Fresno Chief of Police suspends community advisory board.

I just got off the phone with Rev. Floyd Harris who is on the Police Advisory Board. He says that the board, at least as far as he knows, has not been disbanded. It would be helpful if the writer of the above article would cite a source for the information. It would also be helpful if the person who wrote the story used their real name. How can someone reading information on Indybay know if the information they are reading is real when writers do not use their real names or cite sources? Credibility is a problem if writers are not held accountable for what they write.

This is not a false report. The information contained in this article was taken directly from the minutes of a meeting of the civilian advisory board.

OK, so if you have the minutes to the Police Chief’s advisory board meeting, post them. If you in fact have a copy, scan it and upload it as a .jpg file.

Fresno Police Department
Chief’s Advisory Board Minutes
September 29, 2005

Present : Cary Catalano, Sylvia Chavez, Roz Clark, Franz Criego, Gordon
Donoho, Frank Franco, Gail Gaston, (Charles Taylor for) Rev.
Floyd Harris, Jesse McDonald Jr., Debbie Nard, Jim Newman,
Rebeca Rangel, Luke Raughley, Enrique Reade, Michael Roth, Jan
Sangster, J.P. Sethi, H. Spees, Lt. Dennis Montejano, and Chief
Jerry Dyer.

Absent: Jim Bosquez, Tom Gentile, Harry Gill, Kathy Omachi, Edward
Stacy, and David Tittle

Guests: Ed C. Bailey, Sgt. Anthony Martinez, and Kristin Wagner

The meeting was called to order at 5:30 pm.
Minutes:
Minutes from August 25, 2005 approved as amended, with one abstention.
Opening Remarks:
Chief Dyer reminded members the purpose of the Chief’s Advisory Board is for members to advise the Chief on critical issues so he can better serve the community
.
Agenda Items:
Announcement from Lt. Montejano: The Chief made a decision to eliminate the
roundtable and focus on controversial issues, with the intention of receiving feedback from members. Members were given a packet of contact information for each district so their individual concerns can be given attention through the proper channels.

Recent Awards: The Fresno Police Department received numerous awards:
The California Law Enforcement Challenge awarded the Fresno Police
Department with the Commissioner’s Award for overall excellence in a
Traffic Safety Program for the State of California
The California Highway Patrol awarded the Fresno Police Department with First
Place for their Underage Drinking Program.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) awarded the Fresno
Police Department with three awards:
First Place for Traffic Safety Program of a Municipal Police
Department Size 501-1000 in California.
First Place for Traffic Safety Program of a Municipal Police
Department Size 501-1000 in the nation.
First Place in the nation for Impaired Driving Enforcement

Criteria for these awards looked at Fresno’s comprehensive effort towards Traffic Safety, which includes innovative programs, DUI checkpoints, procedures for habitual drunk drivers, and prevention and education in schools.

Members discussed, and noted these awards should be mentioned on the city’s website and in the Fresno Bee. March for Peace: The United Way and Chief’s Foundation each donated thousands of dollars for this event on Saturday,
October 1 at Grizzly Stadium.

The purpose of the event is to bring broken neighborhoods back together and to raise money for the Weed & Seed Program. Board members gave suggestions to the Chief on how to increase community participation and attendance.

Developer Impact Fees: The Fresno Police Department will receive 165 million dollars over the next 20 years. These monies will go towards a new Headquarters building, a Training Village; four new District Stations; a communications center, and anything that expands the department, such as vests and cars. The Spatial Needs Assessment should be completed by the beginning of January.

Video Policing: Chief Dyer requested feedback from members to discern the amount of tolerance the community will have for video cameras in the community. Members noted: ?
The community needs to be informed why the cameras are an asset.
?
Cameras are tolerable in public areas, including parks, schools, alleyways,
government centers, shopping areas, parking lots, and on street corners.
?
The public will support cameras in neighborhoods if they are used solely for
monitoring criminal activity.
?
The importance of insurance and liability if activity is constantly monitored.
?
Cameras have been linked to decreased crime activity.
?
The cameras need to be able to move and track.

? The cameras should be located in a place where they will not be damaged.
?
Public support will grow if cameras are first placed in “easy target” areas, and if
the department has the support of community leaders.

Announcements
Chief Dyer will receive the Excellence in Public Service Award on October 11, awarded by the Business Council and The Maddy Institute.

Enrique Reade is traveling to Baton Rouge to volunteer at funeral homes for victims of
the hurricanes. Roz Clark was thanked for volunteering her time in Louisiana.

See Debbie Nard for tickets and information about the Murder Mystery event on Friday,November 4 th .

Adjourn

Motion to adjourn meeting. Meeting adjourned at 7:00pm.

The title of the article we are discussing is: Fresno Chief of Police suspends community advisory board. That is not true.

Both the Rev Floyd Harris and Gail Gaston, who are members of the Chief’s Advisory Board have confirmed with me in the last week that the group has not been eliminated. Gail said “the Chiefs Advisory Board is still very much alive. We meet next month, the last Thurs. of every month. The only thing that was changed was the Round Table, rather than wait until the end of the month to voice concerns, the Chief gave us numbers to help get problems solves faster. Many members would wait until the end of the month to voice concerns , this new process will help to get results faster rather than wait until the end of the month.”