CITIZENS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT WORKING TOGETHER • DURHAM, NC • DISTRICT 2

Home • Minutes • Resources • Forms • Outreach • Grant Information • City of Durham

9/9/2002 Partners Against Crime District II Minutes

Replacement co-chair
Sexual assaults
Weed and Seed
Crimestoppers
Funding proposals
Neighborhood issues
Sexual assaults

Newman addressed the need to elect a new PAC2 co-chair. When we elected new officers in July, Newman Aguiar was reelected to a one-year term and Jeff White of Duke Park was elected to a two-year term as co-chair. However, Jeff has not attended a meeting since, and we are now aware that he has moved out of town. Consequently, we need to elect a new co-chair who will replace Jeff and serve the remainder of the term to which he was originally elected. Since our bylaws require that a month's notice be given before a vote of no confidence can be taken to remove any officer, this will happen at the October meeting, and we will then elect a replacement. We have one candidate already who is willing to assume the co-chair position; Newman introduced and nominated Katherine O'Brien of Duke Park. This does not preclude the possibility of other candidates; anyone who is interested in running for the co-chair position should contact Newman ASAP.

Before turning to the first scheduled item on the agenda, Newman brought up the issue of the recent sexual assaults in Durham; several people had questions, which the Durham Police representatives who were present attempted to address. They did not have any data on how these crime rates in Durham compare to those in other demographically comparable cities. Capt. Clark said that the perpetrators of sexual assaults were usually from the local area, but typically not from the same neighborhood in which the crime was committed. In the several recent assaults in which the assailant broke into a home to attack someone, they gained entry through an unlocked door or window, in one case by removing a window air conditioning unit.

Clark stressed the importance of home security in preventing these crimes. He also informed us that the DPD had upgraded prowler/suspicious person/suspicious vehicle calls to priority 1, and that patrol officers have been made aware of the need to bring even the slightest piece of potentially relevant information to the attention of investigators on the sexual assault task force. A five-member task force has been established to investigate the sexual assaults in Districts 2 & 3. We can help by being aware of our neighborhoods and calling 911 to report any suspicious person or activity. There have been twelve sexual assaults in District 2 so far this year. In six cases, the victim was acquainted with the assailant; in the other six, the assailant was unknown to the victim. One of the latter has been cleared; the suspect, a 14-year-old from the neighborhood, is now in jail. Five of the acquaintance assaults have been cleared; that is, either an arrest has been made or the victim has declined to prosecute.

Our first speaker was Scott Lyles, local coordinator for the Weed and Seed program, a national program established by the Department of Justice. Weed & Seed strives to bring communities together and improve the quality of life. The "weed" aspect refers to attempts to 'weed out' drug trafficking, gang activity, and violent crime; the "seed" function is the implantation of legitimate socioeconomic activities. Each Weed & Seed program designates a particular target area within its sphere of influence; depending on the conditions and type of area, the target area might be several adjacent counties, or a single city block.

The core components of Weed & Seed are law enforcement; community policing; prevention, intervention, and treatment; and neighborhood restoration. Here in Durham, the Weed & Seed program has a special focus on reducing gun crimes. Weed & Seed works through collaboration, coordination, community participation, and leveraging resources. The latter is particularly important, because although Weed & Seed receives federal grant money, they don't have the resources to accomplish their goals single-handedly; instead, they try to bring together citizens and other entities to work toward common goals. In fighting gang activity, for instance, the police can't do it all; community collaboration is important. Weed & Seed tries to address this type of problem at several different levels; for instance, they sponsor anti-gang programs in middle schools. Weed & Seed programs change their target area every five years.

The current target area in northeast central Durham is now in its 5th year, so it's time to select a new one. Weed & Seed made the choice by mapping crime citywide. The highest crime rates are still in District 1 in the current target area, but federal policy requires them to move anyway, so they considered several of the next-highest-crime parts of Durham. These areas were evaluated based on the other resources available there and the neighborhood's readiness to work with Weed & Seed. The new target area chosen is in District 4 (between the Durham Freeway & Lawson St.); it has significant crime and housing problems, but also has people and community organizations ready to get involved in addressing these issues. Area organizations include the Lincoln Clinic, Operation Breakthrough, and NCCU, which has just received a $2.5 million Keller grant and intends to spend it in this area.

Weed & Seed staff will be recruiting people to participate on its steering committee and its subcommittees for the new target area. Although Weed & Seed has not been and will not be basing its efforts in District 2, the same principles and strategies they use in their target area can apply here and elsewhere. Their goal is to have their strategy flow throughout the city. People from outside the target area who get involved with Weed & Seed will bring new ideas and take ideas back to their own neighborhoods. In Weed & Seed leadership workshops, for instance, 65% of the participants must be from the target area, which allows for a significant contingent from other parts of town.

Our next speaker was Pat Ellis, who chairs what he calls "the best-kept secret in Durham"-Durham Crimestoppers. Ellis pointed out that although Crimestoppers has pretty high name recognition, many of those who have heard of it don't actually know what it is and what it does. Crimestoppers began in 1976 in Albuquerque, New Mexico; here in Durham, it got started in 1983. It's a nonprofit organization that coordinates efforts of the public, law enforcement, and the media to fight crime. The police department releases information about crimes, including pictures of suspects. The media play a vital role by disseminating this information to the public. Members of the public who might have some knowledge of a crime or its perpetrator can phone in anonymous tips to Crimestoppers (683-1200), which provides an incentive by paying cash rewards for useful information.

Crimestoppers has a board of directors (with a maximum of 17, and currently 11 members) whose main activity is raising money. The board also establishes policy and determines the amount of rewards. They pay rewards of varying amounts; the average is about $300-$400. They paid out their maximum reward of $1200 a few years back in the Carson homicide. A couple of months ago, a small boy from Walltown found a weapon used in a recent assault; Crimestoppers bought him a new bike.

Crimestoppers suffers from something of an identity crisis: many people think they're a part of the police department, but in fact, they're a nonprofit funded by community donations. (Crimestoppers is a 501(c)(3) organization.) Hence, although they do get some funding aid from the city, they are not a publicly funded service, and they rely on donations to continue their work. Crimestoppers works with a coordinator from the DPD, currently Inspector David Addison. He meets with them every third Tuesday and brings a list of recommended payoffs based on which tips from Crimestoppers have proven useful.

 The Crimestoppers board has the power to approve, veto, increase, or decrease these proposed reward payoffs. The following Friday, they meet the informants in a public place and pay them in cash. It's not unusual for informants to do repeat business with Crimestoppers. Since Crimestoppers got started in Durham, they have helped solve 3,025 cases, including 107 homicides, 297 armed robberies, 495 burglaries, and 583 fugitives apprehended. They have also been instrumental in 444 drug arrests and the confiscation of over $2 million in drugs. Since late 1999/early 2000, Crimestoppers has paid out over $10,000 in rewards in District 2, in connection with crimes including two bank robberies, a robbery at George's Garage, two homicides, a vehicle B&E on Watts St., a sexual assault, assorted drug sales including one large drug bust on Cole Mill Road, and one kidnapping. Crimestoppers has a budget of $50,000 for this year. The Crimestoppers grant from the city this year was only $29,000 (a 3% reduction from last year), so they need to raise a good deal more money. Administrative costs make up a very small portion of their budget, since Crimestoppers is run by an all-volunteer board. The board includes representatives from NCCU, Duke, the Durham Police Department, and the county sheriff's office. Crimestoppers recently received a $1500 grant from the Governor's Crime Commission, which they used to publicize Crimestoppers in the local schools. In the past, they have put up posters with Crimestoppers information; this time, they also had information printed on hall passes to be used in schools. They are working with school officials and would like to increase their profile in the schools. Lt. Ed Sarvis, who for several years worked closely with Crimestoppers, testified to the importance of what they do.

Crimestoppers is so highly valued by the police department that they devote a full-time employee to answering the Crimestoppers phone line. The existence of Crimestoppers allows the police department to reduce the size of their informants' fund for nondrug criminal cases. Sarvis pointed out that he couldn't praise Crimestoppers enough for the good work that they do, but it takes $50,000-$60,000 a year for them to be able to do it. Crimestoppers would like to have their phone answered 24/7, but at present they can't afford it. They hope to be able to fund another phone person so that callers will not have to leave voicemail messages as they currently do. They've considered using an answering service, but that too was expensive. Trust is a vital element in the Crimestoppers program, and many callers don't feel comfortable leaving a message instead of talking to a person. Also, if they have information the police need to act on immediately, by the time someone gets the message it could be too late.

Treasurer Fred Lamar presented a suggested breakdown of how PAC2 might spend the rest of our 2001 and 2002 Block Grant money. Fred distributed copies of the funding proposals he was recommending for approval, and we heard a brief presentation on each one of them.

[1] The Clerk of Superior Court requested $900 to implement a computerized handgun registration system. Marcia Owen, who volunteers in this office, explained to us what was involved. Durham is currently the only county in North Carolina that has a handgun registration law. However, the current handgun registration system is an antiquated one involving thousands of little paper slips filed in library catalog drawers. This needs to be replaced with a computer database that would be accessible to the police and the sheriff's office. Marcia explained that as soon as the computerized system was up and running, they would immediately start using it for all future handgun registration records. As for the old records, some of them would probably be gradually added to the database, but there is no plan to convert them all, because the paper records go back for decades and the oldest ones are no longer current or relevant. The one remaining obstacle to making this new system a reality is the need to have some computer cables wired into the building, which will involve a one-time cost of $900. That's what the money they are asking PAC2 for would be spent on.

[2] The Old North Durham neighborhood association asked for $2,675 for a CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) project. Robert Freese, chair of the ONDNA appearance committee, presented their proposal. The problem area they are targeting is the 300 block of W. Trinity, where there is a habitual problem with illegal parking. People pull over the curb to park their cars in the public right-of-way, between the oak trees that line the street. This unsightly and illegal parking has been destroying vegetation, possibly harming the roots of the oak trees themselves, eroding the soil, and encouraging litter. ONDNA has been working with the city for over a year to address this problem. Their current proposal is a CPTED-based design in which stone planters, filled with assorted native plants, would be installed between the trees. The planters would prevent anyone from parking in that space, and would also beautify the area. ONDNA is requesting funding for the materials (stone, soil, plants); ONDNA volunteers will provide the labor for the project.

[3] The Criminal Justice Resource Center asked for $1,639.90 for an anger management program. Gudrun Parmer of the CJRC presented their request. The CJRC wants to offer an 8-week course in anger management to offenders in their programs and also to those participating in STARS, a crime abatement program of the Durham Police Department. The requested funds would be used to buy curriculum materials which CJRC staff would then be able to use for years to come.

[4] The next item on the proposed list was a donation of $1000 to Crimestoppers. Since we had just heard a presentation on their work, there was no additional discussion at this point.

[5] The next proposal was for website registration and web space for PAC2, at a cost of $352.92. For the past several years, Pam Spaulding, the PAC2 webmistress, has hosted the PAC2 site on her personal web space at her own expense. PAC2 needs to assume responsibility for its own website and give it a permanent and independent home where the site can be accessed and maintained by PAC2 officers and can continue to be developed and expanded. The requested sum represents fees for two years to the chosen ISP, Internet of the Sandhills. Pam would be responsible for making arrangements with them and handling the transfer.

[6] The Durham Police Department asked for $3,800 to purchase equipment to be used for crime prevention presentations. Lt. Ed Sarvis presented this proposal, which he said was originally inspired by watching Officer Eric Hester, our crime prevention officer, trying to do Neighborhood Watch presentations with primitive equipment. Officer Hester, who currently spends 8-9 evenings a month on Neighborhood Watch organizational meetings in District 2, would be a principal user of this equipment; it would also be available for PAC2 meetings, and to District 2 neighborhood associations or other nonprofit organizations concerned with safety and crime. The equipment would be stored at the District 2 substation and could be reserved and checked out by all the entities just mentioned. The amount requested is an estimated budget to cover the cost of purchasing a laptop computer, presentation software, and a computer projector.

[7] The final proposal, also from the Durham Police Department, was a request for $3,260.69 to send two officers to a conference on Problem Oriented Policing. Capt. Clark presented the proposal. This weekend conference, held in San Diego and sponsored by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), is attended by top police departments from all over the country; it provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences related to problem-oriented policing. The sum requested would cover conference registration, meals, lodging, and travel for Capt. Clark and Lt. Sarvis, who would then be able to train other officers in District 2, as well as pass on useful ideas to PAC2. Newman pointed out that we have already committed to helping pay for a nuisance abatement lawyer, and need to keep $2,500 in the treasury for that. Consequently, we needed to reduce the total being spent on these projects. We were contemplating a reduction in the grant to the DPD for crime prevention equipment, when Scott Lyles volunteered, on behalf of Weed and Seed, to contribute up to $400 (so that the PAC2 contribution could be correspondingly reduced) for this equipment if Weed & Seed could be allowed to use it for presentations in their target area when it isn't being used in District 2. A vote was taken and we agreed to this suggestion. PAC2 approved all seven proposals; #6 (the crime prevention equipment) was reduced to $3400, and the rest were approved as stated above. Newman has already gotten preliminary grant approval for all of these proposals. If any are ultimately vetoed, we'll have that money back at our disposal to spend on something else.

Summary of approved proposal expenditures
Clerk of Superior Ct. Computerized gun registration 900.00
Old North Durham CPTED landscaping 2675.00
CJRC Anger management classes 1639.00
Crimestoppers Donation 1000.00
PAC2 Website space 352.92
DPD Crime prevention equipment 3400.00
DPD Officer training 3260.69
Total proposed expenditures 13227.61
Remaining PAC2 grant money 15780.15
Left in treasury after approving these proposals 2552.54

Newman next opened the floor to community concerns. The first issue raised was a property at 3211 Alabama Ave., managed by slumlord Rick Soles, which has been a problem for over ten years. The property has not been maintained and there have been frequent and egregious violations of code, such as no heat. The most recent tenants have just been evicted. The citizen who brought this up was introduced to city officials present who could help address concerns about the property, and she agreed to report back at a future PAC2 meeting on what progress had been made. In other community news, the illegal dumping task force will do a presentation at the October PAC2 meeting. Duke Park has identified a target area within their neighborhood where they are trying to address appearance issues. They are working with the Solid Waste Dept. to get enforcement of the ordinance requiring people to roll their trash barrels back up to the house within 24 hours after trash pickup. Someone else brought up a need for speed bumps, and was informed that there is still a funding moratorium on all traffic calming measures.

Finally, we returned to the topic of the recent sexual assaults, particularly DNA testing issues. Newman pointed out that all rape kits that go to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) lab should be tested, but that currently, they only process those where there is already a suspect in the case. Lt. Sarvis said that the SBI is so backlogged that there's usually a 4 to 6 month wait on anything sent there. There are about 450 police departments in North Carolina, not counting sheriff's departments. The Durham Police Department alone usually sends in about 6-8 tests per month. And NC has only six DNA technicians attempting to process everything for the entire state. Outsourcing some of the work to private labs would be cost-prohibitive (about $1000 per test). Virginia is a state we could look to as a model for improvement. VA has made a significant commitment in the area of DNA testing; they have 38 DNA technicians working for the state, and they maintain a DNA database of offenders. One suspect arrested in Trinity Park a few years ago didn't match on the case he was suspected of here, but a match in Virginia's DNA database revealed that he was the perpetrator of two unsolved crimes there.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:45.

***

IMPORTANT PAC II Contact Information

Web site: http://www.pac2durham.com/

Listserv: pac2@yahoogroups.com

Subscribe: pac2-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Unsubscribe: pac2-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

PAC2 Co-chair: Newman Aguiar <newman@nc.rr.com> Term Expires: July 31, 2003
PAC2 Co-Chair: (nominated) Katherine O'Brien <keobrien27701@yahoo.com> Term Expires: July 31, 2004
PAC2 Secretary: Lori Harris <Ellephai@aol.com> Term Expires: July 31, 2004
PAC2 Treasurer: Fred Lamar<dolce2@duke.edu> Term Expires: July 31, 2003

Webmaster/listserv admin: Pam Spaulding <pam@pfsimple.com>

Top