Item B: FY07 Police Commission Work Plan

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priorities. However, offering timely and meaningful input into the department’s resource decisions continues to be a challenge. Monitoring the implementation of the strategic plan, which is an important vehicle for identifying future resource needs, may better enable the group to fulfill its charge to help City Council balance resource decisions with community priorities. The Police Commission had a more substantial advisory role during the development of the department’s strategic plan. With the release of the first draft of the plan in July 2005, the commission agreed to spend a significant portion of its next several meetings to comment on the draft plan. At the th September 8 commission meeting, Chief Lehner presented an overview of the draft plan’s structure and preliminary content. Several commissioners expressed interest in being more actively involved in reviewing the plan, and formed a small task group to discuss the draft and offer suggestions to staff. The task team recommended several changes that were incorporated into the final draft. As the task group was conducting a more detailed review of the plan drafts, the full commission turned its attention to several other departmental efforts integral to accomplishing the longer-term strategic plan initiatives. Over the course of two meetings, the commission was provided with status updates on the accreditation application process, efforts to increase staffing in Internal Affairs, changes to officer recruiting, hiring and promotionpractices, and development of a new basic training curriculum. Additionally, the commission was apprised of two consultant projects to review and provide recommendations on management practices in the communications center and to provide an organizational staffing plan that is aligned with current work load and can be phased in over a number of years. The commission presented comments on the strategic plan in its January 10, 2006 memo to City Council. In short, the commissioners thought the document demonstrated a strong commitment to organizational change that would modernize departmental procedures and practices consistent with industry standards. Commissioners found particular value (both internally and to the community) in the program descriptions. These descriptions detail the main police department services, assign objectives to help define purpose, and delineate performance measures to demonstrate effectiveness. Commissioners agreed that this was a new and refreshing look at the delivery of public safety services that provided information from which managers and community members can make informed recommendations for resource and service priority changes. The memo also conveyed the commission’s intent to review strategic plan quarterly reports, providing feedback to the department on both the content and structure of the reports as an evaluation tool. The commission emphasized that through the review of the quarterly reports, it could assist in monitoring progress towards the recommendations contained in the 2005 ICMA/PERF report, the most significant of which are reflected in the plan. The Police Commission received the first quarterly report in May and while impressed with comprehensiveness of the report and progress to date, suggested a more condensed version be developed so that the public could be better apprised of the significant changes underway related to issues of community interest, such as the complaint handling process. In response to continuing concerns about downtown safety and to specifically address public comments received about the deteriorating condition of Eugene's core neighborhood, the commission agreed to treat this topic as an emerging issue. It convened a small ad hoc team to assess the implementation status of its previously adopted Downtown Public Safety Action Plan and recommend priority actions in light of current resource availability and safety/environmental conditions downtown. Page 3 of 7 2006 Police Commission Annual Report