Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 17:22:02 -0700 (PDT) From: Sara Green To: Julie Guerrero Schor , Kim Brooks , grimes@altaplana.com Cc: Fewdcc@aol.com, jgschor@yahoo.com, kelemen9@netscape.net, pattyghezzi@msn.com, keats@earthling.net, ancsaragreen@yahoo.com Subject: Notes, Safe Takoma Meeting, Sept. 6, 2006 Notes Safe Takoma Meeting, September 6, 2006, 7 pm, Takoma Park City Hall Attending Sept. 6 meeting: Acting Takoma Park Police Chief Ed Coursey, Julie Guerrero-Schor, Sara Green, Keats Kirsch, and Faith Wheeler Report on August 28 meeting with Commander Hilton Burton, D.C. Police Dept., 4th District Commander Burton told us that * he wanted a program like this, but could not get the money * timely information sharing is his greatest tool and one of his major priorities for the Safe Takoma program. * surveying businesses and residents could give us good information for developing our program and could help us demonstrate our impact, particularly if we do "before" and "after" surveys to compare the perception of crime in the area, among other issues. Resident and business perception of crime are key because they affect the way people behave and contribute to development. * sharing juvenile records may be a problem, but it can be resolved. * "fostering contact" with D.C., Maryland and WMATA police and related law enforcement staff from both jurisdictions and measuring that contact is one good program evaluation technique. Also, we should similarly track community meetings and contacts. * our program boundaries should be compact --- only about a four or five block radius of the Metro Station. There are plenty of problems in this area right now to tackle. We can "branch out" next year. * contact with the WMATA transit police has been difficult but might improve with this program * Captain Jacobs, who supervises PSA 401 and PSA 402, will be Burton's liaison to Safe Takoma * Burton hopes the next step is bringing everyone together Working Group's September 6 Discussion & Next Steps Capt. Ed Coursey, the Acting Chief of the Takoma Park Police Department, agreed with Burton's points and added another element that we could consider. He detailed C-SAFE's HEAT Team procedure that brings groups of different law enforcement professionals (police, probation, juvenile services, for example) together on home visits to problem offenders. Also, the HEAT team, which includes law enforcement people from several jurisdictions, meets twice a month to discuss cases. Attendance at these meetings is measured as part of C-SAFE's evaluation. Administration Faith Wheeler reported that an administrative relationship with OTBA is unlikely due to legal and IRS concerns. * Therefore, we first need to become our own independent entity by filing incorporation papers in both D.C. and Maryland. We can do this ourselves, since the forms are simple and the process would cost less than $200, which the group of us could split until we can get reimbursed. * However, just to be sure we aren't filing something that will make future IRS 501 (c)(3) status difficult, we should show the completed documents to a volunteer lawyer before filing them. * D.C. incorporation requires three officers, all D.C. residents, and we have them -- Faith Wheeler, Sara Green, and Julie Guerrero-Schor. Sequence of Steps Needed, Deadlines, Responsible People 1. Send notes to working group members (this week, Sara) 2. Continue working with Thorn Pozen at Council Member Fenty's office to learn which agency in D.C. will work with us and will cut the check. (on-going, Julie) 3. Give a status update to Takoma Park City Manager Barbara Matthews (this week - Acting Chief Coursey), Mayor Porter and Council Member Joy Austin Lane (ASAP - ?) 4. Invite Commander Burton (and/or his designees) to a meeting with working group members, Takoma Park police, elected officials, and city staff, D.C. city council people and WMATA police. Tentative dates: 7 pm, Thursday, September 21 or Wednesday, September 27. We would be happy to meet at 4D, Tthe akoma Park City Hall or the ANC 4B offices, which ever is more convenient for Commander Burton. (this week, Sara and Julie) 5. Draft incorporation papers and show draft to D.C. and Maryland officials (next two weeks, Keats) 6. Open bank account (not specified) 7. Write "Letter of Intent" to D.C. and Maryland officials. This letter would a. include the status of our incorporation and bank account. b. discuss our mission statement and goals, but in a general way, since many details need to be determined after an advisory committee and staff are on board. c. say we plan to have an oversight and/or advisory committee that will help develop more detailed goals and an evaluation criteria and will also help to hire up to two staff. d. ask for start-up funds. (ASAP, Seth Grimes) 8. Present update at future Takoma Park City Council meeting (Kim et al) Submitted By Sara Green