Meeting was called to order by Clent at 0700. An Irish blessing prayer was given by Barb Bruce. Phil Goode led us in the pledge of allegiance to our great republic and flag. Amy led us in the four way test of the things we think, say, and do. Richard gave the thought for the day - "In a country where you can be anything please choose to be kind".
Announcements: Jim had an update for the “Cruise in for Vets” he will send out tomorrow. Rotary week of service was announced again by Art Harrington. Todd is waiting for more details on Prescott Valley drop off locations. The road cleanup on the 24th of April will be running concurrently with the food drive. The more the merrier when walking along the highway is not a good idea. Go to AZROTARY.org and check out the website. This Sunday March 21st is the pinning of the students of Rotary at Embry Riddle at 6:00.
Voted on the update of the bylaws as we had 23 participants online. Those who want to run for the Board of Directors and committee chairs, please reach out to Clent and Richard.
Clent said one of the things we like about our Rotary is we like to have fun. The Harringtons, Art and Sharon fined everyone $1 for not wearing green for St. Patrick’s day. We then played a game, Prescott Sunup Rotary Trivia. The answers were 1905, Chicago, Lawyer, 5495, Brent McKeard, April 17, April 24, March 31 and Richard Hernandez. You can figure out the questions. Linda Mast gave Happy Bucks for knowing more about Rotary than she thought. John gave $5 for going to Bisbee, Barb Bruce gave $5 and Clent gave $10. Everyone who missed an answer in Art’s trivia game gave $1 for each unanswered question.
Amy Bonney, interim chief of the Prescott Police Department. (
amy.bonney@prescott-az.gov) was our speaker. Born and raised here in Prescott, she said she would never live in Prescott. She
went to NAU which made her realize she wanted to return to Prescott. She was a music major but there was a lot of math in music so she started criminal justice classes which made her realize she really wanted to be a police officer. Amy has worked at Prescott for 23 years this summer, proud to serve, and plans to continue.
How has the city dealt with covid and the civil unrest of the nation. 2020 started out interesting with covid. They closed the building and reduced one on one meetings, self iniated activity, speeding tickets, traffic stops etc. Covid did not effect the PD, only had a couple of cases of covid and no one got it at the PD. Hope we are on the downward slope for the last two months. Challenges of the dept is how the community views the PD. The large protests in Prescott did not result in anything remotely like across the country. Attributed this to the community and the relationship with PD. At the September 4th’s event you couldn’t tell which side the PD was on other than the side of the entire community.
One of the biggest things to come is the body camera program. They became popular 5 years ago. With 74 sworn officers, they couldn’t afford because of the cost of the data storage was not realistic. They have now gone to the city manager and said it is time for body cameras. Have had cameras in cars for 20 years but will integrate the new technology. Storage will now go into a secure cloud. Cameras proved to be useful in the cars so they are embracing the body cameras as it offers the officer’s protection and evidence to back up what they do. Another big thing they are doing is their accreditation process. 3 years ago the Association of Chiefs of Police have created a program that is thorough for the entire state. They entered into the accreditation process and will be ready for their initial assessment by late spring. Created standards for best practice. Prescott PD is doing 99% of best practice. Evaluation process evaluated once a year unless you are new and you get evaluated quarterly.
John asked if they have electro magnetic protections available at Prescott PD. Their communications is very secure as it is backed up 3 ways. Arizona Counter Terrorism works closely with Prescott PD.
Clent asked about drugs on I40 and I17. Is it as bad here in Prescott? In Prescott and Yavapai Fentanyl is one of our biggest threats. They carry Narcan which is an opioid nasal spray and they can save them. Fentanyl is a different case, with instantaneous death most of the time. They are working to hold drug dealers accountable but that is difficult. It is happening with our kids and the effects on our community is devastating. A meth lab in Prescott was raided recently, working with Homeland Security. Every single day it is a fight. Impact of Police force when the recovery homes grew to a huge size where we had hundreds of homes from across the country. When they relapsed they got kicked out onto the streets. Once we got the ordinance in place they rarely have problems. The homes in the community today are responsible.
Recreational Marijuana – what is being done locally? Prescott PD follows the law starting with education. Impaired driving and DUI are something they are prepared for. We only have one in the City of Prescott. Do not have enough data to show how it impacts Prescott as yet. In Colorado everything has gone up as far as traffic accidents etc. They have grant money available to enforce the law. Using the funds to keep this community as safe as they can. How do you test for cannabis impairment? Signs and symptoms are same as alcohol. Comes down to driving behavior and how they perform on field sobriety tests. DRE (drug recognition training) enable officers to detect impairment. Search warrants required for blood or urine tests.
Dan Beyer
