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HomeMy WebLinkAbout050421-05.1 STUDY MEMORANDUM 5.1 TO: Town Council May 4, 2021 FROM: Allan Shields, Police Chief Joseph A. Calabrigo, Town Manager SUBJECT: Selection and Training of Sworn Staff assigned to the Danville Police Department INTRODUCTION The Police Chief provides the Town Council with biannual updates related to police activities including community outreach, crime prevention, tracking of part one crimes and introduction of new law enforcement personnel that will be serving in Danville. In response to recent questions received by the Town Council, this memorandum highlights how law enforcement personnel are selected as well as training received by all sworn personnel as a prerequisite to serving in Danville. This information will be presented to Council as part of the May 4, 2021 Town Council meeting. BACKGROUND Since Danville incorporated in 1982, police services have been provided through a contract with the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office. This has been a positive relationship that has delivered a high level of service and helped strengthen relationships with the community. As a part of the contract, the Sheriff’s Office provides well trained and professional law enforcement officers, dispatch services, crime lab, and administration services to include Internal Affairs. Sworn personnel are selected to serve the Town by the Chief of Police and the selection methods may be reviewed by the Town Manager. Sworn personnel with the Danville Police Department receive formal training as members of the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff. Among the many specialized training topics, a Deputy-Sheriff would receive throughout their career, sworn officers receive specific training in de-escalation techniques, bias awareness, and cultural diversity. Police Department Selection and Training 2 May 4, 2021 DISCUSSION I. Selection of Sworn Personnel The Chief of Police must be either a Lieutenant or Captain in the Sheriff’s Office, ensuring that they have years of command experience in a variety of roles before assuming the role of Chief. Since 1982, Danville has had six Police Chiefs. The Chief selects a command staff including one administrative lieutenant and six sergeants, as well as all individual officers. Sheriff’s deputies (officers) selected have prior experience with the Sheriff’s Office before coming to work in Danville. Officer selections are based not only on their prior experience (patrol, investigations, school resource officers, etc.) but also on their ability to provide service in a manner consistent with the Town’s values and mission statement. Officers serve for a minimum of two years, though many stay much longer. Officers who qualify for promotion and return to the Sheriff’s Office, frequently return to the Town in their new supervisory role after gaining additional experience at the county. When the Danville Police Department has a vacant sworn officer position: • The opening is advertised to all sworn Contra Costa County Sheriff’s employees. • Applicants are required to be patrol qualified, meaning that they have already passed a basic police academy, usually have served within the capacity as a jail deputy and have passed the rigorous standards of the Office of the Sheriff patrol training program. Most applicants have several years of training and experience prior to submitting their request to serve with the Danville Police Department. • Of those qualified applicants that apply for the opening: o The Police Chief and Administrative Lieutenant conduct interviews of each applicant to determine suitability and fit for the Town. o The Police Chief or Administrative Lieutenant review each applicant’s personnel file. o The Police Chief or Administrative Lieutenant interview the supervisors or managers for each applicant to determine suitability and fit for the position. o Each applicant is evaluated using the following criteria: ▪ Must meet minimum qualifications for the position. ▪ Job performance, skills and abilities relevant to the position. ▪ Training and education. Police Department Selection and Training 3 May 4, 2021 ▪ Sick leave usage. ▪ Seniority. ▪ Current assignment. • Deputies are not required to work in Danville unless no applicants apply, at which point, based on seniority, a deputy is assigned for a short period of time. A deputy has not been required to work in Danville for at least the last 10 years. Each time the Department has openings, well qualified applicants have applied. II. Sworn Personnel Training: All officers assigned to Danville, from the Chief to patrol officers, receive extensive, ongoing training through the Sheriff’s Office. In an effort to be transparent with the community, our Police Department has provided links for residents to documents on policy and training on the Department website. Crisis Intervention and De-Escalation Training - All Danville police officers have received Crisis Intervention and De-Escalation training, both of which continue as part of in-service training conducted by the Sheriff’s Office. Principled Policing - In-Service and Academy - All sworn employees attend/have attended the 8-hour Principled Policing class. This class is also now part of the Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Training Center (LETC) Academy Curriculum, and every academy recruit receives this training prior to graduation. Principled Policing Summary of Course - This course melds the principles of Procedural Justice and Implicit Bias to create a broad awareness of these two important concepts. Law enforcement can improve trust and relationships between law enforcement agencies and their communities by using these principles to evaluate their policies, procedures, and training within their departments. In addition, developing an understanding of these two concepts enable law enforcement to improve safety and well-being for the public and law enforcement alike. Crisis Intervention and De-Escalation Training In-Service - All sworn employees attend/have attended this 8-hour course as part of the 2017-18 Advanced Officer Cycle. The Sheriff’s Office Defensive Tactics instructors also provide Crisis Intervention and De-Escalation training as part of their on-going defensive tactics program. In-Service Racial Diversity and Cultural Diversity Training - The California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) requires Racial Diversity and Cultural Diversity training every 5 years. This training was last Police Department Selection and Training 4 May 4, 2021 conducted as part of our 2018 Advanced Officer Cycle. Academy Cultural Diversity - Every graduate of the LETC Academy receives 19 hours of Cultural Diversity training. Academy Victimology and Crisis Intervention - Every graduate of the LETC Academy receives 6.5 hours of Victimology and Crisis Intervention training. In addition to the training that sworn staff receive, the policies and procedures of the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff include: • Equality of enforcement (being fair and impartial and without prejudice when delivering services) • Constitutional Rights (employees shall respect and protect the rights of the public) • Unbecoming Conduct (we must secure the public trust and our higher standard expectation of our employees) • Crowd Control (outlines the public’s right to demonstrate and our duty to remain unbiased) The Policies and Procedures as well as the course curriculum for the classes summarized above can be found on the Sheriff’s Principled Policing web page: https://www.cocosheriff.org/community-information/principled-policing III. Responding to Citizen Complaints Citizen complaints are handled per the Sheriff’s General Policy and Procedure 1.06.80. • Complaints may be made anonymously and can be received verbally or in writing. • When a complaint is received, a Police Sergeant, the Administrative Lieutenant or the Police Chief will attempt to resolve it directly with the citizen. • When a complaint rises to the level of an Internal Affairs complaint, the complaint is processed by the Sheriff’s Office Internal Affairs Unit. o The Internal Affairs Unit is directly overseen by the Sheriff and Undersheriff. o When an Internal Affairs complaint is filed, an investigation occurs. • The Sheriff reviews the final report and approves the findings. • Each citizen's report will be examined on its own merit. Should a citizen's report involve an allegation of improper action by a member or members of the Sheriff’s Office there are four possible findings which will result from our investigation: Police Department Selection and Training 5 May 4, 2021 o Sustained: the investigation disclosed sufficient evidence to clearly prove the allegation; o Not sustained: the investigation failed to disclose sufficient evidence to clearly prove or disprove the allegation; o Unfounded: the investigation has produced sufficient evidence to prove that the act or acts complained of did not occur as alleged; o Exonerated: the acts which provided the basis for the allegation occurred; however, investigation revealed that the acts were justified, lawful, and proper. • Should the investigation indicate improper actions by a member of the department, the Sheriff will take corrective action in accordance with the policies and procedures and may include counseling, retraining, or disciplinary action. • The citizen making the report is notified by the Sheriff upon completion of the investigation. Further information on the handling of Citizen’s Reports can be found on the Sheriff’s web page: https://www.cocosheriff.org/community-information/citizen- complaint-form. The preceding training supports the Town’s underlying philosophy of community policing and how the department wants to provide service. Despite the fact that Danville currently has the lowest police staffing ratio (based upon the number of officers per thousand of population) among all nineteen of the cities in Contra Costa County, the Police Department is able to provide a very high level of service to the community. Developing and maintaining positive relationships with all members of the community is integral to earning the community’s trust and working in partnership with our residents and businesses to keep the Town safe. Our Police Chief and our officers are always open to community feedback and suggestions on ways to better serve the community and meet expectations for effective policing.