Community Police Review Board - Regular Meeting

to the hour of 5:30. I am calling the March 18, 2026 Community Police Review Board meeting to order. Before proceeding, I would like to provide the board some guidance on how to use the technology to speak. You will need to use the mics which are activated by pushing the talk button. You will need to wait for the chair to acknowledge the speaker before proceeding to talk. Will the clerk please call the role? Member Bryant. Member Bird. Member Sorio. Present. Member Christensen. Member Drell

here. Member Smith. Member Han here. Chairwoman Basley Day

here. Chairwoman Beasley Day, board member Grant is absent for today's meeting. We would like to ask the board to consider his request for an excused absence, which meets our criteria for granting of an excused absence. At this time, we ask for a motion from the board to grant an excused absence. opposed. Do any of the board members have any conflicts of interest pertaining to items that are listed in this agenda today? As noted in the agenda, public comment will only be in person. Soon folks will still be available for viewing and wordly translation. There's no you have any public comments any forms signed persons to come forward at this time. We'll move on. our board meeting forum. Please be respectful of all presenters, board members, staff, and members of the public. Please refrain from clapping other than following other than following a presentation. All speakers are encouraged to state their name and

city of residence if need be or the place of employment. All questions must be directed to the chair. Um we don't need to talk about the time. So we have a public speaker. I can keep continue. All right. Uh please do not block the view block the view of others by holding signs up during board meetings. Time limits for public comments is three minutes but may be limited at the discretion of the chair to manage the business of the board. Speaking over others or interrupting while others have the floor is not permitted. Cell phone should be turned off or sh or shall or shall be set to vibrate during meeting. All right, we're going to uh consider approving the minutes from our uh last board meeting on February 18th. Would anyone like to remove a consent item for further or a consent item for further discussion?

Approve. Amendment. All right. Second. All in favor? on to new business. I would like to remind the board that we can decide topics for the first quarter to six months at this time. Woman, my apologies. You don't need to read that. I forgot to delete that. Forgot. That was on me. It was okay. Please. Excuse. Um,

you can just ask for them to come up and start the presentation.

All right. And we have our overview of the wake up youth diversion program. Lieutenant Belin Payne. Did I say that right? Yes. Awesome. Welcome.

Thank you for having me. Um I'm Lieutenant Payne with the Modesto Police Department. Uh first name is Felton and uh I've been a part of Wake Up for quite some time. So I'm happy to be here to give you a brief overview of uh the Wake Up program. All right. So, um that's that's me. Um Lieutenant Felton Pain, Modesa Police Department. Again, uh so the wake up an overview of the wake up program.

Absolutely.

All right. If you can go to the next one. All right. So, this these are just some pictures of kind of what the wake up program throughout the six different um sessions look like. Uh, one of those is is a uh, prison visit where uh, both the family members and the or one family member and the child that's in the program would go to. So, the wake up program 6 weeks uh, educational program um, and is designed for youth between the ages of 12 and 17. um at least one parent has to come with them to every session. It's usually on Wednesday nights. Um wake up emphasizes on making good choices and um staying away from poor choices and then also understanding the consequences of um each choice that you make. uh the topics the sorry topics that may cause participants to think about situations that they have um dealt with in their personal lives or in their family. Uh the instructors are experts in their field. Um so we have a a wide variety of experts that come and present during these six weeks and uh provide basically their they provide their their expertise in their areas. So, some of the things um that they go over um the goal of it

is to provide families with alternatives to uh be able to make appropriate decisions and to um correct behavior with their child. So, uh the involved student and their parents uh focus on building positive relationships between each other and others within the program. um educate both the parents and the students and then redirect poor behavior and also um correct um some attitude problems or maybe um give suggestions on how to be more confident in in their everyday uh lives and dealing in school and with other people. Um sorry. So uh there were some questions about the selection process. Um it's changed over the years. This is a evolving program. Um, it used to be nine sessions, now it's down to six sessions. Um, so right now we're kind of fine-tuning it, but uh, parent referral, uh, teacher referral. Um, we used to have what was called, um, like diversion. So if a juvenile receives a citation for some type of offense, um rather than going to criminal court, probation can recommend them go to wake up and that will be considered as um diversion. So they don't receive anything on their record for that. U we're still working out the kinks in that and being available again. Uh but as of right now, if you if we receive a referral from any really anybody or a parent uh of a of a child the age of 12 to 17, we're not turning anybody down. So, we're we're allowing everyone uh whether they've been in trouble or they've been misbehave or anything, um we're we're letting them in. bill. Uh we held two sessions in 2025. Um and we currently have 19 applications for the next session.

Um the rules, parents must attend like like I mentioned before. Um due to the nature of our class, children can't bring their friends. Um the class starts at 6 PM. We're pretty strict on the 6 PM start time. So, if you're not in there before 6 p.m., we're we're trying to teach um timeliness and and and be efficient as well. So, if you're not in the building by 6 p.m., they lock the doors. Granted, if they're, you know, parents parents have to bring them and we understand those situations and traffic and things like that. So, um if they if they've called or they call, we'll go out there and let them in. But usually we try to be pretty strict and close the door and if you didn't make it then you're on to the next session. So um in the in the course you can't wear any clothing associated with gangs and you you're um there's no offensive behavior and and disrespect won't be tolerated in the in the class. Um some of the classes um that we go over gang investigations uh gang awareness um in those in the gang awareness there is pictures shown so we kind of give a a disclaimer. Um, we advise some of the children and family like, "Hey, these these are local things and we we blur out most everything, but we we give a disclaimer like, hey, you may know somebody. If you know somebody and it's offensive, you can always step out or or just let us know or get up and remove yourself from it." But we try to use real real life scene um to educate folks. Uh and then we have a drug and alcohol awareness that uh that'll class that will take place. Uh the one that I've found or parents have found that are kind of most um

helpful for them is the social media classes. Um, so they go over just things to look for on social media so that your your children, you know, um, don't become victimized or or fall into certain behaviors on social media and things to look for. And so I I found that one to be uh, pretty helpful for the parents and most parents um, say that's pretty helpful as well. um juvenile probation will come in and they'll talk about uh uh juvenile hall and how it functions. And then the prison trip um students are we uh go now to I think it's Mil Creek or we were going to Mil Creek and now it's the prison in James Town. Can't remember the name of it. Um, long story longer, former um, well, incarcerated folks that are that are currently incarcerated and now they're do they're in a like programming program for this. They basically share their story and and what a day in the life of a prisoner is like in prison. Um, they, you know, they they do things like, um, put the students in a sale, nobody in there with them, but they put them in a sale and close the door. And it it kind of it kind of hits home for both the parents and and the child. They also put them uh in like the phone the phone booth like so parents on one side of the glass and the child's on the other side of the glass and and that's kind of eye opening too normally. Um, then we'll have guest speakers like former gang members that will come in and and you know talk about their life in the gang and then what what sequence of events happened to turn turn that around and then what they're doing now to kind of give back and help. Um, and then we have a a speaker that comes in and talks about uh human trafficking

and some of the telltale signs of if you're being groomed for that or if you're falling into some of those kind of categories that that those type of folks look for. And so, um, that's pretty much it in the in in a nutshell for the wake up program. Uh, we have several different presenters that that come in and kind of share their story. I'm one of those um that go and present often and so I've been a part of Wake Up for probably the last 12 years. So um in some form or fashion. So um that's really all I have. You guys have any questions?

Yes. Is my mic on? Thanks. Uh, Lieutenant, I was curious as to um what percentage and I don't know if you know this the statistics or not, the percentage of uh youth that are um I guess what I would characterize as troubled or uh how many um families do you get that um that the child really isn't misbehaving or anything, but they want them to be aware of this? Would you say that the majority are troubled kids? No, I'd say the majority is what you described there. Um, they may have had small things like talking back to their parents and they're like, "Okay, we're going to take you to wake up program and you're going to learn and and get straightened up." But we do have a fair share or we used to have a fair share from from diversion that have been in trouble. Um, but the majority is parents trying to be proactive to keep their children from going down the wrong path. And when you are dealing with a family with a with a child that has had behavioral issues or whatever, um what sort of success rate do you have? In other words, do you see these kids continue down that path or do they, you know, correct their behavior? It's it's been a challenge to kind of track that because um normally when when folks leave the program or the program's done, they graduate. Um we either don't get responses when we mail things out to them or um it we quite honest sometimes drop the ball and don't don't reach out to them. Um, me personally, I have some success stories that I personally reach out to because, you know, you'll get I'm I'm a coach and so you'll get some uh athletes that are in there and so I make

deals with them like, "Hey, you make it through this program. Your behavior is all right. Uh, I'm going to sign you up for football. Your parents don't have to pay anything. This is what you're going to do or basketball or whatever." And so, I've kept in contact with some of those folks and seen some good success. Um couple of them couple of the kids um and their parents actually um are in the army um now both parents actually enlist in the army after and then one of the sons is in the army and they now live in Georgia and so it's there's been some success um but to like officially like we haven't been collecting that data to be honest. Okay. Thank you. H

how long are the Wednesday night sessions? They're two hours. Might have said that. No, I I didn't. It was They're two hours. I

I think this is um a good program, a good start. Um, I know that this with this age group, they're really um impressed impressionable especially with drugs and how how um common marijuana and things are and they don't really realize that starting to smoke and things at that age is really um uh hampering their development. There used to be a program a long time ago in Modesto where parents could call um I forgot the name of it, but they would bring dogs into your house because kids would will lie to you. Mhm.

And they would bring dogs into the house and they would check their rooms and different things like that. And a lot of times they found drugs hidden in different places and then they not and then if they found something they would sit there and have a a counseling session with the parent and with the child because you have to kind of bust them and catch them first. Yeah. And so that I thought was a really u good program because it it it eliminated the um denial and things that sometimes kids can pull the wool over them their parents' eyes.

Yeah. So, I thought that was different. And then another thing is um especially with these 17 year olds, have you thought about um some type introducing them to some type of job training or or trade school or something since they're getting ready to to graduate? Hopefully. So, one of the things that we we've been working on with that is we used to have like a a job not job core, it was something similar to JobCore, but a military school out of Ly come in and talk about that and job training. Uh we also used to have and we're working on it. Um every session it's it's it's almost like we're trying to recruit our presenters to keep coming back. Um and sometimes we just don't get them back. We had the military come in and and talk to some folks. But a lot of times it's about maintaining those relationships so they keep coming back and and them actually having availability. But we offer like our cadet program, explorer program and things uh for the police department. We we offer that up in the classes. Um but some of the folks aren't necessarily interested in law enforcement. Uh, but that's when guys like me come and share their story. I wasn't interested in law enforcement. I've been here 20 years now. So, um,

I I think that kind of hits home with them, too. Like, I was probably worse than the kids. And and then they when they realize that, they're like, "Oh, you can do it. I can do it." So, uh, we we we we've been trying every every angle. Um, but there's there's obviously things we can do better. um in the dog program that that's been gone a long time. I think it had something to do with like um parents not wanting that in their homes and that's not being available all the time to do it and so I think they probation still does it at schools. Uh but that's I haven't heard about it homes recently.

Yeah, it's definitely not a mandatory because you have to parents have to pay Yeah. to have that service come, but it was effective back in in the day. And then another one, um maybe another guest speaker could be a mortician to try to help youth see what really happens when they killed somebody

cuz they usually shoot you and run and they don't get a chance to and they don't see the family, the hurt that they've caused. They don't see the how the body, they don't see a person dying a lot and they don't really understand death. So maybe having a mortician bring a slideshow or take them to the funeral home and let them see what happens when you kill somebody that drugs and what you know you can die from these things and that would fit very well with what she's talking about. That's a good idea. That's a great idea. I'm I'm writing ideas down to take them back so we can always try to Yeah. Yeah.

Is my mic on? Do you guys have brochures or things that can be circulated in the community? I have never heard of the wake up program, although thank God my child is grown now. But, um, you know, for churches, for people that we can put up. Yes, we do. Um, unfortunately, I didn't bring bring them tonight, but I'll I'll be sure um that I send with the lieutenant or where can where would I be able to go and pick them up? Uh they're at they're at the police department, but we keep them in our training department that that oversee them. So, um I I will have them available for you guys to the very next meeting. Yeah, cuz I'm How do

How does the community find out about this or is it just when your kid is in trouble as an alternative? Do the schools know? all the schools should know because I honestly we've been doing this for 15 plus years and uh it only went away during co um I don't know that we push it out on social media so that that'd be another another way as well but all the schools every time we speak at schools we we offer it usually the the parents that are interested they're experiencing some type of um issue with their child or some type of disrespect or just want to get them straight. Um, but it's available to all.

Do you ever come to churches and do a presentation? I haven't. I'm open to it. I'm open to that. Wonderful. Uh, Lieutenant Payne, you said these are six week sessions. How many per year on average sessions do you feel you run? Last year we only had two. We We strive to get one a quarter. um summer and winter break kind of mess with that a little bit because most parents don't want to sign their kid up to do something extra in summer because they have to come as well. Um but we're trying to get one per quarter.

Uh you said often it's parent referral. Do you ever find a scenario like we know gang activity can be generational. Do you ever experience a parent who is walking or had walked a life that they want they see it happening and they want to try and stop it or prevent it from happening?

Yeah. Very very often um a lot of the time it it's mom or dad that were gang related that are in there with their child. And you know, we point that out because it, you know, it takes a lot most I I won't say most parents, but to take time out of your own day to um show that you care enough about your child to get them some some guidance. Uh we we point that out to the kid like be grateful. And also in that in the course they have to write a letter to their parent too describing like what they learned and and um what they're going to take away and what changes they're going to make. So it it's it's evolving but we do see a lot of that um former gang members or former incarcerated folks that are bringing their children to these to to get educated.

Right. Thank you. Any other questions? Yeah. Um I just got a clarifying question. Uh a few of them and then some other stuff. But in the presentation it states youth from the ages of 12 to 17. Um I attended a couple of the wakeup sessions myself and um they said it was ages 7 to 15. So I just want clarification on the age. Yeah, it's range.

If they said that prior that's incorrect. um because of some of the content that we show. So I think the youngest we've had is 11year-old and that was kind of an exception because his older brother was in there and older brothers are already influencing him and so we allowed that. Um the seven to 15 is kind of news to me. Um we've we've kind of focused on the 12 to 17 for most of the time.

Okay. Thank you. Um 6 weeks two hours. Um, when it comes to any barriers, are there any barriers that you may be able to identify um for a reason that maybe kids aren't or parents aren't referring their kids to this? Um, I just ask because of like the youth arrest rates that we deal with in our community and correlating it with the wake up program. So, I just want to see how we can try to maybe elevate the wake up program to help guide the the youth nowadays. Um, I don't necessarily see any barriers in the way other than uh maybe families not, you know, trusting or um not having that um support of law enforcement or or not feeling supported by law enforcement. That may be a barrier to some families to not bring their children to a a police department to participate in this type of program. But other than that, there's not any that I that I can think of. Um, and we we make it very clear, you're not in trouble. We're just here to help. This is us as a part of the community, speaking to the community and and trying to mentor and build the community. And so, we try to break down those barriers that way.

Awesome. Thank you. Um, and then you did kind of speak a little bit on the afterare and I know there's not too much um that you guys keep track of. So hopefully we can try to work together and maybe um create something where we can get some better measurements on that. But um as far as partners, I know when I was there, one of them was a center for human services. Um amazing partnership you guys have with them there. Are there any other partners that you guys uh work with? uh other law enforcement agencies. Um and also um some of the we um I think we do like some of the homeless engagement outreach programs as well. Um and then doctor's medical center, they they come and the nurses come and talk about like the effects of drugs and alcohol and things like that. Um, but we're defin we're definitely looking for any any anybody who would want to partner and mentor these youth.

Yeah. Okay. Um, and then another thing was I know you said that there was like a diversion program that you guys used to have with the courts. Is there any more you can give us on that as to why it stopped and how or what it's looking like on how we can get that going again? So, uh, it stopped during COVID, um, because we weren't doing we weren't holding any any classes and so the conversations just honestly have been stalled or or we've we've been getting referrals from everywhere and been able to continue having courses. So, we haven't really pushed the issue, but it used to be um on the on the bottom of the citation, uh for all juveniles, unless it was like a serious crime, it was marked for diversion. And almost every single one of those, the diversion, unless they had already been to wake up, the diversion was for them to go to wake up and they had to do the sessions or it got kicked back to probation for the the legal process. So, um I I'm going to push a little harder. I I haven't honestly pushed uh harder. Uh, Lieutenant Binkley is going to be over uh overseeing the wake up program. So, I'll have those conversations with him when we get back and and try to see if we can't push for that again. Okay. Thank you. Um, and then uh I believe it was during one of the sessions where they said if a child completed the wake up program, they get like a grant to for extracurricular activities. Um, is that something that's like promoted as well during that program during the program and the sessions?

That is news to me. Um, I I haven't heard of that. Uh, happening. Uh, so I if you heard that, awesome. I'll double check. Perfect. Um, and then, um, we'll probably just send an email followup about maybe some demographics of the wake up program if you guys even collect that type of data. Um just to I'd have to get back to you on that and I I'm not 100% sure. No worries. We collect that. Awesome. Uh thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Absolutely. Thank you. Any other questions? Any other questions? Any questions, comments from the public? Thank you, Lieutenant. All right. Thank you.

All right. Going on to our number five, staff comments and reports.

What? Don't skip Stephen. Hi, Stephen. We didn't forget you. That was a little oopsie.

Good evening, chair. Thank you. Uh I I had every confidence you were going to come back around. Uh this is just a a very short hello from me. Um I will be taking up more of of your board's time in person next month when I expect to have completed and to be ready to present uh the annual report of of my office's audit activities. So since the last time I saw you last month that I have pretty much been busy working through reviewing the cases pretty much finished with the case review and now in the process of kind of summarizing findings and recommendations. The format of the report will be will be similar to what you are used to from the first couple of years. So uh I look forward to seeing you in person at that time and and we should have plenty to talk about. But other than that, just happy to be uh able to monitor tonight's proceedings remotely and and look forward to seeing you.

Thank you, Stephen. Any questions for Stephen? No. Awesome. And no other staff comments. We'll move on to board comments and reports.

You guys have Yes. Uh oh. Um we uh discussed priorities at a previous meeting and I apologize I was absent next meeting but I did I did review the video of it. Um, and we were going to come back at some point and and I don't know where it's at on the schedule to talk about specific topics and um I'm wondering where that's at. Are you talking about revisiting the calendar? What month we'll be doing that? Right. That's in May. So, we'll be revisiting in May. Okay. Um, I don't remember what other item we have for May, but I know that is one of them. Okay.

Yep. Thank you. One of the reasons I asked is um

uh I'm a member of one of the council members advisory groups and we res recently had the opportunity to go to the police department as a group and uh Chief Gillespie and and some of the other staff gave us a tour of the real time crime center and um it was very thorough and in that during that presentation uh Chief Gillespie mentioned that um there is an effort on the part of uh the police department to relocate the real time crime center into SR 911 at their location on Oakdale Road. And I thought that was made perfect sense to me. Um so they could be right there where the dispatch center is and be able to to share that information on a more timely basis and all that. Um, and I know one of the items that I had requested that we put on a list of topics on the calendar was um the relationship with MPD and SR 911 and and what sort of um you know training opportunities that they uh share and all that and and um anyway, I found it interesting that that there is interest on the part of the police department anyway to to move that real-time crime center to the SR 911 center And uh I just, you know, thought that would would uh, you know, be a perfect time to talk about that and have uh the director of the SR 911 center and perhaps Chief Gillespie or whoever he designates give us a presentation on that that time. It's noted. All right. Um board have any uh brief announcements or or re excuse me or um any report of activities or anything.

Okay. On our last meeting, we did uh create an ad hoc committee for our um community police review board annual report for 2025 subcommittee and at that time we had Austin and Frank and myself here. Um so we have formed the committee. At this time I'm going to ask is there anyone who might want to be on the committee? We'll take one more. I can appoint you. Are you looking at me, Nancy? Are you really looking at me? Nancy will join us. Awesome.

She made eye contact. Awesome. And that is it. Um, when do we talk about being able to establish like another ad hoc and or the agenda? Is it No. Yeah. So, when it comes when we discuss our reorganization or priorities in May, you guys can bring up like, hey, we'd like to agendaize an item to add an ad hoc or subcommittee. So, in May, um, we can discuss that. So, if you have any ideas or anything like that, you're more than welcome to email Scotty or I.

Yeah, I was just going to say if it's something sooner than that, I would just recommend that you reach out to the board chair when the board chair with staff. We, you know, as you, as you know, we meet monthly before the meetings in order to establish the next agenda. Yeah. Okay. No, I just want to I want to get this wake up program ad hoc going. So, thank you.

One one other uh comment. Um the you know we had talked about at a previous meeting um getting some branding and um you know um popup booth and and uh business cards and name tags and I know in our briefing yesterday you mentioned Steve or Scotty that that uh that was in the works that that that had been approved the budget had been approved for it. Can you elaborate on that a little bit?

Yeah, that's correct. So staff is working on uh working with our communications uh d um division manager to put some branding together so that we can review that internally. We'll be um you know uh involving you as well to take a look at that. But we're going to start with you know because it's medial branding that's part of this and then but yeah we've gotten the uh go ahead to start working on that. So and if you'd like more information I'm more than happy to ask you to reach out to Simmyi um and she can provide you with more information offline.

Thanks. I have a very simple question. We were uh chatting quietly over here. Could you tell us who the other guest is in our meeting online today? We apologize. So, this is Juliet Vaughn. So, um our, you know, our regular attorney, uh John Fukasawa was not able to make tonight. So, we're happy to have Juliet along. and Juliet if you wanted to say just say hello.

Hi everyone. Happy to be joining covering this meeting today and thoughts go out to John. Um I believe his father is ill. Um but he should be back for the next regular meeting. Well, thank you. Glad to have you, Juliet. I was wondering the same thing. All righty. We're moving on to future agenda items. Our ORI annual report from January 2025 through December 2025, I believe, is on our agenda for April. Stephen covered that and so he'll be bringing back that back next month.

Yep. So, we're good. Um, are we done? We've come to the end. Record time. Record time. what you say. Well, then no further. Next meeting is April 15th. Oo, tax day. Uh, so we will adjourn. Thank you. Thank you, Nikico. They go this wake up program when I was