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MINUTES OF THE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE May 16, 2022 AUDITORIUM Present: Councilmembers Baker (Chair) & Shachner Also Present: Councilmembers Bullock & Kepple, Police Chief Kaucheck, Mayor Meghan George, Law Director Corrigan, Assistant Law Director Swallow, Director Rancatore, Director Dillinger, Chief of Staff Storey, Ed Eckhart& Lisa Krieger of Downtown Cleveland Alliance, Detective Heather Herpka& Investigator Ron Bunner, members of the public, Deputy Clerk Lascu and Clerk Bach taking minutes Call to Order: 6:04 p.m. Approval of the minutes of the March 28, 2021 meeting of the Public Safety Committee. Motion by Councilmember Shachner, seconded by Chair Baker to approve the minutes. All in favor. Motion passed. Communication from Mayor George regarding addressing public safety capacity needs and priorities through the use of ARPA dollars. (Referred to PS 4/18/22) Mayor George gave an overview of the communication, highlighting how ARPA dollars could be used to hire additional officers and start a park ambassador program with assistance from Downtown Cleveland Alliance. She spoke about the pilot Parks Ambassador program and how it could add another layer of safety to the parks after high profile incidents that occurred at Madison Park last summer. Detective Herpka and Investigator Bunner spoke on behalf of the Lakewood Police unions, noting the difficulty that the department has encountered in hiring quality candidates and the extended time it takes to properly train new hires. Lakewood's police academy is 22 weeks long and has an additional 16 week field training officer(FTO)program where new hires are paired with an experienced officer—essentially adding up to a 1 year of lead time before an officer can go on their own in the field from hire. Det. Herpka and Investigator Bunner expressed the union's support for the increase in staffing, noting that the department only had 106 applicants submit their civil service test score, with only 36 individuals in that group being eligible to continue on in Lakewood's process. When Det. Herpka took the test in 1997, there were 700 candidates for LPD. They reiterated that the department needs the staffing increase to get good candidates and highlighted a needed increase in base pay when it comes to attracting them. Herpka and Bunner concluded by commending the city on working with the union to take other steps to make the department competitive over the last year and a half. Mayor George stated that the use of ARPA dollars to increase staffing helps with succession planning, supports morale in the department, and alleviates overtime issues. Investigator Bunner shared the long hours he's worked over the several days before the meeting. 1