policy. He's probably like, "I'm finally off some email." All right, we're up on YouTube. Okay, great. Thank you. Um, we have a uh welcome to the public safety committee meeting of July 9th and we have a couple
of folks uh who are attendees and if either we're going to go right into first public comment. If either of them would like to make a comment, you can raise your hand and we can move you over to a panelist.
We have someone on the iPhone and then we have Joy Freriedman. And I'm not seeing anybody raising their hand. Okay. All right. There'll be another public comment period later on. So, we're going
to move into uh police department um activity. And uh because I know Deborah likes these charts, I'm going to put it up. I do. I do. You do? See what I got here. Here we go. Best
newsletter. Okay. So, um, Chief, your, uh, uniform crime report statistics, uh, just go right to the bottom line. 29% reduction. You want to
go through these, chief? And the top ones we already know about. So, robberies, aggravated assaults, burglaries, thefts, autothefts. Right. So the uh the robberies um you see in 2025 we have an increase. We have four robberies. Uh three of them were
juvenile related and we have uh three arrest in the four in the four of them. So um you know there were mostly uh there was two around the high school area. Um you know and it was uh we we're
able to uh clear three of the three of the four. Um it wasn't your um your normal street um robbery um where it was just somebody walking down the street and some unknown person came and uh took something. These were kind of like um
you know kind of related and um people might have known each other that kind of thing. um the aggravated assault. Um you see we have two uh one was the uh the shooting u shots fired over on the Elwood Avenue
area um a couple few months ago. Um we made the arrest in that and he was charged with aggravated assault amongst um you know possession of weapon, possession weapon on lawful purpose and other things. So that pull up in that stat. We had um uh last month a person
at the Waw Wa was attacked with a bat. That was the other aggravated assault. We made arrest with that. That person was arrested. So as we have two arrests. So chief, these are these this was this is a dramatic drop from both 23 and 24.
Is do you think there's any any reason for that? Um well the 24 ones were um uh most of them were domestic violence related. So, um we haven't um so I would say that we had a decrease in domestic violence incidents um causing that um to
decrease. The two that we have here are all on the street. So, um and we're able to make arrest in those two. Um the big and another big reduction we have is the burglaries as you can see. Um last summer we were getting um you know,
we're getting a pretty bad um 15 last year. uh down to five even though we just had um two attempts um over the weekend uh where uh one one was uh the the family was away so they were able to go in get
the keys and then take the car. The other one was uh they went into the house, got the keys, but never got the car. So, um those are the most recent ones. But as you can see and uh as you can see there is a big reduction. Last year we did make um a few arrests also
we worked with other jurisdictions um into identifying um some persons on this. So that's and also the increase in patrols in those areas helped us to decrease that from uh those numbers you
see there. Um thefts also went down. Um, a lot of the thefts were um, uh, shopliftings um, thefts. And what we were doing is we were doing walkthroughs of our our stores on Springfield Avenue um, you
know, uh, Dollar General and the Dollar Tree and the 7-Eleven and the Walmart and the Walgreens uh, where we would have officers do a walk through. So, um, you know, hopefully the the presence has, uh, has that, uh, coming down as well. auto
thefts as you can see um state this is like statewide um you can see each year is decreasing and that's um you know that's that's on par with uh with the state um so u 22
last year we're down to 19 um we do we do get a few um where and all of them are the keys are in the car the car is running so um we still get those you know people running the cars
at uh at the Waw Wa or when it's hot outside, they're running the air condition in the car and keeping the car running and uh when it's cold, they're keeping the the heat on and they're keeping the car running. So, I mean, leaving the keys there and those are um
pretty much unfor unforced auto thefts, but we have made arrest in those too. Um auto thefts are kind of hard to make arrest in because it happens so fast, but we have made a few arrests um with our autothefts. So that's all that contributes to our reduction in the
incidents as you see there. Chief, do you have any uh sort of big picture takeaways from all this? Yeah, I mean we I mean you know I'm sure hopefully you guys see that we have a lot more offic it seems like we we have a lot more officers on the road, right?
So um we move to the new schedule. Um we have um baked in with the schedule we have more officers working and um we have uh so we we and we're and we have a dedicated walking post where they're walking some of these places. So, I
think the move into the new schedule, the new assignments, um, and you'll see with the traffic tickets, the new traffic bureau that all these things have contributed to, um, these decreases and then the increases in the uh, the the motor vehicle stops
and the um, and the tickets. So, I think um, you know, all that combined and we're having more supervisors on each tour because we only have two tours a day. Uh, so it increases the amount of super supervision we have. That's has that has all contributed to this.
Anybody have any comments or questions? I have a question about the robberies, chief. Um, you said the majority of these were um people who knew each other. Correct. And or associated.
Right. Right. And were they armed too? No. Okay. So, they were just thefts of the person with force, right? So, or or intimidation or intimidation because that's right. So, we can't prove that there was a
weapon involved, but it might have been um stated or um or the person thought there was. Right. That's the intimidation factor. Yep. Gotcha. Thank you. Causing it to be a robber. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.
Chief, when you were talking about burglary, you said that there were two recent attempts. Did you mean like they happened though? They weren't just attempting. Yeah, I mean they attempted to to take the car, but they did bring it to the They did uh So, they were so does that that number
five, does that include those? That's correct. That's correct. But there'll be but there'll be two more because uh we're we're back we're behind them all with these stats. So, yeah, that's what I that's what I meant. Okay. Correct. Yes. So, it'll be there'll be more, but um I'm sure the
2024 stat will increase, too. As we move to the next month, you'll see it. It'll be up. I see. Cuz uh Yeah, cuz we're, you know, Okay. All right. I'm going to go to uh the traffic.
So, here are the moving violations. Um we we're doing better than last year. We we did a little less uh than the last month. We were up at 307 in April. We're down a little bit. Yeah.
Yeah. So, um the last meeting we're talking about Parker Avenue um you know uh more um more more violations or more details at that area. Um I just pulled a little
stat up for the month of June. Um in 2024 we had nine uh motor vehicle stops violations. Uh la this month this year last month we
have 38. So we um increased that um pretty well. So um the uh traffic unit is doing a great job. Officers are doing a great job. Um so they they they have been out there
and they have been uh making these traffic stops and um you know as you see everything has increased. Why did the why is there no radar summons from last year like in April and May? Because they didn't write it.
They didn't do them. They didn't do it. Not at all. Okay. Right. I mean, you can see last year it wasn't a high priority last year at all. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. I'm happy to hear that the schedule, the
new schedule seems to be helping. I mean, I think you're right. I've seen more officers around. I've seen officers make motor vehicle stops. Um, so I'm glad to hear positives and that these numbers are looking good. So, good job,
Chief, and all the officers. Thank you. Well, it's also a fact, Chief, that um when when you do a motor vehicle stop, don't you usually wait for another officer to come? Yeah, we're waiting for backup. Correct. Right. So, in the past, we didn't always
have that backup. So, sometimes, you know, officers either didn't make the stop or, you know, they weren't they didn't follow through on the stuff because there wasn't enough backup. Now it seems because I I agree with Deborah that I see a lot of uh a lot more police
officers around and you know they're there when there's a stop I always see a double car and they're there back one other. Yeah. And and then if we have like a incident going on that might take um two or three officers. Another officer might see a violation but they're by
themselves because the other officers are tied up. So um but with the extra officers right we can you know um walk walk and talk at the same time. We can do multiple things while things are going on. Well you know and these vehicle stops
you they they hit the high mark in April 600. We're back down to 400. So keep keep urging them to make these stops. Right. That's cuz everyone was on spring break in April. There you go. more people to pull over.
I'm being because it was the beginning of spring, right? Everybody was getting energized and moving around. Anybody have any questions on these charts? Keep up the good work. Yeah, good job, Chief.
All right. Um and chief the overtime. Uh looks like we have some good numbers. Uh I don't want to do too much. I'm going to stop sharing because it has private
information on there. But the numbers uh seems that we're going down. Right. Right. And we I mean we and we're going down and we have had some situations where we had to give a lot of overtime out. So um that means the schedule is working. Um we've had a uh
prisoner that was um had a medical condition. So we had to provide um you know we had to have officer with them uh like 24/7. So that that caused a lot of overtime and um so but it still didn't um we still are showing a a decrease.
Okay. Anybody have anything else with with the chief on police? All right. Office of Emergency Management, Mr. Weary. Thank you, Mr. Luca.
So, I I put here uh a couple of things on the event planning meetings. Um so, we had a chief, you you may have heard this already. We had a I guess a miscommunication or misorder for the uh
July 4th bike parade. Uh when we did the planning, we asked that Rickleton parking lot be closed. Um because that's the gathering place for kids. And what was happening is that that was open and people were getting
back in their cars to leave and there were kids around and it it became um it just didn't work out. Uh we had to we had to move around a bunch of stuff and I was able to uh talk to the sergeant.
We we got some things corrected. We have to make some changes in the schedule for next year anyway. But um but I think what and maybe Patrick this is in your your lap here. Um
I you know I've been on a couple of these planning committees and they're they're kind of loose. They need to be I think a little tighter. Um, I did speak to Liz uh this week about including as a as just a standard
question uh is there, you know, handicap parking provided and is there arrangements for those with limited mobility to participate in the event? Um,
unless you unless the event organizer brings it up, nobody brings it up. So, I think there's got to be a little more coordination. I think Liz does fine. She calls on different departments and they talk, but I think there's got to be a
little bit more coordination uh and and maybe a checklist of things that uh are standard items to address at all these planning meetings. Yeah, I think a checklist would help.
And I also think after the meetings we, you know, PD will write their order and DPW will write their order. They're probably the two with the most complex operations. I think there's an opportunity for us to bring those orders back and review them u to make sure that
they are consistent with the discussion held at the event planning meetings. Right. So, I think that'd be a good change and I'll coordinate with the clerk's office to ensure that we see that through. Okay. Yeah. It was very helpful for me to get the order on the opening of the
library. The chief sent me the order and it did not have any handicap parking. I was not on that call when they when they did the I was not on that planning committee call. But in any event, then you know I spoke to the chief and and then I spoke to the sergeant and we were
a we did get handicap parking. In fact, it stayed there till today till I removed the cones. So Okay. Yeah. I mean and part of our orders had to be taken down signs as well. Yeah. And I know we we identified that
after July 4th as well. So yeah, we can, you know, we'll we'll add a checklist or, you know, something in the order of exactly who's supposed to remove all of that. Yeah, I think that would be good uh to deal with at the planning on the on your checklist so that there's a commitment
made as to how many days after the event, who's going to do it. Is DPW removing these barricades? Is the or the, you know, is it the police? Things like that. Yep. And those the barricades just so so
people here know the barricades DPW removes the signs you know can be PD um can be DPW. So what about cones and stuff like that? Ping chief. Yeah. Yeah. The the night of the fourth 4th of
July I know uh the officers were picking up a lot of cones. I mean they but we got to um probably um tell them what streets and because they missed I see that we missed a couple streets as well signs but especially on the outskirts and I I
think judging from where the signs were left up it's likely that they just did a a visual tour and took down everything they saw and they didn't get you know out to Tuscin or you know down towards the end of Denell. So I think in the order we should you know list again the
streets and who's who's responsible for removal. So those are changes we can make. Okay. And then uh um the other thing is I think the cert stuff I don't know if there was a discussion for example in the July 4th I know when we when we had
the July 4th planning Deborah we didn't bring up um but I know in years past we used to use the C folks to do traffic detail particularly up on Prospect because when
those folks walk up the hill on Prospect there's generally two lanes of traffic that's just bumper to bumper and people crossing there. It's it's somewhat difficult because they got their cars on the other side of Prospect. So it would
be good to again maybe have on the checklist Patrick you know are you know will should we activate Cert is willert be helpful here and there? Yes. And they typically are um reached
out to for the Fourth of July. This time they weren't. That's something that uh we've reviewed internally and make corrections so that they will be going forward. We have reached out to them for the upcoming Maplewood stock. You know, it's good for us when they come out because they provide us assistance, but
it's also good because, you know, they get to come out. We get a little bit more familiarization with them and them with us and everybody with the public. And so it's just it's good to have them engaged and u you know we didn't get that this time and we should have but we'll uh you know we we've
worked to correct that. Yeah. One of the things that we learned uh from the county about C, this was Stephanie Knox who was doing all this is that it's absolutely critical that the CERT folks feel engaged on a regular
basis. Because just calling them up, you know, two times a year, they just aren't connected. Yeah. And we have done more this year in terms of training and making training training available for them, especially with New Jersey Transit doing a lot of
training around the upcoming soccer tournaments. Um there's been more right in our area. So we've worked uh to get that information out to certain we'll continue to do that and we'll do a better job of engaging them on our larger events.
I just wanted to say um I love the idea of the checklist. Um, thank you Mr. Duca for the handicap spaces that were available for the library. I got a lot of positive feedback on that. Um, and for the checklist, another one to keep
in mind. Um, this was a question that I was asked for. I was asked about um, for the Fourth of July events is if there was um, any kind of quiet space or if we were using South Orange's um, SAV. It's
the sensory activation vehicle which uh some events do use and I believe that we also if it's not being used we do have access to it. So just a couple of other things for the checklist. But you know I I I have to just say this because we got we got a question from
village greenerina. You know we're going to use quiet fireworks. I mean, the fireworks are noisy, and if you have a child that has a, you know, a reaction to the fireworks, you probably should not be bringing them down there, no matter what kind of trailer we put out
there. Hash parenting. Yes. Yes. One of the um things that we have been talking about in the all access committee are um having some um some headsets available um you know that
can be checked out and used um you know by people who are noise sensitive. And the one thing we did uh in July 4th Deb we did put some chairs out there for you know for folks but there was no marking that they were for you know
anybody. And so when I got there, there were some people who had taken the chairs and all the way down the other end of the field. They thought that things were like beach chairs. You could take them wherever you want. So uh you know, it turned out that some of the
folks probably needed the chairs, but they wanted to sit somewhere else. So that worked out. But I'm not sure about all of them. But in any event, those chairs were used because uh um there were some older folks who who and it's difficult mobility on the grass. But again, that's the nature of the beast.
You're on a you're on grass and and you're in a park. And if if that's difficult for you to maneuver, then maybe you should think about, you know, some other kinds of arrangements. And we saw people in um wheelchairs on the grass.
Spoke to a couple of them. They had no problem. They had family members that wheeled them on. And you know, some even parked as far away as the map building and got wheeled on it. It's it's pro probably more the ones with like a walker, you know. Yeah, that's a little difficult. Or, you
know, or even a cane because it's difficult. You get your the cane gets caught in the grass and stuff. Yeah. Okay. So, you got that Patrick PW. That's why it's next to you. Okay. Yep. All right. And then we're going to go to fire.
just on on um emergency management. You know, obviously we've seen what's been happening in in Texas and the devastation there. It's a very sad reminder of the the importance of planning. You know, coupled with that tragedy is the the federal government
discussing downsizing or doing away with FEMA. You know, we've seen the importance of FEMA on, you know, not just in the response, but also providing support in purchasing equipment you would need to respond to disasters and
providing training. And so, you know, there are, you know, both fears in in terms of what happens with FEMA and also, you know, I think some lessons learned in terms of, you know, how recent tragedies were were dealt with and, you know, it's a sad reminder. So,
yeah. Glad you said I'm glad you raised that because not only, you know, were they unprepared and there's there's a whole lot of reasons why that happened, but their response to the unpreparedness
is just not what you're taught in in OEM. you know, to walk away from microphones and not get out there in front of it and just deny everything is just not you don't build confidence in your emergency management. Um, so you
know that there's a lot to to unpack there what's going down you know and then in North Carolina it's you know was a little bit different but still it's same kind of thing. You have to be prepared and that's why we have these meetings, these OEM meetings, these
planning meetings. Um, so okay. Uh, and we do have our prepared fire department. Let's go to that table. Here are the incidents year to date. For
the first five months, we've gotten 416 was in May. So, we're about 2,000 for five months. We figure somewhere around 5,000 for the year. And you can see that that would be uh about right. Um again,
building fires, not a lot. A lot of these are outside of town. Um so, this includes mutual aid when we go out. Um cooking fires. Uh and then you see that you know the
bulk here is nearly 35% of EMS uh between and actually 45% when you couple our response and our backup response by either uh the South Orange Rescue Squad or what have you. So, so
the SCFD is is busy and um we we're bringing on uh five new firefighters and we were going to have them come to our last meeting to introduce them, but we're still working through their EMS
certification. So once they complete their EMS certification, then we'll bring them to the next um uh township committee meeting so that you can meet them and and it's it's actually uh you know,
Malia, you were at the the promotion uh for the firefighters. it. And and and chief, you know this from the police department. If you want to diversify your leadership, you have to make a decision 20 years out to do
that because it takes that long for folks to move up. Um so, you know, when we saw those those firefighters that were being promoted to captain and and deputy chief, it wasn't a diverse group at all. But as we bring
on and as we and we did this with the police, as we brought on more um folks of color on the police department 20 years ago, then you have a runway to get um leadership of color
over the course of that period of time. So, it's very important that this township committee and future township committees keep hiring a very diverse pool of employees so that we can have them work through the ranks and take
leadership positions. All right, we're now uh I don't think we have anybody from the community board on police. Let's let me stop sharing and see if we do. I don't think so. Who's attending? Don't. Yeah. Something come up today and we're unable to make it.
Yes. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Um and then let's see what else we have. Okay. We're at our is there are there any new items for
the public safety committee? If not, we're going to go to our second public comment. And we we had wanted to do uh the proposed SCFD EMS fees. Oh, I thought we were gonna do that in close, you said. Oh, okay. Okay,
that's the other thing in closed. Sorry, I got another item for close. That's fine. Sorry. Let's let's do that. Uh I'm going to share the proposal. I got it. Got it. All right. All right. Okay. So we use
ambulance billing company to do our billing for the SCFD EMS. It is unique to Maplewood. South Orange doesn't have EMS. So it's this is just uh Maplewood billing. So we set the rates for this. The rates haven't been updated in a few
years. Generally, the company that does billing for us recommends rates to us based on what they see insurance companies paying and the reimbursement rates for some of the federal programs where they'll
reimburse for um for like things like transportation and um basic emergency charges. And so they've come up with uh this proposed increase. There's, you know, it's pretty simple. Two columns, current charges and what they suggest.
We do have other charges that are in here or that we bill, but things that, you know, don't change uh or haven't changed over time, but these are the ones where they're recommending increases. Some of them, you know, pretty modest. Mileage charge going from $20 to $25 a mile. Transportation going
from 275 to 300. And then uh the base emergency charge going from $1,50 to $1,350. Um the you know our bill and company seeks to obtain that full amount from uh
any insurance or other provider and you know some of these things like with any fees uh get negotiated. Yeah. And we do not go after anyone if if the person doesn't have insurance. We're still required to send them a
bill. If they can't pay the bill, we just walk away. We don't go after them. Um, and certainly don't put them into any collection or anything like that. We just write it off. Um,
so the proposal is to change base charge to 1,350 mileage $25 uh per mile and treat on scene no transport to $300. That's right. Anyone have any concerns?
If not, I would um we would recommend this to the township committee and then move forward. We would adopt this as an ordinance. It would not go through SEFD because well I guess SEFD would have to do that too but we would have to adopt it first and then
send it to SEFD. We do we set the rates although this is the first time so there should be at the very least a conversation with them. They should understand u but we we set the rates. We're the ones who contract with the billing company. Yeah. And we take the revenue.
But I think I think because SCFD is the and we can get Jennifer's opinion here. SCFD is the actual contract with ambulance billing. Okay. They may have to do it also, but we'll see. I can talk to the attorney about that.
Okay. Um, do you want this to go for Oh, sorry. Yeah, I think we if if everyone's okay, we can put this on for discussion on Tuesday night. Okay. Okay. Yep. All right. Now, we're at our second
public comment period. Wait, I was just going to say one more thing just to mention it here. In our communications meeting, we were talking about um like a back back to school pedestrian safety, driving safety reminders of street closures and traffic patterns around school. So, I think that came from the
PD last time around. So, Cindy is going to coordinate with you guys and we'll do some kind of reminder about things because school starts early September 2nd this year. So, we got to get a jump on some of it. That was all. It's going to come fast.
Fast and furious. Not fast enough for some parents, right? Okay. Uh, we have one attendee and Carmen Moral, she has her hand up, so can you move her over? Yes.
Welcome, Carmen. You may unmute yourself. Carmen, I think we're going to deputize you and put you on all these committees. Yes, I think I think you should. I um it it's interesting how the sausages are made, right? And I think that's u I
think that's what many of us here in this town should be doing is attending these meetings and hearing what the uh township is doing in many respects. Um so um my interest here with the public safety is um of course u bike lane um
and it's it's a peripheral issue. Um I know that last meeting uh I spoke uh we we I recommended to the um chief that maybe there be more um vigilance on
Parker Avenue speeders and and I'm happy to see that there are the numbers have increased. Hopefully a lot of that is on Parker Avenue. But um I I want to speak a little bit about the side parking with
um with the bike lanes and I know I know these are all um recommendations by um the township committee and no vote has been taken but I think we have to be realistic that um it it this these bike
lanes might be um put in place. Uh so my question is when for the side parking and my my question is more to the chief um because of enforcement uh the the plan or proposal is that um
permanent parking will be allowed for park residents. Okay fine but what about their guest? Now I know that I heard speak that of um one of the meetings that uh we would be providing license numbers of the guests that we have so
that the police department knows um uh you know who's allowed to to park. Um, you know, I have a big family and I know that and I have a family that just show up and I don't have time to be taking down their license plates and my concern
is that they're going to be ticketed because I did not provide that license plate to the um, police department. Um, I guess the other concern that I'm hearing from other people is that what does the police department plan to do
with those license plate numbers? uh are they being run uh for any particular reason? I think there's some um concern about uh privacy once those license plates are provided to the police
department allowing guests to park. So that's my question in general and I' I'd like to hear what the plan is. Well, we we um we currently do it uh throughout the town with overnight parking. So, we do um you know, if a
guest comes, they'll call the uh police department, we'll ask them for the make, model, and license plate of the vehicle location, so they will not get a ticket. And um that's it. I mean, once we, you know, that's that's what it's for. There's times where people call in and
they do not know their license plate. So, it's not like mandatory that we have to have your license plate, but they'll give us the make, model, and location just so that when we're u doing our overnight parking um summones that that that vehicle that was granted permission
um does not receive a ticket. So, it's just pretty much trying to identify where those cars are if they're um you know, just to make sure that if they're allowed to be there overnight or they're given permission for a guest that they will not receive that ticket. So that's that's the only reason why we ask for
that information. Yeah. It's not overnight guests that I'm concerned about. It's if I have an, you know, a repass or baptism or communion or a graduation when where I'm inviting guests to my home here on Parker Avenue
and um you know they they park somewhere and they forget to tell me about their license. Um they give me their license plate number. My concern is that they're going to be ticketed because of this um proposal. So, I mean, is there going to be some leniency there? Because I mean,
after you give a ticket, it's a ticket. I mean, there's nothing that you can really do. And I know that um you know, the police department already has a lot on their plate. The last thing they want to do is start checking um license plate numbers of guests that that come to
visit Parker Avenue residents. So, you know, I'm I'm concerned about that. Um, and uh, I just want to put it out there and and not only am I concerned, but our others are too. So, Carmen, you're the closest cross street is North Terrace and Academy to
you. Yes. Okay. So, Chief, I would imagine if let's say there's a repass I don't know the the restrictions on North Terrace, but let's say there's two-hour parking during school hours and uh you're having
a re you have people go the funeral repass. They want to come over to your house. You got five cars. I would assume, chief, that you could call the police and say, "Look, uh I'm here at 58 Parker Avenue. I have guests. We can't park on Parker. They're going to be
here. Uh they're going to park on North Terrace and you would make that accommodation. Yes, we do it all the time. Right. So that's just And we would Yeah. And we would have to provide No, no, it just be you know I have five
cars on parked on um you know North Terrace and um that's it. You know, we know that group of cars are there, right? Okay. Yeah. Carmen, I I I have complete confidence that if something breaks down here, you'll be the first one to call us
and correct it. So the system if the system doesn't work, look, we want to know if it doesn't work because we're we're, you know, we're if we make this decision, we're basing this on all this working that we have
coordination with police, we have coordination with DPW. So if if something breaks down in that, we need to know so that we can fix it. Okay. Yeah. You'll you'll know not only from me but many that uh I'm sure you
thank you. Um thank you everyone. Have a good night. Okay. Thank you. Uh I don't think there's anyone else. So um I believe we've done all of our public business. We do have a couple of items to talk about in executive session.
I make a motion that we go into closed. I'll second that. All in favor? I I Okay. Uh Patrick, you're going to