City of Sugar Hill Youth Council Session
Wednesday, November 1st, 2017 5:30 P.M.
City Hall Executive Office,
5039 West Broad Street
Sugar Hill, GA 30518
Members in Attendance: Spencer Grace Williams, Kaan Cubukcu, Ethan Shaw, Camryn Flores, Laura Ann Acker, Maya Chande, Camden Doker
Meeting called to order at 5:35 pm.
Kaan motioned to approve the meeting minutes, and Camryn seconded the motion.
Major Greg Adams from the Gwinnett County Police Department came to the council and discussed:
- Juvenile rules
- Types of offenses
- Status and Delinquent
- History of police department in Buford and Sugar Hill
- Relationship between police officers and civilians
- Police:Civilians::Parents:Children; police officers serve and protect
- Budgeting and Funding for the Police Department
- Around 118 million dollars
- Used for all police activities and equipment
- Funding of Police department comes from mostly property tax
- Laws about quotas and giving out certain number of tickets
- Different taxes for different departments of the county
- Millage rate
- Police officers and Body Cameras
- Working on implementation
- Would be helpful in resolving cases
- How important is discretion as a police officer?
- Context and experience is absolutely essential
- Necessary when addressing race, gender, and socioeconomic disadvantages/prejudices
- Must do what it takes to stop an aggressor
- People are often disapproving of police actions because of preconceived notions acquired via television, and they just don’t have the experience to know
- When you have probable cause, you have to follow the s.o.p’s (Standard Operating Procedures)
- When police do things that seem odd, there’s often a story behind it that requires the s.o.p’s to be established. Police officers are often cynical, b/c a seemingly innocuous situation can have hidden factors that can contribute to a later crime or criminal activity, and the s.o.p’s are designed to discover and prevent those factors.
- Protests in our communities
- Police don’t care about who is protesting or what they are protesting, but care about destroying and obstructing public property
- If you obstruct an investigation, you can be arrested, but otherwise police officers are required to allow filming. Sometimes officers can use the footage to help in court (with a warrant)
- Police officers in court
- Defense attorneys can and do often do their best to obstruct officers to appear in court
- Police will take action in the case of domestic violence, and sometimes appear in opposition in court to the person acted upon when that person is either coerced into or convinced to drop charges.
- Police officers and drivers
- Police officers give 10 on speed detection devices
- Gwinnett county leads the state in pedestrian-automobile fatalities
- Most officers let off with warnings when civilians are polite- the goal is a safe, happy society
The council motioned to table Tree Lighting, Etiquette with Mike, and Election Pitches.
Red Ribbon Week
- North Gwinnett administration did not allow stickers to be passed out, just collected.
- Lanier passed out stickers to classes and during lunch periods.
- Decided that more time was needed when prepping next year
At 7:08, Ethan motioned to adjourn the meeting, and Laura Ann seconded the motion.
