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PSC - Minutes - 05-25-23MINUTES OF THE ROSEMEAD PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MAY 25, 2023 The Regular Meeting of the Rosemead Public Safety Commission was called to order by Chair Michael Cao at 7:02 p. m. in the Rosemead City Council Chamber located at 8838 East Valley Boulevard, Rosemead, California. PRESENT: Commissioners Cao, Fonseca, Foutz, Garcia, and Wu F.V110-50 WMC PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: was led by Commissioner Fonseca INVOCATION: was led by Vice -Chair Foutz 1. PUBLIC COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE Chair Cao opened the Public Comment period. No Public Comments were received. Chair Cao closed the Public Comment period. 2. CONSENT CALENDAR: Commissioner Garcia made a motion to approve the minutes from the April 27, 2023, Public Safety Commission Meeting, and was seconded by Vice -Chair Foutz. Motion carried by the following vote: YES: 5-0 3. MATTERS FROM STAFF Assistant City Manager Bruckner mentioned that he received a supplemental item from the Sheriff's Department regarding a temporary injunction reinstating zero bail. The injunction is related to individuals that are being processed in the County jail. They are now being released on zero bail. Lieutenant Tiwari mentioned that even felonies that are considered nonviolent, can be released on zero bail. Typically, if a person was arrested for a felony, they were given a bail amount based on the crime and would remain in jail until their arraignment date, which is usually two to three days later. Now, with the new injunction that is effective today, any felony charge that is considered nonviolent, the offender will be released with a citation, opposed to remaining in custody. The LASD website provides a list of crimes categorized as violent felonies and nonviolent felonies. This is the same type of zero bail that was enacted during COVID. When discussing future crime trends, it is important to see past trends, and how this increased crime as individuals received citations and were released and potentially will reoffend. Lieutenant Tiwari wanted to inform the Public Safety Commission as it comes directly from a judge and is not department policy. Vice -Chair Foutz asked if it was a state judge or district judge that made that decision. 1 Assistant City Manager Bruckner responded that it was a Superior Court judge. Lieutenant Tiwari stated that it affects every city within Los Angeles County. A. LACoFD Fire & EMS Incidents Report (April 2023) This item was Received and Filed by the Commission without comment. B. LASD Crime Statistics (April 2023) This item was Received and Filed by the Commission without comment. C. Rosemead SAO Team Weekly Reports Commissioner Wu asked about the daily operations, as she noticed that the Sheriff's are visiting some of the businesses and was wondering if any other businesses will be included. Lieutenant Tiwari mentioned that the businesses visited are in conjunction with the placement of the decoy car. Assistant City Manager Bruckner asked if there are specific locations that Commissioner Wu feels need to be addressed. Commissioner Wu suggested that it might be best to diversify that a bit or if there are any other hotspots, perhaps that might be a good location to add. It seems like every month contains the same area. This item was Received and Filed by the Commission. D. Crime Prevention and Emergency Preparedness Activities Assistant City Manager Bruckner reported on the crime prevention and emergency preparedness programs and activities for the previous month as well as the upcoming month. Included was a flyer regarding advertising the sidewalk CPR, which will be held at Rosemead Park on June 14`h from 9:00 am to 10:30 am. The sidewalk CPR was provided by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH). The City will be partnering with both DPH and LACoFD in the future as they're available. Commissioner Wu commented that the Chief that mentioned his team would be visiting different businesses as part of the crime prevention activities. She asked where that report would be listed. Assistant City Manager Bruckner stated it would be in the Rosemead SAO Weekly Report. He mentioned that if that information was not provided, then those details can be included in the future. Vice -Chair Foutz asked what options are available to the community if those committing crimes are released to reoffend. Lieutenant Tiwari informed that staying vigilant is important. Everyone has the right to protect themselves on their property. It is important to lock things up and to prevent becoming a victim. 2 E. Discussion Regarding School Outreach Assistant City Manager Bruckner explained that this item was a request from Mayor Pro Tem Steven Ly at the April 25h City Council meeting. The Mayor Pro Tem requested that the Public Safety Commission discuss outreach to schools that are outside of Rosemead and, he mentioned Don Bosco Technical and Mark Keppel High School, as there are Rosemead students that are enrolled in those schools. Currently, outreach is provided to the Rosemead School District and the Garvey School District, and the Mayor Pro Tem wanted to get the Commission's feedback on whether we should be conducting outreach to those schools as well. Commissioner Fonseca expressed that it is important to outreach to those schools and include Potrero Heights as Rosemead residents attend that school as well. She suggested identifying school districts, and charter schools that are within proximity of Rosemead for outreach. Assistant City Manager Bruckner detailed that recently there was outreach at Rosemead High School for Coffee with the Deputies with the intent of bringing in high school students so that they can learn more about the various youth programs that are offered by the Sheriffs Department. The City did not focus any of that outreach to schools beyond that scope. Therefore, Mayor Pro Tem Ly felt that if the City was having those type of events, then reaching out to other schools might be best. Commissioner Garcia mentioned that the Garvey School District works with three different stations because it serves three different cities. She commented that this is a great idea, especially for those students that travel to other schools, but the concern is not to overstep any boundaries with other stations that the schools are already working with. Assistant City Manager Bruckner informed that the contention of the Mayor Pro Tem was that if the City is planning events that are public safety related and targeted towards Rosemead youth, then it is important to not only look at schools within Rosemead, but we looked a little bit further beyond the City's borders and try to conduct outreach there as well. Chair Cao asked if that would need to be coordinated with those schools that are outside of the Rosemead and Garvey School District and how that would work from a communications and liaison standpoint. Assistant City Manager Bruckner replied that communication would be coordinated by law enforcement to the other law enforcement agency or City to City and explain that there are Rosemead residents attending their schools and inform them of the event while proposing to hand out flyers and conduct outreach. It is important to make the school aware that the City or law enforcement agency will be reaching out to their students. Vice -Chair Foutz stated that perhaps Rosemead deputies could talk to Monterey Park PD, Alhambra PD, and San Gabriel PD whenever they're having events and collaborate and join the event. 3 Chair Cao inquired about the turnout for Coffee with the Deputies. Lieutenant Tiwari announced that there were approximately 20 high school students and hopes for a more robust turnout. He also mentioned looking at other cities to see how they conduct outreach and the timeframes for a larger turnout. F. LASD Annual Service Level Agreement Authorization Assistant City Manager Bruckner recalled that at the last meeting, the Commission reviewed all of the action items that were previously set, and one of them being the current service level authorization. The Commission went through a robust analysis of response time calls for service trying to identify where those gaps are, to try to meet the expectations of the community in terms of response times and visibility. At that meeting, the Commission provided several recommendations: one was to reimplement the CSO patrol support program. The second was that the Commission was also split on recommending an additional unit of patrol, whether it was one unit or two units. At the meeting, the question was asked, if two additional units of patrol were needed, could the Sheriffs Department provide that resource? Staff went back and had those conversations with the Sheriffs Department to see whether it was even feasible. As it stands right now, the LASD is understaffed. Deputies are being drafted to work overtime. The question was, if the City wants it, can we get it? The Chief mentioned that it is a contract item, and they would provide it. After a conversation with the Contract Law Enforcement Bureau, they mentioned that there is a soft moratorium where if a station can't accommodate the additional demands for patrol services, or special assignment team deputy service, then those resources will not be provided. In consultation with contract law and Temple Station, It was determined that if the recommendation was to hire two additional 56 -hour units of patrol, that the station couldn't accommodate that request. In fact, they can only provide the City, at most, with one additional unit of patrol at this time. Therefore, this item was brought back to the Commission to make everyone aware that when moving forward with the recommendation to the City Council, that the request is going to be for a one 56 - hour patrol unit based off the resource constraints that the department is currently undertaken. Vice -Chair Foutz asked if it is possible to recommend additional community service officers. Assistant City Manager Bruckner stated that additional funding was included for the Fiscal Year 2024 budget for additional CSOs that will be allocated to this program. Vice -Chair Foutz motioned to recommend two 56 -hour patrol units to the City Council, as well as at least two Community Service Officers and was second by Commissioner Fonseca. Motion carried by the following vote: YES: 5-0 4 4. MATTERS FROM COMMISSION A. Commissioner Comments Commissioner Garcia commented on her frustration with the zero -bail email. There is much spent on resources, training our officers and this prevents them from doing their job. She mentioned that she hopes that things proceed in a different direction sooner than later. Commissioner Garcia also thanked the staff for the great communication. She mentioned seeing the requested changes on social media. She requested posts on the upcoming commission meetings to invite the community to attend and increase interest. Vice -Chair Foutz mentioned a robbery at the Savannah Cemetery in broad daylight. He asked that the community stay vigilant and secure their belongings as crimes can happen anytime. Assistant City Manager Bruckner announced that at the last City Council Meeting on April 25, the City Council adopted an ordinance expanding the composition of the Public Safety Commission from five members to seven members. The Commission consists of four residents and up to three members of the business community. The City is currently recruiting Public Safety Commissioners for the next year and there are additional seats available if anyone is interested in serving. Chair Cao shared that Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger is having a military tribute to veterans and military families at the Arcadia County Park. The event's start time was changed from 11:30 am to 10:30 am. This event is put on by Los Angeles County and is free. 5. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 7:37 p.m. The next Public Safety Commission meeting will be held on Thursday, June 22, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers. APPROVED: ,W,CtVL Michael Cao, Chair