 It's time for us to begin as though the meeting of the Public Safety Committee will come to order Madam clerk if you will reflect that the council members Deval Herbert and Taylor are all present and we have an agenda this morning that Believe mullin is going to lead us through most of it the first one on the agenda before that. Do you want to introduce? Okay, okay All right, do you want to introduce? All right, so let's begin our agenda the first thing on the agenda is proposed lost in Studlem Farms reporting ordinance that has been introduced by council member muscles Who is in attendance? But is going to be a member of the public so she will just nod her head at appropriate times if she has a comment we have two Suggestions for for the lost in Studlem One is a criminal penalty. One is a civil penalty. Take a you on them Go through those two Yes Ordinance number 2260 includes criminal penalties So it's just for fair to report the loss or theft and it goes through the first second third offense The third offense being $500 30 days, which is our maximum And the criminal offense is a new ordinance for us the civil offense is amending an existing Ordinance is the one that's numbered at top 22 dash 80 It amends a 2019 ordinance that was passed And that ordinance required someone that Lost a gun to pay a fee of $150 if they wanted to Get the firearm back What this does? I only think it does is it changes it to a 24 hour reporting period On the books now, but it changes to a 24 hour reporting period It's on the books now Think the council member that produced this is asking for the criminal penalty Be be applied rather than the civil a stronger statement of The gun violence Yes You Well, I have to put on my former criminal defense attorney hat with this one and My I do have a couple of concerns about the criminal penalty and this may be similar to what mr. Taylor is saying But within 24 hours of discovery And who determines when if and how a Whether or not you're telling the truth about when you discovered when your gun Was either stolen or lost? And I hate to go to TV But on you always see it on television Where the kid has taken dad's gun and the folks come in and say Where's your gun and he says it's in the box? And of course he looks in the box and there's no gun in that particular situation Do we think that the father is telling the truth or not? And he just discovered it so I just see a lot of issues with Having to Clarify or defend if I have discovered it or not well, I would be maybe I should say I would be the attorney saying well I just discovered it So I don't know if y'all have any thoughts about that I can give you Some anecdotal if if you want for me You know this There is a burden of proof That would be required on the criminal side. You've raised some very good points That would certainly you know come to bear If somebody you know wanted to challenge being given a citation or for that on the civil side I think if If you are just simply holding the owner responsible period You know that's the scenario that you gave could be legitimate, but you know the With this ordinance the the message would be You need to know That your or that your gun is secured So it's you know, the fact that you're saying you didn't know your son or or loved one took it That's that's kind of on you you should have responsibility to to know where your farm is at all times and it's secured properly So it should it shouldn't be an issue, but it's you know, it's um, it's a civil penalty versus You know a criminal penalty. So I just think the the burden is less I'm holding my tongue Well, this is about responsible ownership, but so I guess as a practical matter I don't check my gun box Every day to make sure it's there or that no one has messed with it And I guess so when you said that I was like, whoa, that's a But I guess that is the maybe that is a part of it really understanding um The level of responsibility that comes with having the gun in the house Or any other place the ordinance says when the loss is discovered So if you didn't discover it until the police said where's your gun? These are gonna say I knew ahead of time but So that that that's I mean that's that that is where the the the gray area lies and maybe that's why The criminal may be um a little harsh to me Plus it may create tina herbert's coming in just to create that whole little how did you know? I'm just you know, how did you know? I How did you know that I didn't just discover it today? So I may actually agree with mr. Taylor on this one Erica And lean more towards the civil as opposed to the criminal Unless y'all can convince me For something else. What's the fine on the civil? It's the hundred fifty dollar fee that they pay Get the gun back Well, there's no penalty for not reporting No, that's Listen to point. I mean it needs to be added That there if you don't report it, there's a fine and I don't have a problem with that fine being the max Where I and I think dr. Bussell is coming up with this ordinance is a fantastic thing and something that we need in our city Uh, I just I can say I got a real problem with making it a crime If I don't tell somebody tells the police that somebody committed a crime against me I just they just doesn't doesn't work. So I think you ought to if you add the ordinance Where you have to report it and as a five hundred dollar fine if you don't report it I'm totally fine. I'm totally good with that I think the five hundred dollars Might be the maximum that it would go to That's right. It would go to uh, who would it would just go to the court if it was a civil Probably go to david Well, it's under offenses. So this looks like is this not under It's under a criminal statute Not a civil one Maybe five hundred too much for the first offense and having graduated with the first offense Point reported or you don't want to I mean, I'm I mean and The inflation that we're having today. I'm not so sure 150 Is that much of a deal? I mean I just feel like going to the maximum five hundred on on the first offense might be a step too far On the other one we have first second third offense starting at 100 dollars 200 dollars. Well, that's what I just don't I don't know if they even that Is that encouraging us to say I mean if you're serious about About wanting stolen and lost guns reported to be serious about Uh, you you want to do 250 and 500? Are you on? Do you know what what do you I'm serious? Do I hear 100 dollars? again, um, I May actually agree with mr. Taylor on this one um Because we still want to send the message And when you said first second third, I'm wondering how many times Is a particular person going to have their gun stolen? I mean because that would seem to be an issue um With that particular person so I actually don't think we need to step up because I don't think your gun should continuously get lost and or stolen. Okay Tk, can you go back and put a penalty clause in there? for 500 dollars And leave the 150 to get your weapon back No, uh When you when they're reported within 24 hours after the loss that would be 500 dollar fine And 150 is a separate So I do have a question, um, how often do people come to buy back their lost or stolen guns? Very seldom So So do we need I mean is that it do we think that that's an effective deterrent? anyway I don't know if it's a deterrent that um It's uh Yeah, I don't know that I would call it a deterrent You know, so the anatomy of a of a stolen gun that the scenario is that we That we hope this would help improve a reporting would be You know, we recover You know around 800 guns a year Probably A quarter a little bit higher would be reported stolen But what that tells us is there's a two-thirds are not reported stolen but the The likelihood that they are is Pretty high So what we do when we seize a gun We do a what we call an e-trace We we trace back the origins of that gun To see you know where it was purchased if theoretically it was You know purchased from skip holbrook That lives at you know 123 park street in in columbia then we would go visit Skip holbrook and ask him where where's your gun? And you know, we probably get two explanations. It's like you said it's in my closet. I'll go look It's not there or they may say it was stolen out of my car and I reported it, but I didn't have all the information So We've saved, you know, when was it reported we'd verify that and that would be in fact They, you know, a lot of people have a gun stolen, but they can't tell you make model Which is what we enter into a national database And then you also may get an explanation If it was stolen out of a car. I was embarrassed to to report it I thought I'd be in trouble if I you know because I left my gun unsecured So those are different scenarios. It contributes to the fact that that I mean we we have a disproportionate number of our of guns stolen from cars oftentimes unsecured but our You know, we theorize that our reporting of Lost or stolen guns is not as high as it could be So, you know an ordinance such as this I think would encourage again. We're not We want people to report to us so we can have You know all the facts to enter into a national database so we can hold people More accountable when we find them in possession of a gun and they shouldn't be in a possession of a gun whether it's you know stolen so this is This is a compliance tool. We're asking our citizens, you know to Be good citizens and lock and secure their cars and store and secure their farms responsibly And then if something happens sometimes, you know out of their control, we just want to know about it So if a citizen has a gun stolen out of an automobile And reports it within 24 hours, there would be no penalty. That's correct Yeah, there's there we want reporting there. There's no we don't want to you know Cast a stone for you know people make mistakes and or you know They might forget something we we simply want to know that it occurred so we can enter into a national database And one question to follow up to what you said if somebody has a gun stolen out of a car And they don't realize it was stolen for a week And then report it within 24 hours. There's no penalty, right? That's what I'm saying. It's not just 24 hours and again, I just I just don't like The fact that we'd be criminalizing sure the failure to report other people's criminal activity here So I support $500. I'd say max it fine out and And and keep it civil Comment has been passed up Whether you want to civil penalty Or once you get to that you didn't report then the third time I can't support making not reporting somebody stealing something from me a criminal Well, I think too we just have to maybe try try it out because we may be creating laws that may never be used But I'm actually okay with the 500 because we want to send a message Um, and then once we get through that discussion, then I want to make sure we discuss How do we notify each and every gun owner of the change in the laws so that they're aware of them? 150 is to get your gun back. No, it's a $500 fine and then the 150 stays in that's correct And I would suggest so it's it wouldn't be notifying gun owners necessarily be a notifying citizens, you know of of this, you know Kind of like our lock it up You know lock it up campaign and then we could reference the you know the new ordinance that That requires reporting the gun is lost or stolen That's like a PSA or something. Okay, and I think that's the bigger thing making sure um, and we probably need to have Take into account a three or six month hold before we start Implementing until we've actually made I mean because we have to do a campaign to make sure everyone knows about it At least three months of we have miss lawyer and another fine reporter here that I imagine going to tell everybody in Colombia about this tonight Yeah, I just hope they're watching tv On the September 6th Yes, but before we finalize this matter, dr. Bussell has asked to speak and I'm going to use the power of the chair to allow her to speak Thank you. Uh, so the suggestion that that I had was potentially doing an incremental Um, because I do believe that if you are if you you know the first time there's a lot of ambiguity the second time Okay, you know, you may have known about the law the first time the third time I think there has to be some responsibility and I think about this law the same way that if you are um In an accident you may be you may be the victim But there are certain laws that require you to report that that's happening And so uh one suggestion that I had and I don't know if this is legally Possible tk, but allowing us to do a hybrid of civil penalty and then the third offense being um a criminal offense So you're you're you're criminality. So you're you're not being criminalized for not reporting you're being criminalized for The two civil infractions that you have made you would be punished for a pattern of not reporting. Yes, ma'am That is different a pattern Yeah, a pattern of not reporting because I'm just thinking who Just happens to lose or have their gun stolen At least two or three times in their lifetime that Seems like a rare that happened chief That would be that would be rare Somebody that's had a gun stolen three times. I can guarantee you they're not reporting now So so do we want to encourage I mean do we want to encourage that person or What are we saying about the person that continuously has problems? keeping control over The where they're going their possession of their guns to me We might be getting choked on an ad a little bit with that. I mean that that would be a an extreme outlier in my opinion That you would have like a third offense Not reporting the gun you know, I think the This is a This is a strong nudge On on behalf of this city because of our gun challenges that we have our gun crimes To encourage strongly encourage our citizens to do the responsible thing when they lose a gun or a gun is stolen and they promptly Provide that information of law enforcement Okay, so I do have one more question. I'm sorry Because you're saying citizens the ordinance refers to Firearm owners And then this last paragraph paragraph f on the civil penalty says no fee shall be assessed against any firearm or owner for weapons Secured solely for temporary safety What what's an example of that example that would be I'm going out of the country for three months Can I store my farms? In the custody of the police department that's we have done that and I think that's what that's referring to Only with the police department. So not if Right. So Wilson says Tina and the reason that's in here is because our existing our existing ordinance charges somebody 125 dollars for or Not when they don't report the gun we notify them we have Located your gun and we have it in our property for if they want to come and get it That meaning there's not a crime attached to it. It's just simply a you know a found weapon and it Wasn't reported stolen. There's a fee for retrieving that gun. That's 125 dollars So it I think the the intent of that would be if if somebody provides their gun voluntarily to the police department for storage while they are Um, you know a way if you will that they're not charged that fee to retrieve that gun that they voluntarily gave to the police department Okay, so miss Knox with that being said I think that should read no fee shall be assessed against any firearm owner Because it says any firearm or owner Or it says in the verbiage it makes no sense But what we'll do if you want to do with a civil penalty of 500 we'll clean it up Okay, so you're going to add the 500 dollar civil penalty and you're going to leave the 150 dollar to retrieve your weapon in Consensus If dr. Bussells Wants when we get this back to counsel if if you have some Amendments that you would like to offer at that time the council can take it up as the whole council September 6th, let me just add Howard. I do want to commend Council person dr. Bussells for taking the initiative To come up with one and I think I believe this will probably stand constitutionally which is And I do think a 500 dollar fine for failing to do it $150 first defense and And I think this is a really good move and I thank you for the hard work on this The second item on our agenda is um put forth by council member mcdowell um Mr. Mcdowell wants us to Authorize the city of columbia to print and have available signs that would implement the state law on the notification to citizens about carrying concealed weapons in places of business or in their homes or at events and the state law is quite specific And He thinks I believe that that the city providing these signs and providing some expertise in location of these signs Would be helpful in in getting more places that do not allow weapons The problem we have I think would be the cost I think that there there probably is significant cost To print in these signs. I don't know if anybody's got any has anybody got any Estimates on how much it cost Okay What the signs that that are three feet by four feet which are big ones are 113 dollars each The ones that are eight by 12 or seven dollars decals eight by 12 Chairman let me just say this I don't have a problem with the city providing The smaller signs and a directional brochure of how to install them I don't know if this needs to be a resolution or an ordinance I think I think if this is something the chief wants that uh, he should talk to the city manager And we should somehow Make it just a police department program that we we have I mean I'm just kind of confused of why we're dealing with Oh, yeah, we were just listening. It wasn't a recommendation from the staff No, no, that's my point. I'm not just I'm not so sure why we're actually doing this at the council deal Again, I think this is fine for us to do and I just think it's a program and not a not a resolution or anything and if and uh, and if would you provide this Suggest providing the signs or or helping the citizens, you know, I mean, I don't have a problem with with our having the police department You know print up 10 15 20 of the smaller. We're not going to do the bigger signs I don't think and having a having an instructional booklet You know of how I'm where to install them I mean, it's It's not that scientific to be perfectly honest with you and uh, but I just don't I think Again, if it's a program the chief thinks that we ought to take a look at I would just say hey put the signs up just just make it a program kind of and it could be in our business in our OBO office or somewhere I just don't see us doing a formal Deal here where we got to compel ourselves to go out and buy these things that may or may not ever be Used or may be a huge demand for them. I don't I don't know the answer to that Well, I'm not sure of the original intent I may have missed it in one of the discussions at the council meeting, which I'm sure is maybe we're reverent dowl Maybe discuss this originally So I apologize if I missed the intent of it if the intent is to educate and promote the new You know what options there are regarding the state law And you know our sign shop could potentially do Maybe 200 signs and we do just a program just you know when those are gone. They're gone I mean I I wouldn't but I don't know if that's the intent behind what you all are trying to do Or what he was trying to do and if it was for a targeted area or if it was certain citizens so He did not have a targeted area. So I think he would have Available anybody that wants to ask for assistance. Most of these are just decals that go on the door I think he checked with our sign shop and we couldn't do it I was gonna say just going back to the intent I thought and I could be wrong But that if the signs do need to look a specific way and be done a specific way And some everyday citizens might not have the capacity to Meet the specific Requirements of the signage needed. That was my understanding of why It would be a helpful aid to make sure that they meet the requirements And we would just have to You know put some parameters around what we can afford to do is all I would say What we have the capacity to provide And I just make us the recommendation that The committee just Asked the police department and the city manager's office just to see what it would cost us to make Signs and lots of 25 And our instructional sheet on how to install or where to install And just have those available for the public that asked for them and work with councilman mcdowell to see if if that's his intent Okay, I think that I was just so I I feel uncomfortable With mr. Reverend mcdowell not being here to clarify the intent. So I would honestly much rather defer it Um, instead of inferring What the intent is That would just be my recommendation The staff will work with with him to make sure we're covering his intent Okay And so what's the harm in the resolution or why don't we why don't we want to do the resolution? Okay, so we can bring this back after we get estimates He can return it if he finds a funding source or if the city The manager thinks that there is a possibility that we could supply the the signs that's necessary Maybe even just supply a certain size size not the large size I'm sure that the language is fine. It's just open-ended. I guess from my perspective right now until we know what the Are we doing this forever? Or we just think we're gonna do like a campaign and then it comes to an end So we'll we'll work with reverend mcdowell. Okay. Thank you. Thank you Um, the next item on our agenda is the, um, Ordinance that would prevent Um, CBD and vape shops from proliferating in the city And I think uh Mullen-Taylor would like to give us a briefing on that Good morning your agenda packet. There are two draft ordinances for this committee's, uh, consideration The first one is Uh new regulations concerning smoke or vape shops. It's a text amendment to the city's zoning ordinance And as a result of that it would require a recommendation from the planning commission And of course a public hearing as well. There are procedures within our our unified development ordinance for text amendments and so the Ordinance here for your consideration would need to go through that process Did I make a suggestion? Let's let's keep them separate because it's really two different things, right? Yes, I'm only referring to vape shops. I know I mean the We only have one There's two ordinances here. One is a dealing with vape shops smoke or vape shops The second one is dealing with CBD purveyors And the second one is the only purveyors in the warning signs, right at the warning only the the ordinance that deals with warning signs applies to businesses that sell CBD products And that is not a zoning text amendment. No, I know that's what I was gonna say keep that one. Let's keep it separate Right. I was I'm only referring right now to the uh vape shop zoning text amendment So this uh was uh some uh an interest by certain Council members. Mr. Vol I believe this was something you were um promoting and so I did Reach out to the city of myrtle beach to understand that they had similar provisions And I have based this draft ordinance on the city of myrtle beach's ordinance It is There they are some litig there is a litigation in federal court Against the city of myrtle beach brought by vape shops, but the Basis for that lawsuit is not at all distance requirements. It's completely separate The litigation was brought in 2018 And at that time myrtle beach had an ordinance that essentially banned vape shops within their entertainment district and that is What the lawsuit is about not any sort of distance regulations between vape shops or Schools or churches or whatnot That is still in federal district court last I checked there was not any substantive ruling some of those Claims I believe is going to be returned to state court And some will remain in federal court, but they brought due process claims taking claims equal protection the whole constitutional Round the whole Planner. Yes. Yes. So this is this is based on myrtle beach's ordinance um this something similar to this is Currently within their unified development ordinance that they just recently passed in january of this year I'm not aware and based on my research that there are other Jurisdictions within South Carolina that have an ordinance like this aside from city of myrtle beach I have taken the definitions from myrtle beach and updated them the distance Of that's what's contained within here is 1500 feet Either from a public or private k through 12 school Child daycare facility use center recreational facility park church or religious institution or community center and then also Smoker vape shops shall not be located within 1500 feet from another smoker vape shop It's entirely up to this body in core city council as to whether or not you want both of those or Just one and of course the distance requirement is at your discretion as well We have in our own udo, you know like bars, I think or have a distance of 400 feet Sexually earning businesses they range from 900 feet to 1200 feet Myrtle beach has the 1500 But that's that's entirely up to you as to what the distance would be my concern with the 1500 feet is the adding of a the section in there that deals with um private K through 12 school public private k through 12 school child care facility youth center recreation for center Park church religious institution or community center And I think if you put all of those entities on the GIS map and did 1500 feet around them It'll cover the whole city And I think that would get us in trouble by eliminating any possibility of any more Vape shops Well, that's quite possible. It's up to your discretion to delete that or reduce the distance. I'm just basing it on city myrtle beach The members of council What are your thoughts on the 1500 feet versus maybe 400 feet like we do for bars or taking out um a I wouldn't I don't I mean I don't feel the need to take out a maybe 1500 feet To some would be too much One other point I'd like to make is this does not apply to existing smoke or vape shops Yeah, the ones that are there grandfather then until they leave It would be subject to the non-conforming uses section of the udo Ownership changed to having effect Okay, I see what you mean I mean if if there was a smoke shop that closed down and then there was another smoke shop that opened I believe I believe so So the existing shops would not be required to comply with the distance requirement how about How do y'all feel about taking that down to 400 feet like we do for the bars and leaving in a so you would still have all those exemptions 400 feet from Those things like churches and schools and all and 400 feet from an existing vape shop You do guns at a thousand feet Do I hear seven feet And you know what I'm thinking about I mean I would rather closer to a thousand um when we're talking about all the kids who are doing all of the Smoking and really being a deterrent and the first thing being public or private high schools Public or private k through 12 schools So there are other laws dealing with schools that use a thousand feet Yeah, I think the the gun laws of the net state gun laws Let's let's take your your number of a thousand and then put a thousand instead of the 1500 feet That's about me I always like to get business done. Would that also apply to section b? Yes Let's do a thousand in both of them. Okay. Any other questions about that? Any other council you don't have any questions? All right get that one ready to go to The second ordinance draft ordinance deals with Businesses who sell cannabis products, which is hemp derived cannabis. Obviously we're not referring to a controlled substance here It is a what I call a disclosure ordinance that requires businesses who sell Hemp derived cannabis to post clear and conspicuous signage Stating that consumption or use can cause a person to fail a workplace drug screening test So this is for your consideration as well. I would appreciate some Direction, especially as far as the the size of the signs This is a starting point This is the one we're talking about, right? No, I think frankly There've been editorials in the paper and letters to the editors from school teachers and principals that These delta 8 products and I'm seeing signs for delta 9 now are causing real issues in our schools and and you know and while I know delta 8 is considered legal. I think the verdict is still out on delta 9 Delta 9 is your what is typically known as the thc So that is not that that's what a drug test typically test for is my understanding I know and delta 8 has to see as well all of them are thc That's all right, but I'm saying I've seen reports where some say delta 9 is not legal in South Carolina And I certainly see signage now on buildings saying they're selling delta 9 So I don't know where that is. I can all I do know is this that Folks can take these things assume because they're legal that there's no negative consequences And fail their job work, you know drug test and etc And I keep hearing horror story after horror story and And there's no mandate for any warnings and So what I'd like to see us do is mandate in Columbia, South Carolina You're going to sell these products. You have to post warning signs Of enough size and that size would be prescribed at 50 percent of the signs advertising the products That you got to post warning signs that this may cause you to fail And you can say workplace drug test if you want or just may cause you to fail a drug test I mean it could be for kids playing football somewhere in high school or anything else But I think it's important for us today that we make Not just the young people, but everyone aware legal or not There's negative consequences that can occur by the consumption of these things And and and this doesn't apply to just vape shops by the way. It's anybody that sells delta 8 or delta 9 I mean in the in so it should really be changed to where it says any seller of of These products is required to post signage equal to 50 percent of the size of the signs advertising the product How do you measure? Is it just the signs? Well, I know It's just the signs that are advertising delta 8 delta 9 Or is it all the signs that they have up in the store? I would say it's any sign that that deals with the sale of a cannabis product So if you know somebody you say, you know offense to anybody if they've got a three by three sign up Then they would require An 18 inch by 18 inch warning sign. I mean we I mean again, it's like we're just talking about this is serious stuff And and when the implication or not the implication when the reality of it is this stuff is At least the delta 8 is legal. I mean We need do we need to take the responsibility that are negative consequences and and and frankly for the language for the warning sign, I mean whether you'd like to go to The ados or another state agency that deals with With those things to make you know de-heck Where it is to make the recommendation for the language on the signage, but I just think it's important that we That we tell and I'm particularly concerned with the young people in clobby to be perfectly honest with you I mean there was a letter to the editor Back toward the end of school I think from a principal and in a school district talking about kids doing it at school and Never having done it. I can't tell you what it feels like the implication certainly was they were high as a kite while they were still Still still still in school and I just think we got to take some steps on that time Do you want my land to to get some language? That could be put in here so they would know what they need to say Absolutely, I mean if you want to do that, I'll follow that this product causes and I mean it can be as simple as just consumption of this consumption of cannabis related products I mean I have to tell you what I'm seeing will cause you not may cause you to fail to fail a drug test The drug test is what you're primarily looking for warning them that if they absolutely well, I mean, I you know again, I you know I mean I I'm not looking to replicate the warning sign that the federal government requires on a pack of cigarettes But I do think I just my point here is I just think we need to tell Especially our young people in Colombia that if you do this stuff Something bad can happen to you You can lose your job or anything else. It's not just really again. It's not just the young people I mean again when you're selling something That's implied to be legal and And you do this thing you're not think you're doing anything wrong And then you get called in for a random drug test at your at your school or your your job And I think it's probably a shock to a lot of young people They get called into the boss's office and they get told they failed a drug test and they were suspended from or either fired And and they say I haven't done anything illegal Well, the business owner or the school principal can't make a spot judgment whether it was illegal or not. It's thc is thc So let's just let these folks know that that if you buy it Be careful Well, if you added some suggested language and run it by Councilman taylor And get it ratified next council meeting So the direction I have is to look to a an expert agency possibly for suggested language that would be the disclosure I've already deleted the workplace. So it would be a drug screening test Yeah, and we can make it just as simple as may cause you to fail the drug sing test And if any if if there is an agency out there that would like to recommend something We're happy to okay. How about that and the signs must be equal to 50% of the size of the purveyors signage Advertising the product right advertising cannabis products. Yeah, okay Once one final note on this once this gets to city council there This is deemed to be commercial speech. So there are some possible first amendment Implications to this ordinance. So if there's a need for executive session as this progresses I just want to give you a heads up. Well, what I would say is if you you know, I believe Mr. Duvall, I think most of the committees and I don't know about public safety have gone to a standard committee day Yes, and uh, so in Tuesdays, usually it's the second Tuesdays of the month of fourth We're the fourth Tuesday. All right, so Well, we have another committee meeting on the fourth Tuesday of august or will we put it off to the fourth Tuesday of septum? I don't have to ask my clerk We're making it simply this just we'll you bring the changes back to the committee at the next minute Not we won't go straight to council. All right come back to the okay And and vetted the committee and then the committee will make the recommendation Now the um back to the vape shop now that is we do have a draft ordinance. I mean a resolution rather Um that is also I believe y'all have a copy of that and that's we're looking at that ordinance going to the next full council meeting Wait a minute that one has to go to planning commission Right, it does. Okay, so it doesn't go to council Are you want to go to council and then down to the planning commission or what? I always got to go to the planning commission first It does what i'm talking about is a resolution that states that city council is considering This vape shop ordinance and that it goes to the planning commission and invokes the planning I mean the pending ordinance doctrine and sends it to the planning commission and sets a public hearing for city council That's your suggestion that they do a resolution first. Yeah, they don't have to do that They could just go straight to the planning commission That was the suggestion in terms of the pending ordinance doctrine Um The pending ordinance we need to either get it sent to Planning commission. I think when we send it to the planning commission that shows the intent of the council So if it goes to the planning commission, I think we can pass a resolution Um Invoking the pending ordinance doctrine at our next council meeting and there's a draft resolution that does that Okay, I mean it does refer it to the planning commission, but if you say that's not necessary we can delete that Yeah, I don't think it's necessary that that We have a council action to refer to council meeting But I think at the council meeting we need to state that we have referred it to Planning commission and we are invoking the pending ordinance doctrine I think in order to invoke dependent orders doctrine, we're trying to beef up council's intent We have to show that there is an attempt to Obviously pass this ordinance in order to do the pending ordinance doctrine. So you say we send Send our recommendation At the next council meeting get the council to vote to send it to the planning commission Well, you don't have to vote. We'll at least have some discussion on the record. Okay Okay When we do the report on the public safety committee, okay, I got you we can do that um And and why? Okay, we can I mean if If you all aren't by if you all are going to follow that path And not just go straight to planning commission Then you probably need to wait to the first meeting in september and actually have the resolution you were suggesting on the agenda Because otherwise, I think you're gonna be Experienced and people saying they didn't know or they didn't hear about it if it's not Yeah, okay So first meeting in september first meeting in september, um What do we decide on having a meeting on the fourth? Friday going to skip this friday this fourth friday and go to september tuesday Fourth tuesday, i said tuesday a minute ago y'all said thursday and now we have friday, i mean It's tuesday fourth tuesday September okay at that meeting we'll we will continue down our list of things that have been referred to us including the nuisance ordinances That have been referred to us and several other things Tk do you remember what what the other things are or what have been referred to nuisance ordinances? Okay Chief while we're in in session here. Would you have anything to say to the public safety committee? Yes, sir, thank you councilman devol I i'll briefly just give you a um Year-to-date summary of um of crime in in columbia if you'd like okay sure So we have um, we have some good good numbers to report And um one concerning number that i'll talk about a little bit Just for context we um every week we Hold staff meetings to to discuss crime trends and we look at um force it three specific sets of data as we're looking at all of our part one and Crime offenses and we look at a one-week trend and a four-week trend and then we look at year-to-date and we You know make operational decisions based on based on trends. We also look to see Where our prolific offenders are whether they're violent offenders or property crime offenders and Of course that plays into our strategy as well and what I mean by that is oftentimes When we have a rash of break-ins whether they're residential or or car break-ins You can go to the public index site with the jail and see who's in custody and who's not and where their areas of operation are and You can typically narrow your focus pretty quickly on Um Who's out and what's what's going on? So I say all that to So to date our homicides are down 29 Rape is down 32 roberies down 12 percent burglary is down 19 percent And in the last four weeks it's down 51 and auto breaking is down 31 percent That's significant And I I would be remiss if I if I really didn't commend our our citizens, you know at every Opportunity that we have whether it's a neighborhood meeting or in interviews that we have with our with our media We we stress the importance of securing your vehicles And because most of our our car break-ins are let-ins They're not really break-ins But we do still have occasional glass shattered if if there is something visible in a car But I really think that our our citizens have kind of heeded the the message and And have taken ownership of the problem I'll I say a lot especially as I'm speaking in the business community You know when when people are looking to relocate a family or business they look at crime Schools and and taxes usually and when you look at crime It means something if you see a high property crime rate and we know that we as citizens can Can immediately affect that That number for the positive just simply by locking a car that really excuse our numbers in terms of property crimes So we're really Really pleased with that trend um so if I If I break that down even more so which is what we do with our violent crime We've had seven gun murders to date and that's down to from from last year at this time What continues to be an area of concern for us is what we refer to as our aggravated assaults And that also could be considered essentially your non-fatal shootings Those are up 22 percent and in particular which equates to about Probably About 30 incidents that it's that's higher The reason that's a significant number is Two things one that's You know, we're at the mercy of the where the person's hit and Them seeking medical attention And surviving that gunshot wound so You know, it's just really um Grace of god That you know, we haven't had more Fatal shooting victims based on the number of shootings that we have had And the other problem that that we have with non-fatal shootings, especially if they're Not life-threatening Is they're typically is going to be retaliation. So we have Not very good cooperation in non-fatal shootings. We have We tend to have good cooperation on fatal shootings and we're able to clear most of those But our non-fatals proved to be challenging in terms of solvability at times because you know People want to exercise street justice if you will So that's really an area of focus For us is on our non-fatals And our prolific offenders that you know, we rank and we we really provide focus Shot spotter remains a A technology that we we embrace we've had 785 alerts to date In that shot spotter zone, we've had Three people fatally shot We've arrested 12 people and we've seized 23 guns as a result of a an alert But most importantly, it puts us In a neighborhood on the street every single time there is a reported gunfire and I think that Provides a sense of Confidence with our our citizens that we are going to come every single time and we take every Every shooting serious. We're able to collect Very valuable ballistic evidence at those scenes because of the alerts and Again, we are a CG site one of just a handful in the country and we Are at the top of Many categories when it comes to the crime gun intelligence You and our and using nab and technology in terms of the volume of entries that we make that connects crime guns to crime scenes So we're we're very proud of that. We entertain a lot of Outside agencies that come to look at our crime gun process And how we investigate and and triage our our shooting scenes The 700 number that you had a minute of the go From shot spotters that from january one. Yes, sir Isn't that up from last year? No, that's that's consistent. Um, we um, we Are averaging right now 23 alerts a week You know at one point it was 31 alerts a week at the highest so The alerts are consistent, but what's um, you know, what I really look to is when we have an alert are we getting that that? Companion phone call to 9-1-1 and we we are that that continues to improve You know, we talked often We first on boarded this technology as you would get the alert and you would not get the 9-1-1 call So we I think we're improving confidence in the system and confidence in us by By receiving the 9-1-1 call also Dave um with the shot spider I've gotten a couple of calls. I think from northwood heels About hearing gunshots or and thinking they're in that Um area, but it not being picked up on shot spider um, do we have any idea About what could be causing that or Because I also know it's hard to tell where I'm familiar with that situation. Um, those alerts are outside of our coverage area and not in the city Okay, that's a real Simple answer. Okay Are you done too? Um, he's probably not expecting me to put him on the spot just yet We were going to talk with you all about this later today, but some executive decisions had to be made and were made Yesterday evening. So I want to chief to go ahead and alert the public safety committee since y'all are meeting today. It was timely um to Something that occurred last night. I think it's going to help and Board it wholeheartedly Thank you, so I'm seated dr. Bussells. I think stepped out, but um we one of the Things that have cut has has been an ongoing problem. Um, and one of our homeless task force meetings It was I was alarmed to see this but if in reviewing the 2013 strategic plan it it talked about a problem business on on north main street and we um We started looking into that that business again this year after just um Hey, um This is the volume of calls for service that we were responding to there and how it was contributing to some of our problems that we were experiencing in and around transitions and with some of our transient population It's the the mains best convenience store We put them on notice several months ago that we were Potentially pursuing a a nuisance declaration Based on their business model and the activity that was occurring You know on their business property and around their business property We have not seen the improvement that we had hoped for After our meeting and so last night at the close of business. We served a nuisance Order on them shutting them down Let me see. Thank you I mean taking these actions on these businesses that prey on the downtrodden Is something that we need to do for a long time and I am proud of both of y'all For taking this effort. I think it will make that neighborhood a heck of a lot safer It'll improve the commerce and the economy and improve the quality of life for folks and and I fully support What we need to do in those areas Again, I think on behalf of the people that live in that area Let me just say thanks. I know that's your district. Oh, yeah, absolutely But I agree with you and then the number of calls and complaints that we get about what can we do What can we do? I'm glad that we were able to make that move Well, it was a team effort. We worked very closely with with legal and um And when we presented the case to miss wilson didn't hesitate for a second to Tell us to execute on it and um We um, we're going to hold our business as responsive responsible Whether it's, you know An alcohol establishment or a convenience store. We've got some other ones. I'll I'll just throw it out there that They're on our radar if they if they don't If they don't improve we're going to take the same action All right, let me go. I think sending a message to two businesses that want to contribute to the delinquency Is is a good thing for our city Again, I fully support you And chief if you could just for the public to um, explain what that means. So you serve them with the Business ordinance Tell just so folks can know what to expect They had a chance to improve, right? They did so We served um In april we served a letter um putting them on notice We require them to come meet with us to So we can lay out specific um violations that we've seen and give them an opportunity to Change that and and again, we just did not see the any movement moving that needle and um, you know as we were literally as we were Preparing to serve the the letter on on the owner operator our Inspector that was there with you know watched some violations Just as he was sitting there. So it's it's again, it's it's a it's a pattern in practice if you will I'm just not responsible management of a of a business Since one of the things we referenced in the in the letter was 197 calls for service At that location that is just an incredible drain of police resources Um, and it's it's not defendable in any way so many of the transient homeless You know, I always apologize for not using the right words to to describe The those that are experiencing homeless But uh, one of the problems we have on in the elmwood corridor is as many of you all know Um is our aggressive pain handling in the roadways and um A lot of the the folks that are pain handling. They're not pain handling And specifically in that area, they're not pain handling for a meal or shelter They're pain handling to go over to that store and buy alcohol and we we watched that pattern Frequently and that was you know, one of the the things that was discussed at the time we had our meeting back in april One second. Dr. Bussells asked to step back in here because this is they Invoked the nuisance rule and closed the blue store down last night. I know that's something you've been That's what I say. I know that's something you've been in your committee. You've been very engaged on um, and uh I didn't want you to get surprised By the by the good news So and I hope you'll you'll make this briefing at city council today too. So yeah, we were The public safety committee meeting today was um good timing My plan was to share it with all of council, but um, I mean we needed to talk about it in here And particularly because you all I know we're going to be Talking in the weeks to come about the nuisance ordinance in addition to what we've done the authority the chief And I have but beefing up some things as we've talked illegal So we're we're very happy that this committee is in place to support those efforts and give us some guidance because as chief mentioned there's um More to come and I'll talk with you all about some of that in the executive session as well That's excellent Chief uh real-time cameras going live soon Yes, sir again, we've We've discussed in the past. We've been delayed because of some of the um shipping issues, uh You know chips and some of the um technical Aspects of the of the program of they're in a boat somewhere. They're on a container ship somewhere, but um, We they're they're currently building what we refer to as building the boxes out. Um, we hope to have a Initiative kickoff briefing for the manager and staff in september and We're unlikely a demonstration for you all shortly after that To be able to show our public safety down up the top. Yes, sir of the tour list That's going to be a game changer. I think for the city anything else for the good of the committee Fourth of fourth tuesday in september Well, you may show us unanimously