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2021 12 14 BPAC Minutes MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BAYTOWN POLICE ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN December 14, 2021 The Baytown Police Advisory Committee (BPAC) met in a Meeting on Tuesday, December 14, 2021, at 6:00 P.M. in the Council Chamber of the Baytown City Hall, located at 2401 Market Street, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Eric Bolenbaucher Vice Chairperson Yulanda Braxton Committee Member Lt. Rodney Evans Committee Member Dr. June Stansky Committee Member Richard Hunsinger Committee Member Cpl. Steve Ocanas Committee Member Angela Jackson Assistant Secretary John Stringer Police Chief Karen Horner City Attorney Vice Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher convened the December 14, 2021, Baytown Police Advisory Committee (BPAC) Meeting with a quorum present at 6:00 P.M., all members were present with the exception of the absence of Chairperson Raphael D. Montgomery and Committee Member Dr. Marissa Moreno. 1. MINUTES a. Consider approving the minutes of the Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting held on September 20, 2021. A motion was made by Committee Member Richard Hunsinger and seconded by Committee Member Yulanda Braxton to approve the meeting minutes of the Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting held on September 20, 2021, as submitted. The vote was as follows: Ayes: Vice Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher, Committee Member Yulanda Braxton, Committee Member Lt. Rodney Evans, Committee Member Dr. June Stansky, Committee Member Richard Hunsinger, and Committee Member Cpl. Steve Ocanas Nays: None Other: Chairperson Raphael D. Montgomery (Absent) and Committee Member Dr. Marissa Moreno (Absent) Approved Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes December 14,2021 Page 2 of 8 2. CITIZEN INPUT a. Receive citizen input concerning police outreach, community policing, officer training, as well as policies and procedures. No one had registered to speak, and so the Committee proceeded to the following item. 3. BUSINESS ITEMS a. Discuss the possibility of a coalition of mental health professionals. Lieutenant Steve Doris presented the item. Lt. Doris stated he would give a quick recap of what was discussed in their last meeting and what had been done since then. Back in March or April, they began taking a deep dive into developing their mental health program/unit at the Police Department. They started with five mental health officers and, as of the day prior, they were now at ten—three of which still needing training. Lt. Doris relayed one of the struggles they had was how they would get formalized in their venture. They then had to look at their policies and standard operating procedures to see how they were going to function. Lt. Doris reached out to about 220 FBI Nation Academy graduates he went to NA with and asked, "What were their respective units doing in this regard?" Lt. Doris received a lot of feedback from law enforcement executives around the country which was how they came up with what they currently had in place. He clarified their SOPs were not something made up along the way out of their own minds,but from the experiences from other agencies and executives. Another venture Lt. Doris and his team underwent was entering in to an MOU with the Harris County Sheriffs Department and Harris Health in IDD to be part of the CORE program. CORE was the Clinician and Officer Remote Evaluation program where they put iPads in the hands of their officers that effectively puts a clinician in the car with said officers. Lt. Doris informed the Committee that the twenty iPads they requested from Harris Health had been received; thus, they had been able to get their officers trained. On the 17th of November, Lt. Doris held a meeting with all of their mental health officers. There they took a dive in to their SOPs, got everybody on the same page, effectively rolled out their mental health program, and officially deployed their officers. Lt. Doris announced they now had an operating mental health unit in the Baytown Police Department(BPD). In regards to the CORE program, one of the things they had wanted to do was to make sure they spread the iPads across all of their shifts for 24/7 coverage. Lt. Doris reiterated that meant effectively having a clinician on the streets 24/7. Out of the twenty iPads, they had selected nineteen officers to receive those with the remaining one going to their Hostage Negotiation Team. Of those nineteen, ten were mental health officers and the rest were Lt. Doris's field training instructors. He relayed the idea was for CORE to become part of their DNA. In the event of encountering an individual in a crisis, Lt. Doris wanted CORE to be as normal to the officers as picking up the radio to call a dog for a drug sniff. Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes December 14,2021 Page 3 of 8 That previous Thursday, Lt. Doris relayed they had training with the Harris County Sheriffs Department and Harris Health for the CORE program. They had two training sessions: one in the morning for their day-shift officers and one in the afternoon for night-shift. Lt. Doris noted every officer successfully went through that training. Lt. Doris gathered, through that training, that CORE was going to be even more fruitful than he had anticipated. Lt. Doris went into further detail of how the CORE program would work. He explained they could not only get the consumer in touch with a clinician, but also put the family in touch with the clinicians to get some direction and help. Lt. Doris noted that once the clinician did an evaluation of the consumer, that person's information would be entered in to Harris Health. Then, typically within twenty-four hours, their Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (MCOT) would come out and do a follow-up with that consumer. Lt. Doris conveyed the goal was to get the consumers and their families the help they needed without having their police go back. Lt. Doris relayed what they often found were that consumers did not necessarily not want help, but that they did not know where to go or what to do. He stated they recognized that while the police would be dealing with the consumer for fifteen minutes, the families had been dealing with them for fifteen years. Lt. Doris summarized the important thing was to get people on the backend— who were not law enforcement—to get the consumers the help they actually needed. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher inquired if it was a safe assumption to make that with those nineteen iPads, they were going to have higher positive interactions and reduce their arrest rates. Lt. Doris absolutely agreed. He did give the disclaimer that this would not solve all problems, but rather it was another tool for their officers to have on dealing with individuals in crisis. Lt. Doris gave an instance where within fifteen minutes of their training, one of their officers on the street encountered a person in a mental health crisis. The officer asked for one of their mental health officers to check by—an officer that had just gotten out of the training. The mental health officer that arrived on the scene pulled out their iPad, dialed up the clinician, and had a positive and safe resolution to that call. The consumer was a veteran as was the psychiatrist who understood the consumer's experiences. The psychiatrist was then able to convince the consumer to voluntarily go to the hospital and receive treatment. Lt. Doris relayed that since the first of that year, they had handled 170 calls with mental health components. Since November 17th, having officially rolled out their mental health unit, they had handled 25 calls. Then, since December 9th with the CORE deployments, they had 4 related calls. Lt. Doris reiterated their hopes in that with CORE, they could reduce the number of arrests of people in mental health crisis. In the event that folks in a mental health crisis committed a felony or a heinous crime, they would still have to be arrested. However, the upside with CORE was that they could also reach out to the clinicians and perform an assessment, and/or have clinicians make arrangements at the county jail to be prepared to address the folks when they arrived. Police Chief John Stringer had previously inquired to Lt. Doris about a mental health coalition of some sort. Lt. Doris communicated that he had reached out and made arrangements with a person from Bay Area Council on Drugs and Alcohol (BACODA) who dealt in mental health. Lt. Doris stated they were working on putting together a coalition of mental health practitioners, stakeholders, and officers. The idea being 1) to put names with faces and building relationships, Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes December 14,2021 Page 4 of 8 and 2) to share resources, ideas, and problem-solving techniques. All to help them become a more grounded and robust mental health unit to provide quality services. In summary, Lt. Doris stated they had made a lot of progress over the past six months that he was very proud of. Yet, they still had work to do. What was previously discussed, would not be the end of things. Committee Member Dr. Stansky offered her services to volunteer, as she had in the past, if they ever needed civilian man power. Chief Stringer then discussed the BACODA coalition meeting he attended that day. He noted very often their mental health consumers were self-medicating which lead to more problems as they could not tie them to the right resources. Chief Stringer noted the coalition would help them identify those areas and keep people from falling through the cracks of their system. One of the topics discussed at the coalition meeting was having BPD partner with BACODA to assist in a role to determine how they could help with some of their community coalition grants. Chief Stringer commented BACODA had a COVID grant they had chosen to focus on Baytown that included parks. Chief Stringer stated BACODA was willing to help find those resources and provide venues for future meetings with the mental health coalition. Chief Stringer commended Lt. Doris's work as did Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher. Lt. Doris gave further recognition to his colleagues, staff, and ITS who helped him in his efforts. Before proceeding, Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher welcomed to the BPAC Committee Member Lt. Rodney Evans who would replace Committee Member Lt. Rene Hinojosa. b. Receive an update regarding the Baytown Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team. City Attorney Karen Horner informed the BPAC that the item was previously discussed in item 3.a., and so Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher proceeded to the following item. c. Discuss and consider means to obtain greater citizen input. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher began the discussion by relaying that, in discussion with Assistant Secretary Angela Jackson, Baytown Engage did the initiative to gather information by social media outreach, short videos, and etc. In the event the BPAC wanted to garner more information from citizens, Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher stated they did have several options available to them. He added they also had resources through the library with Community Engagement Coordinator Sabrina Martin. Committee Member Dr. Stansky suggested opening a"Nosey Baytown" or something of the sort on Facebook. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher believed it would be best if they worked with a more controlled environment. Committee Member Lt. Hinojosa inquired if the BPAC had reached out to the neighborhood watch organizations. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher had not, yet Committee Member Hunsinger from District 4 had reached out and had conversations with HOAs, churches, apartments, and local neighborhood watches. Committee Member Hunsinger felt he was meeting with people who were very willing to come forward; however, he would Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes December 14,2021 Page 5 of 8 rather focus on the larger percentage of the population that were reluctant to come forward as those were the people he believed were underrepresented. Furthermore, Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher noted he had also been working with Pastor Ernest Bryson from St. John's United Methodist Church. He and Pastor Bryson were working on resurrecting the Bay Area Ministerial Alliance in the hopes of getting information out to pastors to disseminate out to the public. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher then requested additional suggestions from the BPAC. Committee Member Dr. Stansky suggested having surveys on the back of water bills. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher stated he was not opposed to the idea, but voiced his concerns in regards to the legality and whether citizens actually read their bills. Police Chief Stringer recommended the BPAC reach out to Assistant to the City Manager Brian Moran who had originally helped with the surveys for the strategic plan of the Baytown Police Department (BPD). City Attorney Karen Horner noted those surveys were not water bill-oriented, but that could be something they could look into. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher requested the BPAC receive a brief synopsis of the parameters of what they could do as a committee to communicate with citizens. Ms. Horner noted the goal of the BPAC was for them to reach out to the community and receive input. Ms. Horner relayed she was not sure if there was a line that they could not cross. Committee Member Dr. Stansky further suggested a click poll on the Baytown Sun. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher lastly noted if the BPAC had any further suggestions, to send them over to him. Ms. Horner countered it would be best to send them over to Mrs. Jackson. d. Discuss and consider establishing goals for the Baytown Police Advisory Committee for the 2022 calendar year. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher noted he had a copy of their BPAC's bucket list, and that Lieutenant Steve Doris had pretty much emptied out their mental health bucket. He then quickly recapped on what their bucket list was as the following: Baytown Police Advisory Committee's Bucket List 1. Mental Illness 2. Transparency and Accountability 3. Training and Development 4. Positive Engagement Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher guided the discussion in the direction of if they needed to add another bucket or consider digging into their three remaining buckets for the agenda of 2022. Committee Member Dr. Stansky voiced she would like to see more on transparency. Committee Member Hunsinger noted in his conversations with the people of his district, they were afraid of the crime that had risen. Committee Member Hunsinger stated he was not sure how to address that, but that he would like to figure out a way to reach citizens to have interactions with BPD. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher noted that would most likely fall under positive engagement. Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes December 14,2021 Page 6 of 8 Police Chief John Stringer relayed an experience he had with a citizen regarding the fear of crime, and expressed he wanted to know and hear those perceptions. Chief Stringer requested the BPAC email him or Committee Member Lt. Evans in regards to that information. Chief Stringer further stated that the BPAC's objective was not unlike BPD's. That objective being, to be so effective there would be no need for police. He noted they needed that kind of information from each of the Committee Member's districts to see what they could do. Committee Member Cpl. Ocanas recommended officers be present in those future meeting with citizens and volunteered his services; however, Chief Stringer discussed their issues with staffing. Nevertheless, Chief Stringer did state he had begun talking with command staff to establish a Community Resource Officer program. Through that program they would segment Baytown off by maybe four big zones, and have—to start off with—four officers assigned to the Crime Prevention Bureau responsible for their given area. They would be BPD's liaisons to the citizens, businesses, and stakeholders of that area. Aside from crime, they would also attend and speak in HOA meetings, community centers, places of worship, etc. Chief Stringer noted that until they got to that point though, the BPAC would be essential in helping fulfill that role. Committee Member Lt. Evans commented that one of the programs they did years back when he was a CSP, was develop neighborhood-watch type of groups at apartment complexes' clubhouses. He noted those would probably be one of the underrepresented groups they were previously referring to as not everybody lived in a subdivision. Committee Member Lt. Evans discussed how that was a successful program as residents were more apt to call crime stoppers. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher remarked those clubhouses would be great locations for future Coffee with a Cop events. In regards to perceptions, Committee Member Dr. Stansky commented she had witnessed a robbery where the victim stated he would not report the stolen items as the police did not bother with such issues. Committee Member Braxton also commented she too would not have called. Chief Stringer responded that BPD did have the resources to track down stolen items and that it was worth sticking around to call. Committee Member Hunsinger noted that information would be important to get out to people. Chief String informed them that BPD would be having a new public information coordinator by the end of the year who would use social media platforms. There was then further discussion on matters regarding robbery situations, the acknowledgement of officer behavior in said situations, and the need to inform the public on the good deeds of the department. e. Discuss and consider a quarterly report to be presented to the City Council in January, 2022. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher quickly recapped what they had so far as to what would be in the quarterly report presented to Council. They would give updates on CORE, the stickers, pins, and the buckets BPAC were looking at. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher then asked if he missed anything. Committee Member Lt. Evans questioned if they would receive feedback from the Council. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher responded they would just answer questions. If there would be a question where they would have to defer (i.e. the mental health operations), the BPAC may have to say they would follow up on that. Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes December 14,2021 Page 7 of 8 Committee Member Dr. Stansky suggested thanking the Council for including the BPAC in the interview process for the Police Chief. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher requested Assistant Secretary Angela Jackson remind him of the date of the Council Meeting for him to work on that outline, be sure to receive approval, and get that presentation to her. f. Consider setting any tasks and processes for future meetings. Vice Chairperson Bolenbaucher introduced the item and inquired if anything needed to be discussed. Committee Member Dr. Stansky questioned if the public could speak in the beginning of the meeting without the need to ask for permission. City Attorney Karen Horner replied they did have citizen input in the beginning of each meeting where they had to sign in. Mr. Horner asked for further clarification if what Committee Member Dr. Stansky had asked was for citizens to not sign in. Committee Member Dr. Stansky elaborated in the even a person could not be present at a meeting. Mr. Horner informed her that they were no longer doing virtual, but that they could submit their comments to the Committee Members or to Assistant Secretary Angela Jackson and have that discussed in citizen input. 4. MANAGER'S REPORT a. The next Baytown Police Advisory Committee Regular Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 25, 2022, at 6:00 P.M., in the Council Chamber at Baytown City Hall, 240 I Market Street, Baytown, Texas 77520. Assistant Secretary Angela Jackson informed BPAC that their managers were at the Council Retreat and regretted not being able to attend the present meeting. With that being said, Mrs. Jackson announced BPAC's next meeting was scheduled for Tuesday, January 25, 2022, at 6:00 P.M. Additionally, Mrs. Jackson noted they could present to Council on January 13`h or the 27`h. It was deliberated that the BPAC would present on Thursday, January 13, 2022, at 6:30 P.M. 5. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, a motion was made by Committee Member Lt. Rodney Evans and seconded by Committee Member Dr. June Stansky to adjourn the December 14, 2021, Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting at 6:56 P.M. The vote was as follows: Ayes: Vice Chairperson Eric Bolenbaucher, Committee Member Yulanda Braxton, Committee Member Lt. Rodney Evans, Committee Member Dr. June Stansky, Committee Member Richard Hunsinger, and Committee Member Cpl. Steve Ocanas Nays: None Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes December 14,2021 Page 8 of 8 Other: Chairperson Raphael D. Montgomery (Absent) and Committee Member Dr. Marissa Moreno (Absent) Approved sNYTOIsritt a Angela Ja son, Assistant Secre ®° t a� � City of Baytown \\`fi "a as m w�r � "aa"raa;° n