Madam Chair. 671 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
Also I have one more question. Is it true that the only ones eligible for the drug treatment program are the drug dealers?
No, no. When we evaluate people, they have to be a user. They play deal to support their habit, but they are not major players.
Is it true? The ones who are selling drugs get that treatment?
Only if they're users as well as sellers. In other words, if they're just selling without being a user, they stay in jail. I don't deal with sellers. Not unless they're using, Councilwoman.
They're users. They're eligible for the programs. Again, they have to be 672 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 evaluated. They have to be motivated, they have to be evaluated clinically.
On top of Councilwoman Krajewski's request for information, I want to know if information is available that any prisoner that was released against the recommendations of the Bail Commission -- the Bail Commissioner makes a recommendation on a prisoner, a prisoner can't make bail, they go through a process, ultimately wind up in your office for review, non-violent offender. Of those offenders, how many were rearrested again on a another charge, a separate charge, within 30 days of your office's decision to release that individual? What I get is anecdotal information from the Bail Commissioner that says when a prisoner is rearrested and comes before them again, the bail 673 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 commissioner says, "I remember you. I just put, you know, $50,000 bail on you. How did you get out. Who paid your bail?" The common phrase is "God paid my bail." I don't know if "God" is referring to you or your office. The question I have is we all make mistakes and decisions analysis based on the prison cap and other things that force us into these positions that none of us want to make, but of those people you say "that's a good shot, let's give them a chance," restrictions, how many within 30 days are rearrested?
Let me clarify the record. First of all, if a defendant has $50,000 set bail accused of something, I won't even look at,, that's number one. Number two, I don't make this decision unilaterally. This is done in a setting where there is a trial commissioners who out ranks bail commissions. The District Attorney sends a representative, the court system from pretrial from adult probation and parole, the prison system is present, the Public Defender is present. All we do is present people who are eligible under the 674 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 guidelines. I don't make the decision to release these people; I'm not a judicial officer. A judicial makes that decision.
A trial commissioner. Either the Municipal Court or Court of Common Pleas, depending upon the week.
The request I have is of those people who have worked their way through that system wind up being presented to the appropriate judicial official and then are released against the recommendations of the bail commissioner --
This is not really an appeal process. Understand that the Trial Commission are outranks the Bail Commissioner.
But in effect it is an appeal of the bail that was set by the Bail Commissioner based on circumstances in the prison system and what is presented to the Trial Commissioner.
No, it's a review that's based upon the criteria which I'm going to supply for Councilwoman Krajewski. That's all it is. A 675 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 lot of these people do not get released upon presentation.
My addendum to her request is of the people who make it through and get released as a result of this process, how many within 30 days have been rearrested on other charges?
Thank you, Madam President. Just a minute. I have several questions, but in the interest of time, I won't ask them of this department, but of those departments as they come forward. But there are a couple things I do want to talk about now. In the KIDS Initiative, what are the plans for children between the ages of 14 and 18 that really won't be going to a traditional after-school program? We were wondering if those 676 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 activities were going to include maybe as a volunteer or paid tutor or some type of after-school work or just what?
One of the reasons that we're trying to look at this as an integrated exercise now as opposed to just putting money in a couple departments, is to actually put forth a plan to look for after-school activities, not programs necessarily, for all children including that to 18-year-old group who may not -- for 12 whom some youngsters just aren't going to go to 13 the library or to a recreation center for baseball 14 or basketball, they're going to need and want something different. One of the reasons for beginning to look at this as a system as opposed to just on a single department was so we could begin to brainstorm and plan for the full battery of youngsters who may need this level of support as opposed to just some. We are preparing also to look at summer camp first, since that's fast-approaching us. But we also want to put together a comprehensive plan. We haven't done this before. We will try to make it as inclusive as possible in bringing people both from the 677 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 neighborhood, hopefully representatives of Council and other people who are involved and know children as well as members of this Administration who will be working with me.
Right, because I think I have some ideas particularly for that teenage group.
The other question I have is regarding prisons. Dianne, I didn't get Diane's last name.
On my way home from work yesterday, I was really distressed to hear that a 12-year-old was certified as an adult. And immediately what comes to mind, and I'd also received some correspondence in my office maybe a few weeks ago regarding the other 11-year-old who is now housed in a Philadelphia prison, and I wanted to know what is it going to be like or what is it like particularly for the 11-year-old? I heard she's in the infirmary, she's housed in the infirmary. I guess I just wanted some data right 678 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 now, some preliminary data on how many young people are certified as adults that we have right now in the Philadelphia prison? When I say right now, I don't mean you have to give the numbers right this minute, but -- well, the Prisons come up today. I forgot. But anyway, before it's all over. And what are they charged with? Just emotionally I believe that 12- and 11-year-old children incarcerated in these prisons, they won't get the nurturing, the hands-on touch. They will become -- I believe the correctional officers will now become their parents, you know, their mother and father, and I just --
Councilwoman, I've particularly looked into the 12-year-old that we've had there the last several months and was informed by the Prison Commissioner today that the second 12-year-old will be in a room next door to hers. But the circumstances surrounding both of both of these and the support and mental health services they need is significant. We're trying to provide that support to the prison system. We would prefer not having 12-year-olds within an adult prison in somewhat of isolation because they 679 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 are housed separately and apart. So this is one of the activities that I will be looking in. Again, it's an integrative activity. How do we begin to work with these youngsters around all of their issues that cause them to be in this circumstance, and would be glad to get the rest of that information to you regarding the details.
Thank you. One last thing, will the Partners for Progress Program continue and Operation Sunrise continue as separate from the blight elimination or will they all just be combined?
That's part of the greater discussion going on right now and whether or not it makes more sense to combine them. Right now they operating independently or they're working cooperatively with. Partners works cooperatively with Operation Sunrise, but it still is stand-alone operation. Should we continue to let it stand alone? Should it be part of the Blight Initiative? Should we expand Partners? I mean, all of those discussions are now taking place. It's probably going to be a little bit of time before we work it all out. 680 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
In your organizational chart, I know you're going to give it to you us, but you have Commissioner Richman -- is it commissioner or secretary now?
Will there be other directors over the City service and a director for the --
All right. Do you anticipate savings to the City by the combination of these different duties and responsibilities? 681 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
I'm not sure we'll anticipate savings, but we anticipate better coordination of activities.
Okay. So, now, how will we interface with -- if I want something from the Health Department, Social Services Department, can I just go directly to those commissioners or should I deal with my commissioner there at the table, my director?
As we begin to reorganize ourselves, if the issue around policy, budget, or planning, I would appreciate it if you will call me. If it's an operational issue directly, I think you should call the commissioner.
Now, Mr. Martz, I wanted to say this to you: I have a letter here from some of my neighbors up near Cedarbrook and Durham who sent a letter to the Streets Department thanking them, the first time they had ever seen a snowplow on their block. (Laughter.)
Since we're up in the Northwest section of Philadelphia are considered part of the Montgomery County when it 682 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 comes to snow because we get the northwest snow and we really have a lot of snow and the snow was there until the rain came. You wouldn't believe you were in Philadelphia. So we did get a few complaints along my commercial corridor, Wadworth and Ogontz Avenue, not a lot, didn't get a lot of complains. I wanted to let you know we did get a thank you letter.
Overall we were able to move, but when we get large snow storms like that, just think of us as being in Montgomery County, we need a little extra support up there so we can get out and we have a lot of small streets and even some of our large streets could have been done a little better.
Thank you. I can't find my notes. I think some of questions I had have been answered, particularly about Partners for Progress. Does that 683 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 department, the services from the Partners for Progress targeted for certain sections of the City or can that program or is that program administered or provided to all of the neighborhoods in Philadelphia?
Right now we've basically targeted Operation Sunrise as the primary area that we've been using Partners to go out and deal with individual issues. So yeah, we're not targeting the way we had in one census track like we did in the beginning. What we'll do is if need us for a few days in a certain area, we'll go over for a few days over there. What I've asked our people to do is to get back into a more traditional line like we had in the beginning. What resources do you need to put Partners back on the map as a full-time operation instead of to part-time operations essentially?
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Do you plan to deploy the Anti-graffiti Program on a constant basis throughout the commercial strips? I notice that, you know, you wept through Broad Street from the stadium to Cheltenham and removed the graffiti, which really mad a difference. 684 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
Okay, I'll wait until he comes then. Thank you very much.
Just so you know, with the cold weather sometimes our ability to do some of the removal using high pressure water is reduced because we just can't get out there as much in the really cold weather.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Nutter.
And Director of Social Services Richman. Mr. Martz I have one question which revolves around the fence issue. First, let me say there's a young lady behind the rail who probably should get hazardous duty pay for the number of phone calls that she gets from me regarding fence requests, and I believe that 685 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Frankie Hughes would probably go to a supply house and get some cyclone fence just to get me to leave her alone with regard to those particular requests. (Laughter.)
But a situation seems to have arisen somewhere toward the tail-end of last year with regards to some funding issues and just kind of the state of the fence program, and I'd like to get a sense from you of where things are with regard to fence requests. As best I've been able to figure out, it seems to be pretty much lodged in the Managing Director's Office as oppose to over at L&I. Can you tell me what the status of the program is?
Unfortunately, I can't tell you exactly how many outstanding requests we have for fencing right now. I'll have to get back to you privately or share it with the Council President.
I wasn't necessarily asking how many outstanding requests we have, but your response may be an indication of -- is there activity going on? I mean, are we 686 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 doing fences presently?
I can't answer that question right now, Councilman. I wish I could. In the grander scheme, I do think that it is part of the overall Blight Program that we're talking about. Some aspect of the money in each community is going to be spent the way the people in that community want to spend the money. If that means more use of lot fencing, then we're going to do just that.
All right. For the moment, I'll just kind of deal with that. On the other hand, I mean, we won't be able to do blight removal or fences or whatever is going to come out of the program everywhere all at one time. There are people who are dealing with real-live situations where we have come in at the neighbors' request, at the community's request, and removed an abandoned building that was presenting a danger that it might collapse, which is great. We take the building down, we stucco the side wall or walls, and then we leave, which then leaves that neighbor with a new problem which is in addition to the fact that the druggies and the crazies and 687 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 all the other knuckleheads that were breaking into the house and causing the problem, and maybe burn it down because, you know, their crack wasn't right or whatever their problem was, we dealt with that. Now all they do is congregate in the new side yard that we provided for them and have access to the back of the person's house. They are now completely unprotected, whereas the building provided some level of protection, although people were breaking into it, now they have a new problem. What we basically tell them today is, we took the abandoned building down and it won't fall on you, but if people want to be in your backyard, that's your problem. I mean, I can't necessarily wait until, you know, kind of the next program comes on line for those folks. I mean, it's a very serious issue.
We had a fence program and until we know what the next program is going to be, I'd like to see if we could have some dollars made available in the course of this fiscal year that would allow us to do some work.
Yes, I understand what you 688 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 mean, and I will look into it.
Mr. Martz would you let us know what the policy is going to be between now and the Blight Program being implemented, please?
So that we could all send you our lists. (Laughter.)
Thank you, Madam President. First, let me join my colleagues in saying hats off to you. Your sense of commitment resonates. So I'm excited that I come at a time when departments are talking to each other and children and youth are up on the radar screen in a real tangible way with teeth in it in terms of coordination of budget and programs. As you move to shaping this comprehensive child policy for our 689 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 City, please remember the public schools. And I know that that's another big elephant, but those two worlds are very much alike in terms of constituency so at some juncture, they need to be a part of that overall agenda.
Secretary Kahn and I plan to work together and have already begun to plan jointly begin to talk about the after-school programs in the Office of Child Care, so we will be working closely together.
Very well. The after-school programs becomes a real close opportunity for that. And I, too, will look forward to the KIDS information that you'll be sending to the Chair as well as the table of organization to see where there might be a relationship between KIDS and the Office of Child Care as well. -46 of the budget, I notice that there's a federal grant of $50,000 for the child advocacy project and it says that the grant will provide counseling services to the families of homicide victims. Just brief us on that, if you would. First of all, is that new, is that a. . . 690 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
I don't know a lot about that program at this point, but I will be able to get you some information on it and we will make sure we can complete that.
Terrific. Town Watch. My experience is that Town Watch works and, of course, I looked at that budget item, too, to see if there was a decrease or not. There was not a decrease, that's the good news. The funding level is stable. And so, we know that they work. What have you considered -- there's some public schools that have active safe corridor programs. And again, in an attempt to ensure that the different worlds are talking to each other as it relates to kids, if you haven't, consider thinking through how the safe corridors programs that are currently in place at some of our public schools can become a part of an extension of the Town Watch programs.
Councilwoman, Anthony just informed me that they actually have been meeting 691 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 about extending the Town Watch program to the safe corridor program.
Wonderful. So at some juncture we'll get some feedback on how that's coming along. Very well. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you. Councilman Goode, would you mind putting Councilman Ortiz's light off, please. I don't believe he's in the room, and it's very distracting. Are there any other questions from members of the committee? (No further questions.)
And again, thank you for your patience. The next department to be called is the Police Department. (Police Department witnesses come forward.) 692 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
Good afternoon, gentlemen. Please identify yourself for the record and proceed with your testimony. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Good afternoon, Council President Verna and members of the City Council. I am John F. Timoney, Police Commissioner. With me today --
Excuse me, Commissioner. I think you deserve a little more respect than that. Excuse me, the people in the back of the room that having a conversation, please do so in the corridor. Thank you. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Thank you, Madam Chair. With me today is the First Deputy Commissioner, Sylvester Johnson, and sitting next to me is Deputy Commissioner Nestel, also in the audience is Deputy Commissioner Brown and Deputy Commissioner Norris and some other staff members who will be available for any questions that I can't answer. 4 million. 6 million more than 693 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 the estimated obligation in FY 2000. 8 million; and 5 million in additional personnel and equipment costs associated with the RNC Convention coming up. The General Fund request will provide 6,903 uniformed officers, including three classes of 120 recruits each, 974 civilians, 1,000 school crossing guards. Another 113 officers are assigned to the airport, which brings our total sworn personnel to 7,016, the highest number of police officers in over 12 years. 4 percent. However, these budgets increases have allowed our department to embark on and sustain some significant changes to its exists operations. 694 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 I'm happy to report the changes that we have implemented so far over the past few years have begun to have a real impact. Since 1997, homicides have decreased by nearly 30 percent to lowest level in years. The number of arrests 7 have increased by 20 percent, and the number of 8 narcotics arrests have doubled. 9 The department's FY 2000 General Fund 10 budge request is sufficient to continue the of the 11 department's ongoing program as well as provide 12 for new equipment purchases and launch new 13 programs. The focus the department in FY 2001 14 will continue to include strong emphasis on 15 narcotics enforcements gun control. In addition, the budget will allow the department to begin building the Police Integrated Information Network, which is a computer system that will automate incident reporting processes and all internal affairs investigations. The department is also working with the Managing Director's Office and Licenses and Inspections to increase the number of abandon vehicles towed each year. As I said before, we have made significant progress in the last two years and 695 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 particularly in the last year. Homicides decreased for a second year. Last year they were down by appears from 338 to 296. 5 The arrest activity, as I say, is up 6 over 20 percent over the last two years, 3 percent 7 last year up to a total of 77,000-plus. Our 8 narcotics arrests over the last two years rose 9 from a little over 10,000; 10,500 to over 22,000 10 in 1999. 11 The operation Sunrise which was 12 referenced earlier has resulted in confiscation of 13 $6 million worth of drugs, almost 1 million in 14 cash which was confiscated and the arrest and seizure of 234 firearms. Additionally, last year we began Operation Ceasefire, which is a joint effort between our department, the Federal Attorney, the DA, and the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms where we target folks arrested for gun possession and some other felony charge target and we target them for federal prosecution. We did 66 of those cases in 1998. Last year we went up to 231. We've also establish a gun tracking and permit unit which is now supervised by a captain 696 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 in headquarters where we take much more aggressive approach to revoking gun permits for those who are engaged in criminal activity. And so for example, last year we revoked the gun permits of 303 individuals, which was a 49 percent increase over 1998. S. Marshall's Task Force. Just in the last 11 months of that warrant unit being in effect, we have arrested and brought back to justice slightly under 1,000 people who had absconded from justice.
We have reorganized the special victims unit which I know has gotten quite a bit coverage in the press over last six months, and I'm sure there will be some questions on that. The abandoned vehicles is an issue that comes up all the time. It's something that under the Street administration working with the Managing Director's office and Licenses and Inspections, the Mayor soon wil announce and all-encompassing plan. Nonetheless, even last year with a renewed emphasis, we increased our 697 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 tows of abandoned vehicles by some 14,000, from 22,000 in 1998 to above 35,000 last year. We're also in planning stages for the last six months for Republican National Convention which is coming into town in late July, early August. This department took a very proactive stance on the issue of racial profiling which is an issue that has come across the American law enforcement landscape, and I'm proud to say we have been one of the leaders in facing up to the issue the racial paroling, putting into place systems that mitigate against it, recognizing that race is an issue in policing, creating additional training and creating a training video for every police officer in this department. That video and the corresponding protocols have been requested by over two dozen police departments across the country. And just last week at another conference of legislative chiefs, there were some additional requests and a great deal of talk on this whole issue. Our training at the academy has been completely overhauled and enhanced and the 698 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 training has been expanded from five months to just under nine months now. The total hours went from 449 hours to over 1,050. We are as much as possible utilizing technology in a whole variety of ways, including enhanced 911 system, our crime mapping system, and our on-line complaint system and a whole bunch of other systems to get more timely accurate information that helps us in our fight on crime. The Police Aviation Unit which, quite frankly, I was not necessarily a big fan of coming into Philadelphia, I've become a huge fan because we've used them much more effectively in operational, whether it's assisting in making arrests or in reducing the need for police vehicles to engage in high-speed pursuits. The Aviation Unit has performed tremendously over the last year and a half. We've also embarked upon an enhanced upgrading of police facilities, along with developing with the Managing Director's Office and Property Division the first of a nationally accredited forensic laboratory which should be in about two years up and running. 699 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 There's a whole host of other programs which I'm sure we'll get into during questioning, such as our anti-truancy unit, the videotaping of homicides cases now, and a whole host of changes in protocols regarding our integrity unit within the department. The internal affairs unit has been completely reorganized under a deputy commissioner now reporting directly to me, Deputy Commissioner Norris. We have the Quality Assurance Bureau set up, we have the Integrity Control Unit which goes out and make sure that officers doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing. So overall last year, I think, was a modified success. There's still an awful lot of work to be done, but we think with the leadership of the Street administration, the Mayor's hands-on approach to the issues of policing and crime and quality of life, I think this year will leave me better than has year. And so I'm looking forward to this year great expectations, great hope. We will raise the bar some more, and I think come this time next year we'll have even better results. 700 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 Again, Madam Chair, I want to thank you for the opportunity coming before your committee, and I'm available for any questions you may have.
Thank you, Commissioner. The Chair recognizes Councilman Rizzo.
Commissioner, I have a few questions that I'm going to just ask you one in this go-around, and it has to do with the convention. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yes, sir.
Are you prepared to deal with this with the number of police officers that you have? Is there going to be a big impact on your personnel, vacation cancellations and things like that to deal with this? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: We have a sufficient force to deal with this convention. But clearly, since it happens summertime at the height of vacation, that brings other things into play. As you are well aware, there is $5 million 701 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 additional in the budget to help pay for police overtime in the event that we have to cancel, and we will, cancel some vacations. We want to make sure that we're able to police this event without draining officers from the local districts out in the neighborhoods, and that's the intent. And so we've got some great people under Commissioner Mitchell running the event. The planning -- it's been in planning already well over six months. Quite frankly, the issues raised in Seattle creates for us a whole host of other problems, and I met with the folks from Seattle just last week. I'm going down to Washington at the end of this month for another briefing. Commissioner Mitchell has been in contact with those folks in Seattle. And there are some lessons that can be learned from Seattle that will help us as we move forward dealing with demonstrators at the convention.
Commissioner, you just said that there may be a need to cancel vacations. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Mm-hmm.
Could that decision be made as early as possible to the degree that 702 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 that will affect your people that are making summer plans, that deposits for a week here, a week there? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Sure.
Could that decision be made, because I'm already talking to some officers that are a little concerned about what your plans are and they haven't really heard anything. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah, as soon as I can safely make that, we'll do it and we will work -- obviously, we'll work outwards beginning with patrol and then out to specialized units.
Just another for this round of questions. It's in reference to the Police Canine Unit. You've asked for $21 million more in the budget, and I would hope at this point we could at this point be beyond where we have to ask people to donate dogs to the Canine Unit. What's happening, Commissioner, we're getting dogs donated to the Canine Unit that are not meant to be police dogs. They spend two, three weeks at the academy, they wash them out, we spend a lot of time in men and women hours to train these dogs 703 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 and they wash out and they have to be returned. Don't you think in this big budget that we could find the money to purchase a dog that's bred to be a police dog that has a guarantee if doesn't work be returned to the handler or to the breeder and replaced with another dog because from what I'm hearing, we're spending a tremendous amount of money training dogs that never make it. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Well, you know, in large bureaucracies there's always the issue of getting the cart ahead of the horse. In this case it was the dogs ahead of the police commissioner because when I read that in the paper, it was the first I read about it and I'm not too happy. So we'll address that issue.
Commissioner. 704 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yes, sir?
Let's begin with Operation Sunrise and some data. I know that there have been a lot of arrests, but the issue is, is it safer? Is the area safer today than it was -- the old Reagan question: Is it safer today than it was three years ago, and how are we able to determine that it is safer? Not just because kids come out to play at 3 o'clock, but in terms of street-corner sales and the data in terms of assaults, robberies, burglaries. How are we able to quantify that? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: It's quite difficult. As you're aware, I think Commissioner Johnson mentioned earlier, in that area, the Sunrise area, homicides are down 40 percent, shootings are down, robberies are down. However, the ultimate judge on how safe it is are really the folks that live in that area, and they need to see two things, I think: Strong narcotics enforcement and a strong uniform presence. The only thing I can tell you, and you and I had this discussion my first week in Philadelphia, that neighborhood over there had been quite literally 705 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 abandoned, for want of a better term, by the Police Department. That's not the case now. So whether it's I think -- I'm convinced that it's safer, but I can guarantee you there are a lot more uniformed and narcotics officers over there than there were a little over two years ago. It's going to take a while. Sometimes there is a lag in perception to reality, and so even though realistically by statistics it may in fact be safer, until the people feel that comfort -- and that's going to take a while. It's going to take more than arrests, it's going to take going to public meetings, reassuring. We're trying to do all of that. Commissioner Johnson, as much time as he spends on fighting crime, he spends just as much time, him and Jerry Daily and Chief Rooney, going to community meetings, doing drug marches. It's not just one way we're attacking over there, it's the whole idea of real arrests, but also perception, working with the community in a real fashion, not just lip service, actually out there. My sense is that the best judge of that is the folks in the neighborhood. By and large, when I go to the communities meetings over there, we get 706 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 more thanks than we do criticism, but we still do get criticism because a neighborhood may be safe but if the drug dealers are on my corner, it ain't safe.
And I have to congratulate you and Sylvester Johnson. We did have this conversation around two and a half years ago about what was going to happen and it did happen. We had always said that that was a warehouse of drugs in the City and that from there almost all crime emanated. But the question is, and I believe, I think there's a different feeling in the community. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
I think you can see it in the community meetings that we both attend and go to. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yeah.
Commissioner, in terms of Operation Sunrise, and I think Councilman Clarke said, because it is a stabilizing program of a neighborhood and it's a long-term program. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Right.
As it expands 707 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 towards Broad, the forth-year period is hopefully going to extend to that area. And will that then go across Broad Street? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yes. We will -- we're doing a variety of things, and I don't want to get too far out ahead of Mayor Street because he's got -- you know he ran on a platform he's got some ideas also, and we've been meeting on that to come up with a variety of anti-crime strategies. And we should never stay with a pat hand because, you know, drug dealers and criminals adapt their tactics to police tactics and so we must have enough flexibility. At the end of the day, and everybody's welcome to come to COMPSTAT, you know, it's pretty simple stuff, we put the cops where the dots are. You know, if we've got an area where there's shootings and there's homicides and there's robberies and it shows up on our maps, I mean, that's how we're going to respond. And while we have overall macro plans, we also have little plans that go into a block that may be suffering from a series of robberies or shootings. We had the issue in the last weeks of last year the first two weeks of this year down in 708 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 the Southwest where there was quite a bit of gun playing including two incidents where police officers were shot at. That required us redeploying resources down there. That by and large has quieted down down there. We made quite a few arrests. Our highway cops are down there making lots the gun arrests. That doesn't mean because we put people down there we've abandoned other parts of the City. And I've said this at public meetings, one of the down sides of Operation -- Operation Sunrise has got a lot of play, good positive play. But one of the down sides is that people think it's a zero sum game, that if they're over there, they can't be in my neighborhood. We have not abandoned any neighborhood in Philadelphia. We have our field narcotics teams throughout Philadelphia. They are augmented by the narcotics enforcement teams at the district level. Two years ago, as Commissioner Johnson said, there were about 230, 240 police officers devoted to narcotics. Now, including the narcotics enforcement teams, we have around 600. That's a lot of officers devoted, that's almost 10 percent of the force devoted to 709 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 narcotics enforcement.
Commissioner, what usually happened before prior to a lot of the drug forces and programs that we have implemented is that once you began working in an area that what happened was that the drug movement would just move to another neighborhood, that it just really we did not eliminate it from that neighborhood, they just picked up and went away to another area while this place cool off. Do you see that happening? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I would never try to minimize that this isn't any displacement. But what there is not, there is not displacement 100 percent. So in other words, if we're in an area pressuring drug dealers, they just can't get up and move down, you know, a mile and a half into some other area because the other area may have in fact have drug dealers and face it or not, you just can't walk in and set up trade where somebody else is. Our first indication when that happens is we get gunfire and turf battles. We monitor that very closely. But is there displacement? You get 710 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 some of it, but it's not 100 percent. It's not even 50 percent. You do get some of it and we try and track that. By the same token, when we leave, for example, Phase and and we're in 3, it doesn't mean we've completely gone from 1 to 2. We drop back, we do maintenance days. There's a whole host of things that we're doing.
A few years ago the question asked and was not answered here -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Right.
-- was, do you know how many drug corners we have in the City of Philadelphia today. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I think the last time I checked it was about 10,580 or 10,850. What is it? It must have dropped down, 10,814 as of this morning.
How many? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: 10,814. And by the way, last year, if you remember, I testified to a little over 8,000. I think it was almost evenly divided half and half. It's a cumulative effect. How we get these locations are from phone 711 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 call to 911 and one of the steps goes to narcotics or as we debrief informants or as we get letters from the community. All that gets filtered into our narcotics division and we maintain an ongoing list. Now, by the way, I guarantee you some of them have been closed down, but we still keep them there because I get evidence. Just, I guess it was Saturday and I was at a community meeting in West Philadelphia with one of the state senators out there, Tony Williams, a place that we actually sealed up and then the drug dealers after a month went back in and opened up shop again. We're going back again. Commissioner Johnson went back Monday or Tuesday. And so we don't completely take them off the list even though some of the locations may be de-active right now.
Well, we have them identified and we have people working at those corners? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yes. And what we have is, and I try and be honest with people, you know, if you give me a location, I'm not going to guarantee that we'll be there tomorrow or next week. But I'm going to guarantee you it will not 712 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 be thrown in the wastepaper basket, it will be dealt with in the near future. At a minimum it will become a part of the intelligence base so we get an overall picture of the narcotics trade in Philadelphia.
Madam Chair, I've got my five minutes. I'll come back with other questions.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman DiCicco.
Thank you Madam Chair. Good afternoon, Commissioner. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Good afternoon, sir.
There were some questions asked today and Councilman Kenney and Krajewski were going in the direction about repeat offenders. I remember asking Common Pleas Court President Judge Bonavitacola the question last year, do you have any indication or statistics as it relates to repeat offenders. And at the time, 713 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 I believe he said that the court was not in a position to give any of that information out because they don't have a tracking system where they don't keep those records. Without divulging names of the defendants, does your department keep those records? Is there a way of giving us some of those numbers as a the number of people who are arrested and rearrested? Do you have anything like that you can share with us? If not today, give it to the Chair. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I can give you kind of an overall view of how things are because we do in fact do this every Thursday at COMPSTAT and often have the detectives testifying at COMPSTAT or explaining about a case they're working on and they've locked up this guy for a shooting or a robbery or a burglary, and often I'll ask, "So what was his sheet like, what was his priors?" It is not uncommon, it really isn't, for them to say 10, 15 occurrences. We know for a fact when we do Center City, which suffers tremendously from car break-ins, it is not uncommon, not an exaggeration, to have the same guy locked up month after month having 25, 30 714 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 arrests for car break-ins. I will say that in the last two years the courts have become more responsive, especially to the area of property crime. There's been a feeling or sense that, "well, it's just a car break-in, what's the big deal?" In the whole scheme of things, it seems to dwarf in comparison to a shooting. And I think that's a bad way of viewing it. I think even if it's only a car break-in and you're a multiple offender that you've got to spend some time, I mean, the public deserves some kind of a respite even if it's only for 90 days. Give us a break for 90 days or 6 months, whatever it is. We're starting to see some of that, but very oven -- well, let me just say, it's the exception where somebody doesn't have a previous.
I was a member of the court system for a number of years at Philadelphia Traffic Court, but I interacted with the other courts when we would have our staff meetings, administrative meetings. And I recall five, six years ago when I was there the numbers were somewhere between 80 and 85 percent of the people who are arrested are really repeat 715 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 offenders. I just was curious if it was still up in that range. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Commissioner Brennan, he's the -- Charles, do you have that handy?
I have rough figures I can give. My name is Charles Brennan, Deputy Police Commissioner. What we do, we have a system that we can positively identify everyone we arrest. It's a fingerprint system. And we know from that system that between 60 percent and it's gotten as high as in the 90 percent of the people that we arrest come back again, over and over again. I'm not sure it's ever gotten below about 60. I know those figures are rough, but they vary from week to week considerably.
Again, there's always the discussion as to whose fault it is that people are out there, and I think the police have done a fantastic job even prior to your administration, Commissioner. Unfortunately, when you go into the communities, most people feel as though people aren't being arrested. I think we need to continue to stress that, not only to the 716 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 public, but to the courts. And I for one, as an elected official who participates in the electorial process of many of these judges, need to somehow get that message across that when the police are making arrests and good arrests that they really need to take into consideration more of the fact that they are releasing the same people which really clogs up the system and is costing us a fortune. I mean we spend over $100 million a year as a city to support the court system. You guys are out there doing your job, ladies and gentlemen are out there doing your job, and we need to give you some more support. So I would appreciate those comments and those figures. One other thing I just wanted to mention. Since you've been the commissioner, up until about seven or eight weeks ago, no matter where I went you've been praised for your leadership abilities. But I want to share this with you and you may want to comment, you may not want to comment. I happened to be in a room with several distinguished members of our judiciary talking about a new court that we're looking to form in the City of Philadelphia. And I won't 717 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 mention the judge's name, but we were talking about the number of arrests and the fact that the courts now have a much more higher number of cases to deal with. And he said, "Sure, this guy Timoney comes to town and all he thinks he needs to do is arrest people." I was just wondering if you'd like to comment on that? (Laughter.)
Kind of tongue in cheek. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I know. It was expected the arrests would go up, and they did go up around percent. But last year it was only 15 up around 3 percent. We expected it to go up, 16 level off, and then eventually as crime goes down, 17 the arrests should decline. That's the pattern 18 I'm expecting, just that, 20 percent, last year it 19 was up 3 percent, maybe even we will go below this 20 year.
So I guess it would be fair to say that you're actually pleased about that comment? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I am.
You're doing your 718 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 job. Thank you. Thank you. No further questions, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Councilman. The Chair recognizes Councilman Clarke.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, gentlemen. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Good afternoon, sir.
A couple quick questions. Drug recovery community, I happen to have interacted with a lot of those organizations, and it became increasing clear that a lot of those people have vast knowledge about the drug industry, where the drugs are coming, what kind of drugs, who controls what area. Does the Police Department interact with them at all to any degree, to providers. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: No. Well, I'm going to give a philosophical --
What I mean by the drug recovery community, I mean like the 719 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 organizations heads. I mean, they have this ability to get things out of the people that they service that others don't. Do you to talk to them at all? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I'll let Commissioner Johnson answer because he's been working with a few different groups.
We do, and what I basically did about a year and a half ago, formed an advisory group and that advisory group, we meet once a month. They come down and we share information. And this advisory group, I know there's like four or five organizations inside North Philadelphia that comes down and they participate. In addition to that, in a lot of the drug markets they also participate. We use them, not just for information, but we use them for advice. We try to form that type of partnership with them. There's a Mr. Campbell from the 2400 block of Germantown Avenue who has a recovery program. I think there's a person in West Philadelphia. There's quite a few groups that we have constant communications with.
Is it a formalized 720 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 advisory -- I mean, the reason I ask this question, when I was out campaigning doing my thing, one of the major concerns that they had is that they had no interaction with the Police Department. And I'm just telling you what they told me, it's clear to them that they would like to get the drugs off the street as much as, if not more than all of us in government. They didn't feel that they had that wherewithal to have those kinds of discussions, other than drug marches.
It is formalized. As a matter of fact, I think you were at a major drug march that we had in October. Most of the groups that I have contact with was at that drug march. As I said, we meet approximately once a month. Anyone can join it. At this point, we have approximately well over 60 or 70 people from different organizations that are a part of this group, and we constant communication with them. They have my number, I have theirs, so we're in constant communications. We set up a program where they get information without having the people actually come forward, they can just make a phone call to keep their identity confidential. 721 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: If I can just interrupt. He even has an ex-offender group working with us. So it isn't like we're an exclusive club.
When you have the next meeting, can I get a call and be invited? What I'm hearing from them and what I'm hearing today is different.
Okay, great. I'm going to take off my Council hat right now, if I can, if the Chair will allow me. Personally, a guy, I grew up, born and raised in North Philadelphia, happened to live in the 22nd Police District. Statistics have shown over the last years the highest number of shootings. They would be higher, but fortunately most of these guys can't shoot straight. As an individual who frequents the neighborhood, lives in the neighborhood, I don't understand why 722 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 individuals are allowed to stand on the corner all day and all of us who live in those neighborhoods know that these individuals have guns. I guess my question is, if you had a wish list, Commissioner, Deputies, what would you need legislatively to put you in a position to get these guns out of the hands of these individuals who are standing on the corner? And be as radical as you can, because it is to the point, I mentioned to the my legislative aid and he thinks I'm crazy, I was going to request that the military police pull up in a jeep and a 50 caliber machine gun on some these corners, and I'm serious about that. That's just how desperate I am. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: We are completely sympathetic, but the one thing we've said from day one that we are not going to break the law to enforce the law. So if we're going to search somebody out there, we need at a minimum to be in that search reasonable suspicion.
Can you change the law? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: That's the Supreme Court. What's easier to change if we can 723 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 get somebody's attention in Harrisburg, if we just went to one gun a month and reduced the availability of guns and take the profit out of guns, that would good be a tremendous, tremendous lift in reducing the number of guns in Philadelphia. Because it isn't that the Philadelphia Police aren't doing their jobs, because last year and the year before we've seized and made 5,000 gun arrests and seized almost 5,000 guns. That's the equivalent of the New York City Police Department taking 25,000 guns off the street. In its worst day when it had 2500 homicides, the New York Police Department confiscated 17,000 guns. So in New York City's worse day, in our best year we've outdone them. Philadelphia Police Officers make ten times as many gun arrests as New York City Police Officers. There's far too many guns in Philadelphia. I think part of the blame rests in Harrisburg. I've been up there. I went with Mayor Rendell. I'll be going up there with Mayor Street. It's not to curtail the right to bear arms, it's to take the profit out of the gun trade and remove the easy access, easy availability of guns that get in the 724 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 hands of kids and criminals. This is a no-brainer. And until we do that, unfortunately, no matter how good Philadelphia Police Department does it, and it's doing a great job, there will always be a high homicide rate, a high shooting rate in Philadelphia. That's just a sad fact of life.
That's the one magic bullet? Excuse the pun. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: That would be one thing that would do more than anything else, yes.
I guess I'm just, you know -- I yield, I yield to Councilman.
Thank you. Thank you, Commission, for your response. But I got impression that the Councilman's question went more to -- I mean, maybe none of these guys hang out on the corner have bought another weapon in any recent time. Maybe this is the gun they got when they were 15 and they're now 25, so one gun a month doesn't 725 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 mean that much for that particular person. They have their one gun now. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Right.
I thought the Councilman's question was half a dozen guys hanging out on the corner, it's about degrees 8 outside or it's 88 degrees outside and they're just hanging there. Now, everybody down to about 5 or 6 knows who these guys are, what they're about, and what they might possibly be up to. I thought his question was more on the nature of cars go back and forth, various officers on patrol, and I got the impression he was talking more about either moving those people along -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Right.
-- or engaging them in some way that might provide some opportunity and something that gets close to, I guess, a probable cause to say either "What are you doing? What's going on? Get off the corner. What's that bulge I see in your jacket, in your pants, in your back or whatever, and I'd like to check that out." Councilman, were you more in that area of either moving people along or trying 726 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 confiscating the weapon based on some kind of PC?
Frankly, Councilman Nutter, I'm a little dismayed at the response. Not knowing statistically what you know, I was hoping that you would say something along the lines that would the Police Department more authority to move those people along to possibly go up and search those individuals when their standing on the corner for six hours. I know there are various civil libertarians that will say that we can't do, but I ask you what radical law you can have, because, you know, frankly speaking, I'm getting sick and tired of having to go home every night and have people look at me because I'm still the guy that stays in the neighborhood and they don't understand why can't get these guns out of these guys' hands on the corner. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: But, in fact, they're doing quite a bit of that. They're recovering a lot of guns just in the 22nd on New Year's Eve. We had two officers in a shoot-out there with two guys. The police are out there. But also, by the way, they're also changing their MO, their modus operandi for drug dealers. We've 727 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 found now in parts of 35th District, this is what the officers are now -- as a result of being aggressive, they're coming up on the corner, they'll find four guys, they come out to confront them. One guy will confront the cop, and say, "Listen, Officer, I have a gun, I have a license to carry it. The drug dealers aren't carrying the guns. They've got some guy who's over without 10 a record, he's got the gun. We're now in the 11 process of holding gun hearings where we're 12 revoking those permits on a kind of common scheme. 13 So as we're moving aggressively, they're also 14 changing their habits. So it may look like some 15 of them have guns, some don't. It is quite as 16 easy as people -- and I understand. I'm not in 17 the least not sympathetic. I'm as frustrated as 18 you are. 19
Councilman, we tried that 20 a few years ago. It was called Operation Cold 21 Turkey in the Spring Garden area. And what basically happened is that the federal government -- that thing cost like $15, $16 million for doing that. And one of the things about Operation Sunrise, I think the Commissioner 728 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 pointed, that we're not going to break law to enforce the law. One of the concerns of Councilman Ortiz is when I talked to him approximately two years ago and the entire neighborhood went to the community meetings was that we were going to be an invasion force, that we were going to come over ther and we're just going to harass people, stop people and violate their constitutional rights.
I go to community meetings three, four times a night, and they're asking for an invasion force. The people that live in that community are asking for an invasion force. At some point, we have to decide who's going to dictate what the policies are as it relates to their communities. Is it some lawyer from Washington or is it the people in that community? People are asking for drastic changes. I think that they should get some reasonable response.
Commissioner, in your response to Councilman Clarke's question you said that you would not break the law to enforce it. 729 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Correct.
Probable cause. Police officers for a probable cause are able to ask motorists to submit to a Breathalyzer test. I can't even believe I'm making this suggestion. Would it be within the law if a supervisor, if an officer wanted to detain these four guys on the corner, could a hand-held metal detector be used legally by police to determine whether or not a person's carrying a gun? Could they be frisked with a hand-held metal detector legally?
Councilman, I'm just asking the question. Obviously, the constitution is a concern because I've asked can it be done legally. Thank you. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: I'll be quite frank with you, you know, I've not thought about that. We've actually joked about that. It's a common joke in policing that you should go down some corners with a metal detector, but I've never really given it serious thought. I actually don't know if that's -- in other words, here's the assumption, if I had a metal detector and somebody 730 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 decided -- I walked up and somebody decided to just walk away, you then run into the argument of does them running away from a metal detector provide reasonable suspicion. I have no -- I mean, I would be willing to sit down with the lawyers and talk about this, but I just don't know.
In other words, those four people on the corner, the officer suspected that they may have a gun because someone told them. They could do the search right then and there. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Right then and there. If somebody calls -- and Supreme Court's pretty clear on this. It isn't just there a hundred guys on Broad and Olney and one of them got a gun. You just can't go start tossing people. It's got to be there's hundred guys on Broad and Olney, one guy is wearing a red hat, he's got a polo sweat shirt, something more than guys on the corner one of them carrying a gun. You need some specific information that provides the basis of reasonable suspicion. Reasonable suspicion gives you the ability to pat somebody 731 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 down. If you find something hard, you go inside the pocket. I understand the frustration, and I'm not being dismissive, I'm really not.
We're trying to be a part of the solution. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: But my sense is we're making quite a few gun arrests, we really are. And so it's not from lack of effort. There are just far to many guns, it's far too easy. Time and time again where we can spot people going up in Valley Forge and King of Prussia to these guns sales bringing back 15, guns to South 15 Philadelphia. We have our people following them. 16 They may lock them up, but sometimes they get rid 17 of 10 or 15 before we get them. 18
You're welcome. Okay, I know my five minutes are up. Commissioner, can I possibly in the near future sit down with you off the record -- COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Absolutely.
-- and talk about 732 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 some of these radical ideas that I have? COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yes, sir.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Tasco.
Thank you very much. Good afternoon, gentlemen. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Good afternoon, ma'am.
I support Councilman Clarke. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: You're on the left, you're on the right; something's wrong here. (Laughter.)
Listen, at some point you just reach a level of frustration because these people are really harassing and terrorizing neighborhoods and people are held hostage in their homes and I have a respect for civil rights and all of that, but at some point, I mean, they just can't be allowed to take advantage 733 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 of --
All right, let's not have conversation between us, please. Councilwoman.
Maybe they don't have the drug dealers standing on the corner harassing people when they go out. But I think that we ought to find some way, as you say within the law, and if not, we can work to change the law so that we can address some of these issues. My question's a little bit more back to the street neighborhood stuff. I have one concern that has been brought to my attention over and over again from my staff as we deal with truck parking in neighborhoods, and it's a far cry from the drug stuff, but very important to the quality of life to people when look out the door and 734 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 there's a tractor-trailer or a school bus or a large truck parked on the street. When we call and ask that the these vehicles are ticketed, we are told by the Police Department they can't ticket these trucks because there are no signs up that says "no truck parking." But we have an ordinance, there is an ordinance that says that a bus can only park in a bus zone, and we also have a an ordinance from the Streets Department that says that these tractor-trailers of a certain tonnage can not park on the streets. So what we want from the Police Department is that you inform your police officers that these ordinances do exist, they do not need to have no-parking signs in a residential neighborhood, and that they can be ticketed. Because if we're going to spend a lot of money putting up signs just to accommodate us to allow to get the police officers to give a ticket or enforce that code, that's a waste of money when ordinance clearly state that there should be no trucks parking on the street of a certain tonnage of truck and buses can't park on residential streets. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Okay. 735 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
Only if designated a bus zone. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Is there a specific part, or all over of Philadelphia?
I know it happens in my district. If you go down Stenton Avenue, turn on Broad Street going north on Broad, you turn left on Stenton, between Old York Road and Ogontz, there are five tractor-trailers there. They shouldn't be there. Somebody's running an illegal business. They shouldn't be there. We've had trouble with that spot over and over again. We get them in certain parts, but what we want is when we call and issue a complaint, we want the code enforced. We don't want to be told that you have to have a no-truck parking sign in the community to remove the truck or ticket the truck. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Okay.
We're just asking for enforcement. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yes, ma'am.
And I think the that happens in just about every area of the City. 736 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005
Right, every neighborhood, but it's really a problem for us because we get a lot of those complaints about these trucks, these buses, vendor trucks. All of these things are not wanted in these neighborhoods.
Because the issue of abandon cars, I think we've talked that to death. Oh, and I just wanted to ask you a question. We've hired a number of police officers under the Federal Crime Bill. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Yes, ma'am.
And at some point in time, we're going to have to pick -- I noticed you mentioned it in your testimony. Pick up the cost of those police officers. At what point are we working on making sure that we don't have to give up those slots but be able to retain those officers on our General Fund budget? COMMISSIONER NESTEL: Tom Nestel. Councilwoman, the majority of those officers are off of the federal grant and are being paid with 737 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 the City funds at the present time. The Administration has made a commitment that none of those officers, the level would not be reduced and as the federal monies stop, the City has budgeted right within the five-year plan to take up those salaries. There will be no cuts in those personnel.
Okay. To the 911 system, have you completed the installation of the 911 enhancement system and all the other components to your system?
The answer to that is yes. In the last, I would guess four to five years --
Excuse me, sir. Would you please identify yourself for the record?
I'm sorry. I'm Charles Brennan, I'm a Deputy Police Commissioner. In the last five years we've dumped probably an excess of $15 million in upgrading 911, the computer systems, the room, the furniture, the floors, the cabling, the mobile data computers, the communications network, so for 738 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 all intents and purposes, it's done.
I don't get complaints about the 911 system that I used to get.
And I'm glad we don't hear that because that was always a topic of discussion at community meetings, so we thank you for that. Thank you very much. I'm going to ask my staff to get a copy of the code to you because we have copies for the trucks parking.
Thank you, Madam 739 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005 President. Good afternoon, Commissioner. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Good afternoon, ma'am.
And your team of professionals over there. I want to call your attention to of the testimony. And again, the topic is children and youth. You indicated in the enhanced grants that you've received over 2 million for drug prevention programs, GREAT and DARE. DARE, I'm somewhat familiar with; GREAT, I am not. So we can handle that one of two ways, give brief description now and/or send more detailed to the Chair for dissemination to the Councilmembers. COMMISSIONER TIMONEY: Okay. Captain Jerry Gallagher from Community Relations heads up the GREAT program. The GREAT program is the Gang Resistance Education and Training program. It's a federally funded national program dealing with kids, gang prevention, lecturing to schools, a whole host of things, but rather than go into it, I will have Captain Gallagher provide the information to the Council. 740 2/15/00, Operating Budget, Bill 000005