On Monday, February 12, Mayor DeFever and the city commissioners held a meeting that covered the introduction of Pampa Economic Development Corporation’s new Director, Jodi Ashby, the annual racial profiling report from the Pampa Police Department, a summarization of the active shooter drill that occurred on January 31, discussions regarding the Downtown Revitalization Program, and the replacement of the current lights at the rodeo grounds with LED lights.
“She’s hit the ground running,” Glennette Goode said, mentioning how quickly Ashby has settled in and already started covering out-of-state meetings.
The scheduled event for a meet-and-greet with the community was also made aware to the mayor and commissioners.
“The meeting that we will have will be February 20 at 5:30 at the EDC building. It’s just a community forum so that we can get to know each other and get ideas from the community and see what everybody thinks about what needs to be done,” Ashby said.
“I want to hear it all and I want everyone to get a feel for me and who I am and what my objectives are and everyone is welcome.”
Chief of Police Lance Richburg then addressed the mayor and commissioners with the 2023 racial profiling report, delivering good news regarding the statistics compared to the previous years.
“Racial profiling analysis is there for us to be able to see if there are any discrepencies in who we’re stopping and how many searches we’re conducting and who is being searched and who is being arrested,” Richburg said. “Our percentages for our demographics are right where we want them to be and are all within the same margins.”
The breakdown of the numbers within certain categories showed that the percentages are well within the margins of where they should be.
“We are very pleased with those numbers. We want those numbers to be reflective of our demographics and we want everyone in our community to be treated equally and these numbers certainly show that our officers are doing that.”
The annual report based on each department results are as follows:
• Total arrests for 2023 was a 48% increase from 2022
• 486 less offense reports generated
• 5 more motor vehicle accidents investigated than previous year
• Calls for service were down 1,652 calls
• An additional 400 citations were issued
• 123 less warning citations were issued
• Average response times were 4 minutes and 30 seconds for routine calls and 3 minutes and 49 seconds for priority calls
• 208 traffic accidents were reported
• There were 1,695 criminal investigation cases, a decrease of 228 from the previous year
• 2,918 less 911 calls than the previous year
• Total dispatch calls for all departments was 30,584
• 97 Crime Stoppers tips that led to 7 arrests and $1,500 in cash rewards were distributed
• 4400 in-service training hours
• Down 15% in crime that include homicide, robbery, and sexual assault from the previous year
• 64 total drug cases
“We are well below the last 10 year average on our index crimes and that’s indicative of the community probably more so than it is indicative of our agency. We play a part in that but in the big scheme of things, I see us playing a very small part in that. So it’s just another great reason to live in the community of Pampa,” Richburg said.
He also talked more about the training drills that every officer partakes in, including the school gaurdian program.
“Our training efforts on active attack response training, and I say this everytime we do this, this is training I wish we did not have to have, but we have several officers who are now certified through alert to teach various aspects of those training modules that an alert puts out.”
Richburg also recognized Lt. Brian Massey for receiving an award for attending 10 individual courses of instruction and being the 56th officer in the state of Texas to receive such an award.
He also recognized the new Patrol Lieutenant, Moses Campa, for attending a DPS fitness institute and becoming a fitness instructor for law enforcement in Gray County.
City Manager Shane Stokes gave praise to Richburg for all the work he’s done for Pampa.
“That graph clearly shows that from 2015 to current, it has been a downward spiral and reducing that crime. Chief Richburg is a humble man and quick to deflect praise, but Chief Richburg came to us in 2015. So I think it’s a direct representation of leadership in the department. We appreciate you.”
The mayor and commissioners echoed the same sentiment in thanking Richburg for the difference he’s made in the community.
Next was Tony Schweigerath, the Emergency Management Coordinator that put together the active shooter drill from January 31.
“I extend my sincere gratitude to the planning group and the city, county and state for their unwavering support throughout the entirety of this active shooter drill,” he said.
“I also want to express my immense appreciation for all those who participated in making this event a reality. Special recognition goes to Tony Davis of the Pampa Regional Medical Center; Misty Guy, the head librarian who was really my right hand person and I couldn’t do it without her; and Kasey Presson from the Pampa Fire Department and their pivotal roles for bringing this initiative together.”
“This drill saw an active involvement of over 16 groups or agencies and had approximately 200 participants contributing their time and expertise to this drill. Despite the comprehensive nature of the exercise, the financial impact was minimal with the final cost to the city tallying around $300 and to a slight overtime allocation for police and fire services. So you had a lot of people who donated their time and resources to make this happen and everyone had their own part. Texas Baptist Men provided food and it was really amazing to have that many people at one time and all come together and it came out really good.”
The After Action Report is still being put together to be released to the mayor at a later date, but Schweigerath was very pleased with how the drill turned out.
“The success of this event cannot be overstated. It provided invaluable insights to our strengths while pinpointing areas of vulnerabilities and our areas for improvement.”
“I’m pleased to announce that there were no major failures with any of the participating agencies during the drill. While minor deficiencies were noted they serve as an invaluable lesson to refine and enhance our preparedness for similar scenarios in the future.”
The next item on the agenda dealt with action regarding the Texas Community Development Block Grant-Downtown Revitalization Program project including allowing the Mayor, City Manager, Assistant City Manager, Finance Director, and the City Secretary to act as authorized signatories to certify the payment request form required for requesting funds approved in the grant, adopting certain policies associated with the grant, and designating April 2024 as Fair Housing Month in the City of Pampa; all were approved.
The last item was to authorize the Assistant City Manager to enter into an Interagency Agreement for the Municipal Government Lighting Conversion to LED Lights Program with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and the State Energy Conservation Office to replace the existing lights at the rodeo grounds with LEDs, having replaced the ball field lighting last year; it was approved.
The meeting was adjourned for an executive meeting with no further items to cover.
