City Council
MEETING DATE: 3/9/2016
TITLE:
Title
Crime Statistics Update and Authorization to Establish a Crime Analyst Position
End
FROM:
George Crum, Chief of Police
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends the City Council authorize an increase in the Police Department staffing authorization to add a full-time Crime Analyst position to be partially funded by the State of California Post Release Accountability and Compliance Team (PACT) in the amount of $50,000 for FY 15/16 and $50,000 for FY 16/17 for a total of $100,000 and allocate the remaining funds from the reserve fund.
Body
BACKGROUND:
There have been concerns within the Community over the perception of a violent crime wave occurring in Cathedral City recently. Some community members have contacted different elected officials voicing their concerns that violent crime is on the rise in Cathedral City. Resident concerns may be elevated currently as we experienced a homicide in December 2015, in January 2016 and an individual was shot in February. The suspect in the February shooting has been taken into custody. All three incidents were heavily publicized and reported in the local media.
The Police Department had a Crime Analyst position for approximately ten years until the great recession necessitated laying off 29 personnel from the Police Department in June 2012 to balance the budget. The Police Department proposes hiring a full time Crime Analyst position, which will allow the Department to engage in intelligence led policing strategies and predictive policing. A Crime Analyst allows the Police Department to utilize historical crime data to deploy current personnel more effectively and efficiently to assist in reducing crime and the fear of crime in our community.
A goal for 2016 of the City Council is for the Police Department to complete research evaluation and implementation of a Body Worn Camera (BWC) system for Police Officers. The Police Department has conducted testing and evaluation of a Body Worn Camera system and City Council approved the funding from the SLESA grant in February 2016. A critical component of Body Worn Camera technology is the storage and containment of mass amounts of data created by the recordings. The City will be mandated to comply with discovery requests for video from the District Attorney's Office, Public Defenders Office and any Public Records Act requests.
In order to assist in launching the new Body Worn Camera technology and additional demands on the two existing IT staff members the addition of a third IT staff member would be instrumental for the City and the Police Department. This new technology will be adding new software and hardware technology to our patrol officers and patrol supervisors with the target date to be online in the third quarter of 2016. With the addition of another IT person this implementation process will be a critical component to successfully launching this new BWC technology for the Cathedral City Police Department. A separate agenda item provides a plan for addressing the identified IT needs.
DISCUSSION:
There have been concerns within the community that violent crime is on the rise in Cathedral City. This may be the result of a homicide in December 2015, another in January 2016 and a shooting in February. The suspect from the February shooting has been arrested and is currently in custody awaiting trial. The two homicides and the shooting were heavily publicized and reported in the local media leading to the perception that violent crime is on the rise in the City.
In evaluating our Part 1 crimes from calendar year 2010 through calendar year 2015, staff looked at the total number of crimes committed each year. Our totals for each respective year are as follows: 2010 (1754 crimes), 2011 (2009 crimes), 2012 (1780 crimes), 2013 (1267 crimes), 2014 (1322 crimes), 2015 (1271 crimes). The total number of crimes was lower in 2015 than during the previous year.
January 2016 Part 1 crime stats reveal that we had 1 homicide, 1 rape, 3 robberies, 1 firearm assault, 7 felony assaults with a knife or object, 38 burglaries, 28 auto thefts and 44 larcenies. The felony assaults category includes domestic violence assaults. Preliminarily, these numbers based on an average would put us on pace with 2014 and 2015 crime stats. Thus far in February 2016, we have experienced 1 assault with a firearm and two shootings at an inhabited dwelling which appear to be retaliatory after the Ramon and Landau homicide.
Many communities are experiencing higher crime which is being blamed on a multitude of factors such as Prop 47, AB 109 and an economy still in recovery. I am not prepared at this time to blame any of these factors for criminal activity in our City as we still await the true impacts of prop 47 on communities throughout California.
It is understandable that there is a perception that Cathedral City is experiencing an uptick in violent crime. The data, however, simply do not indicate this as fact. We have gained additional resources since we formed a proactive Gang Unit and joined the Coachella Valley Violent Crime Gang Task Force in October 2015.
We have been collecting crime analysis data in our police reports for years, however, without the specialized personnel to evaluate the data we have been a depository of the information and unable to use it for the Police Department and Community's advantage. With the approval of the Crime Analyst position we will be able to aid operational personnel in meeting our tactical crime control and analyzing methods of operation of individual criminals, providing crime pattern recognition, and providing analysis of data from field interrogations and arrests. Crime analysis will be useful to the Police Department’s long range planning efforts by providing estimates of future crime trends and assisting in the identification of enforcement priorities.
I believe it is imperative that the Police Department have the ability to conduct intelligence led policing and predictive policing strategies and utilize historical data to deploy current personnel more effectively as I continue to focus on hiring additional Police Officers to bring us to full staffing.
A competitive salary range for a Crime Analyst has been determined based on the previous position's salary range and the current market. The anticipated salary range for the Crime Analyst would be $61,032 to $67,287 annually plus benefits.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Police Department has identified a source of revenue for FY 16/17 to help offset the costs of creating the Crime Analyst position. Through the State of California the Post release Accountability and Compliance Team (PACT) has authorized each agency that houses a PACT team to collect $50,000 each year for FY 15/16 and FY 16/17 for a total of $100,000 to help offset expenses for housing the operational teams. Each fiscal year after, the Police Department will receive 50,000 in reimbursement annually for housing the PACT team.
There would be minimal impact to the current budget as the PACT reimbursement would cover the cost of a Crime Analyst for FY 16/17. Future budgets will include salary and benefit costs for the Crime Analyst as outlined in this proposal. Total Annual appropriation would be a not to exceed $100,000. This amount would be partially offset by the $50,000 in additional revenue.
ATTACHMENTS:
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