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Mr. Fart said the City needed to elevate the level of understanding in the community of the job the police are <br />doing to overcome the disrespect and alienation some felt. He thought the City was doing so to some degree <br />through the School Resource Officers Program. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner was committed to the first action priority but preferred not to list it as it was, as he did not know <br />what it meant or whether it was achievable. He noted that the Police Commission was working to analyze the <br />issue as well as the Hobson Report on staffing levels, and he did not want to preempt that effort. Mr. Meisner <br />advocated for a specific action priority such as "Increase foot patrols in the higher crime areas." <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly concurred with Mr. Meisner in that while all the council and staff wanted community policing, it was <br />difficult to define what it was and how to achieve it. He agreed the statement was too broad, and <br />recommended the council drop the item pending the work of the Police Commission or reword it to make it a <br />focused priority. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman agreed the item was broad. She said that it could be revised to read "Refine community policing <br />strategies," or "Refine community policing strategies by increasing foot patrols in the urban core" as an <br />example. She did not think the council should completely drop the item. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey advocated for dropping the action priority and incorporating the concept of policing in the goal <br />itself. He said that no one knew what community policing really meant. <br /> <br />Mr. Johnson agreed with Ms. Bettman that the item should not be dropped entirely. He recommended that the <br />council give staff new direction, such as "Analyze foot patrols." The City was going to do all the activities <br />associated with the goal area. Mr. Johnson said that Chief Jim Hill wanted a goal with clear outcomes so he <br />knows when it is done. <br /> <br />Mr. Pap~ wanted to see goals that could be measured in some sort of specific time frame with benchmarks. He <br />did not think the council had reached that point yet. He expressed disappointment that some items had <br />"drifted." <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor did not want to drop the priority and suggested it be retained as an idea. She did not think <br />community policing would ever be "finished." She thought the item could be added to with specifics like foot <br />patrols. <br /> <br />Regarding the media accounts referred to by Mr. Rayor, Chief of Police Jim Hill stated emphatically that the <br />City had not backed away from the philosophy of community policing. He believed there was confusion on the <br />part of the council regarding the definition of community policing and reported that the department had a <br />definition of community policing that 14,000 police agencies had agreed upon. Chief Hill said he would <br />provide that definition to the council. He believed that the question was what the council wanted in terms of <br />specific strategies. Chief Hill said that a foot patrol was one idea, but it was incomplete if the philosophy <br />behind the program was not understood by police officers. The police needed to work with the community and <br />get an idea of what the community's priorities were and come up with common strategies to deal with crime. <br /> <br />Chief Hill said that he was concerned about officer safety because of low staffing levels and the lack of officer <br />back-up. He said that the issue went beyond the mechanics of community policing if the City could not even <br />provide an officer to respond to a call. <br /> <br /> MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 31, 2001 Page 7 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />