City Council
MEETING DATE: 5/10/2017
TITLE:
Title
Police Department Application for Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Donation
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FROM:
George Crum, Chief of Police
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends the City Council approve accepting a $25,000 donation from the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians to enhance police department security by installing impact resistant glass in open public areas, and to increase the efficiency of our data-driven, evidence-based crime analysis.
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BACKGROUND:
Ms. Betty Callies, Executive Director of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, invited the Cathedral City Police Department to submit for a $25,000 charitable donation. This donation is meant for specific department needs not otherwise covered by the police department budget. The police department submitted the donation request application on February 17, 2017, and it was approved by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians on April 7, 2017.
DISCUSSION:
The Cathedral City Police Department's public access areas are currently open access, with only a counter to offer barrier protection. Access to our non-sworn, civilian employees is a matter of simply jumping the counter. No protection exists for thrown objects, the discharge of firearms, or any other violent acts. Civilian employees working in this area are assigned critical support functions and are often the first line of contact between the citizen and the police department. Police officers are not assigned to this duty as it would take them from the field and limit their availability to emergencies in the city.
The challenge is to provide adequate protection to our most vulnerable employees and still provide the personal contact and customer service our residents expect. Rather than resort to phone or intercom contact only, the Cathedral City Police Department is interested in building a transparent, impact-resistant partition that will allow visual, audible, and limited personal contact between employees and staff in a more controlled manner. Our request for the amount of $25,000 will provide us the funds to install such a safety partition. Material and installation cost for this protection is $19,700.
We believe the enhancement to our public area detailed here will provide the right balance between increasing safety and security of our employees and maintaining a connection to our community members. A thoughtful, measured effort is our goal, and your generous donation will provide the means to complete this project.
The remaining $5,300 will be used to enhance our data driven/evidence based crime analysis technology. The use of crime statistics and mapping applications provides police officers and detectives with an edge in fighting crime by leveraging and synthesizing information. Real time crime and incident information can then be disseminated among officers for more timely and focused attention.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Cost of the material and installation of the impact resistant partitions will be $19,700.
Cost of the material and installation of the crime analysis technology will be $5,300
ATTACHMENTS:
Charitable Donation Application with Project Budget and Request Letter.