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17 - POLICE DEPARTMENT UPDATE/PLANNING/NEEDSItem No. 17 memorandum TO: Mayor & City Council FROM: John Godwin, City Manager SUBJECT: POLICE DEPARTMENT UPDATE/PLANNING/NEEDS DATE: July 1, 2015 BACKGROUND: Chief Hundley and I met with Mayor Hashmi and Mr. Plata on June 15 to discuss opportunities and issues in the police department. In response to that meeting, Chief Hundley has reviewed progress on our current citywide operations plan, and also examined other areas for possible improvement and growth. In addition, Mr. Plata has met with some of our police personnel in an effort to better understand our needs, and some of the issues that cause our very high rate of turnover. STATUS OF ISSUE: Chief Hundley will present his thoughts and recommendations regarding his department, including pay and other compensation issues, attrition, staffing specialized units, off -duty work, victim support, actual crime statistics, and officer training opportunities. BUDGET: Additional staffing, equipment, and compensation will affect the 2015 -16 budget. RECOMMENDATION: Discussion only. July 13th Presentation to Council Regarding the Police Department Comparative Pay Scales for Police Officers Almost all police departments compensate their personnel with a base pay amount and then provide other incentive pay for additional duties or assignments. There are different terminologies used by these departments but most conform to: years of service, rank, assignment and certification (s). Most of the officers that we lose to other law enforcement agencies or the private sector are those who have between 3 and five years' service. With that fact in mind, I've chosen to present salary comparisons for 3 year and 5 year officers who have an Intermediate certification from TCOLE. I have chosen the following cities as they are close to our population. City Population Officers Effective Crime Rate per 1000 Corsicana 23940 51 55.5 Denison 22816 52 41.7 Greenville 25917 52 57.2 Marshall 25169 51 48.4 Terrell 16347 38 44.4 Texarkana 37442 77 70.1 Paris 25048 55* 55.4 *3 Officers are paid for and report to NLISD as SRO's *2 Officers are paid for by an Auto Theft Grant with city cash match City 3 Year Officer 5 Year Officer w/ Intermediate w/ Intermediate Corsicana 45,738 48,128 Denison 47,064 49,357 Greenville 53,690 59,127 Marshall 40,994 41,849 Terrell 52,573 57,907 Texarkana 44,221 49,371 Paris 44,655 46,590 Average 46,990 50,332 The pay gap only widens as you move up the ranks of Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain and Assistant Chief. I know the concern is the loss of 3 -5 year officers, but the eventual promotion and how much additional pay is provided will be a consideration in deciding whether to stay with the department. Turn Over In the 15 years from 2000 through May 2015, we have had 82 officers come through the Paris Police Department. 2000 -2009 49 officers 2010 -2014 23 officers Retirements — Probation Failures — Yearly Average 4.9 Yearly Average 4.6 Terminated or Resigned in lieu of Termination- Resignations to private sector or school - Resignations to other Law Enforcement jobs- 13 14 12 17 26 A total of 42 officers left the department who did not retire or be asked to leave. We are not proud of the number of probationary officers and others who have been asked to leave. We are very cognizant of accountability and providing competent officers to our citizens. Employment Costs - Before becoming a functioning basic police officer, a non - certified officer will cost the city: A minimum of 9 months' salary while attending training: $29,507.00 Approximate hiring Costs: entry exam, background investigation (can vary), polygraph, psychological, physical, drug screen: $1,500.00 Protective Vest, duty equipment, uniforms (we do re- issue) $1,600.00 Academy Training with room and board $3,000.00 (Will vary) Total investment $35,607.00 This is just the basic cost. Additional training or certifications add to the total investment in the officer. Just considering the cost of the 43 officers who left the department to seek employment elsewhere, the city lost a minimum investment of $1.5 million over the last 15 years. I can't make a monetary estimate regarding the value of the experience that left the department. We have to remember that from time of starting the basic police officer academy to becoming an officer who can work the street alone is a minimum of 36 weeks of training and evaluation. Position Rotation When the department is staffed, we have a position in the Criminal Investigations Division which rotates officers. This position was a 3 month rotation in which the officer performed misdemeanor investigations and learned what was needed for investigations to move from the initial report, which patrol officers do every day, to the follow up that takes place to get a case presented to a prosecutor or otherwise resolved. Due to insufficient staffing, the department has not been able to fill this rotating CID position. If we have sufficient staffing, I have long planned on assigning patrol officers to assist our narcotics investigators again for a short time to further acquaint them with basic investigations and provide manpower for investigations. Again, this is possible if the patrol division is sufficiently staffed. We have two community oriented police officer positions which rotate, when we are staffed. We have talked about forming a traffic unit. This unit would investigate all accidents while they are on duty and concentrate on traffic law enforcement. There is a direct correlation regarding traffic enforcement and lowering the incidents of vehicle crashes. These four areas are something we can do with currently council approved staffing, as long as we are fully manned. am not in favor of rotating people into a full time detective slot because investing the amount of training, time for experience to develop and his or her criminal community knowledge into an officer and moving that officer back into patrol is an ineffective use of resources. In my forty years of law enforcement experience, I have noted that not all patrol officers will excel in a detective's position. Narcotics Enforcement Almost all of our crime can be traced back to the root cause of substance abuse, whether it be legal or illicit. Drugs and other substances used to an excess are the scourge of our society and the investigations of these particular crimes takes time. The more investigators you have assigned to this problem, the more work they can do. Some drug dealing has become so brazen that instead of taking the time to do a proper investigation, we simply walk up and knock on the door and announce we are there to see if they are selling drugs. We make a lot of cases by using this 'knock and talk' technique. Having more officers would help in this area of our enforcement efforts, such as would a proper canine unit. If we are to consider a canine unit for the department, we need to understand that the officer and canine are a single unit to be used as a canine unit. We have tried three different canine units in my time at the department. In each case, the officer /canine unit was expected to handle calls for service as any other patrol unit until they were needed for a drug search. This proved to be problematic and took away the effectiveness of the unit. This means a canine unit cannot be expected to perform as a line patrol unit. The cost of a unit is not just the animal, but the officer salary and vehicle for the officer to work out of. Crime Victim Support I think we can improve in the area of being more aware and supportive of our crime victims. In the day to day work of the department, our officers are very concerned about our victims, but in reality they are used to seeing victims every day, so that concern may not come across. This can lead to a perception by our citizens that we don't care about their problem or the hurt or fear they are working through. State law mandates a crime victim's coordinator officer and we are assisted in that area with a full time position in the Lamar County DA's office. That works great for those victims who reach the point in the investigation where charges are filed or the case is moving through the court system. It does not reach the many victims that the department is in contact with. I know of cases where the officers were doing the best they could, but the perception of not caring created division in our community. A crime victims coordinator could have stepped in to provide information and assistance to the victims while the officers concentrated on the criminal investigation. This position doesn't necessarily have to be a sworn officer. We are in an era of reforming police practices. Community policing and making sure that there is a connection between the police and the community it serves is one of the cornerstones developed in the presidential review of police practices. It is not important that your stats are dropping, it's important that the community knows it is safe and has trust in the local agency. Exchange Program with other Law Enforcement Agencies I have not been able to locate any police department that participate in this type of program. Liability concerns among other legal issues concerning enforcing city ordinances, discipline, arrest powers, worker's compensation insurance and finding someone who would be willing to make an exchange place a damper on pursuing this program. There are federal task forces, most concerned with drug or terrorism activities that invite outside departments to participate. Letting an officer getting involved in this type of program takes one away from our citizens. I feel that allowing officers to attend different training scenarios and conferences will add to the networking ability for new and innovative programs. Over - Staffing We need to be able to have a constant flow of officers in the pipeline to minimize the short staffing of the department. By authorizing two unfunded officer positions to what we have now, we would be in a position to allow academy training to be occurring to cover the vacancies that will eventually take place. Crime Statistics Unfortunately, anyone can massage statistics to enhance his or her position. The internet provides an avenue for people to post anything without much proof or factual information. The website that started the rumor that Paris was in the top 10 dangerous cities was one that offers home security systems for sale and service. If you can't convince people they need your product, they will not buy it. To say this company's methodology is suspect is a gross understatement. Here are our crime statistics reported to the UCR program from the last five reporting years: 1 5 27 805 110 390 1170 37 5.33 2 5 41 876 119 355 1015 38 4.30% 3 7 35 825 109 390 1006 33 5.74% 5 5 28 621 132 313 870 40 8.5% 1 5 28 602 104 268 787 33 9.2% The city's quality of life is directly connected with what our citizens' perception is of their safety. I think the crime stats coming down are important, but what we need to do is increase the citizens' perception of their safety. We do that by having sufficient officers on the street being seen in their neighborhood and being proactive in their wellbeing.