During the Winslow City Council meeting last week, Winslow Police Chief Dan Brown brought forth a motion for an ordinance amendment. In the motion, Brown asked the council to approve and adopt Ordinance Number 1307, amending the Winslow Municipal Code, Title 9, Public Peace, Morals and Welfare, Chapter 9.08 to add a new section, Intoxicating Beverages. The amendment makes it a Class One misdemeanor for a person to have in their possession or consume spirituous liquor of any kind on city owned property.
Previously, in order to enforce public drinking citations, the offender would have to be witnessed consuming alcohol by a police officer. Brown said, “This is another tool in our toolbox, so to speak, of enforcement to be able to combat an issue that has been here for many years.”
City owned property, according to Brown, includes facilities, alleyways, culverts and drainage ditches. “We aren’t talking about sidewalks, or people who may sit on their porch and consume alcohol on their property. We are talking about people who sit in city right of ways for extended periods of time.” Brown explained, “This type of ordinance has worked very well in other towns, in fact, this is similar to what the City of Holbrook has in place.” He also mentioned that the crime rate in Winslow has decreased recently, due to the police department focusing on enforcing misdemeanors across the board over the last six weeks.
“Targeting hot spots that we have had issues in is working. A lot of times, crime is displaced into other areas, so you start focusing on those as well. Our property crime is decreasing because we have officers able to be out in other areas, this is strategic. We are focusing on the problem and coming up with a solution and getting rid of the attitude that this is the way it’s always been. We will enforce it.” The council approved the amendment unanimously in the absence of councilwoman Judy Howell and Mayor Robin Boyd.
Chief Brown also asked for approval on a resolution that authorizes the City of Winslow to enter into an agreement with the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office regarding grant funding for the 2017-18 fiscal year. The council approved the motion. The Byrne Grant is managed by the Sheriff’s Office for the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission Drug, Gang, and Violent Crime Control. Brown’s motion read, “As a member of the multi-agency task force known as the Navajo County Major Crimes Apprehension Team (MCAT) the city receives grant funding for one task force position, which enables us to share the mutual responsibilities of law enforcement.”
In other grant funding business, Brown presented a motion for the council to accept $20,000 from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. The approval will utilize Federal 402 funds to support overtime and other employee related expenses to enhance DUI and impaired driving enforcement throughout the City of Winslow. Navajo County agencies have joined together to form a Route 66 Traffic Task Force. Partners include the Arizona Department of Public Safety, Navajo County Sheriff’s Office, Holbrook Police Department and Winslow Police Department. The approval of this grant allocation supports this program.
Also approved was the utilization of $10,000 of 402 funds to support personnel related to the Strategic Traffic Enforcement Program. This program will focus on speed, school zones, seat belt usage and stop sign violations.
Federal 402 funds are awarded to states that have implemented federally approved highway safety plans and are distributed by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety. No matching funds are required from the city.
The council also authorized a memorandum set forth by Chief Brown regarding newly implemented technology within the police department. Brown said, “The Winslow Police Department recently upgraded the computer aided dispatching and records management system to Kaseware,” which he noted is a nationally used system. Kaseware provides criminal history information to officers by communicating with federal agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigations. In order to do that, the Criminal Justice Information Services policy requires a memorandum of agreement and understanding between the City of Winslow and the dity information technology department agreeing to safeguard confidential criminal record information.
