Metro East Sun

City of Belleville Police & Fire Committee met Aug. 14.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Committee Chair Alderperson Johnnie Anthony called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.

Committee Members Present: Johnnie Anthony

Shelly Schaefer

Carmen Duco

Bryan Whitaker 

Kara Osthoff

Dennis Weygandt 

Mary Stiehl

Excused: Scott Ferguson

Department Head/Staff: Mayor, Patty Gregory

Police Chief Matt Eiskant

Treasurer, Sarah Biermann

Interim Dep. Chief Jason Rumpf

Guest Alderperson: Lillian Schneider

Phil Elmore

Guest: Joe Brock

Michael Hagberg

Public Comments: 

None.

Minutes: 

Alderperson Stiehl motioned to accept the minutes of the July 10, 2023, Executive Session Minutes of July 10, 2023 as presented, second by Alderperson Schaefer. All members present voted - Aye. Motion passed.

Staff Report: 

Police Department:

Police Chief Eiskant: August 25th there will be two new Police Officers graduating from the academy. August 30th begins the new Police Academy, and we will be putting four new Officers in that academy. Retirements have caused the numbers to drop, some of the Officers that we hired did not work out, it has put our numbers down to sixty-eight, with these four new hires it will bring the number to seventy-two. We have another Officer on the list who is currently in the Army, and we are going to hire him, but he has to finish his service. We will also start another list. We are budgeted for seventy-eight.

NIBRS is the data that is supplied to the FBI every month. They categorize it as Crimes against Persons, Crimes against Property and Crimes against Society. The Crimes against Persons are your violent crimes, your robberies and your murders, rape, things of that nature. These are from January to July of last year to January to July of this year; Crimes against Persons were down 29.3%, Crimes against Property were down 24.1% and Crimes against Society 21.43%. Vehicle thefts are a nationwide problem, and they are up. Kia's and Hyundai's are being stolen left and right.

US Marshals Detail: We provided seventeen Officers on the detail; it was Operation Triple Beam. Basically, our Officers and Officers from other municipalities are involved. The detail went on for twelve weeks and we participated in eight weeks, during that there were 407 arrests and 117 firearms that were seized, that is the entire Metro East that this detail was done. Of the 407 arrests, 178 were confirmed gang members, 29 arrested were wanted for murder, 72 individuals for aggravated assault, 16 for armed robbery, 130 for weapons violations, 117 firearms seized, $47,000 in cash, 13 vehicles and 149.68 kg of narcotics.

Stolen Vehicles: Ward 7 was getting hit pretty hard on Wabash and Portland. We put a detail together and the citizens were great giving us information on what is going on. We worked closely with Matt Jany who runs the Auto Theft Task Force, and they had a wealth of information. There were three juveniles arrested and according to the Director of Auto Theft they were responsible for about forty stolen vehicles from Belleville, Collinsville, and Bonne Terre, Missouri. They had girlfriends from these areas and those were the areas that were getting hit. One of the juveniles is looking at a substantial amount of jail time just due to his criminal history, obviously, we cannot get into juveniles, but three of them were taken into custody and the thefts stopped.

Problem Oriented Policing Unit: We used to have a Street Crimes Unit in the Belleville Police Department, and this will be similar to that. We cannot make this a full-time position until we get our numbers up around 78 where there will be four Officers in a specialized unit that will only hit our hot spots. They will also assist with Housing, so instead of having, when we get our numbers up, when we have four in Housing, these four in Problem Oriented Policing can assist Housing to make it eight and they can make a bigger impact. These four will also help out when there is a problem like the auto thefts in Ward 7, they will be focused on that Ward until that problem is extinguished. It is a very effective unit, but right now we will have to do it on a part-time basis, it will be overtime but it will only be on a case-by-case basis.

A brief discussion was held on the 88th Street shooting that involved a five-year-old child.

A brief discussion was held regrading Child Safe. The Police Department will be handing out free gun locks.

Fire Department:

Interim Deputy Chief Rumpf: A copy of the run statistics was passed out to committee members (attached). Interim Deputy Chief Rumpf reviewed the report with the committee and answered generalized questions.

Alderperson Schaefer questioned Lift Assists and a brief discussion was held.

Alderperson Whitaker asked about the Medical Assists and EMS incidents. He asked about the type of liability the department is assuming due to the Firefighters not having any medical certifications. Interim Deputy Chief Rumpf explained that all firefighters are trained and certified in Annual CPR and Stop the Bleed. Firefighters do not have any EMT level or First Responder Certifications. He explained back in the 90's they did have the EMT Certification, but the City ended that program. In most cases the Fire Department is just there to provide manpower and assist the EMS Service Providers. Alderperson Whitaker wanted to ensure that the Firefighters and the City are both protected against any liability for administering First Aid. Alderperson Whitaker made the recommendation that a subcommittee be formed to investigate these issues, Alderpersons Whitaker, Schaefer and Anthony will be on the subcommittee. Training was discussed.

Training: Asst. Chief Larry Ruser planned and coordinated multiple training opportunities for June and July. Training of Technical Rescue Equipment was completed. July 12-13 Garnica trained with Task Force One and brought the knowledge back to share with our Fire Department. Training on the new ESO Records Management System was also held. Next will be Metro Link training along with right-of-ways then they will train at Farm Service.

Equipment Review: Interim Dep. Chief Rumpf gave an update on the condition and issues with the apparatus and equipment at the Engine Houses.

New Business: 

None.

Old Business: 

None.

Adjournment: 

Alderperson Schaefer made a motion second by Alderperson Weygandt to adjourn the meeting at 6:56 p.m.

All members present voted - Aye.

Motion carries.

https://www.belleville.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_08142023-3066