Click here
to see results of full committee's July 2004 rankings of safety
improvement priorities.
Summer Progress on Wheaton Public Safety Audit
The Wheaton Public Safety Audit Committee Group A met again on June 24, 2004. KHCA’s WPSAC rep, Vice President Chuck Fromm, serves on this subcommittee, which is charged with addressing the discrete issues of appearances, activity and perceptions. At their June meeting Group A agreed on the following items as their top priorities for the Wheaton Central Business District:
1. Strongly encourage Metro system to provide adequate cleanliness of stairwells, garage and pedestrian bridge and to heighten security presence in and around Metro station and parking areas
2. Provide more pedestrian friendly environment by utilizing landscaping, way finding signage, outdoor seating and reshaping building placement in downtown Wheaton
3. Increase marketing and promotion of downtown Wheaton via businesses and community partnerships, advertising, and media outreach
4. Utilize county incentives to encourage existing businesses to reinvest and expand, while recruiting for new businesses to locate in downtown Wheaton
The Group A members noted that items 2 and 3 above would impact the County budget.
Following the various subcommittees’ June meetings, the full WPSAC met again on July 27. Wheaton Redevelopment Director Joe Davis presented some revised census data, which distinguished the “Wheaton” population from the “Kensington/Wheaton” data he had presented in May. The group discussed the need to fill certain additional data gaps, including data on the number of people who walk to downtown Wheaton for Metro and other purposes.
Each of the subcommittees presented and briefly elaborated on its respective “short list” of budget and non-budget priorities. The full committee then voted on the relative importance of each subcommittee’s recommendations.
Committee Chair Natalie Cantor and her staff will compile the groups’ recommendations and prepare a draft report for review and comment at the next WPSAC meeting September 10. A public forum to discuss the draft report has been tentatively scheduled for October 5 at 7:00 pm.
Public Safety Audit
Meeting Summary
May 18, 2004
The WPSAC met May 18
and heard a presentation by Joe Davis, Director of the Wheaton
Redevelopment Program. In addition to ongoing, near term and long term
development, Mr. Davis also discussed significant demographic trends
affecting the Kensington/Wheaton area and
http://www.mc-mncppc.org/research/data_library/CUS2003/profiles/CUSPA2003/kensingtonwheaton.pdf and
http://www.mc-mncppc.org/research/data_library/montgomery_county_glance/glance2.
Mr. Davis also handed out copies of the 2003 Wheaton Redevelopment Annual
Report and maps of the Wheaton Smart Growth Strategy. These latter
documents are available through the Redevelopment Office.
Following
Mr. Davis's presentation, the four WPSAC working groups, which are considering
discrete subject matter areas, reported on their progress. Chairperson
Natalie Cantor asked each of the groups to draft "Top 10" safety
improvement priority lists, in both budget and non-budget categories, at their
June 2004 meetings.
Public Safety Audit
Meeting Summary
February 17, 2004
Recap of meeting #1 ACTIVITY
We documented our current successes in bringing activity to
Additionally, we made the following recommendations for
bringing activity to
Recap of Meeting #2 APPEARANCES
We documented the present successes in enhancing the
appearances in the
Public Safety Audit
Meeting Summary
January 20, 2004
Members Present: Capt. Jake Bise, Brian Donohue, Lt. Dave Gillespie, Joe Callaway, Lt. Demitri Kornegay, Lt. Ron Hardy, Jose Carrero, Stan Gray, Gayle Driver, Robert Fischer, David Fraser-Hidalgo, Chuck Fromm, Marian Fryer, Nancy Gasko, Artie Harris, Janet Yu, John Mahoney, Brian Donohue.
Members Absent: Bui Brandon, Shawn Doody, Robert Goldman, Kathleen Guinan, Chuck Joseph, Jeff Kaufman, Filippo Leo, Alan Levin, Robert Levin, Assistant Chief Bill O'Toole, Ronald (Hap) Smith, Captain Patty Walker.
Staff Present: Cantor, Maxam, McDonald
RSC director Natalie Cantor called the meeting to order at 10:15 a.m.
Introductions – Group.
Roundtable Discussion
of Wheaton – CBD Crime Statistics. Department-wide
consensus (
§ theft from auto (majority of auto cases);
§ outright auto theft (minority of auto cases);
§ graffiti (Westfield Shoppingtown);
§ jaywalking/pedestrian safety;
§ public urination.
[Since public urination, once broached, proved to be such a hot topic of concern, it was set aside for dedicated discussion later in the meeting – see below].
In response to Natalie's request for an aggregate format, all police agency reps agreed to email their complete statistics reports. In addition, Stan suggested the following online resources for local statistics: FBI (www.fbi.gov; UCR, or uniformed crime reporting, link) and WMATA (www.wmata.com). As an FYI aside, Natalie circulated two items created by the 4th District's crime analyst: a Traffic Comparison chart, and Crime Analysis Section "Calls for Service" report.
Roundtable
Sub-Discussion on Natalie's inquiry to police agency reps heads ("If money
were no object, what would top your department's resource wish list as
arsenal against CBD crime, or perception of CBD as unsafe?"):
§ cameras, call boxes and monitoring, in that order (Stan Gray, DPWT)
§ call boxes (type you see on university campuses), police satellite station, brighter lights, resources for cultural messaging program aimed at jaywalking (Lt. Demitri Kornegay, County Police)
§
increased beat coverage during prime time (7pm –
1am), scooter patrols, foot patrols, making public urination against the
law/enforceable (Lt. Dave Gillespie,
§ education, development planning (police in early planning process w/architects and others), overtime for bike patrols, seasonal coverage and patrol area saturation (Capt. Jake Bise, Park Police)
§ surveillance and communication technology, as long as accompanied by front line response personnel (WMATA Police)
Roundtable Sub-Discussion on Public Urination problem. Consensus: lack of enforceable laws is the primary contributor to the problem. Gayle pointed out that, currently, only "indecent exposure" is against the law. Since most offenders seek to remain hidden, it is very difficult to "catch people in the act" and apprehend them on this related charge.
Observations:
§ Patrons are avoiding the Westfield-Metro overpass bridge entirely because of the smell in the stairwells
§ Public urination in the CBD is not restricted to the homeless population (commuters and laborers are also guilty)
§
Stereotypes should be avoided; it was noted that
public urination is a much more common and accepted practice in
Suggestions:
§ Awareness and educational campaigns, to include multilingual.
§ Lobby to make public urination against the law; enforcement could then serve both as an educational tool and deterrent
§ Invest in public, self-cleaning toilets. PROS: will provide public alternatives. CONS: cost per unit is prohibitively high; also, introduction may incite more illicit activity by providing a secluded location for drug or sex trafficking. [The county should check with other large jurisdictions using the self-cleaning public toilets, to determine if this theory bears out]
§ Invite area civic associations, who can be enlisted to aid community outreach efforts
Committee Reports.
Group
A: Activity, Appearance
§
Develop an environment which encourages people
to linger in
§
Capitalize on commuters and metro riders who can
stop and spend time in
§
A new map of
§ Produce business guide
§ Create pedestrian friendly and inviting environments
§ Increase outdoor seating (both restaurant and public)
§
Attractive landscaping is needed throughout
§
Communicate
§ Increase contact with media to promote events, assets, redevelopment, etc.
§
Actively encourage selected businesses to locate
in
§ Joint advertising with tenants
§ Hold Media event this spring to highlight canopy program and redevelopment successes
§
Solicit
§ Encourage businesses to develop their own events, coupons, and enhancements such as free parking and lunch specials/coupons
§ Encourage more use and lighting upgrades to Veteran's park
Group
B: Public Safety Personnel.
§ Benefits of different types of patrols
§ Better, timelier communications with agencies; get security staff in parking garages.
§ More technology (lighting, cameras in garages)
Group C - Facilities.
§ CPTED brochure for developers
§ Inter-group communication on a monthly basis
§ Pedestrian safety: what's working, what's not
Group
D – Community Policing
§ Sufficient lighting
§ Vigorously enforcing laws on books
§ Meet with shop owners to determine periods of high occupancy
§ Multilingual education programs for laws
§ Increased cooperation between restaurant and bar owners
§ Graffiti and gang image
§ Substation in CBD
§ Pedestrian safety
§ Closing off Shony's lot
§ Inviting Latino Chamber of Commerce to the table
Natalie extended an open invitation to the group for an upcoming Pedestrian Safety meeting being held Tuesday, January 27th at 6pm (Mid County Services Center), where the State's consultant will give preliminary recommendations.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:45 am.
S:\mid_cnty\1MID-COUNTY
RSC\psa minutes 012004.doc
Subcommittee working papers
from the
GROUP A
As a recap to this morning’s meeting we accomplished the following…
We documented our
current successes in bringing activity to
Additionally, we
made the following recommendations for bringing activity to
Report- Group B
(Public Safety Personnel)
December 9, 2003
Attendance - Commander Patricia Walker (MCPD)
Lieutenant David Gillespie (MCPD)
Captain Jake Bise (MNCPPC)
Dan Rodgers -
Brian Davis and Eugene - Private Security for Parking Garages
II. We identified our purpose and focus on the following issues:
A. Public Safety Personnel
B. Quality of Life Issues
C. Utilization of Technology
III. Public Safety Personnel
A. We had discussions on the effectiveness of mounted patrols in the CBD.
1. Capt Bise advised they had limited effectiveness
2. It would be difficult to justify mounted patrol as there are is only one small park in the cbd area.
3.
IV. Visibility
A. Work with Metro Transit Police to increase patrols in the Metro Station
B. Add lights and possibly cameras in the parking garages
V. Pedestrian Safety
A. Education - With 743 new Residences in the CBD this would be important
B. Proper engineering/ crosswalks etc.
GROUP C MEETING
December 10, 2003
Present: Artie Harris, Chair, Joe Callaway, Staff,
Jose Carrero,
Lasswell
Absent: Bob Fischer, Filippo
Leo, and Rob Goldman
Joe handed out
copies of material that was prepared by the Steering Committee Transportation
and Public Safety Subcommittee, which included:
Ø
Ø
Letter
to Genetti re:
CIP Recommendations from the Steering Committee
Ø
Full packet
– A Public Safety Plan for Downtown Silver Spring
Artie began by going
over the three areas assigned to Group C:
1. Facilities and Design;
2. Public Safety Communications; and
3. Safe Streets.
We discussed each of
the three areas. Under each area we made
a list of things to help identify some of the specifics that need to be
addressed and how they relate to:
·
What’s
working and what’s not working in
·
What
works in other areas
·
What’s
our recommendation for
People chose one of the three areas they
wanted to work on.
Facility and Design – Artie and Bob
Resources
Ø
CPTED –
Cpl.
Ø
Satellite
Police Station
Ø
Sgt.
Mike Wahl
Ø
Lt.
Gillespie
Public Safety Communications - Joe
Resources
Ø
Pat
Bradley – DPWT
Ø
Margo
Stanton – HHS
Ø
(need
name of person), State Highway
Administration
Safe Streets – Sharon, Jose
Resources
Ø
Pat
Bradley, DPWT (lighting in public right-of-way)
.GROUP D
We determined
we should meet with developers to ensure sufficient lighting was present
throughout.
We
believed the police should be encouraged to vigorously enforce the laws with a
heavy police presence during the times the area is most heavily populated.
This
will also include bilingual officers. We believe we can combat the “gang image”
and the graffiti that accompanies it by vigorously enforcing the existing
loitering laws. If none that are suitable presently exist, we can lobby the
County Council for a change in this and the creation of a law that makes it
illegal to urinate in public in
Multilingual
education campaigns regarding these “nuisance” laws should be provided to the
press (including Univision, Telemundo,
and RadioAmerica), and shop owners.
Cooperation
must be fostered between Rental/Condo developers.
Restaurants/Bar owners.
Affordably priced housing.
We must
determine what is the maximum occupancy per unit (shop, bar, restaurant) and
stress the consequences for exceeding it.
We are
asking Traffic Analyst Felicia Hobbs to provide us with data concerning which
intersections in CBD currently have the most traffic accidents. This
information will provide insight regarding whether or not we may have to change
traffic patterns and when.
We then
turned our attentions toward the Metro parking lot and pedestrian bridge on
|
|
Auto
Thefts at the |
Larcenies
from Autos Parked at |
|
January |
2 |
1 |
|
February |
0 |
1 |
|
March |
2 |
2 |
|
April |
0 |
0 |
|
May |
1 |
1 |
|
June |
0 |
0 |
|
July |
0 |
1 |
|
August |
0 |
2 |
|
September |
4 |
2 |
|
October |
4 |
1 |
|
November |
1 |
0 |
|
December |
0 |
0 |
Ideas
are being formulated on how to provide the reassurance to the public the area
is safe. (Perhaps telephones with direct lines to the police or security
(college campus style) or video cameras set at strategic places.
We
talked about closing off the Shoney’s
We ended
the meeting with the idea of bringing the Latino Chamber of Commerce to the
table (next meeting) and agreed to have a walking tour of the areas in question
at 10 am on Tuesday, January 13, 2004. This will serve as our second meeting.