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Public Safety Commission Resolution PassedPSC Meeting June 7th
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June 9th, 2010 -
Report to the Mayor and the City
Council City of Austin
Your Public Safety
Commission met Monday, June 7 at
4:00 p.m. in the Boards and Commissions meeting room. We had one item
on the
agenda requiring a vote of the Commission and updates from Chief Al
Eells on
the public safety cameras and grant activity from the three
Departments,
Police EMS and Fire. We heard citizen concerns on our Commission
efforts, the
cameras and grant efforts by departments. Several citizens came and
provided
prepared testimony on the existence of various crimes in their
neighborhoods
and urged us to address needs for policing resources. We noted their
concern
of safety in their neighborhoods, their fear of crime and their
concerns
about the relative response of police.
This meeting and this
one action agenda item
represents the culmination of a great deal of effort on the part of
the
Public Safety Commission and all persons and groups involved with the
Commission. I think the recommendation speaks cautiously yet directly
to
concerns we have about ensuring the public safety of all in Austin .
Austin
today is increasingly a national and an international city. We are the
capital of the nation's second largest state that even in very
difficult
economic times sets a pace and a model for others in the United States
and
North America . Texas is the nation's leading exporting state and our
educational and research institutions are recognized and are an
important
resource in Europe, Asia and the Middle East . Yet we are also faced
not
simply with local crime but with a frightening level of civic
deterioration
along our border and in many parts of Mexico as well as Central
America .
Never in the past has Austin been as susceptible to public safety
threats
that originate far from the city's limits and this emerging reality
was
reflected in our findings and this motion.
We
passed one motion unanimously to
endorse measured and focused increases in resources to Police, Fire
and EMS
in the coming fiscal year. These recommended increases are based upon
public
testimony in our meetings in December, January, March, April and
May by our Departments, the
presidents of
the three associations of public safety employees and substantial
public
testimony about safety matters. The testimony we received this spring
included expert testimony from three major Federal and State entities
(FBI,
DEA and DPS) that work with our Public Safety Departments.
____________________________________________________________________________
The Austin Public Safety
Commission's recommendations for public safety departments' funding in
the
2010/2011 City of Austin budget.
These are our
recommendations for Police, EMS and Fire. The timing for
additional funding in each of these recommendations reflects the
Commission's
concerted attempt to balance the public safety needs of the community
with
the recognized realities of funding resources in each upcoming budget.
Police
Austin police
chief Art Acevedo testified before the Commission that APD is 500
officers
short of what a city the size of Austin, both in terms of population
and
geography, must have to serve effectively the community. Austin now
has
approximately 1.5 officers per thousand population, while Houston ,
Dallas ,
San Antonio and Fort Worth have between 2.5 and 3.5. The PSEM
consolidation
(airport police and park rangers) into APD impacts the officers per
thousand
population calculation as these additional officers also brought with
them
responsibilities that had to be assumed by APD. Significant annual
increases in both emergency and non-emergency calls have caused
unacceptably
long response times with the attendant stress on the system. In
calendar year
2009 APD had 41,915 emergency calls, with an average response time of
7:51, and 327,523 non-emergency calls with an average response time
22:55,
for a total of 369,438 calls for service. Taking a mandatory proactive
approach and looking forward, without additional resources, there
obviously
will be increases in response times because of increased call volume.
The
effect of this shortfall of officers is seen in the number of fatal
and
critical injury accidents (which are falling in the rest of the
country), in
the absolute number of residential and commercial burglaries, and of
burglaries of vehicles. Vandalism and graffiti plague our
neighborhoods.
The best deterrent to all of this is high police visibility, which is
impossible with so few officers. "Community Policing", especially in
working
with kids to keep them out of gangs, is also not a reality because the
department is so understaffed that patrol officers only have enough
time to
go from call to call. The average response time to even the highest
priority
calls is too high. At the April meeting the Commission heard testimony
from
representatives of the FBI, DEA, DPS and APD regarding the increasing
gang/drug cartel challenge in Austin, with an associated increase in
violent
and property crimes, and that Austin has been designated a High
Intensity
Drug Area (HIDA) by the office of National Drug Control Policy. The
DEA
resident agent in charge recently informed the commission chair
Lauderdale
that in order to obtain maximum benefit from the High Intensity Drug
Area (HIDA)
designation, the Austin Police Department will be called upon to
support the
HIDA task force with dedicated officers, thus stretching the already
scarce
APD personnel even further. He does not change his opinion from his
testimony
that drug and cartel activity is increasing significantly in Austin .
All of these factors have led the Commission to have
as a primary
recommendation increasing APD's authorized manpower strength by
50
officers effective March 1, 2011, and by 50 officers effective
September
30, 2011. By January 1, 2011, APD should create and complete a
blueprint of
data and judgments, to provide justification for the likely
increases in
future budget years in APD's authorized strength with on-going
analysis
of the following factors: (1) Reported crime; (2) Emergency
calls; (3)
All calls for police service; (4) Existing and projected
population
growth and demographic changes in Austin and the surrounding
metropolitan area, combined with the commuting patterns into
Austin that
increases Austin's actual population during various
day-parts; and
(5) Existing and projected crime patterns, most especially
organized crime and gang/cartel activity, which is important if
Austin
is to have a mandatory proactive, anticipatory rather than
reactive
budgeting process for law enforcement. The data and subsequent
analysis
should provide an empirical foundation for a ratio of officers to
citizens of greater than 2.5 officers per 1,000 people (looking
at the
total population which will always be greater than the number of
Austin
residents) as a minimum required for an effective police
department. We anticipate this blueprint will support the need
for the higher
ratio than currently exists and the Commission recommends a
Council
resolution to make similar increases in APD's authorized strength
in the
2011/2012, 2012/2013, 2013/2014, and 2014/2015 budgets, or more
quickly
as need indicates and funding resources are available. We urge
APD to
investigate all technologies to improve performance, build public
trust
and control costs. (One opportunity to control costs would be
partnering
with Travis County 's Starflight program for pilots, mechanics
and
hangering facilities for APD's helicopter operation.)
EMS
The 2010/2011 budget must fund staff and equipment
for 24 hour
coverage Medic units for the Harris Ridge station (Medic 29) and
for the
Harris Branch station (Medic 32). Units had been in these
stations, but
funded by Travis County until facilities could be built to
accommodate
these units. The County stations have been built, and are now
occupied
by the units that had been placed on a temporary basis in the
Harris
Ridge and Harris Branch stations. In order to continue to provide
EMS
coverage for the neighborhoods in the first response territories
of the
Harris Ridge and Harris Branch stations, EMS has continued to
staff
these stations with overtime personnel. It is important to
emphasize
that both the Harris Ridge and the Harris Branch stations must be
Medic
units, and not "Demand" units, to insure protection on a 24 hour
basis
for their surrounding neighborhoods. Construction is scheduled to
be
completed in July 2010 for joint use EMS/Fire station to serve
the
annexed Avery Ranch area, and a Medic unit for this station
should
funded in the 2010/2011 budget. A "Demand" unit must be funded to go into operation
on April 1,
2011, to assist in the department's efforts to reduce response
times for
emergency medical calls, and reduce the need for moving Medic
units out
of their first response territories during expected high call
volume
time frames. This is an economical way to manage both call volume
loads
throughout a 24 hour period and the critical issue of paramedic
fatigue.
Reducing the need to move units around the system's coverage area
during
high call volume periods will also reduce fuel costs and vehicle
maintenance and replacement costs. Because of the system's increasing call volume,
along with issues
relating to paramedic safety issues and to be able to provide
instructions to callers on how to manage patients until an EMS
unit
arrives (initiating CPR, controlling bleeding, delivering babies,
opening obstructed airways, etc.), three additional communication
medics
should be added for the EMS dispatch center. The Commission
noted that EMS paramedics voted to decline a contracted pay increase,
providing the City $2,300,000 over a three year period, on the
assumption
that the money would be used to provide necessary improvement in the
EMS
system. Also, EMS fees were increased which was expected to add over
$4,000,000
in additional revenue to the City's general fund on an annual basis.
Yet a
unit was not placed in the 2009/2010 budget despite increasing call
volume.
Thus no unit has been added since the 2006/2007 budget.
Fire
Many buildings
in the City, such as apartment buildings and homes, were built under
construction and fire codes that have proven to be inadequate, as seen
in the
number of working fires. With a large percentage of these fires,
battalion
chiefs require only additional manpower and not additional apparatus,
but the
only way to get this additional manpower is by pulling units out
of their first response territories and also moving other units out of
their first response territories to provide backup coverage, resulting
in increased response times for fire and medical calls that occur in
the
neighborhoods covered by the stations whose units have been moved. In
addition, fires that occur in the new high rise residential buildings
would
require significant manpower resources. Because of the potential need
for
significant manpower at any working fire, a large number of engine and
ladder
companies are sent on all alarms. To reduce the increased response
times in
the first alarm territories in all of these situations due to
dispatching so
many units only because of the need for manpower and not apparatus,
the
Commission recommends the following:
three additional communication
medics
should be added for the EMS dispatch center. Four person staffing is critical in situations involving
civilians and/or firefighters entrapped in burning structures, as
it
allows for a significantly greater opportunity for a successful
outcomes
in such situations. There are three special operations/rescue/hazmat
units with two
firefighter staffing. Placing two additional firefighters on each
of
these units would allow the units to assume if necessary the
manpower
responsibility of a ladder company, thus reducing the need for a
ladder
company, with its manpower and technical expertise, to be
dispatched on
first and additional alarm fires. Therefore funding for
increasing from
two to four fighters on the three rescue units should occur for
one of
these units on September 30 of each of the next three budget
years.
911
Center
Response times
for APD, EMS and AFD are impacted by inadequate staffing in the 911
communications center because of delays in a caller being able to
reach a 911
call taker who has the responsibility of transferring requests for EMS
and
APD to those dispatch centers, as well as taking information for APD
responses. This deficit must be addressed as soon as possible. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ These are difficult
times and our City is faced with
increased rates of crime, high call volume for Fire and EMS services,
stubborn traffic congestion and potential future problems coming from
the
growth of Austin and its visibility across the nation. We are a city
visited
by hundreds of thousands of people every year and with a growing host
of
business, cultural and recreational activities that have an
international
component. This success that the City enjoys derives from having
neighborhoods,
business and governmental settings that are safe. To continue this
desired
balance of tradition and innovation requires us to address fundamental
shortfalls that are developing in public safety resources. We have
therefore
concluded even in this difficult financial time that we must address
these
shortfalls as the increased expenditures represent investments in our
future. We expect public
safety issues including assessing
adequate preparation of the City's resources and the conduct of
members of
these City Public Safety resources will continue to be important
public
concerns.
Michael
Lauderdale Chair Public
Safety Commission
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