Attachment A-PSJ Subcommittee Minutes Nov 10 2021.pdf

Phoenix City Council 
Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee 
Summary Minutes 
Wednesday, November 10, 2021 
City Council Chambers 
200 W. Jefferson St. 
Phoenix, Ariz. 
Subcommittee Members Present   
 Subcommittee Members Absent 
Councilwoman Ann O’Brien, Chair 
Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari 
Councilman Jim Waring 
Vice Mayor Carlos Garcia 
CALL TO ORDER 
Chairwoman O’Brien called the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee to order at 9:33 
a.m. with Vice Mayor Garcia, Councilwoman Ansari, and Councilman Waring present.
CALL TO THE PUBLIC 
None. 
MINUTES OF MEETINGS 
1. Minutes of the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee Meeting
Councilman Waring made a motion to approve the minutes of the Oct. 13, 2021, Public
Safety and Justice Subcommittee meeting. Councilwoman Ansari seconded the motion
which passed unanimously, 3-0.
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION (ITEMS 2-3)  
Items 2-3 were for Discussion and Possible Action. The subcommittee may vote to 
discuss Item two in Executive Session pursuant to A.R.S Section 38-431(A)(1). 
2. Reappointment of Phoenix Municipal Court Judges
Chairwoman O’Brien called Chief Judge Don Taylor to the table to introduce the item. 
Judge Taylor discussed the process of appointment of judges. He stated that the 
Judicial Selection Advisory Board met and unanimously recommended that all seven 
judges be reappointed.  
Chairwoman O’Brien called for an Executive Session. 
Assistant City Manager Lori Bays called on Chief Counsel David Benton, who read the 
legal requirements to enter Executive Session. 
Attachment A

Councilman Waring made the motion for the subcommittee to go into Executive 
Session. Councilwoman Ansari seconded the motion which passed unanimously.  
Chairwoman O’Brien resumed the Public Safety and Justice Subcommittee.  
Councilman Waring asked Judge Taylor if the judges were not performing to 
satisfactory standards then they would not be appearing at the subcommittee.  
Judge Taylor affirmed and gave his recommendation of full support for the 
reappointment of all seven judges.  
Councilman Waring made the motion to reappoint Judge Monyette Nyquist, Judge 
Thomas Parascandola, and Judge Ana Sanchez, each as Judge for a four-year term 
that would end on December 19, 2025; Judge Patricia George as Judge for a four-year 
term that would end on January 1, 2026; and Judge Marianne Bayardi, Judge Hercules 
Dellas, and Judge Frankie Jones, each as Judge for a four-year term that would end on 
January 17, 2026. Vice Mayor Garcia seconded the motion which passed unanimously.  
3. Downtown Camera Project  
Chairwoman O’Brien invited Assistant Chief Sean Kennedy and Commander Brian Lee 
to present Item 3.  
Assistant Chief Kennedy gave an overview of the Downtown Camera Project, then 
deferred to Commander Lee for further detail. 
Commander Lee discussed the need for downtown camera replacement and their 
various functions. In addition, he discussed the phases of the project and explained how 
the downtown cameras were previously funded by the Urban Area Security Initiative 
(UASI) funds.  
Councilman Waring asked how the new camera locations were picked. 
Commander Lee went over the collaboration between the Threat Mitigation Unit, Public 
Works, and Information Technology to find the best strategic location for each camera.  
Councilman Waring asked if the goal of the cameras was to be able to track someone in 
a large portion of the downtown area based on their placement. 
Commander Lee stated that it depended on the path and direction of the individuals or 
vehicles. In addition, he mentioned staff was looking to identify locations that would give 
the broadest coverage.  
Councilman Waring asked about the usefulness of the cameras if individuals cannot 
effectively be tracked.

Commander Lee mentioned that the areas in which the cameras were placed help 
facilitate traffic flow from large venues within the downtown area. He also mentioned 
that camera placement was dependent on the location of critical City infrastructure.  
Councilman Waring asked if the camera replacement was needed to track activity 
downtown.  
Commander Lee explained the benefit of cameras for emergency management and 
incident command, noting it helped more efficient and rapid deployment of Police 
personnel.  
Vice Mayor Garcia asked about how the camera footage was stored and accessed. 
Commander Lee stated that the Central Monitoring Station and Threat Mitigation staff 
had access to the cameras in the downtown area. He explained that video was retained 
for 30 days. Commander Lee also noted any incidents captured on video were sent to 
the Digital Forensic Imaging Unit.  
Vice Mayor Garcia asked if the current or future cameras had facial recognition 
technology or microphones.  
Commander Lee stated that the cameras being purchased did not have facial 
recognition technology or audio capability.  
Vice Mayor Garcia asked about the policies governing camera footage, including use, 
access, the protection of residents’ civil and constitutional rights, and preventing any 
inappropriate use of footage. 
Commander Lee stated that the policies were laid out in the Homeland Defense 
Bureau’s manual and the Threat Mitigation unit had access to cameras when monitoring 
an event. He added that the Central Station Monitoring unit staff also had access to the 
mounted cameras. Commander Lee noted that if an employee was caught abusing the 
cameras an internal investigation would be conducted. Commander Lee added that the 
cameras were only located in public spaces.  
Vice Mayor Garcia asked about checks and balances on footage use and asked if the 
Department of Justice investigation was causing any further examination of how to 
prevent abuse and bias in the use of camera footage.  
Commander Lee noted that Police had policies on-camera usage and that they were 
cooperating with the Department of Justice investigation.  
Vice Mayor Garcia asked if there was a need for Council approval to make any future 
decisions about the expansion and use of the cameras and about who determines these 
policies.

Commander Lee stated that policy changes occur internally and move up the 
department for review.  
Vice Mayor Garcia asked if Council had anything to do with the initial policy to purchase 
cameras.  
Commander Lee stated that he could find out that answer and report back to the 
subcommittee. 
Chairwoman O’Brien asked for clarification on when the cameras were being monitored.  
Mr. Lee stated that cameras were placed on critical infrastructure and were involved 
with the point-to-point system which were constantly being recorded.  
Chairwoman O’Brien asked about large-scale events coming to the downtown area. 
Commander Lee mentioned that, in addition to the upcoming Super Bowl, in 2024 the 
NCAA basketball tournament would be played in the downtown area.  
Councilman Waring motioned to approve the item. Councilwoman Ansari seconded the 
motion, which passed 3-1.  
INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION (ITEM 4)  
4. Phoenix Police Department Hiring and Recruitment Monthly Report 
Chairwoman O’Brien called Executive Assistant Chief Mike Kurtenbach and Budget and 
Research Director Amber Williamson to present Item 4.  
 
Executive Assistant Chief Kurtenbach discussed sworn staffing levels within Police and 
the continued decrease in the number of filled sworn positions.  
 
Councilman Waring requested clarification on the number of filled sworn positions. 
 
Mr. Kurtenbach explained that minor differences between staffing numbers provided by 
Budget and Research and Police.  
 
Councilman Waring commented about the fast attrition rate of officers and expressed 
his concern.   
 
Executive Assistant Chief Kurtenbach continued his presentation and discussed staffing 
trends within Police from January to October, including the number of separations 
during that time.  
 
Councilman Waring requested clarification on officers in the DROP program. He also 
asked about staff deployment in light of additional call volume.

Executive Assistant Chief Kurtenbach discussed the decision of some officers to leave 
the DROP program early and the impact of those decisions. He discussed increased 
calls for service. Assistant Chief Kurtenbach explained redeployment of staff from less 
busy precincts and other tactics were being utilized to ensure adequate staff was 
available to respond to calls for service. 
 
Ms. Williamson discussed police sworn staffing levels, calls for service, and response 
times over the previous ten years. In addition, she discussed the Budget and Research 
survey that compared sworn staffing counts per 1,000 residents among U.S. cities.  
 
Executive Assistant Chief Kurtenbach discussed the next steps to address the staffing 
challenges within Police.  
 
Councilman Waring asked at what staffing level would the proposed redeployment 
strategies need to take place.  
 
Executive Assistant Chief Kurtenbach stated that there was no hard number and the 
department was optimistic that staff levels would increase. He also mentioned the use 
of volunteers from other divisions to cover patrol shifts.  
 
Assistant City Manager Lori Bays mentioned a detailed presentation regarding the next 
steps for officer retention and recruitment that would occur at next month’s 
subcommittee meeting. 
 
Councilman Waring asked how many officers were out per day and if the department 
was doing anything to make the job more attractive to a younger generation of 
applicants.  
 
Executive Assistant Chief Kurtenbach mentioned that the department had 185 officer 
positions that were unavailable for 30 days or more and that half of those were in patrol. 
He added that the department was building its recruitment and hiring input from the 
Police Executive Forum.  
 
Vice Mayor Garcia commented that he would like to tasks that could be removed from 
officers’ workloads. 
 
Executive Assistant Chief Kurtenbach expressed gratitude to the Council for allowing 
the partnership with Arizona State University, which was researching the types of calls 
for service that were not best suited for uniformed officers.  
 
Councilwoman Ansari thanked Executive Assistant Chief Kurtenbach for his 
commitment to addressing staffing issues. In addition, she expressed her excitement 
regarding the partnership with Arizona State University.

Chairwoman O’Brien expressed her appreciation to Executive Assistant Chief 
Kurtenbach for the information that he provided. Chair O’Brien commented that she 
would like more detail on the Arizona State University research timeline at next month’s 
meeting.  
 
CALL TO THE PUBLIC  
None. 
 
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS 
Vice Mayor Garcia requested an update on the Department of Justice of investigation.  
 
Chairwoman O’Brien indicated this may be an item for the full Council agenda and 
would defer for consideration.   
 
ADJOURNMENT 
Chairwoman O’Brien adjourned the meeting at 11:21 a.m. 
 
Respectfully submitted, 
 
Grant Harrison 
Management Intern