RESEARCH DIVISION
SPECIAL PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY COMMITTEE MINUTES
August 16, 2016
Lynwood Roberts Room
Ground Floor, City Hall
117 W. Duval Street
Attendance: Council Members: Sam Newby (Chair), Bill Gulliford (Vice Chair), Aaron Bowman, Anna Lopez Brosche, Katrina Brown, Tommy Hazouri, Joyce Morgan; Assistant General Counsel Paige Johnston; Assistant Council Auditor Kyle Billy; Jordan Elsbury, Administration; John J. Jackson, Yvonne Mitchell, Council Research Division; Legislative Assistant Philip Zamarron.
The Chairman called the special committee meeting to order at 9:13 a.m.
The Chair announced that the first topic that the Special Committee would focus on was community policing.
Undersheriff Pat Ivey made a presentation on community policing and fielded questions.
Undersheriff Ivey explained the philosophy behind the concept and practice of community policing and said that community policing has been around since the 1970s.
Community policy was, in short, the police partnering with the community in identifying and addressing issues. There were three components: partnerships; organizational transformation; and problem solving.
The Undersheriff described numerous opportunities that the community has to engage with the police: SHADCOS (Sheriff’s Advisory Councils); Coffee With A Cop; Adopt A Cop; Business Watch; P.A.L. (Police Athletic League); Big Brothers, Big Sisters.
Undersheriff Ivey explained that the Sheriff’s violent crime reduction initiative was a component of community policing. He said that it extremely rare for the police to solve a criminal problem alone; it was essential that the community assist law enforcement in ridding communities of crime and criminal elements.
Council Member Bill Gulliford said that, to him, two grannnies sitting on a porch is the best king of community policing.
Mr. Gulliford asked the Undersheriff if the use of cameras was useful as a deterrent. The Undersheriff said that cameras are still utilized and are a deterrent to an extent. ShotSpotter can be useful, as well. Both have challenges. The images from cameras can fuzzy at night.
The Undersheriff explained that when the pill mills were closed in 2010/20ll, heroin returned in deadlier forms. He explained the distribution system. Council Member Gulliford urged the Public Health Committee to look into the issue of young people dying because of drugs.
Council Member Katrina Brown wants to partner with the police in Council District 8. She wants to be kept abreast by JSO of Sheriff’s walks, get-togethers at MacDonald’s and other policy-community events in her District. She reiterated her suggestion that JSO have a liaison to Council Members.
Council Member Joyce Morgan wants to have ShotSpotter technology on a future PHS Special Meeting agenda. The Undersheriff cited technological problems that shots potters have. The cities that have seen success with shotspotters are cities that also have emergency response teams.
Council Member Anna Lopez Brosche asked the Undersheriff for an update on JSO’s partnership with John Jay College programs. She spoke of her own awareness of the Market Value Analysis (MVA) as a tool. The Council Member has traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin on a trip funded by the Jessie Ball DuPont Fund. Milwaukee is one of the cities that have invested in MVA. Milwaukee used the MVA tool to identify areas of town where the police implement community policing and crime-reducing strategies and where community-based non-profits, the police, district attorney, and the public defender all partnered to have a satellite presence. Active community engagement efforts in the high-crime, high-blight infested neighborhoods had positive results. Council Member Lopez Brosche indicated that she was looking forward to her own impending participation in JSO’s citizen policy academy.
Turning to Public Health, Dr. Kelli Wells provided the Committee with an update on the Zika Virus situation. Reports had been distributed to the Committee on the latest statistics. She reiterated that there are continuing concerns about open containers of fresh water that the Zika bearing mosquitos prefer for breeding. These mosquitos much prefer open containers of clean water to retention ponds or pools. Dr. Wells explained that Health Department staffers are currently in a surveillance posture as further developments unfold.
Richard Smith of the City’s Mosquito Control Division gave the Committee a presentation on aspects of the Mosquito Control program. He began by explaining mosquito biology. Mosquitos breed in water bodies but not large bodies or running water such as rivers. The breeding is prevalent in summer months. It is the female mosquito that is out for the “blood” meal for the protein needed for its eggs. A mosquito bite is fraught with danger because in injecting its saliva into the vein, the body is then exposed to a variety of diseases.
Mr. Smith explained that mosquitos prefer standing water and are active at night.
The Mosquito Control Division focuses on surveillance and monitoring. The Division partners with the Health Department and other agencies to monitor and make plans in curbing the threat with mosquitos.
There being no further business, the Special Meeting was adjourned at 10:25 a.m.
John J. Jackson, Council Research Division (904) 630-1729
08.19.16
Posted: 4:00 p.m.