Mayor Taylor, members of the City Council and Manager Robinson Regarding: City Council meeting ? July 16, 2020 Agenda item ? F-2 ? Attachment A Staff Report Number: 21-151-CC Recommendation Staff recommends the City Council provide direction to staff on which police reform activities to study and pursue with the Menlo Park police department (MPPD) and how to prioritize such activities Policy Issues This report follows up on discussions the City Council has had related to resident and visitors requests for local police reform 3. Longer term additional action (October 2020 and beyond) B. Explore available models for re-allocating police resources toward social services, such as Eugene, Oregon?s CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On the Streets) program, where a duo of mental health professionals and a medic respond to help people in mental crisis situations. C. Explore models for re-organizing the police department as a public safety department, such as Sunnyvale and Rohnert Park?s combined police, fire and EMT department where officers rotate duties. Report prepared by: Nick Pegueros, Assistant City Manager Dave Bertini, Police Chief Cara Silver, Interim City Attorney As the Fire Chief, I have been following many of your meetings regarding the law enforcement budget, community feedback and reforms very, very closely. As you know, the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, provides critical fire and emergency medical services to its areas in the Town of Atherton, Cities of East Palo Alto and Menlo Park, unincorporated San Mateo County and the SLAC National Accelerator and Laboratories. I was stunned to find these recommendations in this report, not only had no one ever discussed them with us, but specific to item C, I had never heard any member of the Council or general public bring up the ?public safety department?, and/or proposing to combine police with fire and emergency medical services. I immediately called Police Chief Bertini who said that he had not made this recommendation, but rather this had come from Interim City Attorney Silver. I contacted Ms. Silver who explained that this is an ?expensive model?, it really wasn?t a serious proposal and more importantly the concept of evolving the police department into something new, with a progressive name change was important, and more to the point. Here are my points, these are difficult and challenging times! The Fire District enjoys a positive and professional relationship with not only the communities that we proudly serve, along with all of our law enforcement public safety partners, whom we closely work with daily. I would ask that the City Council NOT contemplate becoming a public safety department like Sunnyvale. Policing appears to be challenging enough for the City right now without essentially proposing to dismantle, or separate from a well-functioning Fire District. In regards to item B, has the Council been briefed on the County wide SMART (San Mateo County Mental Health Assessment and Referral Team) policies and specialized response Unit? It seems to me you are in search of a program when one already exists and has since 2005. (See the four attachments) In Summary: It?s both disturbing and disappointing to find these types of recommendations buried within a staff report to the City Council, especially since it involves such a polarizing and controversial set of issues. That said, it would be so very easy as the Fire Chief to write this letter and then just take a big step back, but after 40 years of public service, that would also be both irresponsible and in some ways dishonest, given today?s contentious climate. One of the reasons I have followed these issues so closely is because I have serious safety and operational concerns about what I am hearing and seeing happening to law enforcement agencies, let alone their leadership, morale, effectiveness, duty and/or ability, or desire to act. Simply stated, our firefighters and the community we protect depend upon the police for their safety, security and intervention at times during emergencies so as first responders we can effectively do our important work. There is no substitute for the rule of law in civil society. Firefighters do not have the powers of arrest, the use of force, a formal knowledge of the law and specific training in the use of weapons, nor do we, or would we, want that. I think it?s very important to seek community feedback at this point and time, but I would also strongly suggest and ask that you involve the Fire District in any operational and service delivery issues. I think we could provide real world experiences and value to conversations that involve the effectiveness of needed law enforcement during emergencies, the use and need of mutual aid, a command vehicle, the mobile field force at Facebook and other areas of mutual public safety interest that involves emergency services to the community, especially when it comes to public safety. Respectfully; [cid:image001.jpg_at_(domainremoved) Harold Schapelhouman Fire Chief Menlo Park Fire Protection District | 170 Middlefield Road | Menlo Park, CA 94025 (650) 688-8426 | (650) 323-9129 FAX harolds_at_(domainremoved) Mission Statement: To protect and preserve life and property from the impact of fire, disaster, injury and illness. (image/jpeg attachment: image001.jpg ) application/pdf attachment: Public Safety Proposal - City of Menlo Park - July 16, 2020 - Fire Chiefs Concerns.pdf application/pdf attachment: SMC SMART Team Poicy - EMS Director Approved.pdf application/pdf attachment: SMC SMART Team - Intoxicated Patient.pdf application/pdf attachment: SMC SMART Team - Psychiatric Assessment and Disposition.pdf application/pdf attachment: SMC SMART Team - Pediatric Psychiatric Assessment and Disposition.pdf
