Deputy Chief Eric Henderson.

Good morning, Mayor.

Commissioners, glad to have this opportunity to provide an update on police reform.

So just to remind everyone, kind of the process where it started.

So back in June of 2020, the city commission formed five committees that were led by co-chaired by a commissioner or mayor and also another community leader within our city that covered oversight, use of force, training, recruitment, and community engagement.

Through that process, we had over 100 community members that were involved.

We had over 100 meetings, and there was a lot of volunteer hours put in by a lot of folks and a lot of staff time by a lot of people outside of the police department throughout this organization put a lot of work into this.

And it resulted into 142 recommendations that came from the city commission to the city manager's office that was reviewed and approved for implementation.

So I'm happy to report our implementation progress.

So we're actually sitting at 94% of our recommendations have uh that the recommendations that were made have been approved.

Um there are four that are still in progress, and there's four that were found uh to be uh not working basically just because of this situation.

Um either it required uh a lot of cross coordination, not saying that they're all dead in water, but it's one of those things that it's it's really takes more than just the city of date to take the lead in.

Uh I think one of the major uh accomplishments uh of police reform, uh it was actually the first um item that was recommended uh was body worn cameras.

I'm happy to report we have over 400 uh body worn cameras out and deployed out in the field.

Um it also includes our parking enforcement aids now and also our arson unit who are sworn uh police officers that work under the fire department.

Um we also still maintain 120 in-car cameras um in our cruisers, and um, but I do want to highlight, I mean, we're spending a lot of money on this 871,000 directly um from the technology that's annual cost from the body worn cameras from the in-car cameras, and also just the personnel to redact videos.

So that doesn't include some of the additional support even expenses and also the time that it takes to review a lot of these things.

But we found obviously we knew it would that it's gonna be beneficial for the community, it's beneficial for our officers, it's beneficial for everyone involved because we get another uh set of eyes basically to see what occurred out on the scene.

Next, moving on to use of force.

So back in November of 2023, uh there was legislation that was updated uh concerning the use of force committee.

Um, that uh use of force committee meets twice a year.

We had a meeting back in April of this year, um, and they reviewed our 2024 annual force report that was recently released and published to our website at uh Daytonohio.gov on our uh police uh actually uh site.

Uh you can go to this report there.

Uh also the use of force policies were updated and implemented, um, and that work was completed in 2023 with a lot of input from the use of force committee, and we brung in um with the work with the law department and bring in some experts on this topic.

Uh so just to provide some stats just to show kind of some of the data that's reported out as far as use of force incidents and where those occur, uh, we break that down by uh race, gender, what actions were occurring that led to uh the force being used by our officers in those type of situations.

The escalation um in 2022, we finalized their training.

She trained everyone in the Dayton Police Department on it's called ICAT training.

Uh it's from the police executive research forum.

And I know you're gonna say, what does ICAT stand for?

So integration, the integrating uh communications and tactics.

It's basically when we respond to a scene, slowing things down if time allows.

If if the situation uh allows for that to occur, slowing things down, being able to take time to communicate, being able to stand behind cover.

So, like if we're able to stand around the corner from a suspect, if we're able to utilize a drone um to uh de-escalate the situation or at least provide intel to our officers.

We had a situation on windwork where an individual had a weapon in hand on a suicide uh type call, and we were able to deploy one of our drones and officer around the corner was able to uh basically observe and watch when the suspect put the weapon down, so then that we can start engaging that individual in a more safe manner.

Um, so um we're now uh tracking all of our de-escalation attempts and our use of force review.

Um, I think it's important to note it doesn't catch every time we de-escalate a situation, it's only capturing when we've tried to do it when a use of force has occurred.

I I can tell your officers, there's times we're encountering people with guns and we're de-escalating that situation to a point where we're able to peacefully resolve.

One such incidents just occurred earlier this week where uh the U.S.

Marshals uh Delphus looking for a uh individual wanted for aggravated murder uh the Cleveland area.

And when those officers uh were in the building, that suspect fired around at those officers, actually struck the concrete right in front of them.

They were able to back out, uh, they weren't they did not engage the suspect.

They backed out, called out our SWAT team, um, our hostage negotiations team and also Montgomery County Sheriff's Office FLAT team.

Uh we deployed a drone.

Uh, we reached out to Ohio State Highway Patrol for some of their assets, and we were able to slow the situation down.

The suspect even fired at the drone while it was in the hallway several times.

Uh the suspect was able to take the drone out by utilizing uh a sheet and some other tools, but uh but we had uh luckily we have backups in place because we have multiple drones for these situations, but uh luckily we were able to de-escalate that situation and talk that suspect out and resolved it.

And I could tell you it it was a tense situation where suspects firing rounds or officers are on scene, and uh, I think if you hear that story, you think you know, come to a conclusion how that may end.

And I you know, it I think it's gives me great pride that we're able to slow these situations down and come to a peaceful resolution.

Those are stories that unfortunately did not reach the news because I know we have a lot of mention yes, the legend can be avoided so well that Harley is aware of it.

So good luck.

Thank you.

So moving on to accreditation, um, there was a recommendation from the training committee uh about uh becoming accredited.

So I'm happy to report that in 2025, uh earlier this year in April, we awarded accreditation from Ohio Collaborative.

Uh we were one of the first 10 agencies in Ohio that was awarded uh actually accreditation from this organization.

Um Ohio Collaborative has been around uh for a number of years, but they just basically made suggestions, and we could submit some stuff to show our policies, but it wasn't as robust as the accreditation process.

So uh with this, there's 32 standards that we had to meet, including use of force, handling uh property evidence, pursuits, uh bias-free policing, uh, serving search warrants, and those things.

And uh we actually had on-site assessors that came in, reviewed our policies, looked at our training.

We have to provide proofs to show that we're doing what we're seeing in policy, and we're documenting that, and that process takes place every year.

So uh we're one of the first 10 agencies in Ohio, and um their goal is to have every agency in Ohio because uh the one thing I'd like to point out just in Montgomery County, there's 31 law enforcement agencies uh within Montgomery County.

So if we're changing our policies, if we're doing things a certain way, there's 30 other agencies within this county that could be doing something different.

Um, so I think Ohio Collaborative helps kind of make sure that everything, everyone's on the same kind of sheet of paper, um, so that we're all aligned of some of the high-risk type situations.

Um the police complaint process.

Um, this covered a number of recommendations about making sure that uh we have multiple ways for citizens to be able to file a complaint in 2023.

We acquired uh some software that ties into our administrative investigation investigation system.

Um, so on the left-hand side, you see the website for the Dayton Police Department's website that ties directly into our IAPRO system, which is the same system our professional standards bureau utilizes to take in all of our administrative investigations.

So uh that was a great accomplishment.

And then the Dayton Mediation Um Center's website in the middle has that same link that takes you to that, as well as uh uh human relations council um has that information also.

So community appeals board.

Uh that legislation was updated in 2023.

That legislation was updated in 2023.

They still continue to meet.

So I think it does give an opportunity for the citizens to be heard.

And there's been some changes, recommendations made from that process that have been implemented.

So I think it's always good to have another set of eyes on things.

And I think more importantly, make sure that citizens have a place to be heard.

Because at times we may be doing everything's right, but you know, perceptions reality.

If they feel like we did something wrong, it gives us another opportunity to explain ourselves.

I can tell you it doesn't always result in still a favorable outcome for the citizens, but I still think it's a great opportunity for them to be heard.

The independent accountability order, uh, there was actually a new group in place.

We used to just have one, um, it's still utilizing the same law firm firm, Ross Brown and Todd.

Uh so I can tell you Jasmine attends uh the community appeals board every time we have a meeting.

Um also provided an update to the Uh back on uh March 15th, and then there will be an update coming up in September that she will provide.

Uh they all three have been provided access to our IA Pro.

They have basically access directly into the database.

So they're able to go in and see what I'm able to see and what our professional standards build uh able to see.

So they have open access um and they're going through and auditing certain things and making sure that we're in compliance with our policies and procedures.

Um so as I said, that update will take place here soon.

The mediation response unit uh that started up back in uh May of 2022 with a soft rollout, and then it fully stood up.

Um, I think it's great news that they're fully staffed.

It's the first time they've been fully staffed.

Uh they have eight uh personnel, they have a coordinator, a supervisor, and six uh field responders.

Uh their work hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.

to 8 p.m.

Um, and some of the top calls they respond to are neighbor troubles, disorderly uh uh calls and peace officer check welfare and juvenile calls.

So they they only they don't only respond to calls that come in through our dispatch center, they get some calls direct.

So it's kind of hard to kind of track all the calls, but uh talking to Al Zaremba, so approximately 7,000 calls uh since May 2022 they've handled the MRU has handled.

Um, and I can tell you it's probably likely more than that because I'm sure they're not taking credit for everything we talking about.

I think the the biggest thing is is that our officers call for them, you know, to respond for stuff that they feel that they would be able to provide, you know, spend more time, provide a different service or better service dealing with that situation than our officers who have to respond to you know our emergency life or death situations.

So I think that that definitely shows that this process worked.

One of the recommendations from the community engagement group uh was having some type of orientation for our Dayton Police Academy recruits.

A lot of uh the folks we hire are coming from our uh region, uh not just from the city.

Um, so I think it's important that uh we make sure that all our recruits understand our community, understand um the different cultures and unique uh uniqueness of our uh of the city of Dayton.

So the humor HRC has held five of these uh community orientation days.

Um, usually they're held at uh the library downtown where they bring in folks from the different communities to talk to uh our officers and share data, share you know um how you know the interactions, how the community members could perceive things during certain interactions and basically just how the just have a better understanding of uh what transpires in our community.

Uh and then I think more importantly, the fire department has uh they've had separate events um and they've also combined with our Dayton Police Academy for some of these events.

So I think it's a good opportunity because a lot of times police and fire are working hand in hand.

So it's actually, I like it when they're in a room together because you know they're meeting, you know, kind of, you know, while they're going through the same process of trying to become full-time um firefighters and police officers.

So I think it's a great opportunity for that cross collaboration too.

Um recruiting.

Um, one of the recommendations is a full-time um recruiting unit.

Um, since 2020, we've had a full-time recruiter in place.

Um civil service has worked uh to extend and reopen application periods.

Uh, we've had some attrition that we've had to deal with.

I think one year alone, I think one year we had 39 folks leave our department, the following year we had 50.

So trying to make sure that we stay at an average of 365 officers at times that that's been a challenge.

But civil service has worked with us hand in hand um and has really uh I have to give kudos to uh uh obviously Ken Thomas and uh David Lawrence, but also uh Diane Perkins, who's our analyst that handled this.

I mean, she goes above and beyond uh working with us, coming in on the weekends um and helping go on the PT test, coming in, giving the uh proctoring the exams uh on different dates uh multiple times, and that was a drastic change from years prior.

It used to be you signed up, the test was this day, show up.

If you don't show up, sorry about your luck.

Um, but they really work to make sure that we try to get candidates through the and then same with the uh PT exam, the physical fitness exam, which is a state requirement.

Uh we uh they now give a second opportunity for for uh if someone comes in and fills a component of that to actually come back the following week and retake um that exam again to give them a second chance.

Uh so uh I think it shows that that we're trying to make sure that we're trying to get folks um on our agency, and not only that, that we're willing to give them a second shot if they need it.

Um you can see uh top right hand corner is Tony Murphy.

He's our full-time police recruiter that has been assigned.

Um really, I think I think he took over for Sally Jones sometime in 2020, 2021.

And then uh you'd see uh the the bottom right cruiser, that's uh cruiser he gets to drive around.

He kind of we posted that on Instagram.

Uh there was a lot of positive comments and some negative, but more positive.

Uh, I think the young generation really likes it.

So that's who we're that's who we're going after.

Talking to each other.

And then we added a second recruiter last year.

Um, this was actually something that the city manager uh Shelly Dixtean came to us um uh about was the 30 by 30 initiative, and uh what it is is really to improve to increase the representative uh women in law enforcement, uh, specific specifically um on our department, and it's trying to reach a goal goal of 30 percent, uh, the department being 30 percent women by 2030.

Um, I know that's a stretch goal, but at the same time, it's great to have uh uh Casey Cantrell is that uh full-time recruiter, uh, but it's more than just recruiting because it's also dealing with internal culture and making sure that we're taking a look at our policies, procedures, uh, opportunities for promotion.

Um I can tell you we've met uh city manager chief, myself, uh sat down and met with a group of the group that the committee and actually worked on some ideas that make sure that we're breaking down barriers that that uh may be a barrier for a women or for a female who wants to promote within the organization or evencome um incident agency.

And then I'll highlight uh Lita Savage up on the top left-hand corner.

She's our uh she basically is a full-time teacher at uh Dayton Park School at Ponit's.

So she teaches criminal justice classes, so she does a great job.

Um it's it's important.

I mean, I she came from, I think she she was a teacher or worked in the daycare before she became a police officer.

So it was great that she's able to utilize some of those some of those skills she had before and tie it into our law enforcement uh experience and really relate to the students.

And then Officer Christine Hamilton down in the bottom left-hand corner.

You'll see her at multiple community events throughout the community.

She does a job, and our they both represent our agency well.

So involved with a lot of choices issues with the big book schools when I was there.

Yeah.

I want to report out on some of the statistics, uh, some of our diversity of our recruit classes.

We have seen uh pretty consistent increases.

Now, for minority, we're including female, basically anyone uh and none non-white males, basically, because um there's a lot of underrepresentation throughout throughout uh those areas.

So uh we've seen um increases um in our uh academy uh class size as well as the diversity uh within those classes.

Um at the same time, I do we started a lateral class process again in collaboration with civil service and HR human resources.

Uh I can tell you we've we have five individuals from that.

They're they're doing great great job, but it's it's not been a game changer for us.

It is great that we're able to do an interview and select folks that went through St.

Clair's Police Academy or another police academy that are certified officers or are or officers with other agencies.

But we're just not seeing a lot of folks that are coming through that avenue.

So our we're still focused on our open police recruitment where we just take anyone and train them up as long as that they have bit more uh more quick character, you know, clean background and that are coachable and train them to to become a great uh point that out.

And then we're also starting to see where we're having more candidates than we have position available, and that has not happened for a number of years.

So the 117th class, uh, that was actually actually budgeted for 32.

And we had more candidates, and and we went back and said, hey, can we add some?

And uh fortunately enough, you know, the budget and city manager's office allowed us to do that.

So uh we were able to go up to 35, which is our large largest class in um probably 20 plus years.

So that actually was in our academy.

And then um we we were at 30, we started with 32 in the class that is in now.

Unfortunately, we're down to 25.

Um, we are finding attrition is a little bit higher than it used to be in our academy class.

Some people, I mean, they don't know what they want to do, and when they come in, they they decide, hey, this is not for me.

You know, I don't feel like I would be successful at this, and they separate from but at the same time, we do we've gone in and done an inspection and audit.

Yeah, a full-time lieutenant that does that, uh, came in, did it did an audit, looked at the different academies throughout the state, um, uh, looked at best practices for running police academies and make recommendations.

Some of those things will work in the implement because again, we have generational changes.

We can't continue to do the same thing we did 25 years ago.

I think we're going to still be successful.

We have to adapt to the new generation.

That's what we're trying to do.

And this just uh highlights the diversity of the top line is going to be all minorities.

Again, that's females and non-white.

So uh we're uh definitely starting to see an increase, like I mentioned.

Um, and then female, we're a little uh looks like around 16, 17 percent.

So um, so we're uh there, and then for uh black uh officers, uh we did see a uh decline.

Um I can tell you some of that happened because when we had the deferred retirement option program, um that started in 2003.

From 2003 to 2012, um we had a number of challenges with our hiring process, but also uh budget and everything else.

We only had three classes during the eight-year period.

So uh some of those things, you know, it just we have folks, there was a large uh hiring um increase within the data since part 1970s, 1980s, and even in the early 90s.

So we've seen some decline there, but we're starting to see that trend back up.

Um, so um, which is positive news.

And then um we have four uh that uh recommendations that are still in progress.

Uh so complaints incorporated into our annual performance metrics, and quite frankly, this is just something that slipped off the rail.

So uh when we went back and looked through everything, um, wanted to make sure so this is the easy fix.

So starting uh next year, we're gonna start tracking this as part of our manage uh management performance metrics and make sure that this gets reported out.

Uh and we track it quarterly, uh, we report that to management budget.

The city manager's office reviews that it's reviewed as part of the the budget process, and our goal will be 90% of the complaints resolved within three months, and a lot of that's tied to our labor agreement because we have uh contractual time limits for issuing discipline and things like that.

And the reason why it's 90% because there's some that just requires more time.

It's if it's a professional standard material investigation that's delayed and things like that.

So uh, and I can tell you we're we're basically we're I think I I looked at the first half of this year, I think we're at 89%.

Um last year, I think we were at 90%.

So we're meeting basically that standard.

And then the cadet program, uh, that's a work in progress.

There's been some challenges uh with that, uh, but we're in constant communication with Montgomery County.

Um, it's called the Work Innovation Opportunity Act, it's still connected to youth works, uh, but it's a different funding source.

There's been a job description created with the city through uh with HR and civil service uh collaboration, and then uh the state is working to review a certain certificate program uh through St.

And then uh the state is working to review a certain uh certificate program uh through St.

Clair because the goal is to move 18 to 20 year olds through full-time employment, hopefully with our department.

Um, but uh at the same time, we want to improve these individuals' lives.

So if there's any way that I think the city has an organization and date police department and can play a role and you know, change an outlook, you know, and someone's uh career path.

And I think that's a benefit to all of us.

And then uh the hiring interview panel.

So civil service has worked on this, and uh we re-established neighborhood campus for all police recruits um in 2025, and then we're looking to establish the interview process in 2026.

And then the traffic stop analysis, uh so we've reached out to the high consortium of crime science.

Um, they basically do the research.

Uh they were the ones that actually did uh do that, uh, did the research on the high cat training that we brought in to show that it works.

So we've been in contact with a researcher from the University of Cincinnati working on the plan.

I can tell you the the biggest challenge there is gonna be the denominator.

Because what are we trying to what are we trying to look at?

Because when you look at our violent crime in our city, um homicides, 80 to 90 percent of our homicide victims are black in our city.

And unfortunately, um a lot of times, you know, crime, especially violent crime, it's people that you know.

So it it's either you know a close friend or or someone or acquaintance or something that there's some type of uh conflict that results unfortunately in some of these violent crimes.

So when we're working in these areas, you know, if it's we can't just base it off the census track.

So if if you look at our data and says, well, the officers have stopped 80% or 70% of this, but our communities only X percent of that, it's disparate treatment.

And it that's just not accurate.

You have to look at who's who's driving in the community, um, who's involved in different incidents in the community, uh, victims, arrest, everything.

And the the data is the biggest challenge.

And then what are we trying to answer?

Um and and I could tell you that I don't I think if if we don't do this right, it could do more harm than so.

I know I've had a conversation with uh the city manager about it.

Um there was actually just some research that um I I plan to share with her that you know where this is this comes up, it's it's one of those things that's hard to answer.

So um I think we have to take a hard look at that.

Um, with that, uh, I will stop for any questions you may have.

Okay, yeah.

I know um Joseph has to leave here.

Sure, they just wanted to hit up first questions.

Thank you, Mayor.

Do appreciate that thank you, commissioners.

Uh, I just have one actually, and that was uh personal thank you.

This is a heavy lift all these years, around five years into this.

Uh this is awesome.

This is pretty much the division did.

I know those of us have chaired committees.

I would really appreciate the hard work that's going into this.

Um, my my one comment is about one of them that was mine, uh, the committee that uh Brandon and I, your Barry McLean and I chaired over site.

Um, and looking at the independent accountability auditors slide, and uh I think this three percent is the right step.

There's an improvement already.

I'm looking forward to the September report.

The one thing I do want to comment on is the fourth board.

Uh pins community appeals board coming.

The slide 10.

Right there.

So the fourth board.

Uh one of the goals of having an independent accountability auditors for us to have fewer community appeals boards hearings.

So uh I think the only reason that the they should be attending CAB meetings is to sort of be able to avoid those in the future to figure out what kind of cases, what kind of circumstance, what things happened, uh, because we want fewer of those in the future.

We're glad to have more complaints.

Uh, we want to make it easier for people to do it.

That's why we're glad to have more complaints in the short term.

But in the long term, we want fewer complaints, fewer problems, fewer things happening, and fewer things getting cap.

So I'd I want to make sure that it's on the record that the IAA should not be CAB focused, except to use that an example of things that went wrong, things that they can hopefully help to avoid up front before they say.

So I just want to make that point.

I appreciate it.

Yeah, and I I would also add the data mediation center, you know, they have a full-time person dedicated to this.

And I think that person on Janet Mueller helps a lot.

Guide, I'm sure I think at times she gets phone calls, and she's probably able to resolve.

She works closely with uh Lieutenant Steve Bower, who's a professor of standards bureau lieutenant, just to resolve things probably up front too.

So it's great to hear.

I can't tell you how great that is to hear.

That's perfect, is what we hope for her.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mayor.

I thank you for doing the presentation.

Just a couple questions.

I know I came in on the tell end, but I am going to review, and then I'll shift over my questions if I have any to Ms.

Diggs team.

Um you mentioned first, let me just say thank you for your leadership and providing uh the report.

And I really appreciate you speaking to the traffic stop analysis.

Thank you for highlighting the point of data is in fact a challenge, and we have to be very mindful and empathetic about how we utilize that data and whether it's serving more of a in the positive and good versus in you know being harmful.

So I just wanted to thank you for um making that point and just uplift that point because you're absolutely right in terms of where we are, the disparities um go along with that.

So you mentioned with the cadet program that there are some challenges at a high level.

Can you speak to some of the how the challenges that you're seeing?

Is this something that we can assist with?

Well, uh, what are you seeing in terms of the cadet program with the challenges?

Yeah, I think the biggest thing is just trying to make sure that we have because it's all based on um, you know, there's a standard in place, you know, it has to be within a certain uh pre-level, making sure that we have a position for uh these individuals.

So it's working through with hand in hand with Montgomery County.

I can tell you it's just it's just a matter of timing.

There's a lot going on.

Um so I think we're making progress.

Uh actually uh Major Paul Saunders has transitioned over to community service division.

Okay.

He's taking the lead on this now.

So and then we have a the individual that's in place who used to be one of our community engagement officers, who's now a professional staff supervisor who's also involved in this.

So I think it's just working through it.

We're kind of at a standstill.

So uh with the state to review the certification process because part of the goal is to make sure that they become informed full-time.

So if if we have to be able to show that we're just not hiring them just to hire them, there has to be an end goal.

So I think just working through some of that just takes some time.

Thank you.

And then the last uh point or question that I have on slide 15, 117 and the increase class size.

Are we passed the days of like seeing one of that goals behind um our police officers in terms of like at one point there were this trend where people were actually leaving the field itself?

Are we do you believe that we're past that that stage and we're starting to see an uptake?

I know you mentioned that we're seeing an uptake, but do you believe that that whole phase of you know, like the um this interest, if you will, in the field itself is away, and there are more people who are now being coming to growing the release communities across the account.

I do.

I think it's definitely um, you know, it's it was a challenge for a number of years, you know.

Um, just because officers, I mean, it's a difficult job, and it's one of those things that um what they're doing day in and day out, they have to feel supported.

They have to feel supported by you know us as leaders, um, uh community.

Um, so at times when folks don't feel that um they lose interest in doing something that's a very dangerous job.

So I can tell you we with the year we have 50 people leave, half of those people left, and some of those went to other agencies, some of them went to careers outside of law enforcement, right?

So, but we have not seen that type of attrition really concerned.

So I think we're starting to turn the corner.

Um, I know there's other agencies you read about, you know, like Columbus and things like that that have had challenges with staffing.

I mean, they offered um they offered this also, and and Columbus is uh very well paid.

Um, so it's not about pay all the time, it's about um it's about filling support and everything else.

So I think that's important.

Um thank you very much.

And Ms.

Dixon, I just I really would like to thank you for the 3530 initiative.

I think that's that's great.

I'm glad to hear the explanation because I was looking when I received it.

So that's great.

Thank you very much for pushing that forward.

Thank you.

Thank you for the reports.

Umgratulations on the accreditation.

The training uh part of that step.

So uh thank you for being uh accomplishing that part of the department.

But we know that other departments around here will feel that the standards have been raised.

And so there's great please uh public sympathy for the whole region.

So thank you.

If I could add a comment to that, actually, our general counsel, uh, Andy Sexton is actually part of maybe that needs to go through to what standards that they're gonna implement next.

So it's great having uh, you know, someone that was a 20-year prosecutor who now is assigned to our department full-time part of this process and understands kind of you know, he comes to all our command staff meetings and everything.

So he gives a unique perspective to them also when uh developing standards.

So it's good to have that level of involvement uh throughout the state.

Thank you.

Um thank you for including the four that are in process.

Could we get a list of the four that were impossible?

Um it'd be helpful just to pull those out and be able to look at what those were.

So I can tell you one of those was the recommendation for not interviewing juveniles um basically at all.

And I can tell you if that was implemented now with the level of crime that we've seen with rain theft autos and things like that.

That would I mean that would be a detrimental impact on our community.

So I mean, I can tell you that's one of the the ones that just was not feasible.

Um, but uh there was one uh dealing with uh uh basically diversion for youth.

Uh what we found when we were looking at that is Montgomery County has a lot of programs through their juvenile justice center already um in place, and if we were going to change that, that would have to be a county wide uh type process.

I can tell you when you look at what we're doing with home, trying to make sure that we're I mean, so we're we're working on some of these things maybe, but it's not necessarily in that box that was that was set uh set up there.

But I think there's a number of things that that we're working on that's kind of in line, but we can share that.

Great, I'd appreciate that.

And that's also on the transparency website too.

Sure.

So you can actually click on it.

Uh community, uh, if you go, it's actually under the city commission um on a place or forum implementation tracker.

And so any community member can go look at any time and see those things also.

Um of the ones that's in process is that uh report uh big stops, and that came out of my work.

I'd be glad to hear the concerns and the report you just reviewed.

Um, be glad to talk with you about you know what the goal of that was and um and how we make that um meet, you know, the the goals of the recommendation, you know, because as you remember it was citizens and police who are on that on those working groups, and together we came to that recommendation, and I think all of ours came out unanimous, and um and so there's a goal to help the community understand um that our police are are enforcing laws fairly.

I think I'm trying to remember the conversation, but I think that was the goal, and we didn't know if we could say that or not.

And the hope of the report was to either demonstrate that we are or not, and if we if we're not what steps we need to take to make sure we are enforcing fairly.

Yeah, and I could tell you one of the things we do.

So we do actually uh random audits of traffic stops every month.

Um, and they're they're assigned to two individuals that are contractors who do our video redaction.

So they're reviewing a lot of body camera, and um they're actually they're retirees from a department that that served in our professional standards bureau for you know, I for a number of years.

So uh we have a lot of confidence.

I mean, if there's issues that they observe, you know, those they can come to us and we'll address those and they're documented.

So there are things we review 30 other uh tight ends, and it's we uh we have our business analyst who runs a list randomly and pulls this information, so we don't have people randomly selecting whether or not you know to look at something, and then he and he pulls 15 calls for service a month, 15 subject stops, so like FICs and 15 traffic stops, and those are reviewed every month to make sure because first off, if it's cost for service, if it's a call they should have activated the body camera, was it activated?

Because if we can't find body camera video, that's a problem.

Um, so we're making sure that people are utilizing these things, and then also how they responded.

And a lot of times we're just seeing small training things, you know, uh that we're finding reminders.

Uh our folks, the majority of our folks are out there trying to do a good job every day.

You know, they they have the right, you know, uh goal in mind, they want to make sure, and that's that's so at times we're we're wanting to make sure that we're providing the training and guidance to make them as successful as possible.

So that's something we are doing, but I think that's important to highlight.

You know, um, having done riot longs, our officers really don't have a the time I've been on riot longs, they really don't have a lot of discretion to do self-initiated calls.

I mean, the majority of I mean they're responding to the ward, right?

Calls for service, and so there's not to be and I think I remember the intent of that recommendation.

It was in those times where the officers have discretion, which I would imagine is quite few.

Um maybe it's different during the daytime, but you know, in the evening written along, they're not doing self-initiated calls.

Um it's to make sure that they're using um that they have the right probable cause as they make those stops.

So my experience is they only those are a small percentage of all the calls that they respond to.

Yeah, it really fluctuates.

I mean, it depends on the day, week time of day, um, the officer at times, uh, depending on what's going on in their beat or um, but yeah, at times we don't have time, and at times we do, and then when we're doing some direct patrol to address our amount of crime, you know, those are times where things some of these things are.

Ums one is that um need to go back and look at the recommendation around de-escalation.

I think one of the things was the hope that we would capture when de-escalation is used, not even in times of um use force, and that may not be practical, but you know, to your point, it'd be helpful to understand how often our officers are de-escalating things that never you know never get into that uh the stream of use support.

So yeah, I I think the one thing I would say to that is I think when we look at our uses of forces a year, I think it's 0.12 percent of our contacts that we our officers have, you know, our officers respond to 140,000 calls for service, either and that includes some self-initiated, most of those are citizen generated, and then that doesn't include just regular conversation on the street.

Um, and then even when we look at when we have someone resisting arrest, there's only a fraction of time we're actually utilizing what meets physical force um in those situations.

If we're just wrestling with someone to get cuffs on, there's no punches thrown, there's no injuries to the individual, you know.

So there's that so and I that's why I say it would be hard to really um because every time I mean I've been when I was on the street a long, long, long time ago, many many years ago.

Um there's times where you're in a domestic violence situation where someone's tensing up and and you calm them down.

It's just it how do you I mean it's so much?

I think it's hard to capture.

Um and that's why I think it's important uh the the make sure when force was used that what did we try to do to not use force in those situations?

I think that's the metric.

And then last, can you remind us where we are in the uh current current recruiting period as far as like for the next class?

So uh right now they just did the PT exam.

I think it was about three weeks ago, so they're going through the process.

There's a class of 32 that starts in November.

So uh civil service is going through that process now to uh try to get to that 32 number for the November class, and then there is I don't want to you know put the cart before the horse, but uh we're looking at our numbers, what it would take to have that average of 365.

So the way it looks now, you know, in conversations, I don't I'm not committing to anything, um, but probably 32 in the May class, and then the November class would probably be a smaller class.

We were starting to finally get where we're getting north of that that 365.

So commissioner, our recruiting is year-round now with the two with the two full-time folks, they are recruiting individuals year-round to take our tests and get into the queue.

And the plan is to still have two classes a year, even when you know, as long as we have attrition, 18 to 20 has been our attrition every year, you know.

But and then we saw those anomalies.

So there's we have to do some type of hiring every year.

So, how do we do that?

Where we don't want to keep people waiting a year to get smaller.

How do we still continue to do two classes?

They just may be a lot smaller, but uh, I think it helps our folks stay sharp with training and everything else.

Because again, we went eight years with only three classes, and we lost a lot of institutional knowledge during that period.

Shop as it makes sense, but it's um hard to believe it's been five years.

Um I was glad both of my questions were answered already.

So I was saying I was really glad to hear about the media super sponsoring and that it's working very well, and that uh your officers are actually reaching out and gazing them.

Um that's that's really good to hear.

One question, one question that I do have is uh how's the homegrown girls program working?

Um I can tell you that's been a challenge for us.

Um we've had it's been a while since we've had any anyone come through that that process.

So that has been a challenge.

I know fire department has had more success.

That's something we can take a look at.

Um, but uh again, we've seen the decrease in interest in you know, at times in law enforcement, but that's something we can take a look at to see how we can make sure we're engaged in that.

I kind of figured that was gonna happen.

It's the law of the medicine returns, right?

I mean, the folks that were interested in it probably went into the program immediately.

Um I get that.

Well, that's really all I had.

Thank you.

But that you know what, Commissioner, that that could be helpful with the cadet program.

That could be helpful.

I mean, so there's opportunities there because that's a thing we're working on.

If we can get them on our department as a cadet, when they take the exam for a police, then they're actually coming through that they're gonna be placed at the top right now.

They passed the exam, so it's gonna be helpful there.

Thanks a lot.

The um issue in terms of de-escalation.

Uh yeah, like the conversation we had about that.

And I don't know, we talked about that in the committee.

One of the things we talked about was creating culture.

And as you create the culture for de-escalation, it actually increases the escalation to the point where you prevent a lot of situation, as you mentioned before, where folks are functioning in the right venue, if you will, and they don't have the challenges.

The challenges have been minimized because of the type of training that individuals have received.

So, especially when you start looking at use of force, if there are more and more individuals, both on the forest and some of the individuals, they are not as prone to being engaged in resistant type of activity that will cause the record to reflect that there's some de-escalation that took place.

It just took place on a natural basis.

And I think that was one of the things you were mentioning early, as you talked about it's some somewhat difficult to um every situation where there was some de-escalation activity that took place.

Um the um the forms that we had uh in the community, uh longitudinally being made aware, just on your rights forms, for example.

Um give me some update.

Yeah, so uh HRC has had several of those this year, so we work with them, but then there's been others um that have occurred at other locations like at Wright State and things like that.

So that's something that's still something that we participate in when those are planned.

Um, but it's uh working a hand in hand with HRC, and because they also bring in an attorney, so we have a law enforcement officer and an attorney there also that's helping facilitate uh have that those conversations.

So that those are still occurring.

Yeah, that's why I asked because I really wanted you to do highlight that because those are some of the concerns that we had to the how you also um highlight the escalation, if you will.

So individuals again uh in the community are made more and more aware of their wife with the rights of the um uh police officer maybe as you go through the process when you stop when you have to do what you don't have to do when we should you do all those type of situations.

I know we did those programs in some of the schools as well.

We did with the men of color females color program, and that helped a lot with especially the core of young people who are leaders in the respective groups, and when they see them responding on a positive way, uh was not feeling like they're intimidated, but feeling that the function in the proper way it minimizes some of the type of conflicts going down the road.

I think that was um it because my colleagues asked a lot of the other questions.

I am just um still excited.

I'm still uh excited about the fact that we've just using or winning the um uh another Hall of Fame award recognition for the work that was done by all the citizens who are involved in this process going back to the top within more than 100 citizens who were involved in in this whole process for the um the recap, if you will.

Uh that is more good information that I think should be shared in terms of where we are, especially getting the update that we have in terms of what happened relative to those situations.

And look at 100 four recommendations, and that's probably what's the percentage of those that we or 142.

Yeah, so 134 have been implemented.

That's major.

That's major.

If I could just add real quick, too, that's through other challenges we're dealing with, with some of our crime challenges we're dealing with, what some of our you know, uh things in NATO and things like that.

So, I mean, there's a lot going on in our communities that we're all dealing with.

So I I think it is a testament to all the community members that participated, all of our officers that participated, and all the work that has been done in making sure that we're keeping our eye on this.

Just let your officers know that we are excited and appreciate the working.

Okay.

That's all we have, Mayor.