Southern Police Commission
Monthly Meeting
September 2, 2009
A public meeting of the Southern Police Commission
was held on Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at the New Freedom Borough
Council Chambers, 49 East High Street, New Freedom PA 17349.
Those present: Richard Buchanan Chairman, John
Peters Commissioner, Edward Molinsky Commissioner, Edward Tinder
Commissioner, James Reedy Commissioner, Ronald McCullough Commissioner,
James Childs Chief of Police and Solicitor Chuck Patterson.
Those absent: Larry Flemmens Vice
Chairman, Jeff Joy
Commissioner, and John LaMartina Commissioner.
Commissioner Jeff Joy arrived at 7:50
p.m. and Commissioner John LaMartina arrived at 8:05 p.m.
Chairman Richard Buchanan called the
meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
Pledge of Allegiance
PUBLIC COMMENTS:
No public comments.
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF AUGUST 5, 2009
Chairman Richard Buchanan asked for a motion to
approve the minutes of August 5, 2009. Commissioner
Edward Tinder made a motion to approve the minutes, seconded by
Commissioner James Reedy.
Motion carried.
REVIEW OF EXPENDITURES FOR AUGUST 2009
After members reviewed the expenditures
from August, Commissioner Edward Molinsky made a motion to approve
checks 6743 through 6787 excluding checks 6748 and 6670 which were
voided and expenditures totaling $94,741.10.
Commissioner Edward Tinder seconded that motion, motion carried.
CHAIRMAN’S ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Chairman Richard Buchanan received an email from
Attorney Gretchen Love and he will discuss the contents of that email
during an executive session.
POLICE CHIEF’S REPORT:
During the month of July
2009 Officers responded to 109
calls in Shrewsbury, 129 calls in New Freedom, 1 call at the Southern
York County School District, 57 calls in Glen Rock, 10 calls in Railroad
and 11 calls outside our jurisdiction.
During the month of July 432.11 hours
were spent in Shrewsbury, 398.48 were spent in New Freedom, 32.37 were
spent in the school district, 188.34 hours were spent in Glen Rock,
15.11 hours were spent in Railroad and 8.12 hours were spent outside our
jurisdiction.
Chief Childs pointed out that calls in
Glen Rock have decreased and calls in Railroad have increased.
New Freedom’s arrests were higher than normal because of the
carnival. He also reported
that officers made two DUI arrests in Shrewsbury Township.
Chief Childs met with the School
District and they advised him that they are making changes to their
system to better locate 911 hang-up calls.
This will help to locate which school and room or area the call
was made.
Chief Childs that the department is
experiencing an increase of calls involving juveniles in Glen Rock and
he feels some of these calls are because our officers were asked to
spend less time patrolling in Glen Rock.
Chief Childs is still on light duty and
his next doctor’s appointment is on September 8th.
When attempting to install the radio on
the motorcycle, it was determined that Harris (the manufacturer of the
radios) did not have a radio that would work on a police motorcycle.
Chief Childs is in the process of locating one that will work and
is waterproof. The cost of
the radio is approximately $1,600.00 and the Chief has applied for a
grant to cover half of this expense and he is asking businesses to
donate money for the remainder.
He is also going to apply the $500.00 donation from Mike O’Dell
from State Farm Insurance towards this expense.
Chief Childs also reported that Officer
Miller was late for work on Saturday, August 29th because he
was helping to fight the four alarm fire in Glen Rock.
Commissioner McCullough wanted to commend Officer Miller for his
assistance in fighting the fire and Officer Teague for his help in
making sure no one was in the homes and from keeping people from
entering the burning homes.
He also commended Detective Goodfellow for his investigation and
determining the origin of the fire.
The New Freedom Recreation Commission
is sponsoring a Safety Program on October 10th.
The Police Department will have some of their equipment on
display and Chief Childs is trying to get the SWAT truck and the Life
Flight helicopter to attend.
After meeting with Wayne McCullough
from the School District, Chief Childs reported that the school is
willing to pay for the D.A.R.E. Program with money that they expect to
receive through stimulus money from the Federal Government.
Chief Childs told them that we will not start the D.A.R.E.
Program until we receive payment.
As of this date the School District has not received any of this
money. Chief Childs also
stated that Officer Ames-Brooker may require surgery and if she does
Lieutenant Boddington would not be available to teach D.A.R.E. because
he would have to cover her shift.
The teachers have also expressed some concerns that the D.A.R.E.
Program cuts into the study time the students should have in order to
get higher scores on the PSSA Tests.
Because of these factors the D.A.R.E. Program is cancelled for
this year.
Chief Childs informed the Commission
that there is a group of people in New Freedom that are carrying guns
and trying to entice the officers to confront them.
Solicitor Patterson explained to the Commission that it is legal
for people to carry guns in public but if they enter a business and the
business owner asks them to leave so they can remove their gun and they
refuse this constitutes trespassing.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
No committee reports.
FINANCE AND BUDGET
Chairman Richard Buchanan did a
presentation which showed an increase in Shrewsbury’s patrol time.
There is also an increase in the cost per capita and time per
capita. It also showed a
decrease in Glen Rock’s time.
Chairman Richard Buchanan also presented a spread
sheet showing the breakdown of uniforms which were purchased for each
officer over the past three years.
On the average a total of $378.00 per year was spent on each
officer for uniforms. This
figure excluded Lieutenant Boddington and Chief Childs.
Chairman Richard Buchanan requested
that Chief Childs get an itemized invoice from Day Chevrolet for the
2009 Ford Truck.
FACILITIES
AND EQUIPMENT
Chief Childs requested that the Commission consider
setting aside money in order to build an office for Administrative
Assistant Miller. He is
proposing that half of the training room be turned into an office for
her because of HIPPA laws all medical records must be locked up.
SOLICITOR’S REPORT
No report.
OLD BUSINESS
Administrative Assistant Miller explained that in
last month’s minutes there was a question about check number 24847 which
was actually check 6742 the number 24847 was actually an invoice memo.
Check number 6714 was voided.
Administrative Assistant Miller
reported that Resolutions 2009-2 and 2009-3 the date that the Municipal
Records Manual was actually approved on December 16, 2008.
Commissioner Edward Molinsky made a motion to amend Resolutions
2009-2 and 2009-3 and Commissioner Jeff Joy seconded that motion.
Motion carried.
NEW BUSINESS
Chairman Richard Buchanan read a letter from the Police
Commission addressed to Glen Rock Borough asking them for their intent
to remain a member, purchase services or withdraw completely by April 1,
2010 and if they decide to purchase services they must give a dollar
amount by September 15, 2010.
Administrative Assistant Miller
presented the 2010 MMO’s for both non-uniformed personnel and police
officers. For the
non-uniformed members the municipal obligation is $6,082.77 and for the
police officers the municipal obligation is $90,557.14.
Commissioner Edward Tinder made a motion to accept the 2010 MMO’s
for non-uniformed and police officers as presented and Commissioner Jeff
Joy seconded that motion.
Motion carried.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
An executive session was called at 8:55 to discuss
contract negotiations and ended at 9:30 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by Commissioner Edward Tinder,
seconded by Commissioner Edward Molinsky to adjourn at 9:32 p.m., motion
carried.
Respectfully submitted and recorded by
Patricia Ann Miller
Administrative Assistant
