Public Safety Metting Last Night

I was not in attendance, but one of my surrogates/friends has provided us with this fine info:

The PSC is Cordle, Finlayson and Arnett. Also in attendance were the
Mayor, Israel, Paone, and Stankivic from Council. Only two not there were Hoyle
and Shropshire.

There is a website for the PSC. I assume it is off the city page
but didn’t hear that part. Since I didn’t attend tonight to take notes,
probably best to go here for details.

The APD speaker talked about recruiting and difficulties of marketing
(getting sufficient number of applicants to ensure a few get all the way
thru). I think we’re still 20 guys down. Someone from audience asked
about starting salary ($39.6K) and whether that was competitive. They also
asked about numbers serving in Iraq/Afghanistan: 2 (not counted into 20
down).

The AFD chief mentioned that he’s looking for 12 new positions to fill
to compensate for “Kelly” days (extra days off that reduce working week from
56hrs to competitive 42hrs/wk). The APD is currently at full staffing. The
AFD is also looking to replace a truck at $800K (fire truck: carries ladders,
20yr lifespan, $800K – versus fire engine: carries hoses, 15yr lifespan,
$450K). Same member of audience asked about starting salary ($38K???)
which was also competitive, as long as Kelly days included. The new
Annapolis Neck county fire house should help greatly with EMS response
times.

A sergeant spoke on sting operations within city. He carefully
avoided policy opinions, but when Paone rephrased his question to ask how many
cops are taken up by such efforts, the answer was 1 to 3.

There is a nationwide, perhaps international, group that Alderman
Arnett is associated with dealing with common issues and responses to crime
(called IMCA???). I missed much of the detail about this, sorry.

Minor Carter is overseeing a mutli-jurisdictional state effort to
target repeat offenders in city areas. Audience members wanted to see plan
details but got impression this is very much a work in progress. One
audience member complained that effort targets drug users and ignores youths
with guns. Committee member Finlayson said there were other efforts going
on targeting youths. Cordle mentioned how his boss (States Atty Weathersbee) was
looking at the “revolving door” of justice within county, a topic Stankivic was
quite animated about.

The Mayor spoke on a conference of mayors (Baltimore, Trenton, etc.)
she attended where crime was the topic. Seems like many are seeing uptick
in crime. Big push to improve collection, sharing and reporting of data –
and using new techniques such as microstamping (ammunition) for tracing.

I asked a question about reporting of shootings (in relation to media
reports that crime in several standard categories of reporting were down).
Cordle said these were already reported to the extent that they are called in or
identified. Looks like PSC is moving ahead on ideas such as audio
monitoring of gunshots, which would also count such incidents. Mayor says
she is seeking money from state to pay for initiatives (she told me audio system
for a city our size, 7sq miles, is $500K installation and $??K more for
maintenance). Mayor also restated the importance of citizens calling in
reports of gunshots.

PSC meetings will be held in City Hall 3rd Monday of every month and
will be televised.