Van Buren Township Public Safety Director Carl McClanahan said the incidents of forcible rape in VBT “is and will be higher than the national average” and it’s not something the police can do anything about.
“It seems to be the nature of the environment,” McClanahan told the VBT Public Safety Committee at its Oct. 5 regular meeting.
McClanahan was responding to questions by the committee on the FBI reports that showed 17 forcible rapes in VBT in 2009 and 27 in 2010, a 59% increase.
Since the committee no longer gets police briefings, committee member Diana Madigan had prepared a chart showing the FBI crime statistics, available on the internet, for VBT in 2009 and 2010, and distributed it to fellow board members.
McClanahan said he researched the 2010 rapes and found 20 of them were done by people who knew one another and seven by strangers.
Actually, he said, five consisted of date rape, a hitchhiker, and marital, in no consistent areas of the township. He said it was not a serial rapist roaming the township.
McClanahan said on a national average, communities the size of VBT, 25,000 to 50,000 population, have an average of nine forcible rapes a year.
McClanahan said this is not something you can control by changing manpower assignments or patrol patterns.
“It’s not rape if they know each other?” asked committee member Reggie Miller.
“It’s rape,” McClanahan stated, adding the rapes for those who know each other are not happening in public places, but happening in private settings.
“We can investigate and we do prosecute … but to have an effect on it is not possible,” McClanahan stated.
Ramon Crowe was presiding over the meeting in the absence of chairman Michael Miazga.
Crowe asked if through the community policing program there couldn’t be programs to teach females how to avoid date rape and getting themselves into dangerous situations – in a proactive way.
Community Policing Officer Adam Byrd sat in the audience and did not offer comment.
McClanahan said after the fact, a woman has a visit to the doctor and counselor, “but to have an effect on it is not possible … in a proactive way.”
McClanahan said people meet strangers in bars. He said two of the cases he studied showed two individuals left the bar and went to a private setting and afterward neither could remember what happened.
“They didn’t know if it was consensual or not,” McClanahan said.
“The statistics are appalling, but when you start breaking it down, it’s different,” McClanahan said.
Crowe, who said he has a wife and daughters, said he was very concerned and was convinced that education can change things.
“What bothers me is situations involving kids and high school students,” McClanahan said. “It needs to be addressed at home or in academia … Some teenagers, runways, found themselves in compromising situations … It’s something we can approach.”
Committee member Reggie Miller asked how many were prosecuted and McClanahan said he didn’t have the numbers and every case is different.
Madigan pointed out that aggravated assault is also up and McClanahan described “aggravated assault” as an assault that results in injury and sometimes involves the use of a weapon.
Madigan asked where the aggravated assaults were and McClanahan said he didn’t research that and that was one of the problems with his crime mapping program. He noted assaults will be the largest category in Part 1 crimes.
Madigan asked the difference between burglary and theft and McClanahan said burglary was theft of articles from a home or business and theft is “taking of an item”.
She asked if the 533 larceny and thefts in 2010 were from Meijer’s, for example, and McClanahan said they were in the areas of highest population and in the business district.
Madigan asked how 2011 was looking so far and McClanahan read from a report on Year to Date statistics, but did not give copies to the committee. He gave no exact numbers, but said criminal sexual conduct was down 78.6% and CSC 3 was down 75% thus far in 2011. He said there was a slight increase of 2.3% in vehicle theft, no increase in larceny from building, but an increase of 38.4% of larcenies from autos.
Earlier in the meeting, Miller asked about the crime mapping that McClanahan has been working on for six months or so.
“It’s been six months since we heard it was going to be implemented,” Miller said.
McClanahan said it was completed months ago but he has no plans to put it on the web site for the public. He said it reflects 30, 60, and 90 day trends and someone would have to be assigned to it and “Our IT person is very, very busy.”
“I think residents would like to see where the crimes are,” Miller replied. “I know you’re busy. We’re all busy. It needs to be implemented so the residents can see it.
“You said it would be implemented,” Miller reminded McClanahan.
Supervisor Paul White said he would like to look at other community web sites where crime maps are shown and he was directed to Ypsilanti.
McClanahan said he needs another program and he can’t buy it right now because the department is going through some serious radio communications issues now.
“You told the residents it’s coming, it’s coming,” Miller insisted.
“If I get one more person, it wouldn’t be a problem,” McClanahan said, adding if someone did a workload study you could see just how busy his department is. “I think we’ve stretched it to the limit… Supplying crime information to the public is not our first priority.”
“You’re going to the public to get a millage, promising to keep them safe,” Miller replied.
McClanahan said his department lost two people in the last six months and the resources are not there.
“When you made the promises, you didn’t have the loss of manpower,” committee member Richard Wardwell said in support of McClanahan.
“We currently are supplying a high level of service in public safety and we are limited in the amount of revenue we have,” said Supervisor White, adding VBT has a more efficient department than “we’ve had in a while” and, “It is a challenge in this economic climate.
Crowe echoed that McClanahan is stretched for resources and, “I can’t dispute that and it’s more reason for the millage to pass…He wants to do it. He wants to get it done. The radio issue has a direct impact on the services to citizens.”
Crowe said a crime mapping report is a nice service to have but they have to give the director the opportunity to prioritize, but to keep the crime map on the radar.
Miller said she understands this, but, “They are told the crime map is coming and then he goes silent for months… We don’t have police and fire briefings and what message does that give to the residents? We’re coming to a millage and don’t have briefings anymore.”
McClanahan said there are public safety briefings airing on Van Buren cable TV regularly. [The newest one recently put on cable to replace the June report, covers July and August.]
“Nothing that happens in these meetings has an impact on the public,” McClanahan said and Miller replied, “It could have a big impact.”
Supervisor White said with the current economic conditions, the resources are not there, although it may have been a high priority in January.
White said that week the township had to spend $4,000 to repair the patrol boat, an unplanned expense, and a week earlier a wheel fell off a fire truck.
He said the department’s first priorities are boots on the street, working vehicles, and working radios.
“The primary reason we’re here is public safety … and the dollars are spent protecting the people,” White said.
Crowe agreed that radios are more important than a crime map and compared it to going to Disney World or paying the house note.
Miller said the township doesn’t have crime mapping and there’s a rash of breaking and entering in areas and the public should be made aware. But, she said, the public is told, “Hey, we don’t have resources.”
At one point McClanahan briefly waved a paper in the air, saying it was a crime map, but he did not pass it around for committee members to see.
In other business, the committee:
• Heard McClanahan report that he and Trustee Phil Hart, who was absent from that meeting, decided the update to the leash law recommended by the committee was not needed and so they are not sending it on to the attorney or the township board. Miller said that this committee spent a lot of hours working on the ordinance, as requested by a resident, and passed the recommendation, and now the board isn’t going to look at it because it’s been dismissed along the way. “It bothers me,” she said. McClanahan, who sat through discussions of the law without opposing it in the past, now said if the township board asked his opinion, he would tell them it’s not needed. “We’ll enforce what we have in terms of tightening it up. I don’t think this is appropriate,” McClanahan said. Miller asked if the statement to the community now is if they have a problem with dogs to call non-emergency police and they will handle it? “Sure,” McClanahan replied;
• Heard McClanahan report he had no further information on a truancy ordinance, which he is in favor of so his officers can stop youth who are out on the streets during school hours. He suggested they put the item on the next agenda and invite School Board President Martha Toth to discuss it. The committee was told Toth thought the school might not be able to release information on students telling if they had problems with truancy in the past;
• Discussed the 800 MHz radios that the public safety department wants to buy and had been placed on the township board agenda, without being brought to the Public Safety Committee first. Madigan said the committee’s charge is to review capital expenditures, yet they were not consulted. When questioned, McClanahan conceded that the fire department did buy $40,000 worth of radios last year that are now considered obsolete and they will be sold along with the present VHF radios at the police department;
• Heard Madigan say that the governor signed a law the day before allowing the use of state forfeiture funds for other expenditures than drug enforcement in the police department and those funds now could be used for radios. McClanahan said he has “no motivation to use the forfeiture funds for radios” and the funds are being used for investigative operations;
• Heard Wardwell say now that VBT has the Nixle program back on line, do users have to re-register? He said he hadn’t received any alerts. McClanahan said the old registration is still good, but VBT hasn’t put anything out on Nixle recently;
• Heard Wardwell ask if after VBT gets the 800 MHz radios, will it be able to talk to Belleville? He noted Belleville pays VBT for its emergency dispatch. McClanahan said, “They’ll have to make a decision”; and
• Heard Madigan say that part of the duties of this committee is to oversee the public safety department budget. “Where does the Public Safety Committee fit into” the budget sessions coming up? White said the township board would entertain recommendations from the committee, but said he was not going to make copies of the proposed budget for the committee to review. White said he was charged by law with presenting the budget to the board, but he told the committee they had to ask McClanahan for a copy of the budget if they wanted one to follow along. He said the budget was just in draft form and he didn’t want the wrong figures getting out. Miller replied that she thought the committee, and the public, was smart enough to know that a draft budget is not a final budget. Later, White relented and made copies of the budget for the committee.