City Council
MEETING DATE: 3/28/2018
TITLE:
Title
Police Department Application for Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Donation
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FROM:
Travis Walker, 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 fund community programs, mobile data terminal upgrades, and officer safety medical equipment.
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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 January 23, 2018, and it was approved by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians on March 6, 2018.
DISCUSSION:
The Cathedral City Police Department has operated a Citizens on Patrol (COP) program for over 25 years. The COP members are a diverse group with varying backgrounds and rich histories. Many are military veterans, former business owners, grandparents, and great grandparents. Some have immigrated to the United States from countries around the world. One thing this group values and holds dear is their civic duty and civic pride.
Cathedral City COP currently has 17 active members that participate and contribute in significant ways. COP members assist the department in staffing community and governmental events. They conduct vacation checks on residences and business checks in commercial districts, they assist at crime scenes, traffic collision scenes, and have assisted with weather related emergencies and language translation. They perform weekly neighborhood patrols and notify officers of crime and traffic issues. Their crime-prevention value, through their daily patrols, is immeasurable. What can be measured is their contribution of time. The Cathedral City COP members average over 459 hours of volunteer time a month. In 2017, the volunteered over 5513 hours of service to Cathedral City. They are truly ambassadors for the city and the department, adding a sense of inclusion and well-being to the community.
The Cathedral City Police Department hopes to maintain this important and beneficial program. Unfortunately, the account funding this program has been depleted of funds. If approved, 5k of the Agua Caliente donation will go toward the COP program, funding purchases from uniforms to maintaining the software used for scheduling.
Secondly, the Cathedral City Police Department is making an even more concerted effort to strengthen our relationship with the community. To achieve this goal, we are planning to use 5k to implement several new programs not previously done. In April 2018, we plan on starting the first of many, “Community Academies,” which are geared toward educating the public on what its police department does. Classes will range from investigations, to professional standards, evidence collection, communications, special weapons and tactics, our K-9 Unit and many others.
Another program we are beginning is the “Coffee with a Cop” program. Dates and locations will be set where an officer or two will meet with community members and answer any questions they might have. For these meetings, there is no agenda and no cost to the community.
This funding will go toward these community events and others, for public safety educational materials, printing, and advertising. These programs will be a great benefit in building trust and legitimacy with the community we serve.
Ten thousand dollars of the donation will be used toward a much-needed technology upgrade for the mobile data terminals (MDC’s). These are the computers in patrol cars that officers use daily to send and receive calls to the dispatch center as well as write reports. The current MDC’s are outdated, being over 10 years old, they have become slow with spotty connectivity.
Finally, if approved, 75 combat application tourniquets will be purchased and assigned to every regular and reserve officer. This final 5k can be used for the purchase and training of all staff. These tourniquets will be carried on the officer’s belts and can be used to administer first aid to themselves, or community members, should the need arise. These tourniquets can be easily applied to stop the blood flow in either the arms or the legs during life threatening injuries.
FISCAL IMPACT:
$5,000 will be applied to the Citizens of Patrol program.
$5,000 will be put toward creating new community programs.
$10,000 to mobile data terminal upgrades.
$5,000 will be to purchase, outfit, and train officers in the use of combat application tourniquets.
ATTACHMENTS:
Charitable Donation Application with Project Budget and Request Letter.