January Meeting Summary

We met at 6 pm in the Thomas School Music room.  Several new faces were present.

We started the meeting the members of the Arizona Department of Public Safety Gang & Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission (GIITEM) making a presentation about gang activity in Flagstaff.  They passed out a pamphlet that highlighted ways to identify gang members, general information about gangs, and warning signs that young children may be getting involved.  The officer described a sheet that gets filled out when they make contact with a potential gang member.  It is like a gang score card.  All the information is voluntarily given. This information goes into a central database and if a particular individual has been identified as a gang member and then commits a crime, their sentence could be higher because of their involvement with gangs.  He listed two street-type gangs in Flagstaff--the East Side Bloods and --can't remember the name of the other--generally associated with the West Side.  There are also Hell's Angels here in Flagstaff and another biker gang called the Desert Riders.  The street gangs include mostly young men of all races.  Gang activity in Flagstaff has remained about the same in the past few years.  One problem is when gang members go to prison, they learn new and more serious gang activities--oftentimes bringing that new knowledge back to the gangs here in Flagstaff.  Greenlaw isn't a particularly hot spot for gangs--except Bushmaster.  All Officers reiterated that any time you are nervous about an individual or group in the park, to call Flagstaff PD.  If nothing else, they can fill out one of these gang scorecards and get more information. Early intervention with young children was stated as the best way to prevent kids from getting involved.  

Steve Zimmerman then presented a brief overview of the Bushmaster Park development plan (most of what he said has been made available from previous summaries).  The next step is to present the plan as an informational item at the January 28 city council meeting.  After that it will have to be put on an agenda as an action item and get voted on.  Right now, as far as Steve knows, we are the only project competing for the 1996 bond money.  It is really important to let city council members know that citizens are interested in the park.  Since the meeting, it has been suggested that anyone who can come to the City Council meeting wear a green shirt to show support of the plan (only a limited amount of time will be available for folks to speak). (Please note, the drawing above is my approximation of the plan.  To see the actual engineered plan, please contact Steve Zimmerman).

Officers Radford and Durbin then presented summary statistics for 2011-2013.  Overall crime is down (the exception being theft--mostly due to the bike bait program).  We hope to continue this trend.  We reminded everyone to call ANYTIME they feel unsafe or are worried about the safety of another individual.  There have been several hypothermia deaths in Flagstaff this year.  If you see a severely intoxicated individual asleep in the park in the evening, you are probably doing them a favor by making a call to the police.