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2021 05 11 BPAC MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BAYTOWN POLICE ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN May 11, 2021 The Baytown Police Advisory Committee of the City of Baytown, Texas, met in a Regular Meeting on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, at 6:00 P.M. in the Council Chamber of the Baytown City Hall, 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Raphael D. Montgomery Eric Bolenbaucher Dr. Marissa Moreno Dr. June Stansky Richard Hunsinger Yulanda Braxton Cpl. Steve Ocanas Kevin Troller Angela Jackson Mike Holden Karen Horner Chairperson Vice -Chairperson Committee Member Committee Member Committee Member Committee Member (Teleconference) Committee Member Assistant City Manager Acting City Clerk Interim Police Chief City Attorney Chairperson Raphael D. Montgomery convened the May 11, 2021, Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting with a quorum present at 6:06 P.M., all members were present with the exception of Lt. Rene Hinojosa, who was absent. 1. MINUTES a. Consider approving the minutes of the Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting held on January 26, 2021. b. Consider approving the minutes of the Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting held on February 23, 2021. C. Consider approving the minutes of the Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting held on March 30, 2021. A motion was made by Vice -Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher and seconded by Committee Member Dr. June Stansky to approve the meeting minutes with regards to agenda items La. through l .c., as submitted. The vote was as follows: Ayes: Chairperson Raphael D. Montgomery, Vice -Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher, Committee Member Yulanda Braxton, Committee Member Marissa Moreno, Committee Member June Stansky, Committee Member Richard Hunsinger, and Committee Member Cpl. Steve Ocanas Nays: None Baytown Police Advisory Committee Regular Meeting Minutes May 11, 2021 Page 2 of 6 Other: Committee Member Lt. Rene Hinojosa (Absent) Approved 2. BUSINESS ITEMS a. Discuss and consider recommendations regarding mental illness, transparency and accountability, positive engagement and /or training and development to be presented to the City Council. Chairperson Raphael Montgomery introduced the item by thanking the staff members who helped create the PowerPoint presentation, and provided an overview of the Committee's quarterly report to be presented to City Council on Thursday, May 27t1i. He requested the committee's input as to whether they just wanted to present to Council the Committee's activity or if they also wanted to request for Council to look into the financial aspect to bring some of their recommendations into fruition. In regards to the mental illness decals, Chairperson Montgomery stated that the committee should review how other cities handle decals, how the committee would like the decal to look, and the cost that would be incurred if the City were to move forward with the creation of decals. Vice -Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher began the discussion with the committee's concerns being the financial aspect, uniformity, and possibly obtaining more information through Harris County. Interim Police Chief Mike Holden introduced Lieutenant Steve Dorris, who is the lieutenant of the Operations Bureau, who oversees the mental health officers and has been in contact with Harris County. Mr. Holden asked Lieutenant Steve Dorris to explain the programs that have been discussed and to provide the committee with suggestions and ideas that correlate with such programs. Lieutenant Dorris provided an overview of the mental health programs that the Baytown Police Department has been exploring and how they want to handle mental health issues in the community, and has reached out to the Harris County Sheriff's Department. He stated that Harris County has a program named the Clinician and Officer Remote Evaluation ("CORE") Program. The program puts tablets in the hands of officers on the streets, assisting them in having a clinician in the pocket of every officer with a tablet. The Wad links up with a clinician through the Harris Health System, which allows the clinician to have an active evaluation on scene. The clinician can then offer guidance to the officers on how to proceed in the situation. The clinician will assist on the scene then offer a follow up, which would assist in the numerous returns of the officers to the same person. The clinician will follow up, assure the consumer is on the right track, and assure they have the help and resources they require. The CORE program also assists in contacting the families of the consumers and offering them resources, whether they are long-term or short-term needs. The cost for the CORE program is available to be covered through grants provided by Harris Health which will be at no cost to the city. Lieutenant Dorris states that grants are not always guaranteed, and if it were to go away it would be around $9,000 per iPad. The City of Baytown Police Department would realistically like twenty (20) iPads for the Crisis Intervention Team ("CIT") members, and to be able to spread them across shifts and the Field Training Instructors ("FTIs"). The FTIs would assist Baytown Police Advisory Committee Regular Meeting Minutes May 11, 2021 Page 3 of 6 in assuring the rookies, and new officers get introduced to it on the front end. Committee Member Dr. June Stansky requested clarification on the cost to collaborate in the CORE program, to which Lieutenant Dorris confinned that in entering into an MOU grant with the County, then the program would not cost the City of Baytown anything. She then inquired that if a person is not registered with Harris County Health, but is being treated by a private psychiatrist or psychologist, would they be in the system, to which Lieutenant Dorris stated that they may not be as the concept is for the consumer to interact with a clinician and they would get them in the system. The City of Baytown may deal with one person one day, and Harris County may deal with them a following day or vice versa but as long as someone deals with them they will be introduced to the clinician and put into the system. Lieutenant Dorris states that the Police Department is already working on some things to track cases, identify addresses, and individuals to assist in having mitigation factors in place before the officers arrive. Vice -Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher questioned whether there is an appropriate way of getting information to the officer as the officer comes on scene, to which Lieutenant Dorris stated that the information shared with the clinician is HIPPA protected and the clinician would only speak to the officer to whom the Wad is assigned to in order to maintain patient confidentiality. Lieutenant Dorris goes on to state that the flow of information would occur from the reporting side, which would include the CIT officers and the officers on the scene addressing the issues within the department. The Police Department would generate a report, which would allow for the person's name, address, and details of the encounter to be listed to assist in future calls. Vice -Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher asked how long Harris County has been utilizing the system, to which Lieutenant Dorris answered that they started the CORE Program around 2012, but have been collaborating with Harris Health since 1991. Harris County currently has 100 iPads in the hands of deputies across the county including full time CIT officers, field training instructors, and regular patrol officers. Vice -Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher questioned whether other municipalities are currently working with Harris County Sheriff's Department. Lieutenant Dorris states that Precincts 11 2, and 3 and several constable departments are onboard with Harris County. The use of the iPads reduced the transportation to a hospital for emergency detention orders by 42% due to having a clinician talk to them on the front end and form an assessment. Committee Member Richard Hunsinger asked in regards to the officers that obtain specialized training and Lieutenant Dorris stated there are two different specific trainings for mental health issues, one being the Crisis Intervention Training ("CIT"), which all officers must take, and another is the Mental Health Police Officer Certification, which is a Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) recognized course. Committee Member Hunsinger then asked whether these trainings are required in order to participate in the CORE program, and Lieutenant Dorris noted that in order to be a CIT officer the officer would have to go through the Mental Health Police Officer Certification, but that all officers require the CIT training, therefore, the training itself does not preclude an officer from being assigned a tablet. The program requires an officer obtain a four-hour training to learn to utilize the Wad, and the security and privacy concerns. There is not a specific certification or accreditation to be able to take an Wad out at the scene and have the consumer speak to a clinician. Lieutenant Dorris confirmed that the cost per unit per year would be $9,000, and would include the training. Committee Member Hunsinger stated if 20 units would be sufficient to which the Lieutenant Baytown Police Advisory Committee Regular Meeting Minutes May 11, 2021 Page 4 of 6 stated the ideal amount would be one for every officer, however, the Police department feels twenty is a comfortable number for everyone to digest and down the road if the department finds that it needs more then it could be revisited in the future. Committee Member Dr. June Stansky asked other programs besides the CORE program were the ones the department looked at. Lieutenant Dorris answered that the Harris County Sheriffs Department has a very broad behavioral services unit. The Sheriff's Department addresses things such as autism, senior citizen dementia, and other things as such. Project Guardian is the program in regard to autism which allows for decals such as the stickers the committee has already discussed. The decals would allow for identification of houses and cars where people with autism reside. Vice -Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher asked for a synopsis of the CORE prograrn to be able to recommend to City Council which would be vital. Mr. Bolenbaucher went on to ask if the grant were to fall through what would occur, and both Lieutenant Dorris and Chief Holden stated that the police department would not have sufficient funds to support the iPads on their own. Interim Police Chief Holden discussed that many of these programs come from out of state and the only stipulation would be that the iPads are provided by Harris County and would not be able to be used in Chambers County. The Police department has been looking at other avenues and other agencies are hiring clinicians to ride with officers in the Patrol Unit. The numbers would be one clinician to seven or eight iPads. The autism program is done in other states and in such states use the puzzle pieces symbol which is the national standard. Chairperson Montgomery questions the differences between Project Guardian and the Core Program to which Interim Police Chief Mike Holden stated Project Guardian focuses on Autism while the Core Program handles mental health in general. Chief Holden stated that the decals are applied by residents, however, many do not apply the decals to the vehicle as participation is optional. The homes that participate in the decals allows the officer on the scene to recognize there is a person with autism in the home. Committee Member Dr. Marissa Moreno asked if there were any other decals for different illnesses other than autism, such as schizophrenia, depression, suicidal ideation, and so forth. Chief Holden stated there is not a national decal for those mental health issues, but the current system does allow for notes to be added in certain cases to provide future officers the infonnation necessary for those types of situations. Committee Members Dr. June Stansky and Richard Hunsinger suggested a voluntary registration set up in doctors' offices and mental health professionals to allow for citizens to fill out a brochure to put information in regard to their mental health issues and provide it to the police department and put it in the system. Chief Holden noted that validation would be required in order to properly process the information and assure it is all correct. Lieutenant Dorris stated that there are currently five (5) CIT members, but ideally ten (10) fully trained mental health officers would be needed to specifically respond to mental health calls and only such calls. A motion was made by Vice -Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher and seconded by Committee Member Dr. June Stansky to approve and request for City Council to support such recommendations as noted. The vote was as follows: Baytown Police Advisory Committee Regular Meeting Minutes May 11, 2021 Page S of 6 Ayes: Chairperson Raphael D. Montgomery, Vice -Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher, Committee Member Yulanda Braxton, Committee Member Marissa Moreno, Committee Member June Stansky, Committee Member Richard Hunsinger, and Committee Member Cpl. Steve Ocanas Nays: None Other: Committee Member Lt. Rene Hinojosa (Absent) Approved b. Discuss and consider the presentation of the Baytown Police Advisory Committee's quarterly report to the City Council. City Attorney Karen Horner presented a slide showing the prioritized buckets of concern being Mental Illness and how it would be presented to the City Council. The three (3) items discussed and supported by the Baytown Police Advisory Committee being the Clinician and Officer Remote Evaluation (CORE) Program, Project Guardian, and a Database for all Mental Illnesses. A motion was made by Vice -Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher and seconded by Committee Member Dr. June Stansky to approve the Committee's quarterly report presentation to be presented to Council with the amended slide as provided by Karen Horner. The vote was as follows: Ayes: Chairperson Raphael D. Montgomery, Vice -Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher, Committee Member Yulanda Braxton, Committee Member Marissa Moreno, Committee Member June Stansky, Committee Member Richard Hunsinger, and Committee Member Cpl. Steve Ocanas Nays: None Other: Committee Member Lt. Rene Hinojosa (Absent) Approved C. Consider setting any tasks and processes for future meetings. The committee members discussed items that they would like for the Committee to focus on and they were as follows: a) Mental Illness - Primary Concern ➢ Decals ➢ Lapel Pins ➢ Pamphlet b) Mental Health Training Baytown Police Advisory Committee Regular Meeting Minutes May 11, 2021 Page 6 of 6 ➢ 911 Center / Emergency Communications Dispatch Department c) Community Outreach/Relations ➢ Police Presence in the Communities ➢ More Active on Social Media ➢ Focus on Teens and Young Adults d) Consider a Collaboration with Harris County Sherriff s Dept. ➢ CORE Program (Clinician and Officer Remote Evaluation) ➢ iPads/Tablets e) More in depth Use of Force Training - Presentation from Corporal Kenneth Hockless ➢ Committee ➢ Possible Community Service Activity 3. MANAGER'S REPORT a. The next Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting is scheduled for May 25, 2021, at 6:00 P.M., at the Baytown Police Academy, 203 Wye Drive, Baytown, Texas 77521. Assistant City Manager Kevin Troller reminded the committee members of the next Baytown Police Advisory Committee regular meeting scheduled for May 25, 2021, and that the Committee's quarterly report presentation to Council would be at the Council meeting to be held on Thursday, May 27, 2021 at 6:30 P.M., in the Council Chamber at the Baytown City Hall. 4. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, a motion was made by Vice -Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher and seconded by Committee Member Dr. June Stansky to adjourn the May 11, 2021, Baytown Police Advisory Committee Regular Meeting at 7:26 P.M. The vote was as follows: Ayes: Chairperson Raphael D. Montgomery, Vice -Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher, Committee Member Yulanda Braxton, Committee Member Marissa Moreno, Committee Member June Stansky, Committee Member Richard Hunsinger, and Committee Member Cpl. Steve Ocanas Nays: None Other: Committee Member Lt. Rene Hinojosa (Absent) Approved 1 J 0� 6pYTC14Vey06 ,.•° h° Angela Jabkson, Acting City Clerk City of Baytown.; 7�'`*� ? �lj� L F