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B. Work Session: Joint Meeting with the Police Commission <br /> <br />The council was joined by Police Commission Chair John Brown, Vice Chair Carla Newbre, and <br />Maurice Denner, Tim Laue, Kim Shore, Floyd Prozanski, and Munir Katul of the Police <br />Commission. Interim Police Chief Thad Buchanan, commission staff Jeannine Parisi, and <br />department liaison to the commission Captain Becky Hanson were also present for the item. Mr. <br />Brown noted that Ms. Bettman and Ms. Taylor were both members of the commission. <br /> <br />Ms. Brown directed the council's attention to the Police Commission Fiscal Year 2002 Annual <br />Report. Ms. Newbre began a review of the commission's accomplishments over the past year, <br />noting its completion of department polices related to media access. She summarized the work <br />done on those policies and noted the extensive public process that proceeded their adoption. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey solicited council comments and questions on the information provided by Ms. <br />Newbre. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner determined from Ms. Newbre that exceptions from police orders to disperse only <br />applied to thos wearing media identification tags. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly complimented the Media Access Committee of the Police Commission for the work it did <br />on the department's media access policies. He looked forward to seeing how they worked, saying <br />that he thought the media pool might be a challenge. He suggested that the commission report <br />back to the council on how the policies were working. <br /> <br />Mr. Fart praised the policy work the commission had done, saying he thought it important the City <br />give its police staff as much guidance on how to respond to difficult situations as it could. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey asked how the policies were negotiated between the department, the commission, <br />and the public. Ms. Newbre said that the committee first gathered information and public input. <br />Because of concerns raised by the Eugene Weekly, the commission referred the issues of <br />concern back to the committee prior to taking final action. Ms. Newbre characterized the <br />department's involvement in the policies as proactive, with quite a bit of back and forth negotiation <br />within the bounds of what was practical. She said that the issues were challenging, but she <br />thought the final text developed was very good. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey asked Ms. Newbre if she believed the work of the commissioners had meaning. Ms. <br />Newbre said yes, absolutely. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman briefly overviewed the committee/commission policy review process and emphasized <br />the level of interaction that had occurred. She thought the process was very productive. <br /> <br />Mr. Brown reviewed the commission's work over the past year on preferred policing strategies, in <br />particular its community outreach regarding community policing. He noted that the commission <br />had forwarded its recommendations regarding next steps in community policing to the council in <br />July 2002. He further noted that the commission's priority recommendation was to maintain the <br />existing community policing strategies, such as the Safer Schools Program, for which the <br />community showed strong support. <br /> <br /> MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 23, 2002 Page 4 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />