Okay, um hi everyone.

Um we're gonna get this meeting started.

Uh what is about 6:30 now.

Um the public safety and health committee meeting.

Uh we have one item on our agenda.

Um Christina, could you do a roll call of all the participants in the public safety meeting tonight?

Okay.

Hey, Vice Chair Adams.

President Representative Blank.

Present.

Um said Chair Busard will not be um attending.

Representative Didalo.

He's gonna join later.

Okay.

Present.

Representative Field Present.

Representative Gilbride.

I do not see her on yet.

Representative Graham.

I don't see her either yet.

Representative Morrison.

Either.

And Representative Walston.

Present.

And we also have with us Lou De Rubes and Chief Shaw.

Hello.

Okay.

Um I guess we would like to get a motion to take up item PS32.006, which is a review item.

Uh overview of Stanford Police Department.

Um I guess speaker would be Tim Shaw and Lou DeRupas.

Um, can I get a motion to take this item up?

So moved.

Good.

All right.

So we can take this item up.

Um Teve Shaw, I don't know.

Um Chief Shaw, I don't know if you want to uh go run with it or uh Lou DeRupus, either one.

Uh if unless uh Director Drubus has something to say.

No, Chief.

Uh I think uh they want to hear you tonight.

They've heard me several times, and if anything pops up that uh I think is falling through the cracks, I'll I'll chime in.

But I know you're more than competent.

So we'll figure it out.

Um Representative Adams, I did send a PowerPoint in, and I don't know if someone has access to that.

Uh who's on the call, and if not, I can just go through it and I can send you the PowerPoint afterwards.

Um Christina, do you have the PowerPoint that you can um pull up?

Um give me one second to double check, because as of the beginning of this meeting, I did not have it, but let me just uh I sent it to Barber yesterday.

Um that was what I was told to do, but if not, like I said, I could talk, I could talk myself through it.

It's not not a it's not a fancy PowerPoint by any stretch of the imagination.

Okay, um if you can please start with your presentation, and if I will pull it up for you.

No problem.

So um, first of all, thank you uh for giving me the opportunity to spend a few minutes with you and and give you an overview of the police department.

Before I go into the PD, I just for those who don't know me.

Um I've been with the police department since 1988.

Uh I came on as a patrolman, worked through the ranks.

I left uh Stanford as an assistant chief in 2015, and then I came back in 2020 as the chief.

So uh I'm in my seventh year as the chief of police here in Stanford, uh starting in April of 2020.

Um a lot has has happened since 2020 in policing.

And I think our department has uh has really kind of took the lead in a lot of initiatives uh with the community and uh within uh technology and things of that nature, which I'll touch as we go forward.

Um the most recent uh topic that I can talk about is personnel.

So for those that don't know, for about 20 years, we had a budgeted number of 292 officers in the last year.

Uh we made a an attempt to add uh 13.

I'm sorry, 287.

Uh we started with 287 for the last 20 years, and we tried to get 13 to up our number to 300 and kind of be very close to some of the other big bigger cities with larger populations, as you know ours has increased as well.

When it was all said and done the the Board of Finance authorized five additional of the 13.

The public safety director, the mayor, we we pushed it as hard as we could.

We explained the need and they did give us five.

So we're we we moved our budget from 287 to 292 and that's where we currently stand.

There are 16 recruits in in the academies that are throughout the uh the state we have our own regional academy which we did uh we started three years ago so this uh this helps us because we have our own officers that instruct our own recruits it is a regional asset so for example we have uh currently eight recruits in our third regional academy which is housed in in the Stanford police department building and then we have 11 from outside agencies um from around Fairfield County.

So that started in April that'll go six months uh it's it's been a a good a game changer for us and as far as recruitment because uh when we first started in 2021 it was very difficult um this profession was not something highly recruited people wanting to have this job but uh over time you know in the last couple years uh thankfully we have uh more applicants than openings so you know we do a thorough vetting process and and it's a positive for us so the eight that are in the academy now bring us up to our our uh full staffing level of 292 when they get out of the academy of those five that I just spoke about I did want to add that uh there's a 7500 grant we received to assist in the first three years of their salary so one thing we do do in the police department we are hunting for different grants and I know a lot of different groups uh within the city share the grants with us because we do we have a lot of community outreach and we can touch on that if it comes up within the police department you know obviously we have a patrol division or special units and we'll go over some of the resources that we have we also have task force officers just so you're aware we have someone in homeland security and for a city our size with with the amount of business in town we think it's a uh an absolutely tremendous asset for us we also have task force officers in the DEA and uh some part-time officers in financial crimes and uh crimes against children that work with the federal agencies so that besides the regular what you'll see in patrol and what our detective bureau does we also have a lot of uh our our our hands are in a lot of other things which we think really protects the city in a good way some of the continued resources that we have and we've had for a a bit of time we have our special response team and that's a a 20 20 officer group of um your SWAT team when you see the bear cat and when you hear about search warrants and things like that that's the uh that's the SRT team now they're not a standalone team they're individuals that are that are spread out throughout the department they have other roles primary roles but they do come together uh when when they're needed and uh for those who remember there's the call on Oklahoma Avenue with the with the shooting and uh that was where they played a major role in that to give you an example we have a bomb squad um that's near and dear to Director Droubas's heart because he commanded that for many years in his previous life uh in the police department it has uh it is an asset to the entire Fairfield County region because it's an asset to the region we do get a lot of federal funding to assist us with purchasing things whether it's X-ray uh trucks and robots and the equipment so that does that helps us because that regional asset uh and they go out on on many things they'll do a lot of sweeps when there's any kind of uh um high priority citizens coming in or anyone from uh residents and things of that nature they'll sweep the area before all of our events they'll sweep the the cove area for the uh before the fireworks or the walkway uh where the balloon parade is so and they go out on many calls um outside of Stanford too we have a hostage negotiation team again this is an asset that helps us uh and I will say it's it's the it's been an increase in calls to service for them because there's been uh an increase in mental health calls in Stanford um so it we we do have a different approach with this team so it's it's they have a lot of knowledge to talk people down and talk people out of their houses we're gonna have an uh when they're in a tough mental situation so it's it's it's proven very very worthy we have a canine squad it's uh it's eight dogs five are in patrol three are bomb dogs again another another uh large piece of uh an extra asset for this department that that helps us on a day-to-day basis for many different kind of calls uh and then some of the other things that we do that I think uh assist the city that people may or may not know about is that you know we have a a crime stopper program which gives people uh a payment for tips on illegal handguns uh that has proved very worthy for us and I would say that uh one of the main one of the main driving points of some of our violent crime being down is when those tips come in there usually it's a gun that's attached to a person who's been involved in shootings before so I mean if if we uh the payments are given and and those people are taken off the street with those weapons uh our shootings have dropped tremendously in the last five years and so is our homicides so I think that plays an important role I just want to make mention of that uh most people know the amount of come we do a lot of community outreach in this town in the city

And I would say that uh one of the main one of the main driving points of some of our violent crime being down is when those tips come in, they're usually it's a gun that's attached to a person who's been involved in shootings before.

So I mean if if we uh the payments are given and those people are taken off the street with those weapons, uh our shootings have dropped tremendously in the last five years, and so is our homicides.

So I think that plays an important role.

I just want to make mention of that.

Uh most people know the amount of we do a lot of community outreach in this town in the city.

Um we work with the schools, we work with all other stakeholders uh within the uh the mayor's office and all the other outside agencies.

So you'll see us doing touch a truck uh down in Vets Park or over at the one of the one of the beaches uh at the schools, we'll give rides to the kids.

So if you follow our social media, you'll see that on a weekly beast on a weekly basis, some of the community outreach we do.

Uh I mentioned that was the can some of the continued resources that we have.

I'm gonna pause for a moment.

There you go.

If we could move on to uh we touched that one, that one, and now we're on this one.

So I I I talked, I touched on the continued resources that we have, and these are some of the newer resources I would say in the last couple years.

We have a beaver behavioral health unit, and we were the first in the state to add private social workers to our team.

They're in our building.

Um there's there's two between two and three every day.

And what they do is they follow up on, like I said, the increase in some of the mental health calls that we've had.

And uh due to that, we again I mentioned grant money.

We did receive another half million plus because of this initiative, and it's another collaboration with both the Board of Ed, uh, Domus and uh some other some other agencies.

We also work with EMS and Fire uh in a in a in a way to respond in a new approach to these mental health calls.

And uh for a moment, I could just give you a quick example of prior to this initiative.

If uh if there was a a call of uh a child or you know, a teenager is going through something, our policy would say a sergeant and two officers would go with an ambulance.

We realize that that could be traumatic for somebody, um seeing three police cars in their driveway if it's the first time they've ever been in this kind of a situation.

So we teamed up with EMS and I give them a lot of credit for going along with this initiative a few years back.

So what we do is the dispatchers play a major role in kind of uh vetting out the call.

And if the call is something of a nature that's not has no violence to it or no previous history, we let EMS go by themselves and we'll stage around the block.

So if something does happen, we're there for them.

And that's I think that's up to about a 30% reduction in us responding to those type of calls.

And uh EMS thinks it's it's it's proven worthy.

Um it's an initiative that came from some of the people in the department.

I don't take credit for it, but I take credit for having a team that has some really good innovative ideas.

We also have an opiate response team, and they they work with some of the people that are uh in a lib house and other agencies, and what they do is they respond um not necessarily an over an overdose deaf, but uh someone who overdoses and and makes it through through a Narchian or or whatever, what have you, and they'll meet the family at the hospital and they'll follow up the family and give them resources and try to give them options, try to find them a bed if it's possible.

Uh again, another worthy cause, especially with the uh the epidemic uh as it is.

This next one is something that uh that we started a few years, probably about two years ago, but now it's really blown up with the amount of information we're able to gain.

So this fusion center uh was an idea of a sergeant because we have cameras throughout the city, again, thanks to Director Trubis.

That's one of his main initiatives.

We have license plate readers, um, we have cameras we we have uh in the school and all that technology.

Now we have it at one place, and we have an officer in that room.

So when there's a call at a location, that officer is getting ahead of it.

Umce they have the information before the officer gets there sometimes, they're giving them information that would be pertinent to help them and assist them in the investigation.

Uh I'm gonna skip Project Hope because the fusion center is one of the other major components is what we we started last year on Director Trubus's initiative.

And this is just drone first responder, which I know you guys have heard about from previous meetings.

The drone first responder has two drones that are situated throughout the city.

So when a call comes in, if it meets the criteria for that drone to go up in the air, it'll get there and just add another set of eyes to the uh to the field, whether it be fire, EMS or police, uh another game changer because you're getting the information uh before you get there sometimes, or if someone leaves or if there's a it slows down any kind of pursuit, because now we can really just watch it from the sky and find out where they end up going instead of trying to get involved in a high speed chase if we don't have to.

So proved uh I can I we have so many examples of what this fusion center has already done with stopping crime, and and when you think about it, whether it be the the cameras, the license plate readers, the drone, we're just trying to stop someone someone else from getting victimized.

So if we know someone's coming into town and we know they're wanted for something, it's nice to be able to know that, get ahead of it and stop it before there's another victim.

Uh it's been very beneficial to us.

Um Project Hope is another uh another alternative for people that uh that in needs of mental health, and it's another collaboration with some of the other uh departments and and the board of eds involved in that as well.

Uh lastly on this page is our police activities league.

We started this uh over at the Chester Addison Center, it was closed down.

The owners came to us and asked us if we wanted to run a uh and uh a PAL building.

Uh heavy lift took a lot of time, a lot of support from the city from the reps, especially.

I can only say thank you because some of the funding we received was from the state and from the city and the feds were based on the people probably on this call and some of the other state legislators from Stanford who really spearheaded this to give us the funding to really keep this program going.

Um we have uh a lot of weekend events.

There's the the Mighty Mike's basketball is a yearly event we're doing, uh, and there's so many other things going on right now.

And in the fall, we're working with the boys and girls club to try to set up an after school program in the center uh Monday through Friday, and uh that seems like that's gonna happen this September.

You'll have you'll get a lot more information as this gets closer.

Uh very proud of that uh pal league because of where it started, and we always said it's like a a crawl walk run type of scenario, and I think we're in the walking stage, so we're very happy with uh with the support we've received.

Next slide.

So this next couple of slides are just give you a comparison of uh the the drop in crime in the last few years.

So the first three rows is from the 20 to Stanford's 2021 crime stats to what they are in 2025, and you'll see the reduction across the board with the exception of assaults.

Um that's a seven percent increase from 2021.

The second one, and I'll give you time to obviously digest this.

The second one is uh the big four, which is the other four big cities in the state of Connecticut.

And and you see what their stats were from 21 to 24 and what their reductions were.

And you can see Stanford above um has had some major increases compared to the other bigger cities.

We won't publicize that publicly because we never want to upset the other cities.

We just want to kind of let you know what we got.

And then the last one on the bottom is just uh uh to show you the significance, and if you moved it up a little bit, the slide, and I don't know if you can, there's one more row.

Nope, that's the next one.

If not, what what it says is from 21 to 24, there were reductions.

Um, but from 2021 to 25, it's it's it's an even greater increase.

So in the last two years, we've we've done a really nice job of knocking down some of the big the major crimes in the city.

Sorry, I have to I just answer this text real quick.

Um so I think it just shows you know, with all the work that's being done, the proactive efforts that we do and some of our initiative, we've moved people around within the building because we saw you know more bang for our buck in different areas, and I think it's it's benefited the city uh with some of these crime reductions.

Chief, can I ask you a question?

Absolutely.

I I'm just looking at the burglary burglary total.

Yep.

And we're just trying to understand the difference on the summary offense.

21 to 24, there was an increase of 52 percent, but 21 to 25.

There was a 46% decrease.

Is that true?

Yeah, so from 21 to 137, 2024, there were 208.

And now it went from 137 from 2021 to 2025, 74.

I see.

So it's a reduction.

I and a lot of those burglaries, um, if somebody hits a a uh storage center and they they knock out like 15 storage, that will increase your numbers tremendously.

And I don't have that exact in front of me.

And then we we have serial burglars that'll do 10 or 12.

And once we arrest them, it slows it down.

But uh, yeah, that does that is the uh the reduction as of right now.

So the reduction, I see, but the it was interesting also to me is going from in burglaries 2024 to 2025, yeah, reduced from 28 to 74.

Yes, and uh again, I would say that in that 24 year, it was a high year.

And um, I would say if if if a couple of those sword sheds got got knocked down, you're talking about 30 or 40 right there.

Yeah, very interesting, very very impressive that number going down like that.

Yeah, and then the next slide is uh just again, uh I think it's a comparison to the uh to the big five, and uh these stats came from Frank Ledou, who is uh is it Ludu Lou, did I say it right?

Or Lado Lego, Frank Lugan.

Lego, there you go.

So Frank's the stats, the stats guy.

Um, and what this shows, I'm sorry the screen doesn't show it.

It shows the other four cities are to the right, and we're standing alone to the left, and um in every one of them is it's obviously a reduction from crimes against persons, crimes against you.

Go back one if you would.

Sorry.

So um it's it's overall crime, crimes against persons, crimes against property, and then the last one you can't see is crimes against society.

And in that one, what you'll see if you ever see it online is that you we will have a higher number, and that's some of the other bigger cities, but that is actual proactivity of uh gun seizures and drug seizures.

So if you see something that says uh crimes against society, you you don't mind that those numbers are higher because that's actually proactive enforcement.

So I just I'll send you this so when you see it, you'll understand what I'm talking about.

And the last slide, I think, is the budget.

So I do we just did our budget um recently, and if you uh if you look at our increase this year, it's it's a 1.5 increase for our entire budget.

That actually includes the salary of the five officers.

So our only real addition was uh the software for some of some of uh the many things that we have within our building, and this was the lowest request we've asked for in the last five years.

So I think we we did a good job as we can because we knew by them adding the five officers, that was gonna be a major piece of our increase.

So we try to keep our cost down going forward for the next year.

And that's that's kind of what I had for the overview.

Um obviously, if there's any questions or anything else I can elaborate on, I'd be happy to.

Okay, uh anybody got any questions for the chief chief shaw.

Thank you.

Any any um comment?

Um I guess I want to say Chief Shaw.

I mean, I don't know you personally, but um your reputation speaks for itself.

Um you will respect it.

Uh the job you do is is well um display and evidence on the reduction of crime in the city.

And and I appreciate the job that you're doing and keep doing what you're doing.

And um I appreciate I appreciate it.

So you got a couple people with their hands up.

All right, got David Blind and then Matt after after David.

Um you hear me?

Yeah, okay, good.

My apologies.

Oh, it's on my video on the same my apologies.

Uh Chief Shaw and Ludwig.

Uh, thank you both very much.

Um, I I don't know you.

Uh I've met Lou.

We've had a great conversation.

Um there's uh couple of questions I have.

Um uh first and foremost is, and I'm very glad that Major Crime is down in the city of Stanford, and and and you guys really do a great job, and it's very difficult.

Um I bless all your all your uh patrolmen and the guys in deal.

Um my son is a police officer in the Canaan, and I I have skin of the game, so to speak.

Um and I do have a couple of questions.

First and foremost, um, I represent uh uh district 12, which is uh along Stanford High down Strawberry Hill.

Um and uh unfortunately and not quite too colonial.

We had a um a fatal accident on Colonial this weekend.

Um and uh of course it's a concern.

Strawberry Hill is uh and Newfield Avenue, slash Newfield Avenue is a is a major thoroughfare.

Um in our district, and it is becoming and is still, it hasn't become, it is still um uh a traffic problem of speeders and uh lack of respect for the pedestrian in uh in town.

Uh it's it's evident everywhere, it's not just um I'm getting to the question, so I apologize if I'm rambling a little bit uh to all my uh fellow members on the board.

Um so my my point going towards that, and it's been an issue for a long time.

We've discussed it.

Um what is you know, accidents happen and and I get it, and everybody and everybody is is uh is involved in in what we can or can't do, and I know it's post fact, you know, you guys can't stand on every corner and and and you can't be there uh 24-7, but we've with the two schools, one on one right on but next to Fifth Street, uh up at literally uh Caddy Corner from where I live, and uh Stanford High, literally two blocks down.

Um I haven't seen, and I know there's a lot going on with regards to Strawberry Hill and Roxwood Road, and but I think there's there hasn't been an implementation of traffic control that needs to be done on that on that thoroughfare.

And and I would like to know what the police think should be done, because I think it needs to be pressed at this point.

It would there's a lot of disrespect from the drivers in town to pedestrians.

Um I've been to towns in Massachusetts.

If a pedestrian steps off the street, every car stops.

Pedestrian steps off the street, steps onto the street here, get flattened like a bank.

Um, and and as sad as that statement might be, it's it's disrespect for the pedestrian.

And and we have people who walk everywhere and and bike and and I know we're doing our best in the state, and the city has the zero uh uh initiative, and I and I get all of that, it's great rhetoric, but it's not showing itself in our district.

And sure, I could I can answer that.

Yeah, so if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to hear what you guys have to say.

Yeah, no problem.

I'm I I know the director and I have spoken with uh operations and engineering um because there's two schools there, and I know there's been some things done on uh on certain parts of that that uh that area.

Additionally, my biggest complaint that I get in my office is traffic uh without question.

And uh recently, because I we did ask for the extra manpower and uh we received five.

So April, we just changed the way we do our traffic enforcement unit.

Um for example, it used to be three um three officers and a sergeant that would work one shift, and they would go around different areas depending on what complaints that Lou got or I got or the mayor got, and obviously um we do traffic studies all the time to make sure we're you we're hitting the right locations because of this issue.

We added another, we added a fourth uh person to the traffic squad and we split them up.

So instead of 40 hours of coverage during the week, and now you get 80 hours of coverage because so we doubled our coverage with the extra officer.

So instead of having three working, it's two and two.

Um, so I think that just started in April.

Um, I'm hoping to see an improvement to what you're asking for.

Obviously, when there's a fatal accident and we're in anywhere in the city, we're gonna concentrate our efforts so there's not a second one in that area.

Uh I can't say anything about print preventive because like you said, the city is is is blowing up population-wise, and obviously there's more cars and more pedestrians.

We do campaigns downtown.

I know there's a lot of campaigns about the scooters and the e-bikes.

We meet with Domus, we meet with the DSSD.

We hire people on overtime in an effort to try to educate the the these kids um so we don't have to seize their scooters or their bikes, and and you know, um, we're doing what we can.

Uh as you said, we can't be everywhere at once, but I do think you know we have somewhat of a handle on it.

Um, I don't think we're gonna be able to prevent every time someone makes a uh a left hand turn without looking, um, and and and that accident occurs, you know, there's obviously we feel bad for the family.

Um all we can do is is continue to try to reshape this department to to meet the needs of the city.

And uh that's just an example of of one of the things we just adjusted in April, based on finally getting the manpower up to a point where we can move people around because we have so many other initiatives that we're doing as well, which I think makes the city safe.

So I think that's a start.

Um, and I think we talk, like I said, uh Luna, I know we've done this before with that area for engineering.

Um, and and uh and some of the some of those things have already occurred, but we'll look we're obviously we'll look at it again, and uh you you'll see more enforcement there.

All right.

Well, I um thank you, uh sir.

And and I appreciate it.

Um and uh and I look forward to seeing more manpower.

I'm glad you guys got your five.

I'm sorry you didn't get your 13, but I'm not on the finance board, so I can't help you there.

Yeah, um and uh and and we appreciate uh all you guys do uh to keep our city safe.

So thank you.

Uh thank you and we'll thank you much.

So uh yield the floor to the next.

Matt.

You can go go ahead, Matt.

Thank you, Chair.

Um how you doing, Chief?

Uh kind of a couple questions.

Um was in regards to kind of, and I think this was more of a broader thing, because you know, I was actually over on uh Oakland Ave with Belltown for a little bit.

And was how is Stanford PD kind of you utilizing a lot of those you know high risk but you know low issuance resources, you know.

Like I I remember I was driving uh got to the station and saw the rook coming down Oakland Ave.

You know, is that something that like in the future Stanford PD is looking to purchase, or is that something that you guys are like we wanna be working with our partners in Westchester and Fairfield County and kind of seeing I'm just curious to see how how the department manages those resources because we obviously have that bomb squad that we can you know reach out to other communities, but a rook, I'm sure is a pretty expensive thing, as well as a bear cat.

Yeah, I'd rather see that going towards patrol officers.

That was my first thing.

Go ahead.

Yep, I got that one.

Uh so the rook is not something we're in in line to purchase at any time in the future because the other chiefs of police, after seeing that event on Oakland and seeing us having to use that uh that resource from Westchester County, uh, I sit in a lot of chief meetings.

I was on the board of directors for the entire state with like maybe 10 chiefs, and that was brought up that maybe the state of Connecticut should should have a regional asset of a rook in case it's ever needed.

So it is something that chiefs of our chiefs of police are looking at as more of a regional asset, and I don't think Stanford will spearhead that initiative.

Okay, that that's that's that's good to know.

I was kind of uh curious about that, and just in general.

Um my second question was I saw that your your budget increase was modest.

Um but I've heard a lot of and you know, I'm in 16, you know, but I've heard a lot of from other reps and actually a lot of people downtown about kind of lacking foot patrol and how the board of reps can kind of support relaying that information to the Board of Finance.

Like, hey, the the relationship that a lot of society is having with police is changing and seeing them as a resource in and out, and I think people are looking to see and have a presence in that you know Bedford Street, main street, you know, main street area.

And what can we do?

And you know, are you going through and saying, hey, yeah, we have a mod you know lower increase, but going and saying, hey, we we need this, and because this is what the people are asking, how can we help you with that?

And is that what you're looking towards in the future?

You know, going for a little bit of a bigger increase because you're still you're below, you know, um that 300 police officer, which I think is yeah, go ahead.

No, I think I think you're making an excellent point, which is a point we made to the Board of Finance.

Um I gave them a tour of my building, and to their credit, they all showed up and uh explained to them the why.

Because I can say I want 13 officers, but if I if I can't explain why, then you know, shame on me.

So we explained to them that we now have a fusion center, we now have our own academy, we now have a behavior health unit, we now have a fusion center.

We have we're we're an accredited agency.

It's the first time in our history.

So we have to have a sergeant who's an accreditation sergeant, and what that means is that he has to be there to make sure all of our policies, procedures, and all of our everything we're doing is at the current 2026 level.

So that was something that was never done before.

So all those resources that I just explained to you were taken out of the patrol division.

So my manpower went down in patrol because of these initiatives that we think this city needs at this time.

It's forward thinking for sure.

I could we can we could cancel all those as initiatives, put everyone back in patrol, and you'll get your foot post.

But we didn't think that was the right thing to do.

So just for me to finish that, the 13 officers would have beefed up those patrol squads to a point we would have been able to be over our minimum manpower on a routine basis.

So once our we're over our minimum manpower, we can utilize extra people for foot patrol.

The first the first group has to meet for to cover the city.

So again, again, trying to think outside the box.

We're currently in negotiations, we're trying to get e-bikes, right?

We think e-bikes would be great to put on the back of a police car.

So if someone's riding the Covey area, someone's riding the downtown area, and if they're not on a call and they want to do a park and walk to your point, they can jump on an e-bike and drive around for an hour.

So it's a band-aid.

Obviously, if we're over, if we had the 300 officers and we had more personnel, that person could be on that bike eight hours downtown.

Right.

So we're in the process of trying to get through with that.

There's there's some hurdles like anything else.

But you my hope is by the end of the summer, you'll start seeing e-bikes in the city, um, which I think is another community outreach, people getting to see us, and uh if the man program increases to the point where we can make them more full-time, obviously we will.

Yeah, and I think, you know, and this is my last thing.

I think including, you know, in the future, you know, obviously we're a lot of us are more new to the board, is including us in, because you know, I think Board of Finance goes and thinks about saving money while board of reps is going and saying, well, what are our constituents looking for?

And I think having, you know, hey, okay, cool, you're doing a tour, Board of Finance is going saying, here it is, and then having those reps, because I think we can offer that other opinion.

I think in the future, if you can include, you know, at least public safety committee.

If you could offer that, I think we'd offer that percentage.

I uh I've offered it every year.

I could I'll continue to offer it.

That's great.

And some of the people, some of the people on this call, I think I've already taken this tour.

So awesome.

That's great to hear.

Thanks, Chief.

Yes.

David, again.

Uh thank you for indulging me.

I I do have one more question.

Uh for the for both Lou and the Officer Shaw.

Um Chief Shaw, my apologies.

Uh the um the other the other thing goes to the e-bikes.

Uh, talked to uh Lou about this and uh and uh a number of other members of my of the board, uh Matt included.

Uh we've talked about an ordinance uh relevant and surrounding e-bike issues.

Um I I'm a big proponent of uh safety with regards to those things and and uh the state has mandated certain requirements with regards to e-bikes and e-scooters.

Um and I know that chasing these people around uh is a hazard for the police officers because we don't want to get into even a 20 mile an hour run down uh some road just because you want to chase this guy down, and they're on a bike, so the last thing you do is you want to have them spill.

But I do think that um, and I'm gonna propose an ordinance sometime, probably by the fall, um, to drive these uh for for visibility purposes, um, that these guys need to wear uh safety vests and and or lights, um, which they're not doing in the state has already mandated the lighting requirement, but they don't mandate the safety vest.

And I I'd like to take uh a minute here to ask uh uh well Lou, I know his answer already, but uh the uh officer uh excuse me, Mr.

Shaw, I'd like to know what the police department thinks about something like that as a as a preventative to uh and cre increase visibility amongst those types of vehicles.

Yeah, I'm not opposed to anything safety-wise.

I know an ordinance uh came out last year that assisted us a little bit um in regards to the these scooters and easy bikes, and we have confiscated probably uh between 20 and 30 based on some of the uh the ordinance facts.

And what we do now is like you said, we're not chasing them.

Uh it's uh lucky for us the drone, the drone program works tremendously.

We could just wait for them to park their bike somewhere and find out where they are and then go follow up with them over there.

So that's kind of what we've been doing lately.

Um we identify them through the drone, we know who they are, or we wait for them to go to the house.

So we've been able to do it in a much safer manner.

And uh, and then it's really more about education.

So we're trying to do that.

No, no question.

We're trying to do both.

Yeah, yeah.

I and and I and I'd like to know how the board of reps can help you do that.

Um, what is it that you need from us?

Um I'd like to sit down.

I'd like to sit down with you at some point and go over it so that we can absolutely provide you with the resources you need or find a way to get those resources.

Absolutely.

Um yeah, so thank you very much.

And uh, and I yield the floor.

Uh Matt.

Yeah, just to kind of go off of that.

So that other ordinance, um you did feel that that it was manageable, the enforceability of it was manageable.

I think that's also the concern, you know, is that um we can get an ordinance on safety vests, but then we're struggling already to do other traffic violations.

So we're adding more onto an already over stressed.

So it correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like that other ordinance and how that was crafted seemed enforceable for you guys, and you were able to follow up with the resources that you do have in place.

Yes, all right.

So far, it's work, but again, if there's something that that is uh that someone wants to bring up, whether it's David or somebody else, all I'll do is I'll bring the experts in, right?

You're you're not gonna hear from me after that.

It's gonna be your boots on the ground, it's gonna be the sergeants and the people that are that are dealing with it every day.

And that's that's who's gonna that's who's gonna talk to you.

Well, we do appreciate that.

Awesome.

Thanks, yes.

Uh I got a question for you.

Um, Chief.

Um due to the flashing light in the school zone, um, do that help with the speeding um doing the school.

Um, you still got we still got the same problem.

I I would I would rather get back to you in that because I I don't I don't want that right, it's not on the top of my head if it's if it's helping or not, but they usually do help from my experience when it has the digital display of the speed is something that really does slow people down.

Um I I would not want to prematurely say something to you and then find out the data from somebody else.

I don't have the data in front of me, uh Terry, but I'll get it to you.

Okay, okay.

And um, I guess a crazy um idea in my head do you think speed bumps uh would helping school zone that will make the school zone walkable, period.

And and I put that in mind too, what you see when you go through BLT when you go down Washington Boulevard when when BLT a status missed out, the the whole road lift up.

So it's not like a bump, it's an uplift platform, so you can't speed and you make that whole neighborhood.

So my thing is uh is it any way we can work with um traffic?

Um to put something like that in all the school goes school zone, so that no matter what you would automatically bring the speed down because if you try to go too fast, you almost airborne.

Yeah, I I would leave that to to Luke and Ngin, but also realize that we are starting up with uh the school cameras, the speed cameras are gonna be coming out through the city.

And I think that's gonna play uh that's gonna uh get give a huge dividends as well when they see those come out.

Okay, yeah, yeah.

Well, when they come out, they definitely, but um, yeah.

So I think Terry, to your point with the elevated crosswalks, that that is a great tool that works well and it is proven to slow down traffic.

Um back to David's point about the Strawberry Hill School.

I know uh I actually stumbled on a pedestrian dropping walking across the crosswalk last year after dropping a student off uh his child.

Uh so there's several things that we are working with engineering on, but it all comes down to funding as well.

Uh that particular Strawberry Hill corridor, um I I know for a fact over the past three or four years, we've submitted a grant for over 17 million dollars to correct a lot of the uh the issues in those intersections uh through through engineering, and we haven't been able to we haven't been successful in in obtaining that grant funding yet, but I think they submitted it again this year.

Um, because engineering is a big part of it.

I know uh a big big big part, probably the largest thing that we hear, as Chief Shaw already said, in both the police department, the mayor's office, and in my office is traffic complaints and and you know, concerns around speeding and things of that nature.

Um and the police department could only do so much, it's it's got to be a multiple prong approach.

Um, you know, people want to see cops, and I agree that that is a big piece of the puzzle.

So there's no doubt about it.

When there's cops out there um with the lights going, it slows traffic down, it kind of serves as a deterrent for other people, um, and it's a great tool.

However, I think it's most effective when you're utilizing um engineering uh mitigation strategies to slow traffic down, and it's not just motor vehicle traffic, a lot of the pedestrian traffic is concerning as well.

Um so that's why, like along that Washington Boulevard corridor, um, I know uh we're working closely with the state, and I think they had some approvals in which uh to your point down in Harbor Point, I'm pretty confident that from Richmond Hill, Tressor Boulevard and Washington Boulevard and Main Street and Washington Boulevard, uh, I pretty sure it either got approved or it's close to getting approved where those entire intersections will be elevated.

So that'll serve multiple functions.

One, it'll serve as an automatic uh way to slow traffic down as they approach those intersections, uh, because there's no way you could go into it at fast speeds.

Um it'll cause a major issue for for any kind of motor vehicle.

So it acts as a uh you know, a mechanism to slow traffic down.

But what it also does is it elevates the pedestrians that are crossing, so they're more identifiable and they're easy to spot.

So people driving vehicles um can see them easier.

So it kind of addresses things multiple things on multiple levels.

But really, it's all three of those things.

Uh engineering, uh traffic enforcement, and then you know, one of the biggest pieces in my mind is education.

Um, because you could have the best engineering uh intersections and roadways, a cop on every corner, but if people are still you know not educated and and making sure that they're doing their due diligence to cross the road safely, you know it's we're not gonna be successful.

People, everybody has to pitch in for this to be successful.

Yeah, and I appreciate that.

I think some of those ideas will work, but I also working with the school, especially Scarborough Hill.

I think before in the past, they used to let um from Sophomore to seniors um go out for lunch.

Now everybody from ninth grade go out for lunch.

So it's like a carnival.

I and that um strawberry hill corridor have a lot of traffic coming through.

So I think it's working with the school too.

Like you can't let your ninth grade and tenth grade come out.

You're 11 and 12, fine.

But it's like when it's lunchtime, it's like a carnival coming down there going to join Pisa.

And for whatever reason, kids think they got the right of way, and they'll walk in front of the car because they think uh I'm a pedestrian, I got the right away.

And I guess education should be a part too that you don't have the right of way.

So I mean, I think at some point we need to start talking to uh the principal at uh Stanford High, like you can't let all these kids out.

That's almost like letting all the kids out of the school going to the mall.

It's chaos, and that's what I see down and what I go through.

I mean, you gotta start for the kids, not necessarily for the car, because they just walk in the street.

Yeah, that it's a great point, Terry, and the board of ad is a big partner with public safety.

So great, thank you for bringing that up.

Yeah, and they may not know because they don't come out of the school to see what's going on.

So I think at some point, if the police or somebody capture 40 kids crossing the street at one time starting traffic and take it back to them and say, look, this is what's happening.

And you're causing this because you letting all these kids go off campus to take lunch.

I mean, when I went to school, you couldn't leave campus to get no lunch.

But when you was on campus, you was on there for the dura.

So times they are changing.

Yes, yeah.

Um, Matt, um, you next.

Uh, thank you.

Uh, and I yield.

Mine's really quick, and this is coming from you know, I've heard a lot of things when it comes to raising and speed bumps.

And I feel like this is the time to bring it up.

Is a lot of people have been going.

I've heard things about, oh, we can't put a raised thing here or a speed bump here because of emergency vehicle response time, which is someone that drives emergency vehicles and goes over speed bumps.

I'm like, they get it slows you down.

Is that something that's changed or that I have misunderstood, you know, because I think it'd be cool having something on Washington Boulevard with raised intersections.

And then I hear someone going saying, well, we can't do that because that's a core main corridor for emergency vehicles and it's raised.

I don't know if you guys know if I'm misinformed on that, or if that's something I gotta direct to Luke on that matter.

Yeah, I think Lou just mentioned uh that some of these areas are gonna start getting raised.

So you could follow up with Luke to see which ones are being raised.

Um, but I do think that's that's in the future.

Okay, cool.

I'll follow up with them.

Thanks.

And I would I would comment and and echo loop uh because the amount of kids we get in that Yukon, you need it.

You need it because if you don't put that raise on walkway, that's an accident, get ready to happen.

Because you got kids coming out there 2030 at a time.

And when they walk into the crosswalk, they don't all make it.

And some people in such a rush that they want to make that right turn right in front of them.

So I appreciate you what you guys are doing, and anyway I can support you, just let me know.

Thank you.

And thank you, Chief Shaw and Lou for putting this presentation.

Anybody else got any question?

If not, I'll take a motion to adjourn.

So moved.

Second.

Okay, so good night, everybody, and thank you for thanks, Chief.

Um good presentation.

And thank you for your support.

Okay, no problem.

Thank you.

Thank you, Lou.

Thanks, everyone.

Have a good night.

Yeah, thank you.