1999-10-13 Charter Commission Minutes

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minutes 10-13-99Page 29 of 31 left to fill and we’re trying our darndest to fill these positions so that these people will not have to work the overtime, so that we can fill all the civilian vacancies so that they will have some more people to do their reports, to do clerical tasks that maybe some of the police officers are feeling that they have to do. So there’s a lot of things that we’re doing internally in the Police Department to rectify a lot of these complaints. And the point of the matter is, they have an avenue to come and tell us. As administrators, we’re looking at problem areas, and we’re not pompous enough to feel that we know everything that happens in the Police Department. I’ve been a policeman for 27 years and I find out that the guys that are on the street, working the street, I no longer work the street, these are the individuals I depend upon to tell me what their problems are. I’m not responding to the domestics at 2 o’clock in the morning. I’m not responding to gunshots that may involve the multiple homicide, so it’s my duty to support them in terms of training, equipment, the number of men that are allowed to respond, proper supervision. Those are the type of things that we’re trying to address, and yes, you may hear, like every large Police Department, and we’re considered a medium size Police Department, you’re going to hear people who are disgruntled. You’re going to hear people that say it’s not fair, but that happens and occurs in every Police Department, and I’m not making excuses for what you’re reading in the paper right now, but I tell you this much, in my career, I have not seen a Police Department in this State that’s statistically as good as this Police Department, sans everything that you’ve heard about the promotions, and about inequities in the system itself. We have a good Police Department, period. I can show you statistics to prove that. We’ve got good policemen working for us. We have a good system of ferreting out potential people that would not make good policemen, that would become a liability. So when you look at the Commission, and should they be more involved in the day to day operations? Should a Public Safety Commission be made? I don’t know if that would cure the problem because most of the internal stuff, complaints about policemen against other police officers, or about their ranking officers, there is a system in place to address those issues. RAY: Okay. John. SANTANGELO: Thank you. I agree with you. If we want to improve morale, there’s a whole lot of things we can do, and again, it’s letting people be with their families, giving them fair pay for a fair day’s work. There’s a lot of things that we don’t deal with on an economic level. But let me ask you this question. Do you think yourself, or other officers in the Police Department care, or is it very important how the Commission is brought together? In other words, if the Mayor appoints or if it’s done independently, as long as it’s doing its job? MAHUNA: As long as it’s doing its job, the end result is all we care about. SANTANGELO: So how it’s chosen really doesn’t matter? MAHUNA: It doesn’t matter. SANTANGELO: But how its function is carried out. MAHUNA: Exactly. SANTANGELO: And I think we’re talking a lot about how we bring that Commission together, and then there has to be a separation of powers, that administratively, the Police Department has to be able to handle its own affairs, but the Commission deals with the public and the police. Thank you. RAY: In regard to the testimony we have here from the Police Commission and the Police Department on, sort of, the language changes or whatever, does anybody else have any input for these gentlemen to file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 10-13-99.html7/1/2011