- Attendance was terrible. This was attributed to going against the Laker game and primary voting. We had 6 “civilians” to 8 police/CSO/council members. Laker game or not, this is really bad.
- PD was real responsive to questions regarding prostitution along the Holt corridor from the last meeting to focus on the North East. They came with encouraging stats on vice arrests and news that there has been enhanced cooperation with a federal task force. While all arrests surrounding prostitution are up, the task force focuses on minors. Through laws regarding the trafficking of minors, they can go after the pimps and not just the women on the street.
- Officer Hess of the gang unit gave a presentation on gangs in Pomona. The presentation focused on identifying gangs, the consequences of gang involvement and means of intervention. The encouraging news is gang involvement and related crimes is on a downward trend in Pomona, though still very real. This presentation was one of the better, more engaging and professional presentations I've seen at one of these meetings.
- Budget cuts were a frequent topic through out the night. Nothing is set in stone or finalized, but the by far most likely scenario is we will be losing 15 police officers. As to community Service officers, we will be going down to 2 (Councilman Lance is still fighting for a few more.) The 2 man Vice squad that has made such progress as noted above will remain, thanks in part to federal funding. The Gang unit will remain due to a department commitment to continually crack down on gangs.
Over all, one of the better Area Commander meetings I've been to. If there is any chance that you did not attend based on dissatisfaction with previous meetings, rather than watching basketball, I encourage you try an upcoming meeting. I think you agree that quality has improved.
thanks for the summary. My absence was due to season tickets with the LA Sparks.
ReplyDeleteYeah, same here, Laker game commitment. I wish they would have rescheduled it, as I knew a few people in the area would have also attented.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the update, it helps for those of us who couldn't make it!
And I missed the meeting because I was home with the kiddo. Thanks for the post, Stew!
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if the area commander meetings could be in the area. I wanted to go to the last NW meeting but it was too far from the NW area.
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ReplyDeleteAbout five or six months ago the Area Commander meetings were moved from City Hall out into the community. My understanding is that PD is looking for locations within each quadrant for the meetings. I'm sure they'd welcome location ideas! I believe Cpl. Haggerty coordinates the meetings. He can be reached at (909) 620-2318.
ReplyDeleteThe last NW area meeting was held at 1150 Fairplex, which is definitely in the NW quadrant of the city.