The following is a part of a recap of the City Wide Block Watch Council meeting that was held on Monday February 13, 2012. The meeting was held at the Third Police District.
On the Agenda, under Old Business, was Lieutenant Graham from Communications, who joined the Council to discuss concerns that Block Watches are passing along to their Council Reps. Jennifer thanked the Lieutenant for joining us. Lieutenant Graham let the group know she is currently assigned to Communications and has been there for the past five months. She has previously spent the previous sixteen plus years in patrol. The following information was passed along, asked, or discussed.
- There are three shifts running, including power shifts, in Communications. Just like the Districts.
- The staff is mostly civilians.
- If you are calling 911 or the non emergency number the telecommunicators will ask a series of questions and they are typing the initial information received and any updates into the computer.
- The calls are prioritized, #1 is the highest priority and this could be a shooting and #5 is generally a call handled at the District by the DPR Officers.
- If a call comes into the emergency number and it isn't a true emergency the operator will ask that the caller hang up and call the non emergency number.
- In 2011 there were close to 400,000 calls to 911 and the non emergency number had 350,000+ calls. It was also noted that Communications handled close to 90,000 abandoned calls, like the "pocket dial" calls. They abandoned calls are still recorded as a call for service.
- When you call 911 on a cell phone or a landline the operator will ask if you need medical or police services. If it's medical they will transfer the caller to the Milwaukee Fire Department. However, the operators will stay with the call until it is determined that Police services aren't needed, once that is determined they will disconnect.
- The bulk of the calls come in from noon to midnight. The power shift works from 11:00am-7:00pm and from 7:00pm to 3:00am.
- They monitor all but two of the cell phone carriers.
- There are presently eight people being trained for dispatch and they will work the 2nd and 3rd shift. The job is a 40 hour week position and there is a set amount of breaks. The turn over in this position is high and the national average is 2 ½ to 3 years. It was noted that Milwaukee is above the national average.
- There are at least seven operators on each shift. The Lieutenant spoke of the staff being a good group of people.
- A question was asked if Communications is still willing to come out and speak to Block Watches. Lieutenant Graham let the group know that she is always willing to attend a meeting and work with the community.
- A question was asked about concerns District Seven Block Watch Captains are having when calling in about criminal activity at the city parks. Many of the residents are told to call the Sheriff's Department when these are city parks. The Lieutenant passed along that the MPD will respond to all call for service to ANY parks.
- There are usually two to four supervisors on for each shift. It continues to be a practice to have a supervisor on the floor monitoring the operators.
- There was a short discussion on the complaints from residents about the short rude response from some of the operators. Lieutenant spoke of how they continually work on monitoring the operators and will replay the audio of a call for the operator to learn from. It was noted that the system wasn't perfect but they continue to work on it.
- Lieutenant Graham spoke about how they are constantly looking at their procedures and that they are always working on making things better. It was passed on the Lieutenant that residents in the community have actually seen a difference, for the better, in the past five to six months.
- The group passed along to Lieutenant Graham that the Council has put together two resource sheets, Tips on How To Call Dispatch and an Activity Log. Liz Hammer will forward them to the Lieutenant and if there's something that needs to be updated she'll pass it along to the Council.
- It was noted that sometimes the operators have to be assertive to get control of the call and get the caller to give the needed information.
- There was a discussion on the number of prompts when calling the non emergency number and that this can cause some confusion. Many of the Block Watches know to push #9 to speak with the operator to request police. However, people that aren't educated on how this works may get frustrated with having to listen to all the prompts and the calls won't be made.
- There was concern passed along that many Block Watch members will call in suspicious people/vehicles and the reactions aren't always the same. Some operators will respond and some don't seem to feel that there is a problem. This goes against the training that the Block Watches receive about calling in suspicious activity.
- A question was asked if there was anything the Lieutenant would like us to pass along to the Block Watches and what would that be. Her response was to not be afraid to call in any and all activity and be prepared to answer a series of questions……. Who, what, where etc.
- Lieutenant passed along that if there were groups/Block Watches in the Districts that would be interested in touring Communications and seeing first had the operations to contact their CLO's and make arrangements thru them.
- The CAD report stands for Computer Aided Dispatch.
- The group was very appreciated of Lieutenant attending the meeting and it was suggested that we meet with them about once a year to have this type of conversation. The group also reminded Lieutenant Graham that they can use the Council to get information out to the Block Watches.
Jennifer thanked Lieutenant Graham for taking the time to attend our meeting and the Lieutenant passed along that if there was anything she could for the community, she was available. She also reminded us to get the word out that the residents should never hesitate to call if they see something suspicious, all calls are important.
District Two: Paul Grippe
- The Block Watch Captains met in January and had a great meeting.
- All the District Council meetings and the Crime and Safety meetings will be held at the District.
- Officer Gloria is sending out mailers and they are seeing new faces at the meetings.
- They are working on getting Muskego Way Association up and running.
- They are working on a new format, in 2012, for starting a Block Watch.
District Three: David Wahl
- The District Council will begin to meet every other month.
- There is a new Block Watch, 39th Street, that will be starting.
- The surveys should soon be tallied and the reports given.
District Four: Liz Hammer
- There are a couple Block Watches in the District that now have their own websites.
- Liz and the Sector Reps are planning the Networking Event and it's scheduled for Thursday May 10th.
- The monthly Crime and Safety meetings are starting up again and on Tuesday February 28th DA John Chisholm will be the quest speaker.
District Six: Sandy Schroeder
- The Leadership program will be held at the academy in May. Once again this is a joint effort with MPS, MPD and St. Luke's Medical Center. Officer Lubus of D7 has worked many years with MPS on putting this program together for the students.
- New CLO assigned for D6 is PO John Klein.
- There was a flyer passed around to the group…… Support the efforts of the Town of Lake Neighborhood Assn Come to Culver's at 6th & Layton on Monday Feb 13th between 5:00- 7:00p.m.
District Seven: Jennifer Westrick
· They are planning and fundraising for the annual Block Captain Recognition Brunch which will be on Saturday March 17th at Mother of Good Counsel Church. All 240+ Block Captains are invited and they usually serve about 100.
· They are adding new Sector Representatives to help even out the load, some have about 40 Block Watch Captains to communicate with. The goal is to have enough people to keep each person's group to about 20 Block Captains.
· Jennifer will be attending the Crime Prevention Awards tomorrow as D7 won the CLO and Citizen volunteer awards and to support the hard work of the Police Department and the other winners.
