2000-03-18 Charter Commission Minutes

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minutes 03-18-00Page 8 of 27 - Police must have a minimal high school education, and what they have now is an 8th grade education plus whatever additional makes it equivalent to a high school education. The Chief started out as a jail guard. I’m not saying that he didn’t take courses later, but those things shouldn’t happen. They cannot write. If I show you the ticket that I got the last time, it’s totally illegible. They cannot write. They cannot read. So, minimal is high school. - Use disposable plastic handcuffs tied to a front belt, like the jail people do, in connection with HIV. It’s like needles and so on. They have a book this thick that no policeman reads, about how to use rubber gloves and how to clean the handcuffs after each use, and so on, and so on. Nobody reads that. Just tell them, use the disposal plastic handcuffs. You get less damage, too, to your wrists. - And then express, in the Charter, that the new rules about contested case hearings go both ways, not only from the policeman. Chapter 91 says that all the parties have the right, but apparently, it has to be put in the Charter to get that done. - Maltreatment of the public, in my opinion, must be punished with double penalties, and not let them off the hook because they have such a difficult job. Nobody forced them to become a policeman, and our soldiers in the field have it much more difficult. - Convictions of police for crimes must be enhanced. Not less than the public gets. They should be set as examples. There must be appealable answers to the complaints of the public and the police must make case files. They don’t have case files for their complaints. They have loose stuff all over the place. - And my last one is the Police Commission must be enabled by the Charter to propose Legislative changes because the seatbelt law is illegal, that I had to go to court for. I don’t want to tell you details. If you want them, we can do that over the phone. It is illegal. The text is illegal. It was handled illegal. Nobody does it same as just one little example you have to wear a seatbelt over your shoulder. That’s all I have now. RAY: Okay, thank you. Del Pranke. ROSS: And I apologize for being so long winded, but a number of things had to be mentioned. And if any of you have questions, my phone number, which is not in the book, is 937-7739, 937-7739. I will also mark that on the paper that I submit to you. RAY: Okay, thank you. IRVINE: Can I say one thing to Henry before we go on? We have added, under Police Department, in our proposal that standards of recruitment shall be designed to attract into the service, persons with high degrees of education, intelligence, and personal stability. Hopefully, that is something we were thinking of putting in that might help with your business of the police not knowing. ROSS: Ms. Irvine, that language is too loose. IRVINE: Yes. ROSS: Every court will throw it out, and you see, a short anecdotal thing. You have seen big ads in the paper for police recruits. Now, there used to be little ads like that. That’s no longer enough because I forced the Police Commission to have psychological tests done on the recruits. And they do that now. And 60% of these recruits drop out on the psychological test. Now, here comes the problem. They are then trained by old hands who were never tested, and they do it totally wrong. You know, that’s why we have this hush-hush business there. Do it my way because otherwise you’ll never get anywhere here in this department. IRVINE: Thank you. RAY: Thank you. Del, do you want to go now or wait? PRANKE: I’m waiting for you to give your statement. I know you have your - that’s fine with me. RAY: Okay. Milton Pavao. file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 03-18-00.html7/1/2011