Minutes were taken by Greta Mosley of the 19WCA.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

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, Neighborhood Service Center Officer- Carl Dickerson, Special Guest Deputy Chief of Operations, Captain Bell and spoke about 911 Response Times

Introductions:

Agenda

1. Report from Neighborhood Service Center-911 Genesee Street-Officer Carl Dickerson

360 Thurston Road- Assault shooting. Three victims sitting in a Nissan Maxima in front of 360 Thurston Road, and shots were fired from 1 Penhurst Street. One victim struck in left thigh just above his knee and apparently the bullet traveled into his calf. The Nissan left and drove to St. Mary’s where the victim was transported to Strong Hospital by ambulance. Officers confiscated 8-9 millimeter casings at 1 Penhurst Street. Shot spotter indicated that there may have been two people shooting back and forth.

3-Food Delivery Robberies in the area

837 Post Avenue –Delivery driver for Poppa Johns-the suspect said “drop everything and give me what you got”-the delivery driver did not and the suspect ran away.

797 Post Avenue –The victim was from Salvatores making a pizza delivery ,when the suspect came out of the bushes and pointed a gun at him. The victim is deaf and did not know what the suspect said to him-he knew to put his hands up and the suspect took the delivery and left.

51 Virginia Avenue-This involved the New Chinese Restaurant (located at South Avenue) they were making a delivery and the suspect came out of the front yard, pointed a gun at victim and demanded his property.

For all of the supposed deliveries no one actually ordered food at these locations. It was a set up to rob the delivery drivers.

210 Troup Street-Assault Shooting-Officers went there for a report of a male shot-when they arrived; the victim was sitting on the sidewalk with a gunshot wound to his left buttocks area. The victim says he was walking through the park saw a group of people, walked by them and got shot. He does not claim to have seen anything else after he was shot. Gentleman was not very cooperative with police.

34 Cady Street- Officer contacted for shots fired. After arriving on the scene, they found two (2) victims that had bullet wounds in them and they saw blood at the scene. Later one of the victims showed up at hospital by private vehicle, and had a gunshot wound to his right forearm. He was treated and released. Victim claims he was walking in the area when he heard an argument and then felt pain in his arm and he did not see where it came from. He flagged down someone that took him to the hospital.

278 Post Avenue-An acquaintance robbery-An argument was had amongst the two males regarding the victim’s son. The suspect pulled a gun out and took a pack of cigarettes and fled in his green Malibu. The next day the officers picked the suspect up.

569 Chili Avenue-Assault Shooting –While an officer was on duty at the police trailer on Chili Avenue, the victim came to report that he had been shot by the barber shop on the south side of Chili Avenue. There is video of this shooting. As long as the victim cooperates we will apprehend this individual.

329 Troop Street – Assault shooting- Officers were called due to multiple shots being fired. When they arrived, officers found seven (7) nine millimeter casings were at the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Troup Street and 2- nine millimeter casings in driveway at 329 Troup Street. A short while later two victims showed up at the hospital. One with a shot in his hand and the other was shot in his left shin and calf. Both victims stated that they were walking on Jefferson Avenue by Troup and heard shots and were hit by the bullets.

699 Plymouth Avenue –Homicide-Police officers were called to the scene because a male was shot. When they arrived, the male was found deceased on the porch. The Major crime is following up on this case.

4 Arnett Boulevard-Homicide-This was on the news. Suspect came to rob victim, the person that lived in the house, hit the suspect with the bat and killed him. This type of situation is always treated as a homicide until found out otherwise–and is under investigation.

180 Normandy Avenue-Street Robbery-Victim had just arrived home from football practice when he approached the rear gate of his house; a male approached him with a hand gun while

someone else stood by and watched. Suspect with gun said “give me your book bag and sneakers” and victim gave them the articles and the suspects left the scene.

209 Atkinson Street-Assault Shooting-Officers responded to St. Mary’s as there was a walk-in victim with shot wounds. The victim states he was in the vicinity of Reynolds and Atkinson when someone shot him. He then ran home to alert his brother, who drove him to the hospital. And

was later transported to Strong Hospital where surgery was performed. The details could not be retrieved from victim as he was rushed into surgery. This case is still under investigation.

Moderator: John Borek—Introduction of 911 Response Times

Police Officer-911 Response Times-This is the most recent day from the last 7 days-City Wide

Response time is recorded as follows-A call comes into 911- it is put into the computer-from that point until the time it is dispatched (that is considered one time). Then the clock starts for us is when we receive it from dispatch to get to that location.

Priority 1- In Progress Crimes (Burglary, Robbery, Domestic issue, homicide, major crimes, etc.)

Calls are put in a cue –

Fourteen 14 minutes elapse from when a call is received until it is dispatched to an officer. You call; information is being put into the computer and is put in a cue. Dispatchers will be talking with police officers and officers can see it as a job waiting.

Six (6) minutes elapse from acceptance until the officer arrives on scene. Some things negatively impacts us are if the officer fails to hit a button on screen to indicate to 911 that he is on scene or fails to indicate to dispatcher while on the air that they are on the scene. If he does not do either of those two things the clock is still ticking. While an officer is going to a robbery in progress hitting a button is one of the last things he/she is thinking about. There is a gamut of reasons why this might not happen quickly. The officer is scanning for suspects, thinking about officer safety, may be relaying to other officers the route from which he/she is coming into the in progress crime and may be told to come into another way to ensure officer safety. It is a dynamic scene at this point.

Priority 1-Response time for Southwest is 20.5 minutes.

Priority 2-These are classifications that 911 have set and we have accepted those terms. These are report jobs. The action upon the victim has already occurred. For example, burglary already happened, parking complaint. Victim calls in to report on the status of the situation versus the in progress Priority 1 call.

Priority 2 calls have 43 minutes elapse before a police officer will retrieve the call that is in the cue, mainly because there may not be available personnel to assist with the matter as they are on Priority 1, crime in progress calls. The call could be in the cue for three minutes but with no available police officer it becomes a job that remains in the cue. Every Priority 1 that comes in after that bumps the Priority 2 call to a lower level. Once the officer begins to proceed to a

Priority 2 calls, Response time on the Southwest is 47.85 minutes.

Over the last 30 days citywide: For a total of 13, 770 jobs

Response Times

Priority 1- 20.73 minutes

Priority 2- 50 minutes

Keep in mind that should you call in at 3:00 a.m. in the morning there are a lot less jobs waiting. A call for service on the Southwest side is 1 minute better on Priority 1’s than the Eastside. And 5 minutes better on the Priority 2’s.

Priority 1 call between the hours of 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., you can expect a job to hold (get dispatched) just under ten (10) minutes and it will take about 6.5 minutes to get to the location with the total response time 16.5 minutes.

Priority call 1 between the hours of 7 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. you can expect a job to hold (get dispatched) for just under 15 minutes and arrive at the location in 5.5 minutes. The total response time around 20.5 minutes.

Priority Call 1 call between the hours of 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. the busiest time, a job will hold (get dispatched) for 17.5 minutes and just under 6 minutes to arrive on the scene.

Calls just for the West Side over past 30 days

Midnight Shift handled -1400 calls

Day Shift handled 2,425 calls

Afternoon Shift – handled 3, 139

Priority 2-Westside

Midnight Shift- (First Platoon) - 27 minutes till dispatched, 5.5 minutes to arrive

Day Shift (Second Platoon) – 44.2 minutes till dispatched, 4.9 minutes to arrive

Afternoon Shift (Third Platoon) 52 minutes till dispatched, 4 minutes to arrive

Less police work at night, less staffing due to number of calls received. Workload is impacted by the type of crimes being committed. For example, a major homicide can draw as many as a dozen officers to the scene. There will be perimeter points, blocking traffic, one cop per victim, example, 3 victims, and three cops per victim to hospital. Major crimes slow down response time substantially.

Question: When there are days, such as holidays, such as July 4^th, when the police are aware that there will be multiple calls, why can’t the response times to different incidences that occur be timelier? There was a burglary at my house, a family member came home after it happened and called police, and four (4) hours later the police responded. They did an excellent job when they showed up but it left my family member in a nerve wracked state, she made numerous calls but the response was in my opinion extremely slow. How do we make sure this does not happen again, on any holiday, when we know staffing will be an issue?

Police Response: Let’s look at July Fourth. All of the things going on downtown fall under special events that are not using any on duty resources. We know because of the fireworks there will be an excess of gunfire as well. We use shot spotter technology at 911 with a police officer monitoring it. If there were just shots fired, no human element, and nobody heard it, no one called in, we can then eliminate those jobs, so that we can keep officers freed up. The commanders in charge set a number that they feel comfortable operating with a certain amount of officers. We take into account the labor component, injured police officers, those on military duty, (no training allowed during summer months), people are on 1 week vacations because it’s our peak season. We manage the vacation time to make sure we do not go below a certain number. For example, let’s assume we have 40 officers on the Westside, on any given day 1/3 of those people are off because we have three working wheels (first, second and third platoon). On any give day, we presumably have 2/3’s of a number of staff members working. We try to diminish the effects of the overload by running DWI detail funded by grants. We accomplish two things, showing presence in the community and making the roads safer.

Staffing is based on past numbers by our statisticians to determine a number of police officers available during our peak seasons of activity and otherwise.

Question: Does the City authorize more spending on the Holidays, or peak seasons when there is more need?

We charge the sponsor of the special event an average rate for manning the event and the City is reimbursed. We have to attend to the Priority 1 jobs first and then to the Priority 2 jobs. Typically, two thirds of the manpower number( as determined by the commander) minus 3 vacations and we hope everyone is healthy are on duty at peak periods.

Comment: Two young families with small children have had bricks thrown through their window; they have called 911 and they are terrified and 911 have fielded the call to 311 for a report. No police officer ever showed up. Why? It tends to make the young family want to move.

Police Officer: This action was appropriate in that no one was hurt, suspect could not be identified. However, 311 that took the report did so to allow the victims the opportunity to get their windows fixed by their insurance company. This was a Priority 2 call.

Comment: Since these young families were home when the incident happened, the officers should have come by to speak with them. This inactivity gives the police a less than desirable reputation. And discourages this young family and make them move from the area.

Question: What is the worst response time for getting to a 911 call?

Police Officer: The worst time would have to be eight (8) hours because the officer has never logged in “on scene”. This would occur when an officer has forgotten to press his computer button to indicate problem solved. He more than likely has gone to the scene but forgot to close out the job.

Question: What is the worst response time in terms of the pile up on a police officers computer of calls he has not closed out? Often times when a resident is left waiting for an hour or more (3 or more), it feels like no one is going to come and that makes residents uneasy. Whether or not it is on your books as a response or not; it is not a response. The expectation is that if the police do not show up for 3 hours, you are off the grid.

Police Officer: Can’t give you a number on that. However, what comes in to 911 must go out. 911 does not have any discretion, they must categorize it, put it in the right place and give to the appropriate dispatcher. We have set up parameters to handle calls where the action has already taken place (low solvability factor-Priority 2 calls ) and those calls are forwarded to 311 for a report. We are not allowed to give individual service as we are working with finite resources.

Question: Can you tell me the difference between a brick going through a window and a gun shot , what is the priority in these instances?

When a brick goes through a window and no one is hurt it is a priority 2 as we previously discussed. However, should that brick hit some it is a Priority 1 with immediate attention.

A gun shot through a window whether someone is hurt or not is considered a Priority 1 because of the potential of the bullet going through walls and in all directions.

The lists of Priority 1 and 2’s are established by the Law Enforcement Council, where the Chiefs of Police establish the parameters for the policy. It is usually uniform for all of Monroe City.

Question: Technology question: Called 911 yesterday, and saw a property that had the 2^nd floor windows were open it looked as if the house on Barton Street near Marsh had been broken into. Vandals typically go in houses and take piping to sell for cash. I Walked into side door and saw that the water heater removed. Saw individuals walking out with metal. I looked down the street and saw a police car and thought it was a quick response, but he kept going. Then a 2^nd car appeared on the street and it drove away. Is there a breakdown in communication at the 911 Center? I could tell those officers had no clue that we had just called because he ne.

Police Officer: No, there is not a breakdown in communication. Approximately 3 years ago 911 put an RFP together to allow for a GPS driven system of dispatching (closest car dispatching) that would alert the nearest officer to solve an issue that arise. This would alleviate some of the time elapsing for the attentiveness to calls by our officers. Governments always look to award the lowest bidder and as a result the deal fell through. Currently, unless the officer checks he is waiting on the dispatcher to give them the next call.

Question: I saw a robbery in progress about six months ago. It was a vacant house; two people were clearly breaking into the house and they came back out with metal. I called 911 and stayed on the phone 50 ft away giving them a play by play of what was going on. The license plate number given, how they were dressed. Also, saw police in the area but no response to the ensuing burglary. A ladder was up to the house. I continued to watch them for approximately 20 minutes and then began to follow them for 5 -6 minutes and then became

discouraged. After 10 minutes 911 called me to ask me questions. ( Are you still following this car? I thought what is going on? They had been given a play by play update. I don’t know what I could have done better. Are you overburdened because of the lack of staff on hand to handle these types of problems?

Police Officer: Sir, this is unacceptable. There should never be cars going by a crime in place. I will have C. Dickerson to get all pertinent information from you and research the issue and report back. In the future you should never follow criminal that is not a safe thing to do.

CPO Dickerson: As far as updates in the computer, until a job is dispatched it will not be updated.

Question: How do you handle 3 dogs barking incessantly in a house with the property widows open at night in the dead of winter?

Police Officer: In order to do a forced entry, the threshold must be high-that is some threat must be imminent. Follow through with your Neighborhood Service Center 428-7632 and identify yourself so that officers can get a clearer picture of what is going on at that residence. Animal Control should be contacted as well, but they do not work in the evenings.

Southwest Quadrant:

Homicides down by 25%

Rapes YTD Neutral

Robberies down 32% YTD

Aggravated Assault down 25% YTD

Violent Crimes down 25% YTD

Burglaries down 17% YTD

Larcenies down 10% YTD

Motor Vehicle Theft up 10% YTD

Property down 13%

Comment by Resident:

A Solar Powered light-Micro Solar-SLI-80 LED can be installed at entry areas for a means of safety protection for your property.