Landlord Notification Regarding Police Calls for ServiceTHE CTTY OF Dubuque
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Masterpiece on the Mississippi
2007
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Landlord Notification Regarding Police Calls for Service
DATE: December 17, 2009
Acting Chief of Police Terry Tobin is transmitting information on the recently
implemented system being used to notify rental property landlords or managers of
selected police calls for service occurring at the properties they either own or manage.
The Dubuque Police Department has had a system in place for a number of
years whereby landlords or property managers were notified by mail when police
responded to their property addresses for loud parties.
In meetings held this year between the Dubuque Landlords Association and the City of
Dubuque, a request was made by representatives of the Landlord Association that the
notification program of police response to rental properties be expanded to include a
greater range of police calls for service that generate a notification of a police response
or call for service to their property.
The City has chosen approximately 35-40 different dispatch calls for service types that
have been classified as quality of life type problems, i.e. police call for service issues
that potentially affect the quality of life for surrounding neighbors or the neighborhood.
As an example, disturbances, fights, burglaries, loud parties, thefts would be some of
the dispatch calls for service that have been identified as quality of life type problems.
Medical response calls, parking lot issue calls, motor vehicle accident calls would be
examples of police service calls that were not deemed to be quality of life issues that
needed to generate a notice.
Rental property landlords or managers will receive a letter notifying them of the
disturbance, including the address the police responded to, the date of call for service,
the nature of the call, the case number assigned to the call for service, and the name of
the officer assigned as the primary responding officer. The idea is that the letters will
keep landlords or property managers better informed of the need for police response to
their properties to deal with issues that potentially affect the quality of life for those living
in or near the properties they own and manage.
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Mich el C. Van Milligen
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Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Terry Tobin, Acting Chief of Police
THE CTTY OF C
DUB E
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
DATE: December 17, 2009
MEMORANDUM
TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Terry Tobin, Acting Chief of Police
RE: Landlord notification regarding police calls for service
INTRODUCTION:
The purpose of this memo is to discuss the recently implemented system being
used to notify rental property landlords or managers of selected police calls for
service occurring at the properties they either own or manage.
BACKGROUND:
The Dubuque Police Department has had a system in place for a number of
years whereby landlords or property managers were notified by mail when police
responded to their property addresses for loud parties. When officers respond to
an address for a loud party or party involving underage alcohol use, the officers
will file what is referred to as a loud party report or loud party sheet. Among the
information gathered is whether or not the person who lives at the residence lives
there as a renter, and if so, who the landlord is. The Community Oriented
Policing Unit, and now specifically the COP Housing Corporal, review these loud
party sheets and then research the call and prepare a letter notifying the property
owner or manager of the police call to their property for a loud or underage party
and the outcome of that call, i.e. police actions taken, number of arrests,
cooperation level of the tenants, etc. The purpose of the letter was to hopefully
keep the landlord or property manager aware of the activities of their tenants
and/or the tenant's guests and to assist the police with reinforcing the
inappropriateness of such behavior and hopefully limiting future problems of a
like nature and return calls for service for similar problems.
In meetings held this year between the Dubuque Landlords Association and the
City of Dubuque, a request was made by representatives of the Landlord
Association that the notification program of police response to rental properties
be expanded to include a greater range of police calls for service that generate a
notification to the rental property landlords or managers of a police response or
call for service to their property. Working with City of Dubuque Information
Services personnel, we have developed such a process. The first batch of these
notices was sent Monday, December 14tH
DISCUSSION:
Working with Information Services, we have devised a process in which the City
of Dubuque licensed rental property data base compiled by the City of Dubuque
Housing and Community Development Division is merged once a week with the
Dubuque Emergency Communications Center database of police calls for service
for the previous week. In this merge of the two data bases, we identify licensed
rental property addresses in which a police call for service was dispatched during
the week.
We have chosen approximately 35-40 different dispatch call for service types that
have been classified as quality of life type problems, i.e. police call for service
issues that potentially affect the quality of life for surrounding neighbors or the
neighborhood. As an example, disturbances, fights, burglaries, loud parties,
thefts would be some of the dispatch calls for service that have been identified as
quality of life type problems. Medical response calls, parking lot issue calls,
motor vehicle accident calls would be examples of police service calls that were
not deemed to be quality of life issues that needed to generate a notice to
landlords or property managers.
The program devised by Information Services takes the merged databases
mentioned above and then looks at the police call for service nature code and
determines if the call for service nature code is one of the codes classified as a
quality of life call issue. If so, the program produces a form letter addressed to
the contact person listed in the licensed rental property database to be sent
notifying that person of the police call for service to the address they are
associated with.
The letter provides the contact person with information on the address the police
responded to, the date of the call for service, the nature of the call, the case
number assigned to the call for service, and the name of the officer assigned as
the primary responding officer. If the person receiving the letter wants additional
information regarding police actions at the call, they will need to try and contact
the primary responding officer for those additional informational items. The idea
is that the letters will keep landlords or property managers better informed of the
need for police response to their properties to deal with issues that potentially
affect the quality of life for those living in or near the properties they own and
manage.
As with any new task taken on, there are costs associated with the
implementation and continued operation of the task. In order to run the programs
associated with generating and sending these letters once a week, a staff person
in Information Services is utilized for approximately an hour and a half each
week. It is estimated that this I.S. staff time over the course of a year will cost
approximately $2,418.00. Another staff person at the police department is used
to prepare the letters for mailing each week taking approximately 30-45 minutes
per week, at a yearly cost of approximately $550.00. These figures are based on
the past three weeks of trial program runs which generated an average of 23
letters per week. At .44 cents per letter this activity generates roughly $526.00 in
postage expense per year. The unknown cost of the program at this point is the
cost in officer and police staff time that will be devoted to returning calls and
answering questions generated by inquiries received from those receiving the
notification letters.
ACTION REQUESTED:
None, memo prepared at this time for informational purposes only.