit of These additions and communicate those with the final language with shannon Are there any other Commissioner comments on that issue. I have one other comment after that One other thing is under training and compliance Section eight of the policy This is minor, but it's important to me it under b it says additional trainings may include Instruction on anti-bias power and privilege non-english speaking communities Undocumented communities cultural competency and victim witness services After gen after cultural competency, I would like to add gender and gender identity mental illness and victim And witness service and I will send you if if commissioners are agreeable to those changes I will send you a memo and we can make a final approval at our next meeting That's okay So I can make a formal motion to For the commission to approve the revised ddo3 with three changes that commissioner oski Will work with um shannon tremel on one of those related to personal characteristics the second related to discrimination against the unhoused And the third related to the trainings the additional trainings that were noted second Any Okay, uh all those in favor Hi Thank you that motion passes Thank you very much Thank you shannon the next item on the agenda Don't go far Is the discussion and approval of the cna matrix again? I'm going to turn it over to shannon for an update on the matrix and then to commissioners for comment Sure, I appreciate that Muhammad is going to pull it up here on the screen for us, but There were several versions and the committee that originally addressed it And started with the matrix Came from the public safety and joint, you know, it was a large group and The police commission and going through all of the reports the bpoa was involved You know various organizations and When we were trying to come up with Items that were most important and that we wanted to track the spreadsheet was kind of all over the place and it was really hard to sort and The suggestion came from the public safety committee To maybe come up with a matrix that was easier for not only us to work from But also for the public to follow along on what is currently in progress progress and what has been completed and so Voila I have Spent a lot of time on this and I would really appreciate some comment or feedback and maybe what is missing If we can scroll over i'm not sure on the bottom Muhammad if it does scroll over on this screen or not It doesn't look like it does along the bottom Yeah to scroll this the um the columns over You could also reduce the size up in the left corner from 100 to 75 and then you'll see a little bit more Perfect. It will make it super small on this screen, but So This is currently sorted by the recommendation number. I did There are a few with asterisks next to them that Work Topics were included all in one recommendation But it was clear that in that recommendation It was two topics and so I kind of marked those with an asterisk so that we could separate them out and have them Stand alone You know for You know another You know, maybe it was one The police commission would take up and the other Recommendation bpd would take up and so I've kind of split those The other thing that I've incorporated all the way to the right are is a column for updates For discussion as we move forward in these topics and then I haven't yet completed, but I am going through those all various spreadsheets from before There was a lot of work that went into those From those committee meetings, and I want to make sure that those original comments From those meetings are captured on here as well. So this is this is what we have I've uploaded as a google Sheet so that it can be posted up on the website everyone can click on the link It's just viewable only you can Sort in the view only and I will enable a few of those You know if you wanted to sort by who it who Is a responsible party for taking on certain recommendations Or if you wanted to sort by completion date or start date those filter That that will be available Um in the view only option as well And the thought is then to link this on the transparency pages and and the the website so that Anyone can find it and reference it in real time as to the you know the items and their progress Thank you. It's fabulous. Are there any commissioner comments? So thank you. I I loved reading through this. I um do have a couple questions. So um first of all just like With my sense of the of the department's overall um training and operational needs And then this list many of which also include training and operational You know things on it. I'm wondering is there some sort of overall list where You're able to look at all of the different trainings that are planned and all the different Changes that are planned to be able to sort of scope out how these things might might happen Not at the moment There are several recommendations regarding training that are I hope that I will be starting to dig into that coming up one of the recommendations and An observation of mine as well is that I would like to implement something similar to this spreadsheet regarding Individual officers and the trainings that they have taken so it isn't a little bit easier To see what's mandatory. What additional trainings? And to have it be A file similar to this so that you can see if an officer is overdue on a training easy You can see what additional trainings that they have taken Currently right now. We don't have a master List as we have a master list But not one that I believe that you're Asking about Okay, my second question is this There's a couple items that I was very interested in that weren't really on this list and that's how I was sort of wondering are they on Some other list And so one is officer wellness And officer wellness is mentioned as an outfall of able training Which is on the list, but apparently not started But it's not listed as a separate standalone item and I truly believe that officers encounter so many situations and there's an accumulated trauma that occurs and they have I've been working many hours over time and sometimes the overtime stresses Can lead to poor decision making that sort of thing and so you want officers to be as mentally and physically Well as possible um I know that there's um some really well one thing I was thinking about for example What it's like I know a number of navy seals And navy seals are very cool all the time even when they're in very extreme situations And so I did some research this weekend thinking about I wonder what they do to stay that cool I mean they were very cool But and they're all like consistently cool people that you sort of wonder Well, what do they do so that they're always able to make good decisions in the heat of the moment? And they do They do pretty standardly they do this box breathing Where and they do this a number of times per day and they do meditation And so you can be very cool like an navy seal and do meditation at office together But I think that um having sort of a toolkit For officer wellness for people to find things that they can do and I'm sure you'd they do that now But just so that they know that there's um um A lot of support coming from at least my chair Or know that that I really want them to be well and and and making good decisions and You know all of that. Um, and so I just like to to have that as something that we consider and I've asked them Uh chairman ralph we can Maybe tackle this topic a little bit in the months of coming and maybe do some educate ourselves This is some of the different police programs that are out there that seem to be working I've seen one and and there may be there may be others that I haven't seen yet And so that that would just be an ongoing topic for a while. Um, the other one is um Um On the list is the 40 hour CIT training Which is a huge commitment in terms of time because you need people to be away from the job and Sort of immersed in this training for for a week. And so And that is the the gold standard training is it's it's what people are recommending and it's being implemented everywhere And that and that's on the list But I just don't see that being Done in the near term because you just don't have enough people to do the job And do a 40 hour training in crisis intervention team training Um, but so one thing I wanted to maybe recommend is an alternative But again because it's not a cna recommendation. I wasn't sure where where this belongs But they do have the um one day Not the team two training, which is a different deal, but they do have a one day mental health first aid training And I know that the united way Mental health initiative is working right now on on training the trainers and getting more and more Capability to train more people And so I was wondering also could be maybe either put like a sub note on the matrix to either say And in the meantime, you know while we're waiting to do the CIT training We really would like to be able to start doing as officers are available to go to a one day training To have them go and do the one day training. It really helps to And I'll mention this too when we talked about the use of force reports But on the body ham video that I I looked at I I I watched it a few times when When people were pretty agitated either emotionally or Mental health or emotional agitation and then the officers trying to They're they're the times that I'm thinking of in particular The person's already in handcuffs, but not wanting to go into the patrol car And so the officer's going stop stop trying to get them to stop being agitated But that really doesn't work and it does seem that if if every officer had a one day mental health training Then in those situations where a person is agitated either emotionally or Because of a mental health condition, you know pre-existing mental health condition or just like in the moment to be able to Deescalate in a in a humane way And it may be a voice on those situations where you're trying to stuff the person into the cruiser As they're struggling not to go into the cruiser And so even if just for that one reason I think it might be helpful And then of course there's other times it would be super helpful because inevitably police in a counter people with mental health conditions So those are my um kind of comments about you know, um thinking about overall Scheduling Sort of what is my big overall picture of when all this different training is going to occur And then maybe in some cases we could do some substitution or think about what is really important to the department Having the officers be safe and healthy. Thank you Thank you Commissioner Keith just first I would just like maybe to point out to the public that on ddo3 the I think the first draft that we looked at Addressed all of the cna comments, but the the can you to continue discussion. I think goes beyond it. So I think that's uh A very um encouraging Important development. I think it's good for the public to be aware that we're not just meeting the recommendations But looking to go beyond them and I would like to thank you very much for your initiative to simplify the cna matrix A lot of work and good thought has gone into it But the document was becoming a bit overwhelming And I think this is a great step towards improving transparency and making it more accessible to the public And finally, I'd like to really thank you also for the initiative to document officers training You may be aware that back in september the state auditor found that the vermont criminal justice council Does not have the systems in place to to verify that all officers have met training So it does seem that it's falling on departments themselves And I think it's a very important step in terms of compliance issues But also maybe is uh, you know, perhaps an example for the other departments in the state Um that they they may need to step up and uh, you know, take this on themselves. So again, I think these are very important and timely and needed Uh, uh advancement. So thank you very much. Appreciate that. Thank you commissioner Ceglino My comment has already been made Are there any other comments? This is listed on the agenda as requiring approval So I guess we need to approve this Matrix, um, are we ready to approve the current cna matrix dated june 27th? Sure commissioner I'm In a sense my well my sense when I was looking at it is that in a way It's it's what I might think about as a living document when it may be changed or Altered or added to and so I'm not really sure like if we Approve it for this moment in time as it stands right this minute But with the understanding that it is a living document and it will have changes and updates and so on as it goes along If I if I may I was I was more looking for if there was things that you You thought that maybe I had missed that you wanted to keep track of I have hidden a couple of comment Of a couple of columns that had so I am also using this document to keep ourselves on track And so I've I've hidden hidden some columns that Are about productivity and like how many days The task is taken and I certainly can unhide those but for the damage, you know for for showing tonight I chose to to hide those so As you noted that absolutely we will be updating this as this goes and this will be the document to You know go to and look for status updates If there's at any time you feel like there's something we want to add to it or You know make notes on I will put the note about the you know, maybe looking into the one day I'll put that kind of in the note section so that we don't kind of Boggle up what the cna report recommended and and And we'll just kind of use this as a going forward Great, it sounds like we're all generally in agreement that this is a great format and that you've done a fabulous job condensing and And sorting the information and we'll look forward to Getting regular updates on how it's going. So I don't think that there's any like official Vote or approval, but that we generally are good with where you're going. So we look forward to updates. Yes, perfect Great appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for all you're doing The next item on the agenda is a discussion about bpd cares position And i'm going to turn it over to commissioner cox who requested that this item be added to the agenda Thank you. Um, so, uh Commissioner seguino had sent me um The copies of the job descriptions for the three all commissioners Oh all commissioners. Okay. Thank you. All commissioners got the job descriptions for the three proposed Um, can you stay like one more minute shannon or is that? Well, I just had some comments about the job positions for the btv cares But but before I do that, do you just have like a couple sentence update that you could give on your way out the door? about where where The department is on refining those and so on sure. I actually i'm not really too much involved in that i'm trying to move Keep the the task on track and organize some meetings I do know that there are some more upcoming meetings with the stakeholders But unfortunately, maybe the chief will know better about the actual job descriptions That's not something that the actual job descriptions that i'm too involved in Okay, perfect. Okay. No, okay. Thank you Okay, so um, anyway the the three job positions and um, commissioner seguino had gotten the comments from a paramedic that she knows and I concurred with his comments and then also had some of my own and um The comments really aren't large changes, but significant in terms of um legal issues I'm exposure to liability that sort of thing And so but but one of the the main parts is that one of the main recommendations that I made in a in a email And an amended I edited Redline the job position was for the paramedic That they had it residing with the fire department and I honestly believe that it should be with The rest of the team not at the fire department and part of that is because And I've done some like research again like for the past few days I'm trying to figure out like if the this term of Um of a Excited delirium that apparently only like first responders use but nobody the mental health community uses and the use of ketamine to Sue someone rather than just talking to them Which is the preferred method In the mental health community And so I'm kind of I guess concerned about having Like the paramedic be Housed with the fire department I think they need to be away from that culture Unless the burlington fire department has significantly changed the way that they think about these things But I think it does make sense to Have the paramedic residing Together with the clinician and the us and the care supervisor So that they're all together as a unit. That's how cahoots does it That's how most places that follow the cahoots model You have them separated from the fire department Housed a lot of times housed at the police department, although they're not police employees, but they're housed there They carry police Dispatch radios on them. So wherever they are then they get like direct radio communication from police department So all of that is the plan So if the paramedics were to be If we were to use paramedics or emt a's or a emt's They'd be employees of the fire department because the fire department has the licensing But they would not reside at the fire department. They would reside with the rest of the team and they deploy from those locations In so far, so so that's yeah, that's the answer that in all likelihood. We are also examining using nurse practitioners Rather than paramedics or a emt's But this is a lot of this is in flux and we're we're in conversations with a number of different stakeholders We're sort of at a phase right now where i'm not really going to be able to discuss it in public session right now, but so So let me ask this then in your group of stakeholders um There is a phrase that people have gotten more used to thinking about which is nothing about us without us and This this you know has become more Well understood. I think in recent years than it was previously But could I just ask how many people from the mental health community actual peers? Do you have in your group of stakeholders? What do you mean by by peers? Do you mean people who who are experiencing mental health issues or who have lived experience with it? Or do you mean people who are okay? the initial discussions around the System around talking about this were with members of the community who have extensive lived experience either as people who've experienced it themselves or people who have family members And that was integral to the very earliest stages of how we envisioned putting this together at all It may it may just be a badly worded job description or the version I got maybe just been badly worded, but it it seemed to indicate for example that Without the person's permission the emt slant paramedic could Decide to take that person to the emergency department without a quarer and and that can't be done right and so but that was in the job description The paramedic or emt could decide to take the person To the emergency department and also in the job description The emt or paramedic could decide to administer medication to the person Without any mention of obtaining the person's permission And so it may just be badly worded but but to make these decisions And unfortunately what I've seen in that my research is that in many places people believe Paramedics and emts that are attached to fire departments should have that sort of decision making They should be able to give medication take people to the emergency department The the person's not competent to make those sorts of decisions And so they're going to overtake their will and give them the medication and they're agitated They're in this delirium. They're going to give them the medication take them to the emergency department And so I just wanted to I guess put out there that I wanted to make sure that the job descriptions and I don't think it would be legal here That's what the job description said and so I just wanted to To maybe clarify the wording of the job description or to make it more clear about what it is that's being talked about Yeah, I'll absolutely review the job description for that. I don't I don't recall it saying that but it shouldn't if it does I think there were distinctions made between the qualified mental health care providers who can in fact Go through the the steps necessary to create an emergency evaluation order And take somebody to a hospital against his or her will And with regard to medication issuance If authorized by a physician at the hospital that too can be done. You can give medication Against the wishes of a patient in certain circumstances But there are a lot of of checks and obstacles that have to be overcome in order to make that something that happens It's it's very very rare It's certainly not the preferred course of action at any given time But I don't I don't remember the job descriptions getting into nearly that kind of granularity, but I'll certainly review them So um, and then the other thing is I wasn't sure and I told Shannon about this before she left That there's actually a certification for what's called a community paramedic that involves a certification itself involves specialized training and Response to people in mental health or substance abuse overdose crisis It's designed for the sort exactly the sort of work that my understanding is of these positions and so It is a fairly new certification And so whoever designed these job descriptions may have not realized that this exists But it would certainly be something that I think would be useful to say it really should be at the level of a paramedic And it should be somebody that either has this extra certification or is agreeable to Working towards that certification getting that sort of level of training So those are the main points, but you don't So does it do you think the commission is uh Should not be involved in discussing it until you're more I'm trying to I would like to be involved in the discussion I guess if it's possible if I'm just like one extra person that you don't need then that's fine too But I guess I just wanted to make sure that From what I read I was going like this doesn't sound good at all And so I just wanted to make sure that the road is going down as a I was under the impression that the chief of staff had shared all this with the commission And allowed for extensive input from the commission I think your your comments are on the record now and so they're noted I'm commissioner seguino And just for clarity on process so these job descriptions were sent to all commissioners And I received feedback from several commissioners the The job descriptions were sent to us by the mayor's office And so we sent comments back to the mayor's office that reflect a lot of what commissioner cox said I think if there's any additional comments that were not sent That it would make sense for you to send them to chief mirad City council president paul and the mayor's office and they will take them into consideration as they further revise this Thank you The next item on the agenda are the use of force reports Are there any commissioners that would like to comment on the use of force reports from april? I have one comment if nobody else has anything I have a question For the chief about an incident that I looked at and I don't need your your response tonight, but it was Really just curious it was Incident 07 493 was an unlawful trespass at uvm mc on 421 and I was wondering why There wasn't a cso or csl response because the arrestee seemed to be clearly in a mental health crisis and She continued to refuse to leave they arrested her and took her to the station to be booked And then she was probably I think she was released on a citation and The arrest was probably consistent with policy, but it seemed unnecessary. She was It seemed like a social worker is really who this person needed And I'm just curious maybe it was at night and maybe there wasn't a csl on duty but would love to understand how That decision was made this this arrest did not seem there was didn't seem to be much criminality involved and Didn't seem like a good Productive use of bpd resources. I'll send you an email about it But it's I would really love to understand how When the call comes in how that decision is made to send a In this case two uniformed officers versus a social worker when This was clearly Someone in mental distress Yeah, I'll absolutely look into it and and get the specifics See we don't send csls to calls for service of that kind. They're not They're not real-time crisis interventionists Street outreach might but not at the hospital And then another issue is that if the hospital is calling to To address a criminal situation, which is this person's trespassing and we want this person removed The police are the only people that are going to go do that. We don't say csos can't do that nor can csls on the on the The response plan it looks like unlawful trespass could be either Uh cso or Officer but no, I think it can be priority two or priority It's a priority two so it can be a priority three Which is we're not sending anybody to this right now because it's not there's no life safety component Or it's a report from the past and all you want is for us to come give you You know you want to you want to you want to give us the paperwork that says you trespassed somebody yourself successfully In which case that would be a priority three Or the person is here actively trespassing and I feel unsafe having that person here. I feel unsafe issuing a trespass notice to this person Can you come and stand by as I do so and that would be a priority one If if those other factors are there, but we'd never send a cso or a csl to do that Never no, they're not. I mean neither of those positions can address crime And trespass is a crime trespass is a crime Okay, that's helpful. Thank you um Are there any other commissioner comments from use use of force from april So there were 19 use of force reports in may and um I know that commissioner seglino and commissioner garrison um and likely commissioner um cummerford are not going to be um able to look at reports in June in july and i'm wondering if commissioner keith and cox and rau are and um Are you able to look at reports? So i'm just going to go ahead and say that commissioner keith will do one through four Commissioner rau will do five through nine commissioner cox 10 through 14 and i'll do 15 through 19 So we'd already done items off the may one through 15 Report and so some of those I actually wanted to comment on So it's a may 1st through 15th report is what we had um from last time Okay, I thought we looked at april last time We got april and the first half of may. Okay, maybe Okay, so excuse me Commissioner oski. Oh, yeah, sorry go ahead Oh, no, um, I'm just trying to understand why certain commissioners couldn't look at Um, I just was under the impression that you had requested that you weren't didn't want to look at any No, okay. No, okay. Great. Sorry. That was my misunderstanding No, that's why So we we may have less than than I thought we had, um, I thought we So how many do we have left to do? Do you know commissioner? We had assigned all through may 15th. We're on them May 1st through may 15th list. Okay, so it was items one through Okay, we're so we only have then nine through Oh, we actually have a lot nine through 19 So, uh, that's 10 And there are five, um, if with commissioner garrison, there are five That are able to review um Film this month. So commissioner garrison. How about you take nine and 10? commissioner kief 11 and 12 commissioner rauw 13 And 14 commissioner cox 15 and 16 And i'll take 17 18 and 19 somehow we got 11, but that's because I don't know math um commissioner And you have some comments about some additional comments about the may well first of all, uh, just regard to assignments, uh, mohammed had also sent us the June One through 15 use of force report Okay, I didn't receive that or I didn't I probably did receive it, but I don't have it So, um, do you want to just maybe assign those to me? Yeah, I'll do that by email or I'll have commissioner Right. I can I can do that by email because I haven't looked at these either. So I think both of us commissioner cox and I can sit down And do that so thanks You know, so I would I would just like to add Since we're on the topic of reviewing body cam that um I don't I think we should have more further discussion around viewing body cam because unless we have a concern um That some maybe some wrongdoing has happened um Or we've been asked by a body of people to Look more into a body cam footage I don't know if it's necessary for us to look at all the body cam and you know I stand to be corrected on that but um, that was just I think Maybe the confusion you got um around me not wanting to look at body cam I just wanted to add that for the record. Okay. Thanks I I just have an addition I it's a question for commissioner garrison and everybody else So commissioner garrison, do you have a do you have a thought how we can implement what you had in mind? Is there any specific way that we can do that? I mean, I feel like we're already doing this in a certain way So I wonder if you want if you had something very Specific of how we would go about doing what you were suggesting um, I don't at this time, but I I would like to have further conversation around it and see if that's something um Other commissioners are feeling the same way or what their thoughts are I just don't know if it's necessary for us to view every body cam Or if that's or is it is it something that we are assigned to do? So maybe further communication around that We could probably find our way Commissioner Cox, did you have any additional comment? I'm yes, I'm so as I was looking at The ones that I was assigned I'm the first one. Um, and I'm none. Let me just add on none of these. Do I have any problem with the amount of use or the way force was used? I My comments are sort of peripheral to that, but I think it's still important And and I guess the first thing is a question to the commission, which is that and I'm about to tell you tell you and the public and And chief mirad of several instances that I think are worthy of commendation Of really fine work that the police officers have done or in one case a civilian reporting party Did that I think are are worthy of of commendation um Commissioner rauw has pointed out that I could just write down and so I did sort of a citation style um my commendation my My commendation for each team or or or persons if I get identified the persons Who who did really good work? And so but I was thinking maybe we as a commission might want to consider doing like a commission commendation to police officers or civilian people who are involved in a Incident and It is sort of odd in a way because there's stuff that happens every day that we don't see videos of But but many times like people in the military know that a lot of times when you get a medal It's because someone happened to see it or someone happened to notice that you did that thing And so it may just be that these are the things that we happen to notice because we're there anyway looking at the body cam videos And so then we notice this thing we say wow someone should say something good about that Is there a way that we could maybe get a sense of the commission if the commission would like to to vote on it if someone like so so like if I Said what my citation was described the incident described what happened and then we could vote on whether or not to do a commission commendation for the person or team I think we could discuss that that seemed like that might be Something we could do in writing and each commissioner could probably Issue their own Commendations I'm not sure it needs to be something that we all would necessarily vote on because we're all not going to watch all the video But I agree that there are a number of body cam videos that I've watched that are Really commendable And We only point out the times when we have questions or concerns When we don't spend the time pointing out the times when things are going really well and so it's a nice idea So would it be okay with you if I just take five minutes right now? No, go ahead We under the agenda we have commendations later on at the Okay, so may I do that on the commendation section then may I Know that that was actually that was a question that commissioner Cox asked me and I really did not have an answer to that Because that's not what we had we had ever done which is for What is the distinction between commendations from the public or commendations from the commission or commission member right? I am completely comfortable if one of the commissioners wants to Have a commendation Which is within the commendation and I just wanted To have that as a public discussion I personally am quite comfortable with that So those are my preliminary thoughts Any other commissioners have thoughts about it? Okay for tonight, let's take it up under commendations, which is Coming up on the agenda The next item on the agenda is a discussion of the commission's recommendations to the joint charter change public safety committee on the future roles and Responsibility the police commission and I want to note that the minutes From the joint charter change public safety committee meeting from May 30th indicate that the report That commissioner seguino submitted um Is in their packet and the report, but I did not see it in the Charter change Packet there was a lot of stuff in there. So i'm not sure whether the document is publicly available I couldn't find it posted anywhere and it's not in our packet But I think because it was discussed in that public forum and we can discuss it tonight and we'll just post it in the future Unless you know that it was posted somewhere My understanding is that they're posting all of these documents So they may not have gotten to it yet, but they're They're actually creating an index because they have so many documents. Okay. Yeah, I went through Like 147 pages and didn't see it but again because it was reviewed in public In a public meeting. I think it's fine for us to talk about it tonight I turn it over to Commissioner seguino to maybe review the report and then get any commissioner comments Sure. So just to clarify for folks I was asked to report to the joint committee On what was working and what was not working in terms of the role of the commission and that's what that document does I consulted former commissioners That had left the commission who had substantial experience and I talked to I think almost all commissioners So that document reflects the the various views on what? Sort of really educating the joint committee about the work of the commission and where some of the Challenges were and some of the things that we've been able to do The second step in that process Is to for us to as a commission develop a set of recommendations That we will make to the joint committee. So again, what I presented was historical I represented historical thinking Um Not only what has happened, but uh A long view of the commission's input on the role of the commission that had Been incorporated to the city council resolution of 2020 so the work that really needs to be done now and Needs to be was there was a commitment that I made at the time That this would be done by july 6th for the joint committee um And I'm not sure that we're going to be able to meet that deadline, but there does need to be a process To basically Develop a set of you know package of recommendations that the commission agrees with and That actually would need to be Boated on as a motion at a commission meeting or a special meeting if we feel like we need to do that in advance of Their next meeting or our next meeting. I should say I think all commissioners have had a chance to review um the report that commissioners agrino prepared um, what we what we haven't had a chance to do is um come up with our own proposal Looking forward. So I don't know if people have ideas Or suggestions for how we can do that. I see Commissioner row has Yes, I agree with commissioner. So we know that I think we need to Just you know, kind of go over the document There's a chance that we have more consensus than anything else, but I think we have to do that publicly and sort of in a in an environment of Uh Borrowing commissioner cox word some amount of brainstorming. Um, so I I don't know if this is a motion Well, I'll make it a motion that perhaps we have a special meeting with One agenda item, which is the discussion of this document um, and then with the with of course the understanding that this document will Include specific recommendations that the commission approves Um, so that's that that's where I stand a special meeting Any discussion on that motion? Is there a second to that motion? I second cox Uh, all those in favor? I I any opposed? Okay, we have agreed to a special meeting. Um, probably in the month of july to Come up with our recommendations and in the meantime, we all have Continue to do our homework And one other one other addition that I will make sure and I will talk to Muhammad that we make that document publicly available Whether in board docs whichever way on the commission website that will be done shortly Thank you Yeah, I think this switch over to the new document system has us all a little bit confused so Uh, thank you, Muhammad Um, the next section the next item on the agenda is commendations and uh I'm going to turn it over to commissioner cox Okay, so so this uh the first one that um is with respect to on It's incident number four on it's on the May 1 through 14 report um where it was um High risk motor vehicle stop of an attempted homicide suspect and I'm And it was a team and I wanted to commend the entire team I'm and I'm hoping that you can identify the members of the team But I did notice that when we received the note from sarah tim about The new video that she had posted regarding the eru That I emailed her and I said oh is that are really the ones that I saw here on the main on the may 8th incident She she ended up letting me know today. Yes, that was the eru But so they were super professional But so on this what I just wanted to point out is one particular thing That I thought was very notable Which was um so but I'll read what I've written So an officer located a motor vehicle with an with an attempted homicide suspect The passenger and a suspected accomplice who was the driver Officers conducted a high-risk motor vehicle stop at the commencement of the stop numerous officers were present all heavily armed One officer called out. I got command Thereafter all the all the other officers were quiet allowing the command officer to call instructions to the suspects Unimpeded by other officers voices The command officer's instructions were clear Easily audible from a distance, but without any tension or anger evidence Evident in his voice. He ordered each person to exit the vehicle in turn With their hands up and their backs to the officers walking backwards slowly finally kneeling When the first suspect knelt the command officer indicated the other officers to go forward to handcuff and pat down the suspect And then walk the suspect back to be secured in a police cruiser The process was repeated for the second suspect and both suspects were compliant So the result that i'm looking at is Of their actions was that the identity identification of a single command voice Was crucial for communication with and successful apprehension of the suspects Unlike many incidents as seen on the news and on videos available across social media There was a complete absence of many officers chiming in with conflicting instructions Causing confusion and escalating the situation The training of the team was evident in their adherence to the single command voice concept Which led to the successful conclusion Of the incident the team is committed for their professionalism and their utilization Of the single command voice concept during a high risk incident So that was my observation Thank you for that. That's really terrific And if if you would do me the honor of forwarding that written to me I'll I'll make certain that that finds its way into their respective personnel folders. Okay. Thank you um, and I was pleased to learn that that was the argue because uh, I just I learned that today after I'd already written this And I was thinking well, that's the sort of training that they're getting That bodes well For for the safety of the entire community because some more highly trained The police are then the fewer mistakes are made and so I'm going great. Okay So the other one I specifically wanted to read out Was um, and this was a little bit tricky because it's it's a civilian person So this was on the um same incident report. It was number Six on the report and so if I may read this one Again, is this too boring or is this exciting? Is everybody okay? Go ahead. Let's get it on. Okay. Um, so um, it's a it was a um It's this regarding a civilian reporting party. So the civilian reporting party. Can you speak into the microphone? Please? I'm sorry So this is regarding a civilian reporting party and again. I don't have its identity. I believe it was blocked out or snipped out of the body cam footage or Somehow blocked but I didn't I didn't wasn't able to write it down Anyway, I'm so the civilian reporting party heard Loud arguing and would he believe to be possible physical abuse or altercation from the building next door From his window, he was able to determine that the noise was coming from above his location His location being on the first floor of his building He could hear a dog barking And the sound of a small child in distress in addition to the man and the woman He immediately called 911 and while he was on the phone with the dispatcher He walked quickly next door to determine the precise apartment from which the noise was emanating He checked the second floor of the building then went to the third floor and was able to identify the apartment where the Altercation was occurring. He was able to hold his phone near the door of the suspect's apartment So that the dispatcher could confirm the sounds that the reporting party was hearing And including the dog barking and the small child child in the stress The dispatcher did hear everything and immediately sent officers to the location So the reporting officer reporting party waited Wait outside the building where the altercation was occurring And directed the initial responding officers to the correct apartment He continued to wait outside the building and helped additional officers So as they came on scene and he directed them into The building and told them which apartment to go to He then waited across the street while the police arrested the suspect for impeding a police officer And resisting arrest and then after the suspect was placed in the police cruiser a police officer Across the street went over had a conversation with the reporting party and took his statement As a result of all of this As a result of the actions of the civilian reporting party The dispatcher was able to determine that the situation was immediate and possibly dire And that police were able to respond to the scene quickly and go to the correct apartment without delay The the suspect was ultimately charged with second degree aggravated domestic assault domestic assault committed within the presence of a child Second-degree unlawful restraint possession of cocaine violation of an abuse prevention order Resisting arrest and impeding a public officer The woman and her six-year-old daughter were voluntarily taken by the police to make a statement and press charges against the male suspect Through his quick actions the civilian reporting party upheld the highest traditions of looking out for our neighbors He sustained His sustained assistance through the course of the incident was outstanding And minimized the chance of error by the responding parties responding officers um The civilian reporting party is commended and one thing I wanted to ask is I don't know what you do when there's a combination actually of this dive This is really for a civilian person and not a member of the police department But uh, I was wondering if perhaps um If you have some sort of a civilian certificate that you can give or you know have lunch with chief mirand day or you know something to just uh Recognize and promote the fact that we all do need to look out for each other Yeah, thank you. I don't think anybody wants to lunch with chief mirad, but I I do think that there is a An opportunity for us to put this in the the mix for Our award ceremonies. We do give awards to public members of the public for collaboration with or cooperation with The police department or or particular act that are supportive of the department or the or of the community And then there's usually one award per year a coveted badge award that's given to somebody who's sort of done an exemplary amount of of work So this would be a terrific A terrific example of that and I'm glad you brought it to my attention. Thank you very much Thank you commissioner cox. That was great and Commissioner rout. Are there other commendations that you wanted to Provide there are no other commendations for this month. So well, thank you commissioner cox Thank you uh, the The next item on our agenda is commissioner updates. Um, do commissioners have any updates commissioner row Yes, um, I have a couple of updates. First of all, uh commissioner oski and I have been working on The commission's bylaws and we have a rough draft ready Um, and we plan to distribute it Commissioner oski. I don't know how you feel about this timeline, but perhaps By the end of july For us to consider as an agenda item for august I don't know if you had a different timeline or not, but that's what i'm looking at As for the bylaws, that sounds good. Okay. All right. So that's one update The second update is mohammed. It will be leaving us. This is his last meeting And I wanted to thank him publicly as well for his work with the commission Um, especially his work on the website. I have not worked with him for very long But I for the short time that I've worked with him. I appreciate his cheerfulness His collegiality and his ability to smile through Just about everything. Um, I am a smiler to mohammed. So I appreciate the joy that you have brought to us On your day-to-day interaction. So thank you for your work and your service. Um The third. Oh, sorry. What are you going to say something? I'm sorry, mohammed just saying thank you I don't know if anybody else has any thoughts. Um, but but I just have one other update I I cannot see if commissioner Cumberford is there is present or not. Is she I can't see she is not here tonight She's not there. Okay. Um Commissioner Cumberford had asked that we organize NPA joint NPA burlington police commission meetings Moving forward and we had agreed to organizing them in the future and mohammed had been spearheading that But with the change in um our staff Uh, I think we will have to delay that a little bit and maybe have that Going forward in the fall sometime late fall rather than early fall. So those are my three updates for now. Thank you Thank you. Are there any other commission commissioners that wish to provide updates? Seeing none will go on to the next agenda item, which is executive session And I'd like a motion to go into executive session to discuss confidential matters pursuant to one vsa 313 sub c7 Which is personal documents relating to an individual including information and any files maintained to higher evaluate promoter discipline any employee of a public agency After the executive session, we will adjourn commissioner kief moves Second Commissioner growl seconds And we're going to go into executive session