BERKELEY SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS COMMITTEE
Meeting Minutes
October 19, 2009
1) Present at meeting: Barbara Allen, Heidi Abramson, Trudy Washburn,
Taneko Yamada, Thelma Ferguson, Tom Edwards, Eric Arens, Willie Phillips, Prisciall Birge, Merrilie Mitchell
2) Treasurer’s Report – Trudy Wasburn – Spent $143.00
for envelopes.
3) Report
of BSNC Annual Block Captain’s Meeting by Barbara Allen. The Meeting was a very informative meeting and well attended
by BSNC members.
From the BPD - Ltn.
Greenwood and Community Services Area Coordinators: Officer Perantoni, Area
1; Officer Stephen Burcham, Area 2; Officer Amber Phillips, Area 3; Officer Karen Buckheit,
Area 4; BPD spokesperson Officer Andrew Frankel and Sgt. Kusmiss attended and shared
valuable information.
Pam Grossman
a Disaster Preparedness Trainer, a volunteer for the City of Berkeley’s Office of
Emergency Services, presented valuable information. Pam Grossman is available to come to your neighborhood and Pam can be contacted by BSNC member(s) to make a presentation
on what emergency supplies everyone should have in their home,
where to buy emergency supplies and how to prepare your neighborhood
for a disaster. (Bottom of minutes is Pam Grossman’s contact
information)
4) National Night
Out Report –
Ltn. Greenwood was not able
to attend our meeting and sent a report:
National Night
Out went smoothly and well, with over 45 groups hosting events, and several dozen
City employees, from Police and Fire, to Public Works and Public Health, Parks and Rec., and
other departments, attended events city-wide. Officers really enjoyed time with our hugely supportive community members across the City.
5) Block Captains Report and BPD Report
Block Captains
a) There have been several Neighborhoods that have been trained by
BSNC members recently. BSNC members are available to help
train Neighborhood that wants to start a Neighborhood Watch.
b) Sgt. Mary Kusmiss is ill and a card was passed around to everyone to sign to wish her a speedy recovery.
c) A Block Captain
reported that there is a trend that is happening in Oakland, Berkeley, Orinda and
Lafayette, when there is an Open House for the sale of a Home. Individuals come to the Open House and open a window and the person(s) come back later with a moving van and remove all the staging furniture.
d) There was a discussion of crime of opportunity – when there has been construction
in a neighborhood,
it gives individuals an opportunity to case out the neighborhood and come in and break-into
homes. Also when there is a new neighbor in the neighborhood they should be alerted of
any recent crimes so they can protect themselves. Also when there is a funeral for a neighbor, it can lead to a house break-in. A block captain stated that when a window is open anytime
– it is a
crime of opportunity.
e)
There was a discussion about City of Berkeley street light outages. Contact Public Works 981-6620 and provide the street
light number located on the street side of the pole when there is an outage in your neighborhood..
f) Discussion
of the problems around People’s Park, which have become heavy duty – day and night. The problem of camping
illegally, smashing of windows, drug needles. The block captain stated that they have been working with City and
Police Dept. and it has gotten much better.
g) Several block captains talked about car break-ins in
their neighborhood. And the problem of Toyota catalytic converter being stolen – which costs $800 to $900 to replace.
h)
A block captain discussed the problems on San Pablo re: prostition.
BPD
Report:
Chief Hambleton’s retirement approaches, and his last week wraps up Sept. 24th. The Chief’s
selection process is well underway, with an initial pool of 35+ candidates. There have been interviews, and there are
now a small number of finalists who continue in the process. The City Manager’s office will ultimately make a
recommendation to Council. Don’t have a specific dates, although anticipate it will be in the next few weeks.
Should the selection process not be completed by 9/24, an Acting Chief will be named in order to insure a clear chain
of command through the transition process to the new chief.
PBD Traffic Division has moved to a new
substation, at Folger/7th, one block south of Ashby and 7th st. This facility was rehabbed for seismic safety, and represents
a huge step forward in terms of a professional and appropriate workplace for our Traffic and Parking Enforcement Officers
and support staff
Earlier this month, a group of officers completed this year’s “Turkey
Ride”, which is our annual fundraiser for the holiday turkey baskets. The route changed this year and instead
of heading to S. Lake Tahoe, they headed along the coast, south to Hearst Castle, logging tow and half days and 219 miles
to raise funds to benefit some of Berkeley’s less fortunate families.
We had one incident
that was initially a pursuit, and possibly a shot fired at the pursuing officer. It developed that the firearm may have
discharged when it was thrown from the car during incident. Fortunately, none of the officers were injured and a juvenile
suspect was taken into custody.
Meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m..
