City Council Minutes 2020 06 16 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes June 16, 2020 Page 5 of 13 The Chief noted there has been a great increase in the need for mental health services in the community. The Department applied for a grant from the State that now pays for a co - responder program for the City. They partnered with the Community Reach Center of Adams County to provide these services to people in the community that might need mental health help. There is a clinician that can respond with officers to incidents where a person is in need of mental health services, addiction help, and information about other resources as needed. The clinician works on site at the Department. The Chief stated it is crucial the Department hear from members of the community if there are issues so they can be addressed. He encouraged community members to contact the Department to learn more and share information about what they would like to see. Councilmember Brown asked how much anti -bias training officers receive and how do we know it is effective. Chief Hayes stated the officers get specific training on this and get more than is required by the State. He added he and the command staff also take the classes to assess their value. He believes his staff would not allow for an officer to act with bias and would report that to their commanders. Councilmember Brown asked if the Department keeps statistics on the race of those receiving tickets. Chief Hayes stated those statistics are not kept but he believes tickets are written about 95% of the time to white individuals. Public Comments Katie Dickinson, 721 Grant Avenue, stated the community should think what investments can be made that reduce crime before the police are needed. She asked about what problems the police handle that could be handled before law enforcement is needed. Rachel Fox, 346 South McKinley Court, stated she knows the police care about the community but she also hears from people of color in the community that are not comfortable voicing their experiences with the police for their own reasons. She would like some facilitated community listening sessions for people to come talk about their experiences and keep the conversation moving forward. Jim Candy, pastor at Ascent Church, stated he has worked with the Police Department over the years and have found them to be very caring about the community regardless of who the people are and what their background might be. He also supported some facilitated dialogue. Sherry Sommer, 910 South Palisade Court, asked what the community can do to help the officers stay healthy in the time of COVID.