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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSS3 - Analysis of Police Operations - 7-4-02is August 27, 2002 Study Session Agenda Item No. SS3 CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH Police Department August 27, 2002 To: Honorable Mayor, Members of the City Council and City Manager From: Bob McDonell, Chief of Police Subject: Analysis of Police Operations —July 4, 2002 Recommendation Review the contents of this report and a short videotape recapping the day's events (which will be presented at the Study Session), and provide staff direction on those areas of focus (if any) Council would like brought back for possible implementation prior to July 4, 2003. • Overview Of Police Activities Every year since the late 1970's, the Newport Beach Police Department has deployed virtually all of its resources in dealing with the crowd and traffic control problems associated with the July 4`" holiday. This year was no exception. While normal police services were provided to the rest of the City, a large number of uniformed officers, reinforced by personnel of the California Highway Patrol, Orange County Sheriff's Department, and the Costa Mesa Police Department were deployed to potential problem areas. The main objective of our deployment plan is to create a strong presence of uniformed officers in potential problem areas, with an emphasis on high visibility and deterrence. The principal elements of this uniform presence are "tactical" and "footbeat" teams, each consisting of one sergeant and three officers. Tactical teams are mobile and capable of being assigned to any area where a problem may be developing. Footbeat teams are assigned to a relatively small, pre - designated area, sometimes a single street, and tasked with maintaining order in that area. These teams are augmented by beat officers, bicycle officers, motorcycle officers, transportation officers, helicopter crews, and a variety of non -swom support personnel. • Analysis of Police Operations — July 4, 2002 Page 2 of 7 Experience has taught us that large numbers of people are drawn to the West Newport • area on the Fourth of July. This fact of life has existed for many years and has remained a reliable assumption in the development of our deployment strategy. The inescapable reality is that the West Newport area will be inundated with holiday visitors regardless of what the City may or may not employ. The best the City can do in this type of situation is implement reasonable measures that maxiimize public safety. The system of street closures and restricted access to the West Newport area that was implemented this year has been employed for several years and has worked reasonably well. Our existing plan allows us to restrict our most serious crowd problems to a relatively well - defined area. It minimizes hazards to pedestrians that result from vehicles moving through an area heavily congested by people on foot and/or bicycles. It has allowed us to rapidly deploy police personnel to deal with developing problems. Regrettably, these benefits do not come without sacrifice. The residents of the West Newport area must endure City- imosed street closures and interference with access to their homes from noon on July 49 until after midnight. Some residents of the area stridently object to these restrictions while other residents accept the best of a bad situation. While the existing plan may not qualify as a perfect solution, I think it is important to keep in mind this basic fact: there were large crowds in West Newport before we started • closing streets. Some residents seem to have come to the conclusion that the crowds are there because of the street closure. Imperfect though it may be, the existing plan has been a relativity effective means of preventing riotous behavior and ensuring public safety. Nevertheless, it is important to remain open to new and potentially better approaches. In an effort to address the concerns of the West Newport residents, we will continue to critically examine our existing plan and explore alternatives. This issue is further addressed in the "Planning For Next Year" section of this report. In general, field activity this year was similar to last year. No major incidents occurred, but there was certainly potential for one. As in years past, we were able to deploy numerous officers to critical situations before the crowds got out of control. In the "Enforcement Summary" section of this report, I describe several critical situations that occurred, including one that almost became; the flash point for an out of control crowd. Any one of these incidents could have erupted into violence and changed the events of the day. I believe our increased deployment is our best method to prevent any violent eruption and prevent the riotous situation West Newport has experienced in the past. • Analysis of Police Operations — July 4, 2002 Page 3 of 7 • Enforcement Summary Beginning in 1998, we established a uniform deployment period for the purpose of capturing enforcement data from one year to the next. This time frame commences at 4 p.m. on July 3'a and concludes at 6 a.m. on July 5a'. Historically, most of our July 0 problems occur during this time period regardless of what day of the week July 4th falls. Along with the enforcement statistics for this year, I have included 2001, 2000, and 1999 information for comparison purposes. ARRESTS 2002 2001 2000 1999 Felony 14 17 19 15 Misdemeanor 148 176 137 169 TOTAL 162 193 156 184 CITATIONS B & P* 110 92 80 86 H &S* 11 5 1 9 Muni Code 341 366 344 356 Vehicle Code 171 178 169 139 Misc 0 1 9 13 • Parking TOTAL 711 667 753 814 1344 1309 1356 1417 Disturbance 35 42 33 51 Advisements The 35 Disturbance Advisement Cards that were issued initiated fines that totaled $6,450 for the violators. * Note • B &P refers to the California Business and Professions Code. Almost all citations issued pursuant to this code relate to minors in possession of alcohol or false identification documents. • H &S refers to the California Health and Safety. Most citations issued pursuant to this code relate to possession of marijuana. Looking past the statistical information, here are some of the situations with which the Police Department dealt. There were several critical situations that had the potential to get out of control, were it not for our ability to quickly deploy numerous police officers to . the scene. In one case, officers intervened in a fight between three people that attracted a large crowd. When the crowd became hostile, we had to respond with more than 30 Analysis of Police Operations — July 4, 2002 Page 4 of 7 officers to deal with the crowd that quickly grew to over 300 people. One person was • arrested for attempting to incite the crowd to take action against the police officers. A second incident involved officers from the California Highway Patrol making an arrest and being surrounded by the crowd. Numerous officers again had to be sent to the area to protect the officers and disperse the crowd. We responded to 13 incidents of assaultive behavior where arrests were made or we initiated criminal investigations. They included fighting in public, assaults on police officers, domestic violence, and assaults with serious injuries. In one incident, a resident was assaulted when he tried to stop several people from urinating on his patio. Several victims of these assaults required medical attention or hospitalization. One victim required 18 stitches in his head, one victim was admitted to the hospital, and another victim was treated for six broken teeth and a broken nose after being kicked in the face by several suspects. The most serious incident that did not result in any serious injury occurred when a resident came out of his house with a gun after several bottle rockets were shot onto his patio. An altercation erupted between the resident and subjects he felt were responsible for the bottle rockets. During that altercation, the gun was fired but fortunately nobody was hit. Officers arrested 14 subjects who resisted arrest or interfered with an arrest, including a subject who pushed past officers in his attempt to prevent his brother from being arrested. In the Newport Pier parking lot, officers ;saw a subject exit his car holding a loaded • handgun. He was quickly confronted by the officers and arrested. We still don't know what his intentions were had the officers not been there, but this is the same parking lot that was the scene of a shooting on July 0 in the early nineties. On Balboa Blvd., officers arrested a subject who was selling cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana to people in the crowd. Investigations that continued past the July 4'h weekend are three separate rape investigations where the women, ages 16 to 28, reported being raped while attending parties. These are unrelated to the gang rape; that has been reported in the newspapers. In addition, there were 14 reported bike thefts and 11 thefts from vehicles that will require additional investigation by our Detectives. Many of the arrests that were made have been assigned to a detective to prepare the cases for criminal prosecution, including additional investigation requested by the District Attorney's office. Traffic Management In past years, we have closed the eastbound lanes of Balboa Blvd. between Pacific Coast Highway and 32 "d street to vehicular traffic at noon. This year that closure and the installation of the fences on Seashore was delayed to experiment with the effect it had on the crowd issues on Balboa Blvd. It was hoped that keeping the street open to vehicular traffic would keep the pedestrians out of the roadway; however, the crowds that normally • would have been on Balboa moved to Seashore, resulting in pedestrian congestion that Analysis of Police Operations — July 4, 2002 Page 5 of 7 • affected vehicles attempting to drive onto Seashore. Historically it was this type of pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicle congestion in a narrow confined area that was one of the key elements in past riotous situations on Seashore. At 1:40 p.m., the decision was made to initiate the road closure to move the crowd off of Seashore and onto Balboa Blvd. This allowed us to better monitor the crowd, efficiently move officers to critical incidents, and separate the pedestrians from the vehicles, reducing the potential for a vehicle versus pedestrian/bicycle accident. Once the road closure was completed, the situation was similar to last year. Traffic westbound on Balboa Blvd near the road closure area has traditionally been very congested with vehicles and pedestrians leaving Newport. Significant improvement was made this year with the assistance of Cal Trans personnel, who monitored the traffic signal phasing at Balboa and Pacific Coast Hwy., changing the phasing when necessary to keep traffic moving. Additionally, vehicles were not allowed to turn eastbound (right) on Pacific Coast Hwy from Balboa. Allowing that turn last year added to the congestion due to the conflict with pedestrians in the crosswalk. Both changes aided in the flow of vehicles out of the West Newport area. Our traffic control and enforcement efforts were supported again this year by a contingent of traffic officers of the California Highway Patrol. This contingent was divided into two groups: motorcycle officers for enforcement of traffic laws, and CHP • officers on foot assigned to man barricades and checkpoints. Department Support Activities A Command Post and field booking facility were established in the rear parking lot of the City Hall complex. This arrangement has worked successfully since first implemented in 1977. In addition to serving as an initial receiving point for arrestees, the Command Post houses field communications personnel and equipment, allowing for more efficient coordination of activities. The Command Post also serves as a staging area for personnel, a storage point for supplies and equipment, as well as a location where City officials may gather for situation briefings. The field booking facility was staffed by NBPD personnel (largely reserve officers and Support Services Division personnel), supported by deputies of the Orange County Sheriffs Department. Other NBPD reserve officers and deputies manned transportation units, whose main purpose was to transport arrestees from the point of arrest to the Command Post for booking, then to the Police Facility. Supplemental Law Enforcement And Salary Costs • Supplemental Law Enforcement was provided by three different agencies. The California Highway Patrol provided 30 officers who were assigned to traffic control Analysis of Police Operations — July 4, 2002 Page 6 of 7 enforcement with an estimated cost of $23,345. The Orange County Sheriffs Department provided 19 deputies who were assigned transportation duties to the Command Post and/or NBPD Jail, as well as searching/booking duties at the Command Post. The cost for their services was $19,685. This year we added four Costa Mesa motorcycle officers who assisted in general enforcement with a cost of $3,685. Per the Memorandum of Understanding with our employee associations, personnel receive "premium pay" for working on July .4a`. The premium pay, along with additional overtime pay for employees working longer than their assigned shifts, totaled $43,928 of additional salary cost. Employees also took: 260 hours of compensatory time in lieu of overtime pay. OC Sheriff CBP CMPD NBPD Overtime & Premium Pa Total 2002 2001 $19,685 $15,343 $23,345 $23,465 $3,685 NA $43,928 $56,210 lu 2000 1999 $9,953 $10,116 $23,061 $22,593 NA NA $46,908 $44,849 $77,558 The overall cost to have the majority of Police Department personnel assigned to work on • July 4a` is significant. When that amount is added to the other supplemental law enforcement costs, we have a better understanding of the total budgetary impact the July 4a' holiday has on the City, in return for ensuring our law enforcement presence on that day. Planning For Next Year Planning for the deployment of Police Department personnel on July 4, 2003, has already begun in the form of critiques of this year's operation prepared by key personnel. These critiques will form the basis of future staff discussions to explore and implement improvements. The involvement of the West Newport Association in the July 4a' planning process was very helpful from our standpoint, and I am certain residents of the area most affected by the holiday activities appreciate having their voices heard. I am aware of the perception by some in the West Newport community that the Police Department approach, particularly the barricading of streets, contributes to the influx of crowds on the holiday. We will continue to explore alternatives to the barricade plan, and will consider implementation of a different approach if it appears promising. • Analysis of Police Operations — July 4, 2002 Page 7 of 7 • Conclusion Although I have very serious concerns about the potential that exists for severe consequences as a result of the excessive alcohol consumption and resulting behavior of the July 4 "' crowd, I am satisfied with the results of this year's operation by the Department. Unfortunately, until there is a significant change in the character of the neighborhoods in the peninsula area that are primarily "summer rentals ", which attract the large influx of visitors over that particular holiday, our problems will not diminish. As in past years, I believe our employees performed in an exemplary manner and significantly contributed to a safe and peaceful holiday. I am also grateful for the cooperation of other City departments whose employees made valuable contributions to our efforts. The support received from the Orange County Sheriff's Department, the California Highway Patrol, Cal Trans, and the Costa Mesa Police Department was much appreciated as well. In conclusion, under the circumstances, I believe we did the best job possible this year in helping our Community enjoy the July 4"' holiday in a safe and lawful manner. In preparing for the future, we will take our past experience, apply the lessons learned this year, maintain an open mind, and continue to refine our approach to confronting this ongoing challenge. • Respectfully Submitted, at *9.1 Bob McDonell CHIEF OF POLICE •