The Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee met on January 8, 2025, from approximately 10:15 AM to 12:10 PM (MST) to discuss several public safety items, including a new community survey tool for police, the 2024 Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team report, updates on the Community Assistance Program (CAP), and Phoenix Fire Department staffing and response times. Public comments raised concerns about homeless encampment policies and overall public safety. The subcommittee approved consent calendar minutes and set future agenda items.
City Council. Mr. Harris. Next, oh Elizabeth Fimble. Okay. So we like to go gather a lot of data. Um, and by data, I mean we talked to you know, perhaps hundreds of people, um, and up to thousands of people over many years uh about their experiences with law enforcement that are on the streets, and um, I found it very interesting. I talked to a few people that were um you know a service provider, a mental health service provider, and they told me about a city of Phoenix employee. They did not know the program, but they received a flyer that had the symbol for the city of Phoenix on it about having um belongings discarded. They did not receive this flyer until they demanded that flyer and proof, but everybody else's uh stuff was rounded up and thrown away, right? As per is not supposed to happen under the injunction fund for empowerment the city of Phoenix. However, the interesting part that I found was that that person who was representing the city of Phoenix told those individuals specifically to go on other people's private property and camp there because they said where are we supposed to go? They did not offer them shelter, they didn't offer them detox, nothing, nothing, nothing. They just said go on private property. Is this the kind of behavior this city of Phoenix is doing to um encourage people essentially forcing them to commit crimes because they can't be on public property and there are no access to services? You and I know these services are completely full because of demand. It is almost impossible to get in these services unless you are arrested, or are maybe going through detox, maybe, right? Or possibly entering into the SMI system, but it's very difficult to get in these services unless you're going through police departments, especially where they're not open campuses. Right? It's supposed to be all about private property, but you know, there is no place to go, and so this is what your staff are telling people. I just thought I'd make you aware of that, that you're essentially instructing people to commit crimes so that you guys don't pay out. Uh the next speaker is Orla Bobo. So it can no longer be referred to as a crisis. People's quality of life has changed. Don't have the resources they need to do their job and to do their job safely. Uh increased tax rate or outside city fire departments to lend aid. However, years of doing this has never solved the problem. The city of Phoenix is planning a $15 million project known as Shade Phoenix, which will plant trees and shade structures. However, they're not willing to put the money into protecting our citizens and first responders. The citizens of Phoenix would agree that public safety should be the number one focus of our mayor, city manager, and city council. The city's measurement of whether the public safety system is working properly is strictly response times. Which you are failing. Taxpaying citizens, their families and loved ones deserve better. First responders, both fire and police deserve better. How many more people have to die? How many more lawsuits will the city of Phoenix take to stand up for the community? All I've seen is complacency. I believe this is criminal negligence. And I think that the city of Phoenix needs a shift in its moral compass. It will be two years in February that I started advocating for my fellow citizens and first responders. I expect change, and I will not back down until our city and our people are taken care of. I want to know what immediate action will be taken and how the citizens can be included in this process. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Bobo. I misspoke earlier where I said we had four speakers. We actually only have three on um public comment, have another speaker for different items so we'll come to that at another time later on. So at this point, item number one is approval of the PSJ minutes from December 4th, 2024. Do I have a motion? Move to approve minutes.