2007-04-16 - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 Police Chief Timothy Longo reviewed accomplishments of the Police Department for the past year: 800 MHz radio system; Regional Law enforcement Gang Committee; Joint Terrorism Task Force; FEMA training, crisis intervention training, leadership training, and an awards and recognition ceremony. Chief Longo reviewed violent crime statistics and said that while violent crime has been held steady over the past year, reported property offenses have increased. Chief Longo reviewed property crime strategies, problem solving projects and future strategic planning goals. Mr. Lynch said that while he appreciates the job everyone is doing in the Police Department, they have not really done that well for the past two years. He expressed concern that community policing only showed up once in the report. He said it seems less of a priority locally as well as nationally and that concerns him as it is a Council priority. Mr. Lynch said he would like to talk about how to stop problems before they start. He said he would also like to hear what each officer can do to be a better community police officer. Chief Longo said that federal community policing funding no longer exists, but its philosophy is still the cornerstone of policing. He said he shares Mr. Lynch’s goal and the challenge is how to incorporate it in the strategic plan. Mr. Norris said we would all like to see more police presence in neighborhoods and have officers out of cars, and he encouraged Chief Longo to keep moving in that direction. Mr. Norris said that during his Council campaign and from comments made in the citizen survey there is a disconnect in the way different neighborhoods perceive the police, especially in African-American neighborhoods. He said he would like to see more aggressive recruiting of African-American officers. Mr. Norris asked Chief Longo to comment about working with University of Virginia Police in the wake of the shootings at Virginia Tech to assure parents. He also asked Chief Longo to comment about the issue of child internet crime which was the topic of a conference that he and Captain Chip Harding recently attended. Chief Longo said the Department is pushing to have officers spend more time on foot. He said that the Police that work on Hardy Drive provide breakfast on a regular basis to children in the neighborhood. He said he recently asked area African-American ministers for help in recruiting African-American officers. He said the efforts against child internet crime is important and the Department will make every effort to participate. He said he will have discussions with the University in the near future. Mr. Taliaferro said he would like to take an ongoing look at police response time figures by neighborhood, especially for priority one calls. He said he thinks it will show that the Department is doing a pretty good job. Ms. Hamilton said Chief Longo and she have been meeting in order to head off problems associated with public housing. She said she is pleased about these conversations. She said the community trust issues with the police are bigger than just African-American neighborhoods. She said she has heard that there may be a disconnect between the Police Academy training and expectations of the community, and asked if Chief Longo thinks this is a potential issue. She asked if there is a way to get the younger, less experienced officers to act more like the older leaders in the Department. Chief Longo said the regional Academy is very good. He said there has to be leadership by example and it is a work in progress. Dr. Brown said he would like to find positive ways for police to interact with youth, and would always be interested in ideas about how officers could be involved with youth sports. Chief Longo said that Mr. Lynch has ideas about better ways to engage kids in that way.