Safe Community Task Force RecommendationsMasterpiece on the Mississippi
TO: The Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
SUBJECT: Safe Community Task Force Recommendations to City Council
DATE: January 28, 2010
The Safe Community Task Force is focused on two primary goals:
Dubuque
AN-Ameica City
1 III
2007
The Safe Community Task Force is recommending the adoption of their first set of
recommendations.
On September 17, 2009, Mayor Buol and the City Council hosted a community forum
that was attended by more than 130 interested residents. The purpose of the forum was
to initiate open dialogue on crime issues in our community and how to address them.
To continue the dialogue and in response to such a high level of community
engagement, the Mayor and City Council appointed 25 citizens to a "Safe Community
Task Force" in October. This group of diverse volunteers has held six meetings to
holistically look at both the causes of, and solutions to, crime in Dubuque. Beyond the
25 appointed members, the Safe Community Task Force is utilizing sub - committees to
get all interested parties involved, and those subcommittees have held regular meetings
in addition to the large group meetings.
1. Identifying and acting upon things that most effectively reduce crime and that
most effectively reduce the perception of crime.
2. Recognizing that people want to feel safe and identifying ways to provide that
feeling of safety for people.
The Task Force began by brainstorming the things that need to be in place in order for a
community to be safe, and those items fell into essentially four areas the group decided
needed attention: 1) creating neighborhood engagement and social capital; 2) enforcing
laws; 3) maintaining the physical environment in neighborhoods; and 4) clarifying myths
vs. facts regarding crime in the community and distributing that information to the
general public. They have established four subcommittees tasked with investigating
each of these areas and bringing forth suggestions to the full task force for
consideration.
Recognizing that building neighborhood engagement begins with input, the
Neighborhood Engagement Subcommittee is conducting a survey of residents from the
Washington, North End and Point neighborhoods. They will use the results of this
survey to inform the suggestions they will bring to the Task Force, and they hope that
their efforts will begin to identify neighborhood leaders, correct misperceptions, and
foster understanding of new and existing cultures. The Physical Environment
Subcommittee is focusing on ways to promote the responsibility of tenants and owners
for the condition of their property, and to promote neighborhood beautification. The
Research and Facts subcommittee is focused on gathering data on crime trends in
Dubuque, and the Enforcement Subcommittee is looking at policing and criminal
enforcement, as well as housing code enforcement.
The subcommittees have forwarded numerous ideas to the Task Force for
consideration. At its meeting on January 14, the Task Force began deliberating on the
recommendations and reached consensus to forward the following recommendations to
the City Council:
1. Reduce the time between rental inspections for problem properties.
2. Do not allow property owners to receive city, state or federal funding unless their
properties are in compliance or the owner is actively working towards
compliance.
3. Conduct an expanded crime study to include:
a. Comparisons with like communities.
b. Longitudinal study of changes in crime rates.
c. Multivariate study of arrest records.
d. Comparison of actual crime profile in Dubuque with public perception.
e. Contextualizing research findings within current criminology and policy
literature
f. Evidence -based recommendations for effective policy and programming
related to crime prevention and community safety within the discussion
section of the research report
4. Allow the Task Force to act as conduit for accurate information to public,
specifically by:
a. conveying crime statistics compiled by Captain Russ Stecklein to the
general public; and
b. documenting and investigating the effectiveness of existing and new
efforts to curtail criminal activity in Dubuque, such as Community Oriented
Policing, Territory Accountability Design, and the designation of a
dedicated police officer for Section 8 housing investigations.
5. Create ways to encourage people to light up their own property and surrounding
public property.
6. Install surveillance cameras in high crime areas in public places.
7. Install 911 emergency kiosks.
8. Reduce the time allotted for correcting property violations from the current two
years.
9. Encourage development of planned communities through mixed -use zoning.
While the Task Force is ready for these recommendations to be forwarded to the
Council for consideration, the Task Force recognizes its work is not complete. They will
continue to meet and they anticipate that additional recommendations will be
forthcoming. Their next regularly scheduled meeting is on February 18.
concur with the recommendation and respectfully request Mayor and City Council
approval.
MCVM:jh
Attachment
cc: Barry Lindahl, City Attorney
Cindy Steinhauser, Assistant City Manager
Kelly Larson, Human Rights Director
el C. Van Milli
Mich g e
n
Masterpiece on the Mississippi
January 28, 2010
TO: Michael Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Kelly Larson, Human Rights Director
SUBJECT: Safe Community Task Force Recommendations to City Council
The purpose of this memorandum is to forward to the City Council a series of
recommendations from the Safe Community Task Force.
Background
Dubuque
krititi
All-America City
t 1 1 1 I
2007
On September 17, 2009, Mayor Buol and the City Council hosted a community forum
that was attended by more than 130 interested residents. The purpose of the forum was
to initiate open dialogue on crime issues in our community and how to address them.
To continue the dialogue and in response to such a high level of community
engagement, the Mayor and City Council appointed 25 citizens to a "Safe Community
Task Force" in October. This group of diverse volunteers has held six meetings to
holistically look at both the causes of, and solutions to, crime in Dubuque. Beyond the
25 appointed members, the Safe Community Task Force is utilizing sub - committees to
get all interested parties involved, and those subcommittees have held regular meetings
in addition to the large group meetings.
The Safe Community Task Force is focused on two primary goals:
1. Identifying and acting upon things that most effectively reduce crime and that
most effectively reduce the perception of crime.
2. Recognizing that people want to feel safe and identifying ways to provide that
feeling of safety for people.
The Task Force began by brainstorming the things that need to be in place in order for a
community to be safe, and those items fell into essentially four areas the group decided
needed attention: 1) creating neighborhood engagement and social capital; 2) enforcing
laws; 3) maintaining the physical environment in neighborhoods; and 4) clarifying myths
vs. facts regarding crime in the community and distributing that information to the
general public. They have established four subcommittees tasked with investigating
each of these areas and bringing forth suggestions to the full task force for
consideration.
Recognizing that building neighborhood engagement begins with input, the
Neighborhood Engagement Subcommittee is conducting a survey of residents from the
Washington, North End and Point neighborhoods. They will use the results of this
survey to inform the suggestions they will bring to the Task Force, and they hope that
their efforts will begin to identify neighborhood leaders, correct misperceptions, and
foster understanding of new and existing cultures. The Physical Environment
Subcommittee is focusing on ways to promote the responsibility of tenants and owners
for the condition of their property, and to promote neighborhood beautification. The
Research and Facts subcommittee is focused on gathering data on crime trends in
Dubuque, and the Enforcement Subcommittee is looking at policing and criminal
enforcement, as well as housing code enforcement.
Recommendations
The subcommittees have forwarded numerous ideas to the Task Force for
consideration. At its meeting on January 14, the Task Force began deliberating on the
recommendations and reached consensus to forward the following recommendations to
the City Council:
1. Reduce the time between rental inspections for problem properties.
2. Do not allow property owners to receive city, state or federal funding unless their
properties are in compliance or the owner is actively working towards
compliance.
3. Conduct an expanded crime study to include:
a. Comparisons with like communities.
b. Longitudinal study of changes in crime rates.
c. Multivariate study of arrest records.
d. Comparison of actual crime profile in Dubuque with public perception.
e. Contextualizing research findings within current criminology and policy
literature
f. Evidence -based recommendations for effective policy and programming
related to crime prevention and community safety within the discussion
section of the research report
4. Allow the Task Force to act as conduit for accurate information to public,
specifically by:
a. conveying crime statistics compiled by Captain Russ Stecklein to the
general public; and
b. documenting and investigating the effectiveness of existing and new
efforts to curtail criminal activity in Dubuque, such as Community Oriented
Policing, Territory Accountability Design, and the designation of a
dedicated police officer for Section 8 housing investigations.
5. Create ways to encourage people to light up their own property and surrounding
public property.
6. Install surveillance cameras in high crime areas in public places.
7. Install 911 emergency kiosks.
8. Reduce the time allotted for correcting property violations from the current two
years.
9. Encourage development of planned communities through mixed -use zoning.
While the Task Force is ready for these recommendations to be forwarded to the
Council for consideration, the Task Force recognizes its work is not complete. They will
continue to meet and they anticipate that additional recommendations will be
forthcoming. Their next regularly scheduled meeting is on February 18.
Action Requested
The action requested is that you forward the above recommendations from the Safe
Community Task Force to the City Council for consideration at their February 1, 2010
meeting.