Site?Sum Prepared by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) September 18, 2015 Overview Background Based on a conversation with Deputy Director Rob Chapman in January 2015, Waterloo, Iowa Mayor Buck Clark reached out to the COPS office to inquire about support and resources through the Collaborative Reform Initiative. Initial conversations determined that Collaborative Reform, due to its comprehensive nature, was not needed and targeted technical assistance would be provided by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). During an introductory conference call between Waterloo Mayor Clark, Police Chief Daniel Trelka, PERF, and the COPS Office in late April 2015, the initial technical assistance areas of community engagement and gang violence were selected. It was determined that an onsite review would be completed prior to settling on the scope of the project. A site visit would be scheduled after the Annual Conference. Methodology The site visit was conducted June 24?26, 2015. Andrea Luna, PERF Chief of Staff, and Rachael Arietti, PERF Research Associate, were accompanied by John Wells from the COPS Office and Deputy Chief Robert Green, a consultant with subject?matter expertise on gang-related violence and community policing from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The purpose ofthe visit was to conduct a needs assessment and define the scope of the project. The site visit team conducted interviews with six members of the police department as well as involved community members, and participated in patrol ride?alongs to gain a deeper understanding of the issues in Waterloo. Prior to the site visit, PERF reviewed the demographics of the city and organization of the department, as well as various department policies. PERF also requested data from Chief Trelka on recent crime trends and calls for service for review prior to the visit. The agenda for the site visit is attached. Findings In recent years, Waterloo has experienced an increase in gang-related activity. However the department?s official counts on homicides and shootings do not provide the entire picture of the gang?related violence occurring in the community. Homicides have fluctuated over the last ay?2-0-1?5. Official counts indicate that shootings have increased: there were 67 shootings in 2012; 72 in 2013; and 97 in 2014. The Violent Crime Apprehension Team collects data on gang-related crime and while it isn?t reflected in the of?cial statistics, it is well known by both the department and community that gang violence is increasing. For example, in addition to the department?s official records management system (RMS), the VCAT tracked shootings linked to two feuding gangs from July 2013 to January 2014. VCAT Sergeant M. McGeough explained that there were 24 known or reported shootings involving these two groups during that time, in which individuals from these groups were tied in as suspects or victims. From January 2014 to December 31, 2014, there were an additional 34 known or reported shootings between these two groups. There were 58 total shootings between these two groups during that eighteen-month period, meaning that one feud accounted for at least 35 percent of the shootings in 2014 and 33 percent of the shootings in 2013. Sgt. McGeough indicated these percentages would have been much higher if the VCAT had tracked these during the first half of 2013 and ifthey knew more details about many of the other shootings. Chief Trelka expressed that he has overall support in the community, but in some areas of the city, the police department has a strained relationship with the African American community. Waterloo has a population of 68,000 and is predominantly white, with 16% African Americans and 6% Latinos. The Waterloo Police Department (WPD), comprised of 125 sworn officers, is mostly white, with only two African American officers and one Latino officer. Most of the gang violence and shooting incidents are occurring within the African American community. Based on the review of background information and discussions with Waterloo police department officials and community members, it seemed there was overall support for the chief and department. However, it became apparent that there was somewhat of a racial divide in the city and a lack of trust between the minority community and some officers. Officers expressed burnout, stating that they have little time for community engagement due to a high volume of calls for service. Police-community relations There was general agreement about the racial and economic divide in the city. Some residents felt that officers spent more time patrolling the east side of the city, which has lower income housing and a lot of rental preperties. The west side of the city is a more affluent area. There were differing perspectives on the relationship between the police department and the community. Some interviewees believed that the department was generally respected and had good relations with the community, while others, particularly minority residents, expressed a 2 the department?s logo, which diSplays a red griffin and the word ?vigilance.? Officers interviewed by the site visit team expressed that they would like to be more involved with the community but rarely have the opportunity due to the high volume of calls for service. WPD receives about 200 calls a day, and officers are dispatched to respond to every call. Officers reported having extremely limited time for community engagement. Minority recruitmen t/hiring Police and community representatives acknowledged the lack of minority representation in the department. Specifically, there are two African American officers and one Hispanic officer in the department [less than 3% of the department?s sworn staff), despite the fact that African Americans represent approximately 16% of the city of Waterloo?s population. Police officials reported difficulty in recruiting minorities, and particularly local minorities. Additionally, there is a lack of interest from minorities outside ofthe city because of the news media?s ongoing focus on the crime and safety issues in Waterloo, as well as negative national media coverage of the police in general. Complaint and discipline process There seemed to be an overall lack of understanding about the complaint process in the community. Several community members expressed that they did not know how complaints against officers were resolved or that they did not bother filing complaints because they didn?t think anything would be done by the department. Interviewees reported that there were a few officers, specifically on the third (night) shift, who engaged in unprofessional and disrespectful actions toward the community, which upset community members. In some cases, officers were said to be antagonizing and intimidating youth by flashing gang signs at the youth while they were on patrol. Community members felt that these issues had not been addressed with the officers, despite multiple complaints.1 Instructions for filing a complaint with the department are not immediately apparent on the department?s website. The complaint process is described in the department?s operational guidelines (located on the department website?s ?information? tab), but specific instructions for how a community member should file a complaint were not found. Gang-related violence By all accounts, Violent Crime Apprehension Team (VCAT) seems to have a good understanding of the gang activity that is taking place in the city and has done a good job of 1 This issue was identified by the team during stakeholder interviews. Actual complaints were not reviewed during the site visit. gathering street-level or resources to effectively document the intelligence in a consistent way, especially related to social media leads that could be useful in the future prosecution of violent offenders. The VCAT sergeant has received training on how to establish a database for tracking gang activity and has created an initial spreadsheet, but the VCAT does not have the resources to further refine the database or keep it up to date. It is also not linked to crime data or Records Management Systems. Much of the data on gang shootings is manually compiled by officers. RIVIS does not include information as to what victims, suspects, houses, or vehicles are tied to a particular gang. Shootings must therefore be analyzed by officers who have access to street intelligence and informants that corroborate much of the data. Interviewees do report that VCAT is in constant communication with officers and command officials in their daily work, so information is shared informally and at roll calls. Recommendations for Further Assistance 1. WPD should take immediate steps to address police-community relations. Officers must use every interaction as an opportunity to improve police?community trust and to build positive working relationships with residents. This is especially important when time and resources for proactive or discretionary activities are scarce. a. Patrol staffing study Like most police departments, WPD is constantly challenged to make the best use of available resources. While many officers said they would like to spend more time interacting with the community, they also reported burnout from reSponding to back- to-back calls for service during their shifts. Supervisors said they had difficulty finding volunteers to work overtime because officers were already said to be working as much as possible. However efforts to build community relationships and trust require that officers are able to interact informally with the community and engage in collaborative problem?Solving activities. There must be time allocated and supervisor support for these interactions. WPD may consider a staffing study to review their calls~for-service and patrol shift staffing levels to ensure that the department has the appropriate amount of officers for each shift and to help identify times when officers may engage in more community?focused activities. b. Reviewing response to calls for service WPD may consider reviewing its calls for service, and restructuring its response to less serious calls. WPD could explore the use of online reporting or having volunteers follow up via phone on less serious calls for service. This would free up time for officers to 4 participate in proactive policing and com more time on calls using the interactions as Opportunities for building relationships and even recruiting, as appropriate. WPD will need to take time to explain the rationale and process for identifying certain calls for alternative responses. Communication about the changes the department is making will be important for ensuring officer and community support for any new service responses and to using the time that is freed up properly. Training/in-service education initiatives WPD should consider providing scenario-based training and facilitating an ongoing dialogue among all department personnel on applying the principles of procedural justice to policing, and the importance of police-community relationships for officer safety and preventing and solving crime. WPD may also consider providing training to improve the cultural competency of all personnel, and training that assists in the recognition and countering of implicit biases. Since eight hours are already set aside each month for officer training, some ofthis time could be dedicated to these important topics. Reinforce the department?s commitment to the principles of procedural justice and community policing current mission statement is "To vigilantiy protect, serve, and work together with our community to prevent crime and enhance the quality of life in our neighborhoods.? One way that WPD could demonstrate its commitment to working collaboratively with the community is to publicly state (or restate) the department?s commitment to procedural justice and community policing, and other items identified in the President?s 21St Century Policing Task Force Report. For example, WPD may consider ?rebranding? the department to reflect the principles of procedural justice, perhaps starting with modifying the mission statement. WPD could consider adding the words ?trust,? ?transparency,? and ?respect,? which are already values identified by one of the department?s core value statements. Adding these terms to the mission statement would invoke a more "guardian?like? mentality and lessen the ?warrior-like? image that some community members have of the department. Mayor Clark and Chief Trelka could work with the community, the department, and media to make a significant public statement about their priorities and expectations as the department starts to shift its approach to policing and outline a new plan for police-community relationships in the city. This could be a landmark event in city and department history. For example, WPD may consider inviting police officers, the community, and especially youth, to help B. and goals for the future that are in line with the Task Force report. Increase police-community engagement WPD must create opportunities for officers to engage with youth in schools and to start to build relationships with youth in the community, especially elementary~aged youth. Initiating interactions with children at a young age helps to establish positive, first-hand experiences with police officers. It is often more difficult to connect with youth once they enter their teenage years, and without these positive, first?hand experiences to help shape their opinions early on, they will likely form opinions based on second-hand accounts of the police from the media, family, and peers. Negative perceptions ofthe police may make engaging youth more difficult. Also, outreach to younger children has led to positive, informal interactions with parents and opportunities for officers to connect struggling families to local resources and services that are needed. Officers who work on the first (morning) shift could be asked to read, play games, or help with breakfast and lunch at local schools on less busy days. It is important that officers engage with youth in non?traditional ways, so the youth are able to see beyond the officer?s uniform and view them as approachable and helpful. For example, officers assigned to schools could read to younger students, or stop by to participate in Art or Physical Education classes. Community members and department personnel thought very highly of current and previous efforts to build community relationships. Many interview participants mentioned the department?s program to hand out officer ?baseball? cards that had personal ?stats? on the individual officers. The cards included the officer?s picture and information like the officer?s favorite foods, hobbies, and sports. Others mentioned efforts to stock the patrol cars with books to hand out to youth while they were on duty. WPD should continue to put resources into these efforts if at all possible. WPD should work closely with the community in high?crime areas where relationships are strained to develop programs that bring the police and community together and disrupt opportunities for crime, such as ?movies in the park? or midnight basketball. These activities would bring community and police together in some of the neighborhoods that have been plagued by violence. WPD could reach out to local business owners to provide snacks or movie screens for these events. Efforts to work with the private sector to develop after-school and summer jobs for youth would also be beneficial. know the officers, better understand the job of policing, and further build relationships. This could also help with encouraging youth, especially minority youth, to consider policing as a profession. WPD could work with local foster homes, schools, and probation officers to create a volunteer program for at-risk, non-violent youth, or a mentoring program such as a Police Activities League. This would help to build relationships with youth and provide safe activities for youth who could be susceptible to gang membership. During some of the interviews, the community also recognized areas where they could step up and make their desire to work with police officers known. Officers are often asked to patrol an event, but are not actually ?invited? to participate. Taking the extra step to ask officers to join in the parades and peace marches and walk shoulder~to- shoulder with residents organizing the events could also help to break down some relationship barriers. In addition to making changes within the department, the city of Waterloo must also initiate change. The city should establish an overall violence reduction strategy involving all city agencies that would fit with the police department?s new community policing plan. Resources for activities such as midnight basketball and movies in the park should come from city leaders to help the department engage the community. WPD may consider reviewing its complaint process and recent complaints against officers for disrespectful behavior issues, especially on the third shift. The process should be revised if needed and clearly outlined to the community, explaining how to file a complaint, as well as how the department will review it, make a decision, and ensure follow up. Information about the complaint process should also be made more accessible on the department?s website, and community members should have the ability to easily file a complaint online. Additionally, a report on how many complaints were made annually and how many were sustained, not sustained, and unfounded should be published on the department website. Provide technical assistance to the VCAT on including ?gang interventionists? as part of an overall violence reduction strategy as well as assistance in developing a process for documenting the most crucial information in the gang database. This could potentially be linked with RMS so that information could be shared with other departments. Other strategies that may be developed include identifying alternatives to arresting juveniles to keep at-risk youth out of the justice system and providing assistance to them and their families. One officer mentioned working with Four Oaks and Quakerdale, which are local organizations that provide support services for juveniles and families. WPD could consider partnering with these or other similar organizations in an attempt to reduce juvenile arrests. WPD also needs to establish a definition for gang membership and a timeframe of when to purge youth from the database when they no longer meet the definition. Establishing a timeframe will be important to the legitimacy of the database in court and will also help to keep at~risk youth out of the justice system. Reviewfrevision of the department?s use of force policy. An initial concern mentioned by the mayor and chief was that the level of gang violence in areas of the community where trust is not solidified could potentially result in a controversial use-of?force incident. A review ofthe department?s use~of~force policy indicated there are opportunities to update the policy and clarify language on expectations related to officer use of force. A complete review of the department?s use-of?force policy could be extremely beneficial to the department. Site Visit Agenda Wednesday, June 24, 2015 3:00pm Lt. McClelland: Second shift watch commander 4:00pm 7:00pm Ride-a~longs with second shift officers 7:00pm Sgt. McGeough: Supervisor for the Violent Crime Apprehension Team (VCAT) Thursday, June 25, 2015 8:15am Sheryl McGovern: Waterloo library director 9:00am Captain Leibold: Patrol Division Commander, Captain Mohlis: Investigations Division Commander, and Lt. Fangman: Lieutenant of Investigations 10:00am - Reverend Ed Loggins: an involved community member 11:00am Dr. Willie Barney: Executive Director of Supplemental Services for the Waterloo School District 12:00pm Felicia Carter: an involved community member 2:00pm LaTanya Graves: NAACP President, and Marvin Spencer: NAACP member and department of corrections employee 3:00pm Jeff Kurtz: Executive Director, Main Street Waterloo 4:00pm Myke Goings: Videographer, community activist, violent crime victim 5:00pm Dr. Gloria Holmes: Professor at UNI and involved community member Friday, June 26,2015 8:00am Abraham Funchess: Director ofthe Human Rights Commission 9:00am -- Cheryl Faries: Human Rights Commissioner and NAACP member 10:00am David Goodson: Director of Social Action, Inc. and Sharon Goodson: former NAACP President 11:00am Sheryl Cook: NAACP member