Oakwatch: The Oakland Code Enforcement Project Minutes August 17, 2016 PRESENT: John Tokarski, Hanson Kappelman, Janice Lorenz, Michael Medwed, Camille Burgess, David Manthei, Joann Slomnicki, John Wilds, Lawrence Robinson, Stephen Caruso, Kevin Stiles, Elena Zaitsoff, Steve Cetra, Barbara Ruprecht, Matt Landy, Viola Garis, Heather Camp, Kannu Sahni, Kenyon Bonner, Tom Pauley, Maria Bethel, Officer Johnson, Officer Pauley, Officer Leshen, Officer Shifren, Commander Hermann, Liz Gray, Mark Oleniacz, Blair Kossis, Neil Manganaro Mr. Kappelman brought the meeting to order, read the Oakwatch mission, and led introductions. KENYON BONNER, VICE PROVOST, DEAN OF STUDENTS, UNIVERSTY OF PITTSBURGH Mr. Bonner began by giving background on his role at the university and emphasizing the importance of the relationship of the university and the community. It has been a priority of his to improve how they are relating to the community. That when students come to Pitt it is not only the university it is joining but also a well established community and educating the students on the importance of this relationship Primary role is to oversea student affairs, most of which happens outside the classroom. The office is responsible for the counseling center, health center and campus recreation. As a residential campus in urban environment, Pitt Serves shows the importance of giving back to the community. Off-campus student conduct; role of student services is to be there when student violate standards. We educate then on how to make better decisions. Talked about programming at Pitt. Alcohol is number one policy violation. Student services spends a lot of time addressing that issue starting at orientation. During the semester they hold alcohol mix-off and late night series of programs, trying to provide alternatives to what is going on off campus. Program about 3000 programs each year. Office of health, help students learn how not to get in trouble with alcohol; referring to the old “SempleFest�. Bonner admits to being a Clevelander. Celebrate responsibly campaign. Sometimes students make bad decisions. Send out messaging to students in proactive action to major events. Already looking ahead to Penn State game. Big part of the relationship between the university and the community is that of trust. Our student code of conduct is designed so we can address off-campus behavior. Tricky thing about student conduct is we cannot disclose how we address student conduct, matter of law. There is a due process. If we determine they are responsible, we sanction student. Not permitted to reveal details. Can say they are aware of situation but cannot detail further.
No tolerance for sexual assault. One sexual assault on our campus is one too many. Part of our efforts the last few years is to do everything possible to eliminate on campus. Required by law to report them. All are reported to Title IV office. We respect request of victim. Facilitate their decision … handle through appropriate channels. Talk a lot about at campus orientation. We talk about the responsibility of a student to intervene when they see a situation. Talk about dangers of alcohol, what consent is and what is not, being aware of situations. Programming, resources available and doing more each year; Pitt is doing a lot of things to address issues. Campus crime statistics are reported annually through For Safety’s Sake magazine. Cars and parking … I wish none of our students drove cars into Oakland as a commuter. Some of our students need to drive due to work situations and/or internships. Provide public transportation … tell students and parents they don’t’ need a car to attend Pitt. Free ride with PAT addresses most situations. We suggest they don’t bring a car. Makes parents happy. When out, students are into doing what we expect them to do. We tell them to be responsible members of the community; good representatives of the university. Ask community let them know when there are problems; whenever you need him to come back he is glad to return. Opened the floor to questions. Q: Growing problem with courtyard over at South Bouquet and Dawson, new townhomes. Groups of students are gathering, growing party location and there is excessive drinking. A: Thank you for making us aware of the situation. Q. Is there any more movement towards having off-campus resident advisors? A. No, we have not made any movement on that. Know other universities have. We’ve talked about it but haven’t this year. Q. Where do the conversations stop and why does it stop. Residents would like it. A. Interesting program. Asked staff to look at what other schools have done; what has been successful and how does it work. It is something we can do; determine if it is something that can work for Pitt. Q. Can we do that again? A. We will do that. It’s a huge investment and we want to make sure if it is something we invest in that it is effective. But we can look at it again. Have talked to a number of people over the years and didn’t get the sense that it made a huge impact. We can definitely look into that. Q. I’m not sure if you guys encourage students to call the police on parties; getting students to understand that they’re not going to stop unless they do.
A. One of the most difficult things for students to do is to call the police or an RA on their friends. I think our bystander intervention campaign is showing students that they have a responsibility to step up. Especially if the partying, the noise is interfering with their ability to study then they should and we’ll continue to give that message to them. It’s a challenging thing for them to do. A. Matt Landy – At Student Conduct, one of the things we’re trying to get something together for this spring, and I know that Community and Government Relations has programming around what it means to live off campus, but we want to push that the code of student conduct still applies off campus. And maybe we could add some wording that you don’t have a resident assistant anymore; that’s why you need to call Pitt Police. This is something that we’ll be working on together. Q. Students move off campus to be in a residential area, not a fraternity. A. Matt Landy – Noise is something we hear about on campus. Students complain the next day. It’s part of the growth and development. A. Bonner – I meet with the student government board on a regular basis. We meet bi-weekly and I attend their public meetings as often as I can so I’m in tune with what’s going on. Q. Do you have focus groups of off-campus residents to see why they don’t want to call whatever authority is necessary in order to make the neighborhood a more livable place; being able to use the authorities in a way that is less threatening than they imagine it to be? A. John Wilds – Five years ago we did have a focus group. We had representatives from various neighborhoods along with the Greek community and university council. We had a discussion on student behavior conduct, what things can be done. One of the biggest issues that surfaced was that every year we get a new crop of students and we have to train them and that it takes time. They [students] think they have the right of passage; they’re coming to the university and away from home and “I’m free.” What they don’t understand is that it doesn’t work that way. That they can’t do anything that they want to and they don’t understand what the consequences are. Q. This needs to happen more regularly, more than one time. A. John Wilds – Yes, the issues that surfaced were nothing new, things that can be addressed. For the most part, these are issues like urinating on someone’s porch, stealing someone’s furniture and stuff like that. Q. That’s [focus group] something we would like to see more of rather than the students finding their own solutions. A. John Wilds – One of the things Kannu and I have tried to do is get students more involved in Oakwatch and neighborhood meetings, to get them more engaged so they can see the
perspective of the long-term resident; what the issues are so they become more sensitive to that kind of issues. A. Kannu Sahni – I would just like to add that Pitt Police has been extraordinary out there, not just with residents but with students and not just the ones having parties. I think it is a model of community policing. I think the confidence in the Pitt Police is building up. Safety sessions, block parties, these are all part of the process for students to realize that the Pitt Police are a resource for them. I think we need to do more of that; maybe we need additional focus groups. A. Blair Kossis – Calling 911 for emergencies; maybe market Pitt Police number as an outlet to communicate community concerns. A. Barbara Ruprecht – The students are given that number at orientation, on all websites. Students have the ability to call dispatch directly. Some people who live in the community do not live in the Pitt Police zone. If they call and they aren’t it would have to be referred out. A. Guy Johnson – Not necessarily; I’ve been reviewing our numbers and we went to 238 parties in the year and the city had also had their impact group. We’re not so limited; can respond to everywhere in Oakland. A. John Wilds – Student guide includes all the emergency numbers and students are encouraged to use them where appropriate. Mr. Kappelman thanked Mr. Bonner for attending. Moved onto the police reports. ZONE 4 REPORT Officer Thomas Pauley – July was a quiet month on our side, mainly mostly traffic citations. July 6 - Rite Aid on Atwood St. Two actors, retail theft in progress. Responded to store, actor was gone. Actors later are seen walking through the neighborhood and arrested. July 13 – Cruelty to an animal citation. Dog locked in a car. Officer arrived, 88 degrees inside the car. Hospital security assisted. Dog removed from the car and given water. Owner cited. 14 Burglary of residents. Many reports show no forced entry; only one with smashed window. Someone is going around the community looking for an easy target: steps to basement not secured; open windows. These are crimes of opportunity and mainly college students. 1 burglary of business 1 criminal trespass of residence 1 aggravated assault 3 stolen cars; recovered 1
5 thefts from autos 8 thefts from person 8 thefts from residents 9 thefts from businesses Announcements – Zone four public safety Council tomorrow night in Squirrel Hill. Next month public safety meeting is town hall meeting at the fire hall in Hazelwood with Chief McLay. Commander Herrmann – Starting our initiative for students coming back to school. Keying in on freshmen, behavior modification. Zero tolerance on citations. Detail starts next week, every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Overtime equals $2ooo every night. Feel we need to do that to get a handle on partying. With regards to Beeler Street, CMU needs to get on board. Contacting CMU, going zero tolerance there. If no citation is written, I have asked my officers to write up why no citation was given; explain why a warning was given and not a citation. This way I’ll have something to say when asked why no citation was given. We have four officers and one supervisor on an overtime basis for the weekend the imitative. Mr. Kappelman thanked the commander and moved onto the Pitt Police report. PITT POLICE REPORT Office Guy Johnson reported: 52 reported incidents 20 arrests or summons and 9 citations issued, 11 affiliated, 24 not, 23 on campus, 29 off campus 1 aggravated assault arrest 1 burglary arrest 3 drug violations off campus 10 DUIs 1 attempt to violate PFA 3 drunken citations, nonaffiliated off campus 2 simple assault arrests both off campus, 1 affiliated 1 not 3 underage drinking citations
1 warrant arrest 5 Judicial board charges filed; most underage drinking Impact initiative slated to begin next weekend. From August of last year to this year, we had 238 shutdowns of parties or warned them. Proactive with knock and talks. Trying to avoid issuing citations. Trying to show them the consequence of their behavior. Seem to be very successful in doing that. Q. Are there statistics that show impact? A. Barbara Ruprecht - Anecdotally we have; you all have told us that last year was the best year for off campus behavior. A. Matt Landy – It’s kind of difficult because we’ve received more referrals this year but that doesn’t say anything about student behavior. Think over time we’ll see if we can attribute knock and talks to referrals. Will take a number of years to see the impact. They are learning there is a result of their action. Q. When you say a referral what do you mean? A. Matt Landy - When the Pitt Police refer to us a student that’s been involved in an incident offcampus, we call that a referral. A. Because the officers are shutting down parties before they are becoming a problem, we a seeing fewer citations, before 911 calls are being made. So we only have a few that we refer to Maria. I think I’ve only sent 2. A. Maria Bethel - 6. Q. Would be good to be able to track this over a period of years. A. Tricky to track as officers talk to so many students. They also send even more folks to us because they want us to have a conversation. A. The process of getting together so referrals can be sent to Maria Bethel, Nuisance Property. A. Knock and talks are after the fact; the difference between knock and talks and being proactive. A. Dean Bonner - When our police follow up with students, it’s another way of letting them know we think it’s important. That we’re going to follow up. Q. Think it is really paying off. A. This is the first year of the reporting so we are seeing a change.
ZONE FOUR PUBLIC SAFETY John Tokarski - Update on the growth of the Zone Four Public Safety group, the decision to “take the show on the road” to different locations each month. Work towards getting students more involved. Offered information on the student police academy and the citizens police academy. Working towards continued development of police and community relations. DISRUPTIVE PROPERTY REPORT Maria Bethel – It has been very quiet. New process with Pitt Police should be up and running this week. Reports will go directly to the Commander who will approve; will show as citation or not and origin. Just met with police training academy so the new officers are aware of the property ordinances, processes being followed correctly and forms filled in correctly. Disruptive properties ordinance – Oakland mostly house parties, underage drinking and public urination – drugs seem to have gone down a little. Workshops being provided to prevent certain negative social behavior and homeless teens assistance. Seeing good initiatives since we started meeting. PLI REPORT Julianne Reiland – Not much to add to target report. Update on new processes coming online; more to come. We are finally at a point where we’re confident with our data; next year more proactive. Hopefully, Building Eye will be up and running next month. All pieces of information will be in one area. Q. Problem with trash collection not being consistent. Called 311 and they did get someone out there by 8. Also, the problem with the tall grass at the corner of Frazier and Parkview. A. Afraid that is DPW. That property is in the process getting ready for a clean and lien. Hard to take to court if they abate it but being moved forward. Q. Lack of street sweepers in the area of just lack of street sweepers? A. They are replaced pretty regularly. CITY COUNCIL Neil - Announced meeting for the 31st on Forbes Corridor. The planning commission is changing terms in zoning. Looking to change the wording and simplify standards for setbacks; streamline process. Public hearing Sept. 13th. Updates from PWSA – water line replacements. COMMUNITY ROUNDTABLE Mark South Oakland – guys opening up garbage bags, digging through and throwing them all over the place. Two guys, white males with red Pontiac Grand Am, PA plate JXE with a bike rack
on back. Been through South Oakland. Ron Jardini chased the two through Oakland. See them please report. Commander Herrmann – Definitely call 911. Camille Burgess – Didn’t there used to be a 911 type number for Pitt Police? Officer Johnson – Yes, but that’s only for the campus security phones. Kannu Sahni – Quick update on Pitt Starts; last one on Aug. 27th; a big one. Will cover over occupancy and other major issues. Provided list of the fall block parties. Would like to see more residents attending. Mr. Kappelman went over the community announcements; Green Team meeting canceled and Zone Four Public Safety meeting.