Public Safety Committee - Regular Meeting

Older woman, O'Neil, is not present. She had a community meeting, that she was called for. Approval of the agenda and any items of the agenda should be made here. We're gonna make, we're gonna make an adjustment to the amendment ID twenty five twenty five. No harm VIP NAAM update will be removed. They will be presenting to us either, quarterly or triannually, and they came in January. So that will be removed from the agenda. So with that being said, can I get a motion to approve the agenda with amendment?

And OEM.

No. Oh, we will have OEM. We will have OEM. So move. Second. All in favor? Aye. I hear no opposition. Moving on to business and miscellaneous approval of the minutes PSC one thirty twenty five, special meeting minutes, and PSC two thirteen twenty five, special meeting minutes. Can I get a motion to approve those minutes?

So move.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed? I hear none. Next on the general discussion, ID 3625, Office of Emergency Management Update OEM. And miss Jackson here, who's our city council associate, will be stepping in for OEM. We've had several unfortunate matters to occur with OEM and staff. I'll leave it at that. So Well, madam chair, if I could. I will present OEM. But why don't we just postpone it? I will present OEM. Thank you.

Alderman Cake, madam chair. Thank you. Miss, Jackson, let's get started. Office of Emergency Management update, 03/03/2025. This is year of substance use disorder report for Ward 8. As all you all know, we're focusing on what Ward 8 this evening. Overdose data review. Okay. In 2024 for Ward 8 overview, we had obviously the second lowest reported overdose in Ward 8 since 2015. As you can see by the slide, '15, 2024, 2022.

So in 2023, we had nine. Citywide, Ward 8 reported the lowest number of overdoses. Ward 5 And 7 were tied for the lowest two weeks. Zero fatal were reported in Ward 8 and also zero overdose reported in Ward 1 And 7. Narcan usage was reported have been used in sixty percent of overdoses in Ward 8.

And you can see the, bar chart to the right and the comparisons of overdoses fatal and use of Narcan. Miss Jackson. Locations for 2024, one on 6th And 7th Severn Avenue, two at Bay Ridge Avenue, and two at Madison. 80% of them were along within two blocks of Madison Street. And, thank you, Alderman Arnett.

Thank you. Next screen. Demographics. Overdose by age group in Ward 8 historically. We can see the numbers, ages 25 to 34, 35 to 44, 45 to 54, and looks like 45 to 54 had most with two number of older overdoses in that age bracket.

And by race, black African American, it looks like 80% was the largest group. Out of the six of the last ten years, the largest group has been the white population. In 2024, sixty five percent of all overdose in the city were African American. And the number of overdoses is, as you can see, five, four African American and one white. Next slide.

Fatalities, and that's something we try to prevent. Zero fatalities in five of the last ten years citywide, reported the lowest number since 2018. And you can see the bar chart. War 2 with five, Ward 3 And 4 with two, and Wards 5 And 6 with one each, none in Ward 1, none in Wards 7 And 8. When you look at citywide fatal overdoses, looks like, nine for African American black, two white, and that's considered the largest group.

And that's the pie chart. For the next bar chart, fatal overdoses by age, 55 to 64 is the age range, and there were five in that category. Four and then one and one. Food Fridays, And this is something that alderwoman O'Neill has been, in has, spearheaded for the city. And as you know, as some of you may know, this is a program that was started several years ago with about 200, persons who received a box of free food, on Fridays.

It has grown to approximately 275. It contains fresh and canned fruits and vegetables, frozen meat, rice, pasta, and other nonperishables. It's open to everyone who, wishes to take advantage of that program. I reckon Parks has provided the workspace over last summer. I know that alderwoman O'Neil had to move it to the Eastport fire station due to space consideration.

The food is provided by Anne Arundel County Food Bank, and, again, she's the organizer of the food. And we're looking at mainly fresh food and nonperishables, healthy meals. What ate Food Friday statistics, 16 families, 52 individuals, eight seniors, and 17 children. Americana Drive residents, 27 individuals and five families, which accounts for 31.3% of the deliveries in Ward A, and they're ably represented by alderman Ron Arnett. Okay.

Food Friday recipients on the map. We're looking at several streets in Ward 8, President Severn, Eastern Chesapeake, Americana, Madison, Bay Ridge, Windsor, Voucher, and Norman Drive. It looks like Americana Drive, and then Madison Court and Norman Drive seem to be those who received the most in Board 8. Thank you. I may not be able to answer the questions, but I will try.

Maybe Alderman Arnett can. Anyone have any questions concerning, the office of emergency management? They've been hit with some, like I say, some staffing critical staffing issues, lately, and no one was available to come tonight. If you do have questions tonight, I'll try we'll try to answer them. If not, we can certainly submit them to chief Simmons and his team and certainly can give you the answer. Yes, Alderman Gay.

Thank you so much, madam chair. And this is and I'll submit this in writing. I'm just curious how ward with the second lowest African American population in the city has the second highest overdose rate of African Americans. I don't think they're calculating the data appropriately and so maybe that needs to be looked at. It just it doesn't make sense.

Maybe Alderman Arnett may have an insider too?

Are there a significant portion of African American residents that I'm not aware of and Well,

just like the last pie chart, there's a lot of people in the Nautilus Point Complex and a lot of people in Monroe that are lower income and that tends to be where this kind of overdose occurs and why we need to do reparations and

So much more. And I agree with that completely. I would and see that's one of my issues with that. Know, the data should be appropriated to where the individual lives, not where the overdose occurs, you know. And maybe it'll make my results go way up, but so be it. We'll have an appropriate account of where the overdose issues are. And I'm sure Kevin or I'm sorry, Director Simmons or Mary Kay will correct me if I'm wrong. Thank you.

And what we might want to do in the future is have both sets of numbers. We could certainly do that. Does anyone have the audience have any questions or comments? Mister Reichert, feel free to step on up to the microphone, sir. Microphone. Just for a point of information. Podium, mister Ryker. The podium. Miss that's fine. Just for a point of information. Mhmm.

Point of information. Sorry. What are we doing? And because I'm not familiar with this sort of presentation in a committee meeting. Are we doing public comment per department or are we doing public comment three minutes one block? Because we can't have everybody coming up here to speak three minutes for fire fire, police, and OEM. I'm sorry.

I guess that's the chair's, decision. Is it the

chair's prerogative, or is it robbers rule?

I think it's the chair's Okay. But we'll see how it goes. Mister Reichard, yes. Your name and address, please.

Yes. My name is Bill Reichardt. I'm the president of the Esports Civic Association. I live at 717 Bay Ridge Avenue, in Esports. Members of the committee, we had a number of issues that we wanted to bring to your attention, some questions and so forth.

My immediate concerning OEM?

The only question I had about OEM is can we get a copy of those slides? Okay. Or are they public, publicly, posted already?

They're on Legislature on the website.

Okay. Yes. We we did have

some questions.

We can take the questions as we go through the departments.

That's fine. Okay. That's fine. It's the only question I

had. Okay. Certainly. Thank you. And if you need some assistance, miss Jackson can certainly point you in the right direction.

Very good.

I'll I'll

get them. I'll get them for you.

Okay. And Alderman Arnett will get them for you. Okay. Thank you, mister Ryker. Okay. Next up is ID 3425, Annapolis Police Department update APD. Good evening.

Oh, is that better?

Good evening. Good evening.

Alright. We don't have a lot to do. We'll just run through the data

Introductions, please.

Oh, I'm sorry.

That's okay.

I'm so sorry. To my immediate left is Captain Lamar Howard, the captain of, operations. To my immediate right is deputy chief Stanley Branford and to his immediate right is captain Amy Miguez who who is the commander of the administration.

And who are you, sir?

Oh, and I'm Ed Jackson. I'm your chief of police for the city of Annapolis.

Thank you. Wow.

I know that because I read my name on my shirt. That's how I remember that.

Can be helpful, yes, in certain situations.

Where are we gonna start at? We're gonna start at with Ward 8 overall crime for 2024. And if you look at the first box right under, 2024, crime counts by ward. That's the total crime. And and it shows the ranking in the red letters.

And of the eight wards, Ward 8 ranks fourth. And the categories are ward by rank and and by crime type. Motor vehicle theft first robbery, first theft, fifth burglary, sixth, ag assault or aggravated assault, seventh, homicide, eighth, and, rape, eighth. And then if you look over to the immediate right, at the bar graph, it denotes, crimes against people, crimes against persons. Your ranking is six out of the eight wards.

And then that would include robbery, homicide, rape. Those are all categories, crimes against persons, and I'll get into that in a minute. And then right beneath that, crimes against property. And if you look at the red, lettering, you rank third. Now, to further elaborate on that ward eight, we have incident counts.

And it's broken into two categories. And keep in mind, the count is a little different than it has historically been as I stated in the previous wards and that we've gone to a NABRS form of data collection, crime data collection. NABRS, of course, is the acronym for the National Incident Based Reporting System versus what we've traditionally had for almost a hundred years, that's Uniform Crime Reports. The difference is when we count some of these incidents, we're not counting the it it was a hierarchy and and of in the way that we counted crime. The hierarchy is that, say, for example, if we had a homicide, we never counted everything that led up to the homicide.

So sometimes there's other crimes contained in the highest crime. So we only counted the homicide. For example, somebody's walking down the street, somebody points a gun, we didn't count the assault under the old system. They drag them in the alley. We didn't count the abduction. They rob them. We didn't count that. Then, ultimately, they shoot them and we find a deceased body. We only counted the homicide because in the hierarchy of crimes, that was the most serious one. Now under the national incident based reporting system, we count everything.

If it is five crimes committed in one incident, we count that. So having said that, in Ward 8 tied for last year with Wards 245, And 6. If you see it, the top one homicides was zero. We had one rape tied, for last in Ward 2, and that the rate was domestic related. Below that, aggravated assaults.

And aggravated assaults, I believe in NABERS, count them more according to law. Aggravated assaults, just to to to be more explicit, those types of assaults that the whole aim is to cause serious bodily harm up to attempted murder. That would be any use of a weapon, a gun, a knife, you know, a cylindrical object like a baseball bat or a pipe and somebody is either threatened with it or actually battered with it, then that would be an example of an aggravated assault. Did I leave anything out? Yeah.

Yeah. Any elements, though. Did I capture the elements? Okay. And, yes, and, as captain Howard, and he can elaborate anytime he wants to chime in, 40% of it, these assailants were known to the victims domestic related.

Four domestic related and the location, seven were in the residence, the next line, two on the street, and one is a business. Now, realistically, I have to say this, our biggest challenge when they're in the residence, that's that's more of a social problem. The ones that we can realistically be charged with that we probably, based on our ability to patrol the area, would be the the streets. And if you look, we had two street assaults and one in a business. Those are open to the public.

The ones in the house are generally domestic related, inability to resolve conflict and differences peacefully and it escalates into violence. The next category is robbery. And, of course, robbery is a crime against, persons even though property is taken. It's under the by use of force or under the threat of force. That's what constitutes robbery. For example, we talked about nobbers. Robbery has two elements to it. It has a theft element to it and a physical force element. When you put them together, you have robbery. So we had 12 robberies in Ward 8 tied for first with Ward 6, and that's because you have a lot of borderline streets, especially along Eastport Terrace and Harbor House.

Then President Street Quarter, a lot of them border with Ward 6. We had one domestic, and then the weapons, we had eight by hands, three by firearms, and one with a knife. Moving up to the next category in the t chart is burglary. Of course, burglary is a property crime. It's a crime against property.

A burglary has two elements in it. The the element of breaking and entering with the intent to commit some type of crime therein, generally theft, once they had forced their way in. And out of the eight wards, Ward 8 was six out of the eight wards. Two were domestic. The type were three were residential, no force.

We had two other ones that were residential with force. We had one business which was forced and we had one church which was forced. That means they use some type of object to force to gain entry by breaking a window, prying the door open, but some type of physical force to use. And, of course, three were at the top of the bullet were no force, three residential with no force. I'll move down to the next category is theft. Had 89 total. They were fifth out of the eight wards. 18 were from a motor vehicle. 13 were result I mean, 13. 37.

I apologize. Thirty seven were the result of shoplifting. Eight were from a building. Five were from motor vehicle, was of motor vehicle parts. Generally, was a theft from a vehicle. You have theft out of a vehicle, theft from a vehicle, and theft of an actual vehicle. Two different three different categories of theft. The next one is 21. This is all other, not mentioned. And then we had zero pick pocketing.

I'm glad to hear that and zero person hatching. Last time we were here, we had a in Ward was it Ward 1? We had a couple of pick pockets down on Main Street. So watch your wallets everywhere. The last category is, MVA theft, motor vehicle theft. You had 22. You were first out of the eight wards. So your biggest challenge crime wise, sir, is, the the thefts of vehicles. You were first out of the eight. We had, two suspects known to the victim.

Seven of the vehicles were unlocked but recovered. 10 were locked and recovered. Three were locked, not recovered, and two unlocked and not recovered. So out of those 22, we still have five, that were uncovered and 17 that were recovered.

Quick question, chief. Mhmm. Do you think some of the locked ones, people may not have been totally candid whether they had the doors locked or not?

That's a good question and I can only give you a theoretical answer and the theoretical answer is yes. I think a lot of times they want the report to reflect that they properly secured their vehicle for insurance purposes because sometimes actuaries will raise their premium if the report reflects that they were careless or negligent in not securing it. So, yeah, it's something that we absence of us capturing the actual crime on CCTV or having a good witness, you know, says that that's not happening. He left the door open. We have to take their word for it that they secured their vehicle.

Alderman Arnett has a question.

Sir. Yes. Yes. Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry.

I am very curious about this. I have a hard time understanding how a car can be stolen, locked, or unlocked, unless they're older vehicles. On my car, it's a push button and you have to have the the fob with you, but it also is locked. So I think it would be interesting to know how these are actually happening physically so we can relay it back to the community. How do how does it actually work?

Well, my my captain has said something interesting. I'll let him articulate that.

So, Alderman Arnett, so what we're finding is is that not only the other the vehicles not secured, but they're leaving the spare keys to the vehicles inside of the car. So, I mean, we we've been speaking about this and putting this on social media to to act nauseam about securing your cars, taking all your valuables out. We put the the VMS signs, on Ryle And Forest Drive. We put it on our social media accounts. We we continue to talk about this.

So the short answer to your question is is that not only your valuables left in these vehicles, but the spare keys to operate these vehicles are also being left inside of the taken vehicles.

So, something else that needs to be investigated and I'm not prepared to talk about that tonight, but we find too a lot of these vehicles are gained entry by electronic devices. You know, so many of these vehicles like computers now and you can and you can clone them and you can buy devices to circumvent the the the ignition part of it. And you can go to electronic stores and buy them if you know what you're doing just like a computer geek can, you know, tap into oh, you see a lot of that now because a lot of these dashboards are computers and that's something that really legislatively needs to be investigated.

That that that is very interesting information because that tells me this isn't a crime of opportunity. I mean, if you're there with an electronic device, you've thought this through, you've purchased the device, and in that case, it doesn't matter whether I have a fob and lock it. I don't keep a spare key in the vehicle, but I it would where can we go to get a little more detail on this to propagate it out to our resident?

Well, I have I have my good captain here and they know every time they come to this table, it's a potential for more work. So I have my captain to research that and we'll get it back to you. But I also wanna say this too that you can tell your constituency too. I tell people all the time when I speak to groups, scan your environment. Simply means when you get out of your car, look around and make sure that everything's locked because you never know who's watching you. Most criminals are watching their victims. They're watching you leave expensive items. You got that Louis Vuitton purse in Christmas day. That's a trek train wreck, wake Manhattan. You get excited and you just throw the purse in there because you don't wanna take the whole thing in there and you see your your your girlfriend or your boyfriend or whatever.

And you get to talk and next thing you know, you're in the bar drinking, you come out, then it becomes our problem because the vehicle wasn't but somebody's watching. And so I tell residents all the time, just take a complete look around and and and check your doors and don't assume that everything is locked. It helps a lot.

That thank you for that information. This is we don't wanna be number one in any category, but I was shocked at how many of these cars are actually locked and still stolen. So thank you for that.

Yes, sir. And a lot has to do literally with technology. You'd be surprised. We'll go to the gun violence and that's the bane of my frustration. And I think it's even more frustration for the residents because nobody likes errands and stray bullets.

Alderman Gay has a

a Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Alderman. Please accept my apology. No.

You're totally fine. I just wanted to address. I'll see some people in the audience, no. This is privacy or or maybe possibly disagreeing with what you were saying. This, if you wouldn't mind going back to the last slide, particularly, I'm talking about the theft and motor vehicle theft, which they're, first and fifth. And I think it's to me, personally, shows that the Annapolis Police Department has obviously been doing a commendable job.

Thank you, sir.

You look at high crime or or or or high populations area with wealth and our neighbors neighboring jurisdictions, the car theft is through the roof, and particularly amongst juvenile crime offenders. And so I think this goes to speak to both our residents being precautious and aware of what's going on and both police department being precaution of what was going on. And then, obviously, I just want to, on the other side, crime against person side, obviously commend you all there because I know that our ward in particular leads in a lot of this, but the most complaints you get are from Wards 1 And 8, which are dead last in homicide and crimes against person. And so, you know Well, thank you, sir. Just put things into perspective when the numbers come Men lie, women lie, numbers don't.

And so thank you all for

Yes, sir. Thank you. Continuing to do the work.

It's not perfect. It's twenty twenty two motor vehicle thefts. One too many is 89 thefts from a business or an individual. One too many, absolutely. But I think just putting in the grand scheme of things is is to be commended.

Thank you, sir. And I'll I'll say this real quick, and, thank you so much for that. You know, crime was down 67% last year. That's phenomenal. I challenge anybody. Look at any American city, small or large, when crime was down so low. I told my staff just today that our challenge for 2025 is first of all, law enforcement. The the the the public has to come to the reality. Law enforcement is reactionary. We want people to have freedoms. We don't want to stop everybody that moves because we don't like the way they look. We we know where that gets us. That's a train wreck waiting to happen. And we want people to have their civil liberties in a free society, not to get philosophical. We don't know what people are gonna do next.

We just it's impossible. And so, I told my staff today from our deputy chief on down, our biggest challenge coming off of a 67% reduction in crime is what this doesn't talk about up here is the arrest. Most of these people accounted for, the criminals. And now they sat over on Jennifer Road to see a court commissioner or they are or trial was pending. The vast majority of crime in Annapolis is solved, so I told my staff that what impress me the most, not so much the numbers are down because it's an inherently reactionary job.

Once it comes to our attention, I love the response that the Annapolis PD gave last year to crimes. I mean, discharge is where nobody was struck, non contact shootings. For the most part, those people were identified and they were relentless in pursuing the people that's responsible. And that's all you can really ask. So I appreciate your remarks, Alderman. I really do.

I will add because you for every praise there is a you know, the only thing I really do and this maybe is just Ward 8 in in general. I really do think and and there's no statistic to track. And they and the alderwoman has told me there may be legal things. I don't know. Other people told me there may be legal concerns as well.

The overdoses. And, you know, because that should be contributing to the homicide fact, which I think would significantly increase the number of homicides that we have because right now, we're only counting off of, obviously, like, physical homicide or shooting or, you know, like blunt trauma force or something like that. And overdose is a murder too. You know, the incidents that have happened in Eastport, obviously, over the last couple of weeks and over the last couple of years have been con pretty concerning to me because we're getting into this theme now where they're, like, group overdoses. And particularly with older adults of, like, 50.

And African American, unfortunately, we've seen it in the ward, two. We've seen it in my ward, obviously. And, unfortunately, some of those lead to, fatalities. I think you all should start recording. I don't know if that's a federal statistic because I know you've just switched over to following the is it the

The NABRS, the National Incident Based Reporting

uniform crime before, was it?

Yeah. We used the uniform crime reports at first. But to your point, the law provides for that. I think even in Maryland, if you can show that a person deliberately put fentanyl out on the street, know what the end results could be,

I think

that lends to intent. And that we have to And I know they can be held accountable, not just for drug distribution.

And that's what I would like to get to at some point. And I I know there are ongoing investigations. Please don't speak on anything right now. But at some point, I'd like to see, like I think that if you know, because I've been very lenient in the past when it comes to, like, in particularly, like, you know, drug or or, crime of of an economic circumstance. You know, obviously, people steal, people sell drugs, people do all of those things because they need to provide for themselves and whether it has to do with their social or or economic or educational background, etcetera.

But now it's to the point where, you know, obviously, the fentanyl has be been introduced in particularly to Annapolis at a much higher rate. And what I believe this year I'm only going off of what I believe. There's been nothing released from that police or fire department. And so, I'd like to see us, one, cracking down, obviously, on the individual selling it and counting those as homicides. I used the example of Michael k Sterling in New York now.

When his when he got or he he was killed, they went and found the individual that sold him the drugs, they charged him with a homicide. When Demi Lovato overdosed, they went and found the person and charged them with attempted homicide. So what's different in our

Well, let me say this, the word homicide in and of itself is when one human being dies at the hands of another. Absence of murder or manslaughter. Okay. So we could count them. No. I'm I'm agreeing with you wholeheartedly. The word homicide, is the act. It varies from state to state. Now, if I sold the Captain fentanyl knowing that it was laced and you could somehow prove that I knew that that that was a deadly dose, then I would agree, my definition is that I've committed a homicide. It's up to the legislature to determine whether it should be first degree murder, second degree murder, you know, voluntary or involuntary manslaughter.

But the deputy chief, before I forget, said something that I don't know if he realized I heard him, but he was talking to, I believe it was captain Howard a few weeks ago and he said, look, overdoses, let's not just take the report. Let's try to find out where it came from. Remember that? And I was delighted. I don't know if he knew that I heard him, but I overheard him sitting in my office.

I said, that's what I'm talking about. And that's when you know that a police department, in spite of its challenges, you know, is focused on doing its job because the deputy chief said to the captain, I believe, let's challenge these guys if there's any investigative leads in in terms of where the person may have gotten the drugs from. Sometimes that's hard to do because it's all over the place. A person can buy fentanyl laced marijuana, coke, or heroin, whatever. Laced everything with fentanyl down. They could buy it in Antarctica. They can buy it in Glen Burnie, theoretically, come into Annapolis and and and collapse or even ingest it in another jurisdiction, come here and collapse.

Just so that we can close out here because I don't wanna hold this too long Mhmm. Is the issue you have to find specific intent, like the person almost absolutely has to know that this was, you know, some sort laced with some sort of fentanyl and then it becomes the objective of the investigating authority to prove that the individual that was selling knew and had intent to kill. Is that for homicide, or or can you do you you mentioned, like, first, second, you know, involuntary manslaughter, all of those things. What did what I guess I'm I'm asking, you know, at what length does our police department go to in charging?

Well, I instruct my guys to say, for example, real quick, and I'll be brief, if officers would theoretically investigate a overdose and say we see it on CCTV and we say, oh, that's John Jones, you know, that lives on Clay Street and we've been looking for him and we see him distribute the substance and then the person ingested and collapses, then we would get all that information together and take it to the state's attorney And and and and and all probability would go to a grand jury and they would determine to what level of responsibility. They don't lead leave that generally up to us, but that's how I would like to see it happen.

But who would you charge it as though? Because the department has to charge it. Right? And then they'll figure out if they will

Not not necessarily. I'm sorry. You go ahead.

Just to interject. I've I've been looking it up. There's actually a bill that's before the general assembly right now that would make it easier to charge individuals for any fentanyl or heroin overdoses. -So if it's a drug if it's a supplier and then someone dies as a result of it, they can be charged, and it carries up to a conviction of up to twenty years.

-Right.

-So it has bipartisan support right now. So, let's say it passes, it would be a lot easier for the police departments to then charge because now they just have to show that who the dealer was once someone has ingested fentanyl, let's say, and has passed away from it. And it's I don't know if

I said this, so I

might be repeating myself, but it's a con holds a conviction of up to twenty years. Right. But the Drug induced homicide is the term.

If you could send that, that'd be very helpful. Know I will do that. Maybe we send tests. I don't know.

But just in in addition to what Carrie just articulated, we could always take the facts before a prosecutor and then let them take it to a grand jury or they can even charge as well based on the information we provide. It's just so complex that we haven't I haven't seen a pattern of us charging people for overdoses, but it can be done.

Just real quick. So but, what the chief talked about in reference to the conversation I had with the captain, it's a practice that we have always had. I just reemphasized that because we had a double overdose, one which was fatal, to make sure that we double down on getting that evidence. So we make sure that we collect the electronic devices there. We make sure we have trace evidence there to determine is there a signature as to where this stuff come from. We have a big input from our federal partners, also who dumps all that information to a database. And as it pertains to charging, even though the state's attorney do have a role in that, the first thing we have to do is provide the medical examiner with some information that they would make the ruling to become a homicide.

Yes. That's all, I think it's a good question, excellent question, and a conversation that needs to be had. And based on that legislation, which I didn't even know, thank you, then we'll have have to revamp our whole policy to reflect that. So it's my prayer that that legislation passes during this legislative session.

Miss Berger, where in the pipeline is that legislation over there?

I am looking that up now. Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, madam chair. I just and I did just wanted to say to the department, I'm not questioning any intent or whatever or anything like that.

No, sir. It's a good question.

Yeah. Or anything previously. I just said, you know, I get worried when because we hear that that like, those when there's a groups. It's and that's happened more than one time, and there's been, like, three or more individuals. And, you know, I know people that are doing experimental parties and all of this stuff. Whatever it is, nonetheless, if you kill somebody, I think it's a homicide. I know there's different definitions and intent and all that stuff, but, yeah, thank you so

so much.

About thirty six, thirty seven years ago when Len Bias died on the campus at the University of Maryland in College Park, the the Prince George's County state's attorney went after a guy by the name of Brian Tripp and for giving him that eight ball, a mixture of heroin and cocaine that exploded his heart. I remember it like it was yesterday. Why? Because I was a street police thirty seven years ago. And I remember us having the conversation.

And if you go and look up the historical narrative, in those days, people thought that if you were an addict and you purchased drugs, then you were off of your own fate. You couldn't blame the government or the police or anybody else. And the prosecutor lost his lost reelection for that because many people thought that he shouldn't even have went after Brian Tripp. Brian Tripp, of course, was acquitted because no jury would convict him for selling or exposing, not selling or giving Len Bias to cocaine. And then the last but not least, the argument became, he was a high profile basketball player, an all American basketball player chosen second in the draft by the Boston Celtics, a very powerful NBA team, and he was Michael Jordan.

He was in the same class as Michael Jordan. So he was a celebrity. So the only reason why they went after Brian Tripp is because the celebrity status of Len Bias. I only make that relevant point because I thought that it was a credible argument to start charging these drug dealers for putting this poison in the community. And so now we're we're we're finally there and that's what's so important about your question. I think that's what we should be tracking. Yes, sir.

Yes.

Yes. Mhmm. Yes. Yeah. Very make you wanna cry. And then and then but but every citizen who has the disease of addiction should be protected from people putting their poison out, whether you're a celebrity or not. But, yeah, saw that. It was very sad. I guess our last category, Ward 8, the gun violence and, contact shootings. We had one and that was on the board of with you with Alderman Gay's Ward that's at Madison And President Street and that accounts for a lot of the addiction issues.

And I thought that Alderman Arnett was right on point when he said that a lot of it because of the border poverty and all the hopelessness that goes along with drug addiction because of his close proximity to Ward 6. Then shots fired, Monroe Street, Warren Drive, President Jackson Street. Again, we put in parentheses on the border with Ward 6 and that accounts for a lot of it. It's just right over the border. And then shots fired, again, Park Avenue, so far one this year on the on the border with Ward 6.

So that's the the gun violence. But I will sum it up by saying that, again, I'd like to thank the men and women of the APD. They are relentless. We take these discharges seriously. And we have in in in in in this season that we're in in America, last time I was here, I kinda articulated my concern because of the politics of this nation.

And I don't wanna lose our federal partners and and these task force officers that we were able to send to to the Feds, our APD officers, that we were able to detail to the federal government to work on these collaborative gun violence initiatives. Because what I'm not hearing in the American discourse right now is that we have to do something about these cities. Gun violence hasn't slowed down. And and and so I'm praying that we will be able to continue to have our federal partnerships. They like working with Annapolis.

Myself and captain Howard attended about three weeks ago. We went into Queen Anne's County to go to an FBI briefing and they wouldn't mind saying this. And we talked about those very things amongst other things. Queen Anne County Queen Anne's County Sheriff's Department hosted the event and we met with our federal partners, multi jurisdictions and they assured us that in this area that the federal initiatives are still gonna take place. So I was happy to hear that, and I pray that they do.

Good to know. Alderman Arnett.

Thank you, madam chair. A specific question about this slide and then a general comment. All of these incidences except for Warren Drive make sense to me. Warren Drive is not ordered with Ward 6. Is that that party house that we've been having problems with years for years?

I know the house you're referring

to. It's not it wasn't that house. It wasn't

I know the house you're referring to, but that that I don't think it was either.

That gentleman since moved out of the house.

Right. Yes.

He no longer I don't wanna skip his name, but he no longer lived there.

Right. But I know the house you're referring to.

Mhmm. Because I now have a new neighbor that lived next door to him who has moved to my street because of the party house. I wanna follow-up with Alderman Yeh said and the chairwoman I know believes this, but we do thank you. Particularly, you haven't mentioned two things. You're doing this police work severely understaffed.

Yes, sir.

And that's a continual problem. I don't know how we're ever gonna solve that. But the other thing you haven't mentioned is you have a pretty good conversion. We're we're catching a lot of these people. It doesn't help the victim of the crime because it's after the fact, but it does show good police work. So wanna mention that and and thank you

Thank you, sir. Specific. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you, Alderman Alderman Gay. Here I am, the one that

said I wasn't gonna ask too many questions. But this is so important, the work that you all do. And so that's why you have to just lock in when you have an opportunity to. To to your point, why don't we release imperative details as it relates to crime like other jurors other jurisdictions. I think that's the one thing that may really boil my blood with on the Annapolis Police Department, both after the fact and before the fact.

Before the fact, I'll use the example of, I know, like, there'll be be there'll be incidents where, like, you know, you have a vehicle in mind, and they'll hold off on it because they're like, oh, we don't wanna alert the criminal or whatever. And I'm like, well, in every other jurisdiction I see, they find the vehicle, you know, maybe they have internal discussion for a couple of hours, but it becomes public knowledge at some point. So before the before the crime, that's my only concern, just the amount of public knowledge that we actually release.

And we're working on that with our new PIO. I told my I shared with my deputy chief. It it has been a culture here. The only time we should withhold information is if if if if it compromises the case. If it compromises public safety, then we need to let the public know. I think it's irresponsible to withhold information. For example, we have somebody running around with a gun. I want the description to go out. We have a vehicle that is is responsible for robberies. I want every citizen in Annapolis, whether they're up at the Safeway or they're at the Giant.

I don't care where they're at. They need to know. An informed public, is is is is a public that can better protect themselves, especially against violent crime. So, I'm agreeing with you in the sense that we have to mitigate that. We're training Cortland now to to to understand that. So, before I put him out there on TV, I wanna make sure you give him a fair chance to to to grow and learn and learn about crime and learn what to say and what not to say. But you never withhold information to the public where the public could be sacrificed in order to solve a case, if that makes sense.

It does.

And I and I mean, the one very, very good example of when you all were very, it was reactive to the situation, but you all were proactive with the information. The incident that happened at the Safeway Mhmm. With the young woman or, you know, whatever happened there. I thought it was great. The information was out to the public. Everybody knew it was going. It was on Facebook, Twitter, everywhere immediately. And, you know, I'm assuming that the public was able to, you know, weigh in, but you all probably had investigatory tips ahead of time. And then afterwards, one thing I I'd like to see, just as the alderman had mentioned, I know personally because you all have told me, like, oh, there was a, you know, shooting on x date. There was no target or whatever, but we found the guy with the gun.

The public needs to know that, not because I care about the public, you know, being involved in an individual's personal case with an with a judge, But because I want the public to know that you, you, you, you are all doing a very, very good job, I think that's the common misconception is that, like, oh, this happens, and it's very quiet. You know, they're probably not investigating. They don't care. And it's like, really? You've already arrested the person or you've got some sort of lead on the individual?

And I just I I mean and I get it. You know, you've gotta be careful with, you know, how you relay information, but I just I think that's the and my my only my only personal, criticism is just how when, how we release information in a time and what we do. And I I thank you for bringing up that question because it's it's more important because you're doing the job, not because we don't think you're doing

the job. Sir. And we're going to send Cortland what is it? Next week?

Yeah.

I think it's next week we're going to send him to a very good, PIO school. And and and so he'll be prepared to address all of that. Because I I I agree with you. I get frustrated sometimes because we haven't told the entire story and then we're we're doing, I think, what the public expects us. But if if we don't get the information out, then the public will assume what they assume based on the information that they had.

And we can't blame the public for that. We have to blame ourselves because absence of the information, they'll make the assumption as to what's going on as opposed to what's really going on. So, I hear you. And we have Cortland Jackson now, new PIO, who's gonna attend a workshop. And we've been spending a lot of time with him to make sure that he understands completely what his role is.

Hey, Oliver Gay, did you get the, do you get the daily report that we put out daily?

I get the report from, whatever the automated. I don't know if I get the, what whatever I signed up, you know, obviously, what or they signed us up for. Is that the same one? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. They signed us up in the beginning for it.

Yeah. Yeah. So each, each morning, whatever crime happened the previous day, we make sure that information go out. It may not be to the, specifics that you look at when we may be missing something in there. Also, when we make an arrest, it goes in that report too. So maybe we need to add more to that, but we do send something out for crime that's reported, in the city of Annapolis each day, so public should know exactly what's being, committed each day.

So I think Alderman Arnett and yourself because is both alluded to it. It's that it's that stuff that we haven't made an arrest. Right. But to get the information is like a PSA, a public safety announcement to let people know that these are the trends going on. We do it well at Christmas time, but we should do it all year long.

Alderman on it.

Sorry. One more time because I'm anxious here for fire. But I did get criticism from a constituent when there was an FBI search in the neighborhood, and it made me wonder this this constituent wanted to have real time alert and shelter in place and things like that.

We wanted to.

Yeah. It's a lot of things. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of times, we wanted to. And a lot of times, and I tell people this, and I don't mean to sound sarcastic, but people don't realize that the federal government has authority here. Some of these are their investigations and not ours. And I tell people, I told the constituents Saturday, Annapolis is still The United States. And so when they come in with federal warrants signed, duly signed by a federal magistrate judge or a federal district court judge, then, they can either give us the courtesy of notifying us or just come in and and so they just came in the other day. And I'm not, you know, I love my federal partners but they don't always alert us. And then they have their reasons, I guess.

Thank you for elaborating because that complaint went out to a list serve of 14,000 people.

Yes, sir.

It's it's good to get this information on the record.

Yes, sir. I know. I'm just gonna give you an example. Saturday, I was asked some questions. I called my deputy chief and he didn't know and I he didn't know. Was the only one that knew.

Yeah. And

so we were just as frustrated with that because I had no answers. I like to give some kind of answer but I had no answer. Mhmm.

Do we have any questions from the public? Mister Wright, you can come on up to the podium, sir.

Thank you, madam chairman.

Certainly.

On behalf of the Esports Civic Association,

we

had a couple of comments and and questions on a number of the topics that you mentioned this evening. Okay? Let me start with the question of communication with public. First of all, I'll tell you that our experience up until probably the last six to seven months has been that our communication with the police department regarding the severity, or I guess the expansion of information about things that people already knew were in the works. Now let me give you an example of that.

Shots fired, that type of incident. It was very important to our members and citizens of eSport to understand how that was being classified. In other words, were these targeted shootings, were they random shootings, and all of that. So we had the ability up we feel up until about six months, maybe more, to be able to pick up the telephone. I remember talking to captain Meguez, who has always been very responsive to us, and captain Kleindens when he was here, we could just pick up the telephone.

We had developed that kind of relationship. And the kinds of things we were asking was, can you give us a little bit more information so that we can disseminate it, to our members and put this thing in perspective? Because as you well know, a number of these incidents lead themselves to rumor and rumor upon rumor and, you know, all through social media and so forth. But the bottom line is we don't feel we have that right. And so I was very interested to hear about the new PIO. Is the PIO going to be the point person for us? That's my question.

Yes, sir. Any of my command staff can be a point person to include myself, but the PIO will be available and he'll probably do it primarily. That's the way it should be run anyway. And then we're gonna get a new chief of patrol very soon and he'll be available. Right now, I have captain, the good captain Howard trying to do both, run the detective and special squads in addition to helping out the acting captain, which is Lieutenant Joseph Mann who's doing a very good job.

He really is. But it sees a lieutenant and it's kinda overwhelming. I think the learning curve has been good with captain I mean, with acting captain Joe Mans. So in short time, we'll do a a better job. But then, also, a lot of things or some things I put a halt to because it goes back to what I've said a few minutes ago that as long as public safety is not compromised, I don't mind sharing as much as I can.

But then secondarily, I don't wanna put things out there that we haven't verified. And then we have our other partner which is the state's attorney. Our state's attorney called me recently and said, gotta be careful what you put out because if the case is gonna come to me, don't want it tried in the neighborhoods. I want it based on evidence. So it's a it's a very fine line to walk.

I'm not a professional PIO. That's why we went so very badly to have a well trained PIO that can can sit down when when when it's not in my best interest or the best interest of the APD or my command staff to comment on on on certain things. But surely, mister Reichard, you can always pick up the phone. I'll gladly talk to you. So I'll call you? In person. Yes. You can call my office and Yes, sir. And I'll gladly talk

to you. Okay.

Important. You all are very important. So, Esports Civic Association is very important and been good partners. So we'll we'll make sure that that information continues.

Thank you. Appreciate that. And and let me just say, as you probably know, chief Jackson, there have been a couple of incidents in the last, couple of years where either you or I or maybe it was captain Klein and I, we collaborated on language, actually. You know, we agreed on language that would be released in certain incidents. And what we're looking at is, you know, putting it out in the newsletter or at least corroborating it with the police department to avoid the rumor mills and the problems that everybody suffers because of that. So appreciate that. Thank you.

Yes, sir. And you and you're right. You're bringing up a very good point in that the fear of crime can be just as crippling as the actual offense itself. So I agree. And public safety is very important. Public safety differs from law enforcement in that when people walk outside their door, a good and well run police department makes them feel that their neighborhoods and their communities are safe. So I I I do understand exactly what you're saying.

Thank you. But with your indulgence, I had two, three other points. Is that okay?

Mister Raika, take as long as you as you need to.

Thank you. Appreciate that. Let me just say, your coffee with a cop program is terrific. I participated in that about three weeks ago. I met with three of your officers, corporal and and two others, and it was extremely enlightening.

And I wanna just share with you and the committee some of the things we talked about. First of all, the cameras. As you well know, you and I worked together with the city to try to get those cameras put up and operating and so forth. And the question was, well, how are they being used? How are you guys in the patrol cars actually using these cameras in your work?

So what I learned from that was on the question of, are the cameras a deterrence, which was one of my questions, the answer was no. They really aren't. It seems that if the bad guys are gonna do what the bad guys do, they really don't care whether they're on tape or not. Okay. Maybe they're not that smart, but, you know, they're just not.

So it's really not a deterrence except for people maybe like you and me. Mhmm. The way they do use the cameras, we learned, is in investigation and in in pursuit, for example. So the camera operator, if they're able to get a license tag number or a face or something like that, they're able to take a screenshot and get that to the patrol officer. So we were able to learn a lot about that.

Mhmm. It was different. What I'm pointing out that it was different than the way the public initially thought about those cameras. So my point is it was good to know, but it's also good to know to have the public really understand how these things are being used by the police department, by the officers in the patrol cars, and that was very enlightening. So I wanna pass that on to you.

Yes, sir. And the only element missing is that, and I don't wanna get myself in trouble, but I wish that the courts were stronger partners for the deterrence piece when we had that. And that's not necessarily talking, mister Reichard, incarceration, but some of these, the courts have a lot of power to mandate people to do certain things. Like a lot of them is drug addiction. You have an addict to support their habit, they're going to break in cars and they're going to take things out because it's they can't, you know, the average addict is not a multimillionaire entertainer.

They're just everyday people who lost their jobs, lost their ability to cope, they've lost a whole lot of things. The only way they can sustain a drug habit is to commit crimes. And, you know, the courts can command them to get into programs and things of that nature. So, you're seeing a lot of hopelessness. Mean, the most dangerous man or woman that you can encounter, law enforcement or citizens alike, is a person who feels that they have absolutely nothing to lose. And I can say with a high degree of confidence, that's what American law enforcement is facing right now. And I just hope oh, I'll be glad when we get past this period of this hopelessness because cameras are not a deterrent in in in far too many cases. Yeah.

I wanna share with you a little bit about I asked all of the officers. I said, you know, we have a pretty large civic association here in Eastport and fairly active. And I said, there's anything and I'm gonna get an opportunity to talk to some members of the city council today. So this was three weeks ago. But I said, if there was anything you needed or wanted that you thought we could advocate for, what would that be?

Well answer was well, the answer they gave was give us more manpower. Okay? And I said, well, people have really been trying hard on that. They've been trying a lot of different things, and it certainly is foremost in the minds of of the city council and so forth. But I said, how did you get here?

You know, what why did you join the Annapolis Police Department instead of Anne Arundel or someplace else? And they said word-of-mouth. They said the single most effective, in their view it was very interesting. The single most effective way to recruit police officers for the city of Annapolis was word-of-mouth through the Baltimore City Police Department. Every single one of them well, there were three, but all three of them said, that's how I heard about it.

I heard about that from some guy who worked out here or had a connection here and thought this was a good place to live. So I'm passing that on, and maybe you already know that, but it was very interesting to me. And I said the second thing is, you know, there's a lot of discussion in our city about affordable housing for people like you, police officers, teachers, nurses, and so forth. And I said, for the sake of this question, let me ask you, if there was good affordable housing here in the city of Annapolis, Would you live in the city of Annapolis? Not a single one of them would.

I said, absolutely not. And it was Wow. And that was intriguing and it was you know, there were a variety of reasons. Okay? But one of them said, you know, I have a wife and two kids.

And if I moved into the city of Annapolis, I don't want my kids going to school with the kids or the parents I arrested the day before, you know, which I thought was really kind of insightful. Okay? And that was not an issue that had anything to do with affordable housing. Now each had in fairness, each had a different reason, but none of them said they particularly were interested in living in the city. They really like you you've got your patrol officers are now, what, on twelve on, twelve off? Yes, sir. Is that the Mhmm. Really like that. Mhmm. They really like that.

And their concern, I think, that Anne Arundel's going to that soon, like, in a few months, isn't And so they had expressed a little concern that if Anne Arundel goes to that, you know, it may provide more competition than there already exists.

Well, say this to Mike real quick. I like to have a and and we can schedule it. I'd like to sit down and talk to you about that dynamic. You know, I'm a former sociology professor and I argue about that type of mentality. I think police should be civic leaders. And I think it is sad when law enforcement officers feel that they can't live in the jurisdiction where they work. I think that that's what's a matter with a lot of American cities, that your first responders are not a part of the community. But we'll talk about that offline.

Let me tell you, these guys were absolutely first top rate, you know, and very much appreciated being here. Thought they got good training. Happy to be here. Okay. So passing that on. Let me move on because I just have a couple of more points. You're aware of the emergency safety and security grant that is currently being the applicant by HACA? Okay.

Yes, sir. I signed off on it today.

Yeah. Did you? Okay. This morning.

This is

sure city council knows about this. This is a grant being applied to by HACA from HUD. So we're in communication with Melissa Maddox. Evidence on that, and they needed police data by this week as an adjunct to that. Been provided. Yes, being provided.

Oh, has been. Excellent. The the letter's been of support has been signed, and the data was provided. Okay.

So just wanted to check check with you on that.

Yes, sir.

Okay. The website. We have a safety committee that's fairly active, and we wanted to pass on that the police website is it's not user friendly. Let me put it that way. In terms of digging into data, we found it to be a little awkward. Some of it's out of date. Some of it talks about neighborhood watch programs, which haven't existed in this city for a long time.

I want that to start back up, but We should say it's not yeah. But you're right.

So to be continued. But we you know, if there's anything we can do to help you or to talk about the the structure of communication through the website, we'd happy to do it. But right now, the website is needs some work.

Yes, sir. Okay.

Thank you for the opportunity. And

Thank you, mister Reich. We really do appreciate it as always. Alderman Gay, you have oh, first. Yeah.

Who's the hire who does hiring?

But who no.

Who there has to be a panel or is it just singular?

Well, you you can you can speak to that, Amy.

So we work with human resources for the city, but I have one officer who works on hiring. There's a number of officers that assist doing background investigations and a number of officers that assist going to recruiting events. We do go to a lot of recruiting events around the state.

Which I think is great. I did see one at my alma mater. It's not technically my alma mater because I still have 19 credits left. But shout out to you and me as I I did see you all posted up there. My question, when there is a department like the Baltimore Police Department and, you know, got documentaries and all this chaos surrounding it, you investigate that, how far do you go?

We go through their whole internal affairs history. We look at every single piece that's in their internal affairs file at any department they ever served in.

In MI It's part of the law.

Okay. Thank you. I I I was just trying to get a better understanding of that because I know in some instances, and again, this is where I expect the expertise of the department to correct me and what I'm assuming, where an individual an officer could do something in x department and be let go there or terminated or whatever, and then they could just go to another department in neighbor's jurisdiction. Is that

There's a national registry.

Is that now?

That Maryland is mandatory to use that registry. Not every state

that Yeah. We flag them. They're they're flagged in the system.

Yes. So under the Maryland Police Accountability Act of 2021, not only is there the registry, and it that may have pre existed that, but now anyone who's applying to the Annapolis Police Department has to certify their prior departments and also has to give authorization to the department to get their entire, personnel record. Right. And in addition to that and that includes internal affairs. In addition to that, if someone were to leave a Maryland jurisdiction under investigation for serious misconduct, -things like excessive use of force, -Right.

Discrimination, harassment, false statement, veracity type of allegations, their certification is automatically revoked under the Maryland Police Training Commission, so they could not get another law enforcement job at least within the state of Maryland. And that doesn't that is not contingent on the outcome of the investigation. The investigation can be ongoing. And if they resign while it's pending, it still revokes their certification. And then, certainly, if there's a sustained finding, that also revokes their certification.

I greatly appreciate you for explaining that. Just to if there's any curiosity amongst others, why are we hiring so many people from Baltimore? They involved in anything, you know?

It's a huge department and there's a lot of good people there that maybe wanna move on to somewhere else.

And we've seen an increased amount of men and women, mostly men, have come from Baltimore City Sheriff's Department, not the police department. Here lately, I mean, here lately. We've hired quite a few ex sheriff's deputies and ultimately, captain Meeghes prepares a report for me and I have the deputy to look at it and then really I strongly hire them based on the recommendations from my command staff. And then I'll I'll appoint them if sometimes I'll even discuss if it's something that concerns me. I do read those backgrounds and I'll bring captain Meeghes in or or the deputy chief because they're primary two to read it after Murphy, detective Murphy has forwarded the information.

And, you know, it's been times that I've brought the people in and I wanted to see him and ask them questions myself. And then if I'm satisfied that they're a good fit, then we go ahead and hire

Thank you. Anyone else from the audience have a question or a comment or concern? Please step up to the microphone, give your name and address. That's the purpose here tonight. Even if you live in Ward 8 or not in Ward 8, it doesn't matter because I see at least one out there who does it, but that's okay. Okay. Thank you so much, Annapolis Police Department. Okay.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

Thank you. Okay.

Next on the list, ID 3525, Annapolis Fire Department update AFD. And we have chief O'Malley.

Do the PowerPoint for me.

Good evening, chief.

Good evening. See if we can get this up.

Like to thank everyone for coming tonight. Thank you so much.

Doing fine, Jeff. There we go. Good evening. Doug Ramalek, fire chief. Before we start, I would say we are proud to say that at the January, we graduated three firefighter EMTs from the Prince George's County Fire Academy.

They are now out on the street. Recently, this month, we were promoted four fire I'm sorry, three firefighter first class. They're going through their officer development program, and they're on the street. And as of Thursday of last week, we hired four firefighter EMT recruits that had started the Anne Arundel County Fire Academy. All these are replacements for retirees and, people that have moved on to other jurisdictions. So we're here to talk about Ward 8. We'll go over some citywide statistics. We'll talk about some operational challenges. We don't have a whole lot of them in this ward, but, we can talk about them and then strategic plan.

One thing before you go on, chief O'Malley, I just wanna let everyone know, in January, when we focused on Ward 1, we did do an overall statistical assessment and evaluation of the entire 2024. So, that's already been done. So if you wanna see that, you can go back to the meeting in January. Thank you, chief.

And this is just citywide statistics for last year. We ran over 13,000 calls for service. 75% of those are EMS related calls, and that's what we do on a daily basis. We take sick and injured people to the hospital. We respond to fires and other incidents as needed, but the majority of what we do in the Indianapolis Fire Department is EMS related.

Look, I'm jumping forward.

So Ward 8 for last year, we ran 863 calls for service there. You can see how it relates to the other wards in the city, and you were the third least busiest ward, that we responded to. So far this year, out of the 1,500 responses, we've had a 106 in Ward 8. I will say that we are missing some data over the last couple weeks because of a data issue that we ran into with our reporting system, and we're working on resolving that currently. So chief Powell likes to point this out that you can see our fire loss for the last three years.

In 2024, we had a very good year. I knock on wood every time I look at that. So fire loss in the city of Annapolis last year was not extremely high. We did not have a lot of major fires. We hope to continue that trend, and it's been since 2010. It was the last fatal fire in the city of Annapolis, and that's another statistic I don't like to talk about too much because we know we're close.

Chief Allmangay has a question.

What was in what was the

2023 that just had a peak and, the the almost 3,000,000. I I would have to go back and look, but that that would be several fires throughout that year. So that's not one just major loss. Obviously, we can have $1,000,000 fire. We can have that tomorrow, depending on the business and the occupancy. But, that year, we just was a a high year for working structure fires in the city of Annapolis. Thank you. Yep. So for your award, operational challenges are minimal for us. The biggest concern we run into is the tight streets in the lower end of Eastport with parking on both sides of the street.

We've done a lot to combat that. Years and years ago, there was a study done with the community and the city. Looking at that, there were some recommendations about making some streets one way, not parking on the side of the road. We realize that any parking we take away from any, community in Annapolis, it's difficult because most recent or over the last several years, most residents don't they have more than one car when it's you have an occupancy. More than likely, there's one more than one car associated with that.

But with that, we've gone to, smaller fire engines. We went back to city pumpers as we call them. They're shorter wheelbase to help us get around. As you'd see, our ladder trucks are tiller ladder trucks. They bend in the middle to help us get around the tight streets. And the medic units too, we've gone to smaller medic units there. We know that this ward is primarily residential and retail with some light commercial areas. We also know that this area has a lot of marinas and waterfront properties and boats in there. But with that, like I said, we we don't run into a lot of challenges there. You know, we have a fire station that's right there.

The Eastport fire station is right there in the city of Annapolis. I would say that any of the residents that live in the area, they get an opportunity. They should take a look at the memorial that's out front of the fire station. As long as far as I can remember going back, as a kid walking from downtown to my house, that in front of the Eastport fire station, people would always cut across the grass there, and there was a dirt path that was there for years. I'm talking thirty years plus.

If you go by there now, you will see that the work that was done, there's actually brick sidewalks. The city came in and put a sidewalk down on the Jefferson Street side to the rear, and a memorial that's out there for the the men and women of the Indianapolis Fire Department to recognize what they've done over the years is nice. It's about 90% done. It's missing a few plaques, that they're still working on getting that done, but that memorial up front is nice. So the landscape in front of the station has improved for the Eastport community.

And, actually, the everybody that's walking through there, it's traveled quite a bit, and I think they they enjoy that. There's actually a a water fountain out front where people can fill their water bottles and actually get water for their dogs also. So we're proud to be part of the community and be part of that community fire station there. With that, I'll just move on a little bit just to talk about. In July 22, the council approved funding for a new fire engine for the Forrest Drive Fire Station.

We are two and a half years into it, and I can say as of last week, this is what you can see of the construction of that fire engine. That fire engine costs $720,000. If we were to order this same engine today to go into production, it would still take us two to three years to get it, and it's a million dollars purchase now, This exact same fire engine to, we're just wanting to pass that on. We have the same issue with medic units. We have two medic units on order.

We were hoping that they would go into production the first quarter of this year. They've been on order for two years and well, once been a year, once two years out, and they haven't even gone to production yet. But those fire engines you see up and down the street, when we say they're custom built, what you're looking at is they they are billy being built custom, piece by piece. We have entered into a strategic plan for the department for our planning cycle. The last one that was done was in 2004, so our strategic plan was pretty old.

I will say that chief Stokes, when he came in, instead of doing a new strategic plan, he did more of a business plan. So we've had plans throughout. It just wasn't a strategic plan. We have gone back, and we've got a diverse group of cross section with our department. We're using some modeling that's done through the center of public safety excellence, and we're gonna do re we're gonna reach out to the community that we serve, and there's gonna be some surveys to see what they expect for public safety in the city of Annapolis, especially when it relates to the fire department.

So that it's all gonna go out, and, they are putting that together now. They have a time a period where they're hoping to have this strategic plan by September. That's a very aggressive plan for as much work that has to be done with it, but we have some, people within the department that are really, happy to be part of it, and it's so we can look at the future of the department and see where we need to go, especially with the way we construction's going. We know that buildings are being built taller now because we don't have too many areas where you can have construction in the city of Annapolis. So, we're gonna continue to look at that.

We look at our staffing levels. Obviously, we would like to meet the national standards when it comes to, staffing levels, and that's a challenge for us at times. So we're gonna continue to look at that, look at the app fire apparatus, and it this goes throughout the department. It'll look at the fire apparatus we have, if that's appropriate, what we're running, how we're doing it, and what the needs are of the public. With that being said, that's about all I have for your award.

Thank

you, madam chair. Chief, I have some constituents that work considerably. As you know, Esport is, a favorite place for people to come for Blue Angels, Fourth of July, Lights Parade, Tug of War, etcetera. And it seems over the years, we've had variable plans for making sure that the roadways are clear in case there's an emergency. Could you, comment on your perspective about how well that plan has worked?

So it's always a challenge for us. I can tell you that between emergency management, police department, the fire department, we come together for all these events. A plan a citywide plan is put out. We, we know the challenges are there. So when we do have the Blue Angels detail, the Eastport Of Rockin', and some of the other events down there, But because we know it's a problem, we actually put a special events gator down there so that we know we can get to any area down there relatively quickly. It's got a small pump on it in case it's a fire related incident. It's a challenge. And as you know, for the Blue Angels, they actually restrict parking down there now. If you're not a resident, you're not supposed to be parking down there. The police do a pretty good job.

They do a good job as far as I I know, and they they restrict that. I can not to speak for the police chief, but I know that they get concerns from residents and visitors about limiting that parking. But it's a it's a challenge. We look at each event, and we continue to try to address this. But we we'll put personnel down there because we know that the area is congested.

So I'm trying to think about what I heard. Is is it is the planning working or not? And you to your

To to the best of my knowledge, it is working, but it it's a challenge. No matter how we do it, there's that many people in the city, that many cars on the street. It's a challenge for us to get anywhere in the Eastport community there.

It's a challenge to find parking even when there isn't

a space But like

I just wanted to make sure that it's working. We want people to be safe, but particularly when our streets are clogged up with traffic and extra parking. So I just wanted to ask that question. I'll carry it back to my constituent.

And that's why we put those special events units in service, the gator, and actually medics on bicycles so that we can get to them quickly, and then we'll worry about getting them out.

Is there any changing topics? We've we got the latest SAFR grant a couple of years ago. I mean, are we in any jeopardy of having any clawbacks for any federal money under the current environment?

So the SAFR grant we got was several years ago. That grant is is gone. The city has picked up the cost for those individuals. We've maintained those those individuals. We applied for a SAFR grant last year for four positions to try to put a peak time medic unit in the service and up to staffing on the fire apparatus.

We didn't get that. We're watching it closely to see how it's gonna affect future SAFR grants, and we'll see what's in this year's budget as that goes goes along. I know that the concerns that also go go with those grants about once they are completed that we you know, the city has to pick up those costs. The grants help us get started, but we are concerned about all the federal grants currently, and we are monitoring just like everybody else to see what's gonna happen with those grants.

Chief, can you explain what a safer grant is?

So that's the staffing a firefighter staffing grant that you can, sort of like the police grant that used to be out there where for the first depending on how the grant and it's been done several different ways, but, typically, it's a two to three year grant where it picks up the cost, the salaries, the benefits for the new people new firefighters. And then after that, the city would have to pick it up, but that helps helps get, with federal funding, get the people in here, get us the staffing levels we need to to be at, and helps us move forward. And it's just a way to to get it started, And that's what the SAFR grant is. So there is also a FIRE Act grant that we put in for every year. We've been very successful over the years to to receive that.

We were able to upgrade our self contained breathing apparatus that was getting outdated and saved a lot of money for the city because we were able to get that grant and replace everything at one time. So we continue to look at those grants and apply for those grants, and we're concerned that they're under jeopardy also.

We I forgot to ask police this, but what percent of your incoming revenue is based on various levels various kinds of grant?

Oh, for the fire department, it's a very low amount. I mean

What?

That's a relief. Extremely low amount. Right. We're talking the fire grants. Yeah. They're they're less than a $100,000 grants, and, that's just up and beyond anything that you as the council appropriate for us. The biggest grants would be is the staffing grants if we got those because they're they're the big grants, but it's a very low percentage of grants for the Napa Fire Department. And the majority of ours, 80 like, 83% of the budget city budget for us for fire department is all for staffing and benefits.

Thank you. That's that's a relief. Perhaps we can ask police the same question. But as we're heading into the budget period, I think we're all anxious about what's gonna happen to all of the grants and that could be a big impact on our budget and balancing it this year. But I would say to you the same thing that I said to police and I would have said to OEM if mister Mike Simmons were here.

But the number one expectation I think of this the city residents and businesses is public safety. And I think we're pretty well served. The data continues to show that we're well served, and so thank you for what you do.

Thank you.

Before you leave, chief, Pat McGuess, do you have any information regarding grants this year or chief of deputy? I know you're you're, chief administration.

Yes. We have another number of grants. Most are not federal. We currently only have one open federal grant. It's for a low amount, about 70,000.

But we do rely on a lot of state grant money. So if that becomes an issue, it'll be more concerning for us. There's the state aid for police protection, the SAP grant that we get. That's about 1,500,000 every year. That goes towards salaries. Plus there's this is not something that should really reduce as we get money from the county for nine one one fees that goes to equipment in our dispatch room as well as dispatch salaries. So not a huge amount when compared to our total budget, but they are things that are definitely help make the budget work better.

Yeah. Alright. Well, thank you.

Thank you. Mhmm. Alden McGay.

Thank you. And this is why I've said every single budget year is nothing against any of our public safety departments. But the reality is is that the citizens of the city of Annapolis want independent stand alone public safety agencies, meaning public is a city I'm sorry. Fire is a city agency. Police is a city agency. OEM is a city agency. Cost accumulates. Staff increases. The cost of vehicles increase. We just paid 1,800,000.0 for a boat.

You know, all of these things, they they they all of those things are is is critically important for public safety, but I just you can't have the top notch public safety teams that we do have and then also not wanna pay property tax. That just can't happen, and particularly when 70% of our revenue comes from property tax. And so I get incredibly worried about that. I think you all do a fantastic job, but the budget always, always, always concerns me. Do I is is this now my time to a ask my three quick questions? Yes. Thank you. The first is this, do, EMT wear body cam?

EMTs do not currently wear body cameras. No.

Is that I'm confused on why they wouldn't.

So some of that has to do with HIPAA.

Okay.

Okay. The HIPAA regulations for that police don't have the same responsibility as we do when it comes to the HIPAA violations, which is health care violations because we are sort of a health care agency Mhmm. And because it becomes medical care that that's part of the the concern. I know that throughout The US, there are some agencies that are looking at it, but I don't know of many agencies out there where the EMTs are wearing the the body worn cameras currently.

Fantastic. And, yeah, the just general. Second, police academy, and individuals wanting to get involved in the fire. I'd see how somebody, like, DM me on Instagram a couple of days ago. They were like, I really wanna be with Annapolis fire department. What how's the advertisement done for the general public to get involved in that? I know a lot of times they are, you should intern. Do they intern with the Eastport fire department first, or how do they you know?

So the Eastport Eastport volunteer fire department is a way that if you wanna volunteer your time, you could join the Eastport volunteer fire company or the independent volunteer fire company on Evelyn Taylor Avenue. That's an option that's there. It's hard to get volunteer firefighters anymore. It's where because the the time that's needing investment, so that that's a concern. For us, we have recruiters.

We have people to reach out. We actually do go out to the areas we not quite as much as the police department because we don't have the openings. And the concern is that when we do do recruiting events and you don't have the openings, people get disheartened because of, positions aren't there. They go through this long process, and then they get put on a waiting list. And then when we only hire one or two people because we are, fully staffed currently.

I have one actually, have department is not understaffed.

I have one office associate position, which the the applications are in for now, but all our staffing currently would be filled. But to do that, we we continue to get out there. We can also talk offline about some opportunities that we're we've been looking at in the city, to do some things like an internship, but, it's still at the early stages.

Yeah. I'd love to do that. I'd still like I'd love to get some sort of public safety internship going on like we did with the city, but it really wasn't as open to public safety, you know, because of concerns, etcetera. And I hope we get that out of your way. Lastly, good job to whoever is running your social media account putting out black history.

That was the best best thing I've seen. Highlight I office or firefighters or or that I had no idea, you know, were within the department. And I think that's good because the public safety teams in particular are very large, and so we run into new staff all the time. And so I thought that was great, just updating the community on who served within their communities. And and thank you for, obviously, the very, very impactful calls that you are responding to in Eastport Terrace and Harbor House with the overdoses. I just, incredibly grateful for all of that, so thank you.

Thanks. We're working hard to increase our public media outreach there. The people that are doing it are that's just a collateral duty for them. I've actually been talking with the police chief. They have their new PIO. We're gonna also have a PIO where they're gonna work together on a daily basis, sort of like a public safety PIO aspect, and make sure that we're getting out as much data as we can to the public about public safety. With that, it's gonna also encompass emergency management and doing some of their public outreach too. So we're gonna work together. We've talked about that, and we're working to make that happen as as you've just brought that up. But that's something that we've we've had meetings on over the last month, and we're working hard to do that.

And I I would agree that they, they've done a good job with the social media stuff over the last month and really highlighting some of the members of our department and getting it out there. So thanks for seeing that.

Okay. Thank you. I have a question, an inquiry a couple of people had asked me. We all watch the news and television and the fires in in in California and now, I think it's, what, North South South Carolina, North Beach. What's out if we have any vulnerabilities when it comes to fire to that

We always have concerns about wind driven fire, especially coming off the water. The one thing in, you know, California's most recent fires were significant because they reached some areas that weren't used or prone to wildland fires. For us in the city, there's not a lot of grassy areas or wildland areas to to get it moving along, but, we worry about wind driven fires. We would provide a lot of resources. We put a lot of resources to it, to that type of incident as a as it occurs, and we evaluate and we send apparatus and our mutual aid agreements with the Anne Arundel County and the United States Naval Academy, Navy District of Washington help because, you know, if we need additional help, we just call for it, and it'll come from there.

And then it'll even go farther out from Prince George's and Queen Anne's County or so our our mutual aid is robust, and we're we're very proud of that.

So our vulnerability is pretty low is what you're saying?

So we always have those concerns, but currently, it's it's not high on our priority list. We're not worried about the the vegetation growth around the city that's gonna affect a wildland fire like that. You're not gonna see a wildland fire, like you are seeing in South Carolina and California and the city of Annapolis. Now you could see residential structure fires because of how close our structures are together, especially if the wind's coming in off of the water and that wind driven fires concern us. They just had a wind driven fire, last week off of Best Gate Road where two houses were on fire and the wind was blowing down the street, and that that's a concern. So it is always a concern, but we address it. We, we look at the fire dangers, we continue to put resources at it.

Okay. Thank you. I'm gonna take this opportunity to say that we have the best, I believe, public safety team with our office of emergency management, fire department, and police department. It's obvious you all work extraordinarily hard with what you have. You care.

I I mean, that comes across tremendously when there's one person in in in stress or in a situation. We are very good at responding to that one situation even if it's one person. And so and we do it with a lot of grace and eloquence, and we do it with with a with a sign of of caring again about the people that we serve. And that's extraordinarily helpful because public safety is a huge part of the budget, and people wanna be able to say we have a good, excellent public safety team because, we do put out what we need to put out. We do work together harmoniously.

We're not perfect because we're imperfect people, but we do I do believe oh, yeah. Okay. I will. But we do an exceptional job, and a lot of what you do goes unnoticed. One thing I will say about the, certain comments about Baltimore City.

I mean, I was there for twenty and a half years, and what we've often said is that we've had so many experiences in that jurisdiction until it's not much we haven't seen or experienced or had to deal with. And I think that makes a huge difference when you've had an opportunity to work in a large jurisdiction. It gives you a a whole breadth and depth of of solving problems, ones that you may or may not see here, but that's extraordinarily helpful. So when you have a a group of people that come from many different disciplines and places and and and all of that, it's extraordinarily helpful in in solving any problems that we have here, and that's what we have in all of on all of our public safety teams. And I'm really proud, to be sitting, and working with you all each and every day.

It's a blessing. I will say that. With that being said, we do have two more people in the audience. Does anybody going once, going twice, have a comment or question? Okay. Alright. Thank you so much. Alderman Gay, Alderman Arnett, all is well?

Very good job, madam chair.

Thank you. I'll hear a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second? All in favor? Aye. It's 08:21PM. Thank you all.