Minutes were taken by Greta Mosley of the 19WCA.  After approval the minutes are to be posted at:  http://www.19wca.org/home/committees/public-safety-documents.  I am reposting here for your convenience.

 August 28, 2013 Minutes:  PresbHm0828PubSfty.doc

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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Public Safety Meeting – 19^th Ward

Location: Rochester Presbyterian Home

Time: 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

256 Thurston Rd

Rochester, NY 14619

(585) 235-9100

Minutes:

Moderator-John Borek

Acknowledgement of the Southwest Sector 4 National Night Out Motorcade (August 6, 2013)-The event was organized by Frances Johnson and was a success. This is an event that all neighborhoods are visited by a motorcade (the event typically occurs the first Tuesday in August) to showcase the support of neighborhood constituents against crime occurring in their neighborhood. This sends a message to would be criminals that the neighborhoods are organized and will fight back against crime. After the neighborhoods in the Southwest are visited there is a gathering in Genesee Valley Park where all participants gather to enjoy a meal together.

Introductions

Agenda

1. Report from Crime Prevention Officers – Southwest Neighborhood Service Center (SWNSC)

as of (July –August 27, 2013)

2. Ideas for the $50,000 allocated to the Southwest Neighborhood

Notes

Sixteen (16) neighbors were in attendance. Sign in sheet attached.

I.   Per Crime Prevention Officers- Within the last month

Per resident of Southwest- Flyers were passed out regarding the Elmwood Avenue Bridge construction from Thomas Hack, City of Rochester Engineer to occur April 2014. There will be one lane in each direction with completion by October 2014.

Significant issues:

1. 719 S. Plymouth Avenue - Twenty (20) shots heard in the area near Columbia Avenue, there were four (4) victims. Victim shot in left shoulder and later died at Strong Hospital, victim #2 was shot in left bicep lower leg and victim #3 was hot in the buttocks and both transported to Strong, no life threatening injuries. Victim #4 was shot in abdomen and transported to St. Mary’s Hospital.

2. 10 Elba Street- August 24, 2013 – Officers responded to 4 shots heard. When the officers arrived there was a deceased victim in the driver’s seat of a vehicle with a shot in the face. It is believed the suspect ran from that location and this is under investigation.

3. 163 Hobart Street - Criminal use of a weapon. Shots fired. Officers located four (4) nine millimeter casings and two (2) 380 casings. It appeared that shots involved two people shooting at each other. No witnesses. No victim. A vehicle had its rear window damaged.

4. 148 Gardner Street-August 25, 2013 Homicide at this address. Heard shots being fired from the west. A black Nissan was stopped that had five people in it, and all were injured. One was shot in the head, and another was shot in the back shoulder, and a third person was shot in their finger. All injured parties were transported by Rural Metro to Strong Hospital. Police located several gun casings and a house was also damaged by a bullet.

5. 353 Congress Avenue – Street Robbery – Six suspects approached the victim while riding his bike to school. One suspect was riding a bike and showed a small handgun to victim and demanded all of his possessions. Victim was pushed off of his bike and the suspects fled. A phone, a packet of cigarettes, a purple bike and a dollar bill were stolen from the victim. The victim’s family found the bicycle nearby and police did a canine check in the area and the dogs flushed the individuals out. Two persons were identified and arrested. Both were 17 and lived in the southwest. One suspect had property on his person when apprehended.

6. Criminal Possession of a Weapon Arrest- West Avenue August 27, 2013 – Someone called 911 and said that an African American male was carrying a handgun and a Rite-Aid bag. Police were as able to locate the male and was able to retrieve the stolen Taurus 32 caliber revolver. There were also live rounds in the gun.

Moderator – John Borek

On August 27, 2013, because of the shootings in the PLEX (Plymouth Exchange) neighborhoods there were several community meetings regarding this and Commander List of the west side put into context the state of violence we have been seeing. However, it does not reduce our concerns and fears and concerns of violence in our area. Overall it was reported that crime is down 27% in the Southwest.

Per Crime Prevention Officer, crime is down in every category in the southwest except for robberies as indicated in a report printed on August 27, 2013. This is really a citywide and countywide issue with robberies. In the southwest we are up 23% for robberies. The majority are in the cell phone and other electronics. Small pattern in southwest along Genesee Street and Congress Avenue area with people out alone waiting for the bus, walking or jogging early morning and being approached for their electronic items. People are unaware as they may be texting or playing games and are oblivious to the current surroundings. This is really a problem across the country. The area is up in robberies for this time of year, our 4 year it is usually 90 robberies, currently it is at 111 for the same period in 2013. However, we are down in aggravated assaults, we are down 23% in the southwest. Looking at the media coverage over current events, this does not make one typically feel at ease with what is going on. When bad things happen all at once it makes one concentrate on the negative. Violent crime is down 11%. Property is crime down 11%. Burglaries are down 10%, larcenies down 11%, motor vehicle theft down 26%.

Resident Question: I have heard a lot of 2^nd floor windows where burglars have entered in the second 2^nd floor window.

Response from Crime Officer: A suggestion would be to not have garbage containers or other totes where it would allow someone to hoist themselves on it and enter into a window in your home.  Leave a light, the TV or radio on to indicate that there may be movement in your home while you are away.  Use motion lights outside. Remember most crimes are opportunistic opportunities.  A thief will check car doors and house doors to gain entry.

Question from Resident: Have the police noticed an increase in youth activity in terms of mischief in the southwest? Let me explain. On Depew Street for the past couple of weeks there have been 20 -30 young people gathering around 9:00 pm at night that have been egging houses, cars engaging in sexual activity as evidenced by condoms left behind. The young people are eight (8) and nine (9) years of age. We ask ourselves why the parents are not concerned. We have a phone tree in the neighborhood where we will call 911. After they are dispersed they will congregate near Chili and Depew and on Forbes Street and Depew. We can not identify where the children are coming from? Only a few live on Depew Street. I have spoken with a few of them to solve the situation. I had been thinking of getting child protective involved. What can you do to assist?

Another resident: This is also happening in the Aberdeen Square area as well.

Response from Crime Officer: We will speak with both of you at the end of the meeting and will look into speaking with those parents of the children that actually live on Depew Street. Perhaps they are the core that needs to be diffused. We also have some agencies that we can give to also assist with this problem.

II.      Ideas for the $50,000 allocated to the Southwest Neighborhood (September 5, 2013 Danforth Center on West Avenue 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Four Areas of Interest: (as determined by the Voice of the Citizens seeking solutions to violence)

Initiatives will focus on: Increasing opportunities for youth and families, neighborhood group, block club association, business association enhancements, creating and inviting safe surroundings, improving City Hall citizen relations.

Melrose resident- I would like to have police response time is more responsive when there has been a break in a motor vehicle. The scenario is that we call 911 and 311 but police never show up. The thieves know this and they come back to repeat the crime. The police can show up an hour or so later that would be great, they need to show up. We would like to have the neighborhood association put pressure on the Police Chief and the Mayor to improve on the responsiveness. Can we use the money to get more dedicated response time?

Moderator: The system that is used to respond to this type of request will not be able to handle what you are requesting. Upper management will have a lot of agreement. In reality, we are on a call for service system and this means that the police will respond to the area of grave importance first and continue until the shift is complete. Most times a back log exists. Commander List explained the other day that at the start of a shift there can be up to 50 calls waiting. Realistically, you will not get police hanging around to project a presence. This is due to the way the police structure is organized into an Eastside, Westside format. We used to have 8-9 sections and now we have 2 sections. When there were nine sections they were smaller areas, the officers got to know the neighborhood, so they knew the perpetrators, the citizens and the streets. The argument that is usually heard is to get more effective policing is to go back to the multiple sections structure.

Resident: Is there another way to improve upon the existing model, for instance adding more officers to the neighborhood service center?

Moderator Response: The cost of one officer considering overhead, pension costs, healthcare and salary is about $100,000. We only have $50,000 for the entire southwest neighborhood. This is more than likely not a possibility. Per Crime Prevention Officer, this also includes downtown.

Resident: What would it cost to get some type of camera security unit to collect information that can move around the community whenever an increase in violence arises?

Suggestions:

1. Technological Deterrents- such as a camera security unit or a high frequency mechanism to gain the attention of the perpetrators to prevent crime from occurring. Example, there is a sound system at REOC to prevent the loitering in front of the building.

2. Funds for food at Public Safety meeting

3. Funds made available for PAC-TAC –this would help with outreach, a Pac-Tac Coordinator to recruit and scheduling, perhaps the city can offer students a scholarship for participating, or offer a tax credit for those that volunteer.

4. Social Media- use funds for upkeep and expansion of Location 19.org, moderation of the 19^th Ward Crime Alert

5. Neighborhood Coordinator -Use funds to hire a coordinator to engage families to participate in neighborhood projects. Specifically children and their parents.

6. Institute a 19^th Ward Welcoming Committee-to assist in getting new neighbors involved with the 19^th Ward. (Welcome Wagon) This will assist with crime prevention.

7. Create a 19^th Ward Learning Center- to assist children to develop crafts, entrepreneurship, making bread, dance classes, community engagement etc., civic classes, on the Genesee Co-Op operation. This could also be accomplished in conjunction with the YMCA and the Arnett Library or the Danforth Community Center. This would increase community engagement and members of community interacting with their fellow residents.

8. Creation of more Block Clubs – to assisting with block parties to create cohesiveness in the community. (Community Engagement)

9. Purchase of Security Camera’s by the City of Rochester that will offered to the southwest residents at a discounted price to track crime that may be occurring in their particular neighborhood.

10. Anti-Littering Campaign for the Southwest-This will be focused towards the schools to inform them of their responsibility to their community.

11. Neighborhood Association Days- to recruit members to the 19^th Ward Association. This will help to engage them and let them know they are not on their own and encourage their participation in community events.

Other Discussions:

School Buildings should be accessible by community – this should be brought to the attention of the superintendent-paying for use of the bathrooms by an organization when a community event is occurring is not community friendly. This should be addressed.

Rochester Area Foundation- has grant funds for the establishment of a block club.

Recommendation: Volunteers are needed to assist Frances Johnson with National Night Out for 2014. Mrs. Johnson has always performed this task for a number of years and is now looking for volunteers.