Towing policy reviewed by police commission

MOORESVILLE — Mooresville Metropolitan Police Department Board of Commissioners discussed a standard operating procedure (SOP) related to towing and recovery services at Thursday night’s meeting at the Mooresville Police Station.

SOP 9.07 was reviewed by the board. Mooresville Metropolitan Police Chief Richard Allen explained that the current SOP mandated that towing and recovery services arrive to the scene of an incident or accident within 20 minutes but that they were needing more time. Allen explained that the department used four services in rotation and that if one failed to arrive within the needed time, it was cancelled and the next in line was was called. According to Allen, many were arriving shortly after the 20-minute window. He said that in the interest of giving the drivers more flexibility — and to avoid having them pull up to the accident scene only to find they had been cancelled — he was requesting that the SOP be changed to give the drivers 30 minutes to arrive.

Mooresville Police Commissioner Fred Settle said that he felt uncomfortable giving drivers longer time to arrive as it was dangerous for cars and officers to be on the side of the highway. Settle noted that every minute counted and said that he didn’t want to encourage drivers to take any longer than they needed to arrive.

Allen noted that if drivers failed to make it in 20 minutes and arrived in 25, officers might end up waiting another 20 minutes for the new driver to arrive, leaving them on the side of the road even longer.

Settle said that he still didn’t feel like changing the SOP because he really wanted the towing and recovery services to get there in time.

After additional discussion, the commission decided to table the matter until the next meeting and Allen said that he would prepare a report breaking down the average response times for the four services used for the next months meeting.

Incentive Pay Proposal

The police commission discussed an incentive pay proposal to be presented to the town council. The commission proposed an additional $0.50 for SWAT, K9, FACT and Instructor certifications and an additional $0.25 for certifications including, Breath Test Operators, Certified Evidence Technicians, Forensic Evidence Technicians, Marijuana Test Operators. Allen informed the commission that he had had proposed incentive pay and increases across the department for many years and and been unsuccessful in attaining that. Settle made a motion to have Lundy present incentive pay proposal to the town council. The motion passed unanimously.

Monthly Statistics

Allen presented monthly statistics for the month of April to the board. Allen reported 230 incident reports, 79 arrest reports, 104 citations, 230 warnings and 2,061 computer-aided dispatch calls. Allen also said that in April, there were 29 accident reports, 26 instances of property damage, two personal injuries, two hit-and-runs and no fatalities. According to Allen, there were 358 total 911 calls for April. Allen also stated that the department had reported 40.5 hours of comp time, 97.75 hours of overtime and 21,001 miles for mileage.

In other business

The commission revisited the matter of surveying the employees of the police department. Mooresville Metropolitan Police Commissioner Danny Lundy proposed a special rule that would allow the commission to conduct a one-time employee satisfaction survey — via SurveyMonkey — for the purpose of soliciting feedback from current full and part-time employees. He stated that the survey would be anonymous and voluntarily. Settle made a motion to approve the special rule and to have Lundy send out the survey. The motion passed unanimously.

Allen informed the commission that the new police department is nearing completion with final details left to be addressed. Allen said that he believed the town council would be looking at bids for sidewalk paving at Tuesday’s meeting in the interest of helping wrap things up with the new station.

Allen told the board that the process of hiring the three previously approved applicants continued to move forward. He said that they had be reviewed by public safety medical and would have their information sent off to the state shortly. Allen also informed the commission that the department had received 55 applicants without academy experience and eight applicants who had graduated from the police academy. According to Allen, the department has already begun the background check process and said that the department would be conducting its physical agility and written test at 9 a.m. on June 8.

Settle made a motion to approve the minutes from the previous meeting that passed unanimously.

The next meeting of the Mooresville Police Commission will be 6:00 p.m. on June 20 at the Mooresville Police Station, 104 W. Main St.

~ By Anthony Woodside | Reporter | Published May 18, 2019 in The Mooresville Times