2001 CC/CUA REG MIN Feb 20 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Attorney Jamie Raymond informed that the Ad Hoc Committee included Councilmember Sanders, Councilmember DeLaRosa, Former Mayor Betty Cook, City Manager Garcia and Acting Police Chief Heusterberg and herself. She reported on the activities of the Ad Hoc Committee and its study of the Police Department, specifically, it found that in the period between January and September of 2000, from 41,000 contacts with the public only five complaints were filed on police department's actions, equal to .001 %. The Committee found that there was a formal complaint procedure for the Police Department, as required by State law. On the Committee's recommendation, a change was initiated by the Police Chief to have any final report evaluated by a review panel comprised of three division commanders. The panel's recommendation is then submitted to the Police Chief for final action. Another concern was the inability to track complaints that did not rise to the level of formal written complaint. Police Chief Heusterberg initiated a new procedure for effective tracking of complaints - a customer service log to be kept at the front desk. It is expected that this log will track complaints and commendations and it can be used by the supervisors, the Police Chief, and division commanders to identify potential or recurring problems with employees. The Committee found the police department is very accessible to the public. Command Staff is always available to speak with members of the public and contact numbers are attainable. In response to Committee's discussion on the public's awareness on how to submit complaints to the Police Department, the Police Department is developing a tri -fold pamphlet that will include information on how to submit a complaint. The pamphlets are now at the front desk of the Police Department and will soon be available at all City facilities. The minority representation on the Police Department was discussed. The information provided by Police Chief Heusterberg revealed that 34 % of the Police Department employees are minorities: Latinos, African-Americans, Pacific Islanders and Native Americans. The Committee was not able to determine if 34 % was representative of the applicant pool. The Committee discussed ways to improve minority representation and it was noted that the Police Department does advertise in minority publications. The Police Department would like to participate in a countywide recruitment program that San Bernardino County is in the process of establishing and it was anticipated that this would create a larger applicant pool for the Colton Police Department to draw from. A school to career program was discussed where the Police Department could try to get students in the Colton area, interested in law enforcement career, to continue their career in the Colton Police Department and stay in their hometown. The language issue was also discussed. It was found that twenty-one employees in the Police Department are bilingual but the City has selected to pay six of these employees the $50 per month, extra compensation for the bilingual skill. The Committee recommended conducting a needs assessment when the current MOU with the Police Department Association is renegotiated, specifically to find out if we do not have enough police officers that are bilingual and what languages are needed for the citizens of Colton. The complaint forms are now in English and Spanish and a statement is included stating that Spanish-speaking applicants are highly desirable. Police officer training was also discussed. It was noted that POST required each officer to complete 24 hours of training every two years as a continuing education program. POST requires officers to perform mandatory domestic violence courses and POST is currently developing a program on hate crimes. In 1999 all of Colton Police Department employees attended a tolerance City Council Mins Feb. 20, 2001 6