Council Workshop - Code CSO PCO Presentation - FinalCity Council Workshop Public Safety
Code Enforcement, Community Service Officers and Parking Control Officers
September 13, 2016
AGENDA
The following presentation is to inform the City Council, staff and the Community of the roles, responsibilities and operations of the Public Safety Division.
Public Safety Division overview
Code Enforcement Officers
Community Service Officers
Parking Control Officers
Code Enforcement Cases & Customer Service Requests
Training
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Overview
Code Enforcement Officers
Full time Employees
Three Officers/One Supervisor
Primary functions includes the patrol of the City and enforcement of violations, which includes:
Building and property maintenance, business licensing, safety issues to ensure general welfare of residents, investigation of complaints, education of the City code, customer service
and several additional duties related to public safety.
All Code Enforcement Officers handle animal calls.
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Overview
Community Service Officers (CSO’s) & Parking Control Officers (PCO’s)
Part time Employees
14 Officer Positions, 9 currently filled
Two CSO’s have street sweeping assignments and are not dispatched to handle report calls. They are classified as Parking Control Officers or PCO’s.
One CSO is dedicated as an animal officer and is not dispatched to handle report calls.
Primary functions include report taking and issuing parking citations.
All Community Service Officers handle animal calls.
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Code Enforcement Officers patrol the City of Rosemead Monday through Saturday from 7:00 am until 6:00 pm.
Code Enforcement Officers also handle all animal related calls for service.
Code Enforcement Officers issue warning notices and citations.
Code Enforcement Officers first priority is Public Safety, and officers are strive to work with a resident to mitigate an issue without issuing a citation.
Code Enforcement Officers
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Code Enforcement Officers
Code Enforcement Officers are full time staff members whose role is to enforce city ordinances regarding building, maintenance, and safety regulations within the City of Rosemead. Maintenance
violations may include, overgrown vegetation, graffiti on property, inoperable vehicles, etc.
Additionally, Code Officers enforce violations of business licensing, health and safety codes, and parking and animal violations.
There is currently a Public Safety Supervisor and three Code Enforcement Officers in the City of Rosemead that handle code cases.
Each Code Officer is assigned a particular region within the community that they patrol for code violations or for safety concerns such as blocked city signage or damaged city property.
The City is currently in the process of hiring a new Code Enforcement Officer. This Officer will further alleviate the department case load. The new officer will be assigned a portion
of Rosemead to patrol. This officer will also handle animal calls and all other relevant Code Enforcement tasks.
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Code Enforcement Officers routinely patrol the City of Rosemead inspecting businesses and properties for violations of the City code.
Common service requests include:
Property Maintenance concerns including blight and graffiti;
Non Permitted Building and Construction;
Unlicensed Businesses or Violation of the Conditional Use Permit; and
Service calls for loose, injured or deceased animals.
Code Enforcement Officers
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Animal Response
Animal calls are handled as a top priority by Public Safety officers. Loose and/or injured animals can be a threat to the community.
When animals are captured they are taken immediately to the San Gabriel Valley Humane Society.
San Gabriel Valley Humane Society handles all animal related call from 8:00 pm to 7:00 am Monday – Saturday and all calls on Sundays.
Roughly 40% of all Requests for Service are animal related.
Code Enforcement Officers
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Patrol Areas
The City of Rosemead is broken into four regions with each Code Enforcement Officer handling an assigned region.
Officers patrol their respective regions each day in order to update existing cases and create new cases based on their daily observations.
This map displays the areas assigned to each Code Enforcement Officer.
The addition of a new Code Enforcement Officer will decrease the existing patrol regions by breaking the City into 5 patrol areas.
Code Enforcement Officers
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*The discrepancies between the number of closed cases to opened cases in Fiscal Year 2015, is due to the fact that some cases were carried over from the prior Fiscal Year.
*Additionally, all cases are closed after compliance is achieved. Cases continue to remain open when violators delay or refuse to comply.
Code CASEs
Year by Year Analysis
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Community Service Officers (CSO’s), are utilized by a number of cities and counties to supplement and assist law enforcement personnel by alleviating the workload of police officers.
Community Service Officers are non-sworn City staff members who assist the public with report taking, citation writing, and desk services so that police officers and deputies are free
to patrol and handle more emergent calls for service.
Community Service Officers
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CSO’s work Monday – Saturday between the hours of 7:00 am to 10:00 pm.
All CSO’s are part time employees, and as such are limited to 1000 hours per year, and no more than 28 hours each week.
There are 14 CSO positions, however the City currently has only 9 CSO positions filled. Three of the CSO’s are dedicated as either street sweeping or as animal control officers.
The department continues to recruit to fill vacancies, however CSO’s often desire to become police officers. As such, many are recruited away as Police academies begin, leaving vacancies.
Community Service Officers
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Calls for Service:
Typically, all CSO’s begin their shifts by “logging on” with Temple Station Dispatch. This is the same process Los Angeles County Deputies take when beginning their shifts.
This process informs the Sheriff Dispatchers that the Rosemead CSO will be available to receive/respond to calls for service from residents.
Having CSO’s respond to non-emergent and non-criminal service allows deputies more time to address urgent calls for service.
Community Service Officers
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How calls are dispatched to CSO’s:
Internally through the City CRM system or from Code Enforcement Staff; and or
Temple Sheriff Station - Once a call for service is received, the station dispatcher will then assign the call to either a Sheriffs Deputy or a CSO, depending upon the nature of the
call.
Active criminal or injury calls will be handled by deputies.
Non workable, or non emergent criminal calls will be handled by a CSO. These include minor traffic collisions, lost property, vandalism, etc.
Community Service Officers
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Non-workable and incident calls:
Calls for Service that are handled by CSO’s are for non-workable or non criminal incidents.
The reports that are taken by CSO’s are legal documents that will be assigned to a detective or investigator who will then determine if the case will be further investigated.
A typical police report can take up to an hour or more to complete once the officer arrives, interviews the victim, and writes the narrative for the incident.
Community Service Officers
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Emergencies and Incidents:
Additionally, CSO’s are regularly utilized to assist law enforcement and emergency responders with accidents and emergent events.
These can include:
Major Traffic Collisions
Fires
Criminal Containments
Community Service Officers
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Animal Services:
In addition to report taking and issuing citations, CSO’s are also responsible for responding to animal calls.
Animal calls can range from capturing loose animals, helping injured strays, and recovering dead animals.
Community Service Officers
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Animal Services Regarding Wildlife
Wildlife such as skunks, possums, raccoons, etc. are considered to be a part of the natural environment and are not taken by City staff. These animals must be set loose if accidently
captured.
Larger wildlife such as coyotes are becoming a concern to many residents, as their population continues to grow.
The Public Safety Team is currently preparing a Coyote Management Plan similar to ones adopted in other communities. This Management Plan will be presented to the City Manager upon
completion, and brought before the City Council for discussion and Policy direction.
Community Service Officers
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Parking Control Officers are CSO’s that have been given specific assignments on a long term basis.
Parking Control Officers are assigned to handle the street sweeping shifts Monday through Friday. These shifts help enforce the 2:00AM – 6:00AM no parking areas throughout the City.
Parking Control Officers
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Parking Control Officers also issue parking citations on holiday weeks when no street sweeper citations are issued.
There are 13 weeks each year when holidays are observed and citations for street sweeping are not issued. Holidays include Christmas, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, etc.
During these weeks, the trash pick up schedule is altered to adjust for the holiday, and bins are out on irregular pick–up days.
Parking Control Officers
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In addition, CSO’s and PCO’s are also assigned supplementary assignments on an as needed basis. Some of these responsibilities include:
Desk coverage at the Public Safety Building.
Assisting at Special Events such as Area Watch meetings and National Night Out.
Flyer distribution for upcoming events, and criminal activity notices.
Packet, mail delivery, and money drops.
Parking Control Officers
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How Code Cases are Reported:
Code Officers and Public Safety Staff regularly observe new violations which account for 38% of all existing cases.
CRM Requests for Service account for an additional 27% of total caseload, with the remaining 35% of cases coming from the various other sources. A breakdown is listed below:
Code Enforcement Cases
Public Safety Center Staff 25%
CRM Request 27%
Officer Observation 13%
Anonymous 10%
Neighbor 9%
Unknown 9%
All others (City Staff, tenant, City Council,
Owner, Police, Fire, etc. ) 7%
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How a CRM becomes a Code Case:
All resident concerns (online, phone, or in person), begins as a Request for Service. These are entered into the City’s CRM system, and redirected to individual City Departments and
staff members.
Concerns that have an immediate resolve, (such as illegally parked vehicles or dead animals needing removal) are handled quickly by an officer.
Once a Request for Services has been addressed, an officer will change the status of the Request for Service from “Open” to “Closed”. The Officer will respond to the informing party
that the case has been closed, along with a description of how it was resolved.
Code Enforcement Cases & Customer Request
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How a CRM becomes a Code Case:
Requests for Service that require additional follow up, (such as non-permitted construction, property maintenance, and garage conversions) become Code Cases.
Code Cases are assigned to a Code Enforcement Officer who will create an electronic case, which will have data updated, documents scanned, and a log of all activity relative to this
case.
During this process, the Request for Service will be closed while a Code Case is opened. However, a Code Enforcement Officer will provide contact information and offer to provide an
update once the Code Case has been addressed if the informing party desires.
This process allows for the informing party to remain anonymous, but still have contact within the Code Enforcement Officer for questions regarding the progress of a particular case.
Code Enforcement Cases & Customer Request
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The Public Safety Team is consistently seeking new training and growth opportunities to expand skill sets and implement best practices. Potential future trainings include:
California Association of Code Enforcement Officers (CACEO) courses for enforcement techniques.
Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and Mobile Dispatch Computer (MDC) training to acquaint CSO’s with deputy and dispatcher knowledge of the LASD computer systems
Animal trainings through state approved teaching facilities.
PC 832 training for laws of arrest.
Customer Service Training.
Training and Education
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Thank you
Questions?
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