2023-05-10-LHRC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

accreditation standards constantly change (monthly at times) so having Lt. Dunbar's expertise has been invaluable, but more staffing would help with ensuring compliance and record keeping stays up to date. A lot of the training is based in DEI - cultural competency, fair and impartial policing. Lt. Dun bar and Sgt Sever are certified and can train and certify others in Fair and impartial policing throughout the state. De-escalation training is a significant part of the training in the department and complimentary to use -of-force training. The new police department will have a de-escalation room with a simulator that responds in real time to the officer. There will also be a civilian advocate space which can be used by mental health clinicians, domestic violence partners and mental health supports. Mental health will be the biggest challenge to policing going forward from Chief Mc Lean's perspective. Lexington currently has 50 officers in the department. LPD holds a lot of expertise within staffing. Lt. Dunbar is a subject matter expert on police reform accreditation. LPD officers take a lot of training. Much of the training is related to DEI work, fair and impartial policing, and de-escalation tactics. Going forward, mental health is likely the biggest challenge to policing. The new police station will have space to offer to civilian advocacy needs, for mental health clinicians can use and other support services. Question about retention, recruitment, and diversity of staff: Chief McLean acknowledged that currently, recruitment and retention is a c hallenge not only for Lexington, but nationwide. LPD is now at full staffing (50 sworn officers). LPD is also part of the 30-for-30 pledge which aims to have 30% female officers by 2030. Christiana Severe was first black female promoted and Aidan Evelyn was the first African American major case detective. Chief McLean believes that having a police department that reflects the diversity of its community is important and while diversifying the department is an important goal, all promotions, and new hires, regardless of an individual's identity, are based on merit. The department continues to work with the Town to find new ways to attract new hires and to diversify their staffing. LPD belongs to the jail diversion program with a few other districts which provides access to two clinicians who can be onsite at an incident and provide real time. Would like to have a full-time embedded clinician with LPD in the future. Lexington has only one School Resource Officer (SRO) for over 7200 stud ents. Chief McLean would like to have more SROs to support the students better and appreciates the partnership with the school allowing officers to visit schools during lunch and recess to have positive interactions with students and build connections at a human level first. Currently there are 50 sworn police officers. According to the FBI, 63 officers is a more appropriate ratio of officers to community members. Question from a member on information on demographic breakdown on police stops. They are working on getting this data up on a dashboard for the public to see in a transparent way but unfortunately that is held up by the State, with no clear plans to get it up and running. A committee member voiced concern about national statistics around vulnerability of neurodiverse people who may respond and/or appear differently which can make it more challenging for an officer to accurately assess the situation. They also expressed support for the culture of support and positive relationship with the community being established by the police.