Lafayette Winona Civic League
Minutes of the October 17, 2023 open meeting
Attendance: 19
Opening ceremonies:
Board member. Jessica Clark called the meeting to order at 7:05 P.M., followed by the pledge of Allegiance. She reported that Matt Henson left his role as president of the civic league, but will continue to assist the league by heading the traffic committee and introduced the other Board members Nancy Eyler, Russell Brandt, and Katie Romeo who read the September 2023’s meeting minutes.
Community safety and crime report:
Officer Dylan Tomko, the new civic league Community Resource Officer, gave a report on crime. There was only one larceny reported in the neighborhood. He was pleased that he did not have that much to report, but did give details regarding the aggravated assault case where the suspect was apprehended and is currently in jail. Although her credentials and motives were debated, nothing was confirmed. A meeting attendee asked about the abandoned camper on Jason Ave that currently has one wheel off. Officer Tomko committed to looking into this and a deserted car on Columbia Ave. Another member inquired about the growing police force which we were happy to hear that the most recent graduating class had a larger than usual number of recruits. His session concluded with a discussion about the process of non-emergency reporting of the tree tagging by an identified neighbor.
Treasurer’s report:
Treasurer Nancy Eyler gave the treasurer’s report. She reported that the increase in funds added to $5400.00. This resulted in 3 new memorial stones sold for the Dog Park and the addition of $145 received for 29 new members in September. We spent the following funds for supplies: $25.55 Ice cream social, $84.64 for ink and office supplies, and $20 for raffle gift cards.
Program:
Commonwealth Attorney Norfolk Ramin Fatehi started the program just after 7:30 p.m. He is a Progressive Prosecutor and began his session with continuing the conversation about the tagging neighbor by filling in the details of his arrest in January 2023 on a violation of charges and his subsequent release 8 months later. Mr. Fatehi explained the prosecution process that addressed all felonies but misdemeanors were discretionary. This means that misdemeanor proceedings are funded by city money, grants, or borrowed funds since the state of VA does not fun prosecutors. It was suggested that we call legislators to change codes to make it mandatory to pursue misdemeanors instead of discretionary. This would allow prosecutors the chance to divert petty crimes for mental health instead of waiting for it to escalate to felonies. Mr. Fatehi reported that there is a national push so all 120 Commonwealth districts allocates state monies to increase prosecution workforce by 20%. He shared 5 parts that make up Operation Bold Blue Line:
- Recruit and Retain Officers
- Violence Prevention
- Grants for Federal Prosecution
- Funding for Prosecution Offices
- VA Witness Protection Program
Then, Mr. Fatehi discussed other components of his program that his office is working on improving that include but are not limited to:
- Cameras and relocation
- Norfolk currently is the only office with a Federal Prosecutor
- Firearms and concealed carry license
- Family Justice Center with Victim Services/Resources regardless of victim’s cooperation
- This part of the program included feedback and questions from assembly members. One member focused on mental health and questioned:
- What crisis intervention training for officers is being provided?
- Is a Mental Behavioral Health Court in Norfork reasonable?
- Do we have Certified Mental Health First Aid?
- What skills for de-escalation are offered?
- What community intervention resources are available?
- Drug rehabilitation and reentry process?
- How are we coordinating with the docket for the root causes?
Mr. Faheti admitted that Norfolk police and the general judicial system is not equipped to deal with the multiple mental health issues that we are facing. Acknowledging that the meeting time was coming to a close, he offered to come again to civic league meeting at a later date at our invitation.
Good For The Order:
James Speckhart won $10 Raffle gift card.
The next schedule meeting will be November 21, 2023.
The meeting adjourned at 8:05 PM.