Sitting at home in front of the fire, finishing up some last minute business before the New Year begins. I received a request to post the presentation I gave at the last Public Safety meeting on Dec 9th, so here is that: My vision is for one of the proudest, most award-winning police forces in the United States. Something so special, and remarkable, that Orting is spoken about in cities and academies around the world. Already many compliments for the below have been received: 1) I have asked the Chief to look into how many of our officers have taken LEED training. LEED is a new and free program sponsored by the Seattle SPD to train officers in a more empathetic way of citizen interaction and enforcement. LEED stands for: Listen, Explain, Equity and Dignity. Faceplates of this acronym could also be affixed to the dash of each car. 2) I would like to open discussions with the Mayor and Chief on adopting a neighborhood policing model for our city. Citizens have consistently requested a friendlier force due to the de-personalization that has occurred since our parents generation -- I’d like to see a return to that era. In New Hampshire they have a successful program called “Cops on Corners,” and other cities have done similar things with walking patrols, business visits (Councilmember Ford suggested this), and other inclusive measures that rural communities have found to love. 3) As soon as the Technology Committee begins anew, I would like to invite the Chief to have a regular column on our city website. We live in a digital age today, and only a very small percentage of citizens attend committee meetings. Consequently, many things in our city don’t get communicated well enough, and I want to improve that. 4) I want to publicly compliment the Mayor for his proposal to change the Rambo look of our police cars, which is already in process. Re-branding with “Protect & Serve” (first used in 1955) is also in the works. This is not Chicago or New York, and I believe our town should reflect those different values. 5) I want to also publicly praise our Police Chief for embracing the new body cameras that folks will be seeing soon. Some forces around the country have resisted this change, but our Chief has cheerfully embraced them. These cameras will have a check & balances benefit to everyone. 6) The Technology Committee will be creating a form on the city website whereby any complaint may be filed by a citizen receiving questionable treatment. Additionally, I have asked that these submission be automatically forwarded to a second party, such as the Mayor or City Manager, so that you know your concerns will always be seen and acted on. 7) Lastly, because of the strong concern in the community, I have requested that our Chief look into making the status of illegal drug houses part of his regular presentations to Public Safety. This should be done in a way that preserves the dignity and privacy of neighborhoods, and I leave it to the Chief on how best to accomplish that. In closing, it has been my great honor to work in Public Safety this past year, especially under the leadership of Councilmember Ford. In the beginning we promised that improvements were coming, and I hope we delivered.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 02:20:41 +0000
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