Van Buren Township Public Safety Committee member Diane Madigan asked about figures on the internet showing VBT had 17 forcible rapes in 2009.
She wondered if the public shouldn’t have been made aware of this and if it was a single person responsible, who the public needed to be warned against.
She brought the subject up at the committee’s regular meeting Sept. 7.
“I use the FBI numbers, not numbers from the internet,” Public Safety Director Carl McClanahan said sharply.
Madigan said the figures claimed to be from the FBI, but she would double-check with the FBI website.
Madigan asked, again, about having crime briefings from time to time like the committee had until early this year when McClanahan suddenly cut them off.
“We still have briefings on the web,” said Committee Vice Chairman Ramone Crowe, who was presiding in the absence of Chairman Michael Miazga.
When questioned, McClanahan said the current briefing on the web was made in July and it carried June figures.
“It didn’t work out monthly,” McClanahan explained.
Community Policing Officer Adam Byrd said he wanted to address the question of rapes.
He said a lot of times police get “rape” as an initial call for service and it turns out that a teenager just said that and it wasn’t a rape after all.
“An initial call for service, not always turns out to be that,” Byrd said.
[After the meeting, McClanahan confirmed that the FBI figures are from official cases and are not calls for service, as insinuated by Byrd. McClanahan said the 2010 FBI figures should be released soon. The Independent checked the FBI site and the 17 rapes in 2009 turned out to be exactly what the FBI reported for VBT in 2009, as Madigan stated.]Committee Member Reggie Miller asked Supervisor Paul White what he thought about the police and fire briefings not being given every month.
Supervisor White said Director McClanahan has no time to do such briefings since he is very busy.
Miller asked if he could do briefings every other month. She said the reports have been viewed on the cable channel by residents who have told her they find the information very important.
In other business at the Sept. 7 meeting, the committee:
• Held a moment of silence for K-9 Officer Jaeger who died at age four from cancer;
• Heard McClanahan promote a “Roll a Strike for the Millage” event at Lodge Lanes at 7 p.m., Friday, Sept. 16, to earn funds to support a yes vote on the public safety millage renewal in November. Cost is $20 per person. He said the Public Safety Department could be called for more information on the event or people could contact [email protected];
• Announced a “Religions in America” event at Wayne County Community College in VBT from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sept. 17, which is in cooperation with VBT Public Safety Department and Walmart;
• Discussed Nixle and how there is misinformation out about the service, which was cancelled by VBT this year after reports said it would cost the township money. McClanahan said his department is very interested in getting the free basic service and he will check into it, as he said he would at the last meeting, but didn’t. Supervisor White said a weather radio for $29 will alert people to severe weather;
• Learned the leash law recommendation sent on to the township board has gone nowhere. Crowe said he will follow up with committee liaison Trustee Phil Hart who was not present at this meeting;
• Learned the revised noise ordinance was sent on to the board and was to be on the agenda of the Sept. 6 meeting, but the meeting was cancelled. McClanahan said it will be on the next regular meeting agenda. This noise ordinance was requested by Officer Byrd;
• Heard Madigan say that businesses getting tax abatements from the township board don’t have to pay school taxes or give anything to the township, although the township has to provide fire and police service to them. She said GE, for example, makes billions in yearly profit yet pays no income taxes. “Let’s not sell out” to big business, Madigan said. White said GE promised 1,100 high-paying jobs in VBT and these employees will be paying state and federal income taxes and the money will come back to the township in a circle in shared revenue. White said VBT has to be on a level playing field with other nearby communities offering tax abatements to lure businesses;
• Heard Committee Member Richard Wardwell say that he heard a GE representative say GE would like to contribute to the community. He suggested the township ask them to help with the two light fire trucks being ordered. He said in his former home in Charleston, SC, a parts company donated a fire truck and even built a fire station. Miller said before everyone goes running to GE “wanting a piece of the action”, they have to know there is a long process that has to be followed, but GE will consider requests. Madigan asked since the abatement is already approved, what advantage would it be to them to throw money at the township? “They got what they wanted,” she said, adding the schools could do with something, since they have a deficit budget. “I’m not against asking for the schools, but the schools need to ask for themselves, too,” White said;
• Learned the county is having a traffic engineer study the need for a traffic light at the corner of Hull and Sumpter roads to facilitate the movement of the fire trucks from Station #1. Madigan said that former Director of Building and Planning Bryce Kelley said the light would go up as part of the building of the new fire station;
• Heard Madigan report that she was driving behind ladder truck L-2 all the way through Belleville recently and she saw the “worst black smoke” she’d ever seen from its exhaust. McClanahan said the truck is 20 years old and needs repair. White said the township is applying for a grant for the truck that would cost the township $200,000 in matching funds, if approved;
• Learned 17 people applied for paid-per-call fire fighters’ jobs in response to recent advertisements placed in local newspapers. McClanahan said it would take up to six weeks to check backgrounds and, “We will fill as many positions as we can from those that qualify.” Wardwell asked if VBT brings them on board before background checks and physical checks are done and McClanahan replied there have been a couple of instances where the township hired a couple of people before the probationary period was over;
• Heard Miller ask if fire fighter applications were on the township web site and when she was told they weren’t asked that they be put there;
• Heard Madigan ask about the new radios Belleville is seeking to buy because of the FCC’s plan to do away with VHF. McClanahan said the FCC is not doing away with VHF, but by the end of 2012 agencies that stay with VHF will have to narrow their bands because the FCC wants to sell more radio bands to businesses. Public Safety departments will either have to adapt their radios to the narrower bands or switch over to a digital system. When Madigan asked what kind of radios VBT purchased last year, McClanahan said it was VHF; and
• Learned the township board is expected to have its budget workshops in mid October.