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questionnaire in the newspaper or leaving them for people to complete at public places. He said <br />the commission needed to "get out in the community" and give people an opportunity to provide <br />input. Ms. Newbre noted that the issue had been tabled at the last commission meeting. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner suggested that the questionnaire could be reprinted in neighborhood newsletters to <br />reach beyond the meetings where a few self-selected individuals were in attendance. <br /> <br />Mr. Hursey emphasized that the commission had been looking for ways to solicit input from the <br />community, leading to the concept of the questionnaire. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly expressed concern that the commission's work plan related to community policing was <br />starting at Step 1, and not taking advantage of the work that had already been done. He <br />specifically referred to the Community Involved Policing Action Plan. Mr. Laue reminded Mr. <br />Kelly that the plan had been developed in the context of reductions necessitated by Ballot Measure <br />47/50, and its focus was on steps that required no cost to implement. He thought many of those <br />steps had been implemented already. Mr. Laue suggested the impetus for community policing was <br />to be found in the Department of Public Safety's Long-Range Plan, developed in 1992. <br />Unfortunately, community policing was estimated to cost an additional $4 million annually, and the <br />council was not able to add more than $500,000 annually to the department budget. Since that <br />time calls for service had increased, adding to department costs. He did not think that anyone in <br />the department or commission wanted to discuss community policing in broad or general terms, <br />but in terms of what could be done next, and within the staffing and funding constraints that <br />existed. <br /> <br />Regarding the subject of surveys, Mr. Laue said he firmly believed in statistically valid surveys. <br />However, such surveys cost money and took time, and a series of surveys had already occurred at <br />considerable expense. He did not believe the questionnaire the commission planned was intended <br />to do be representative, and its results could be used in tandem with other, statistically valid survey <br />instruments. Mr. Laue did not think community policing was at the forefront of people's thinking <br />when they considered public safety, and believed from past efforts that engaging the community <br />would be a challenge. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly encouraged the commission to take advantage of the work that had been done to the <br />greatest extent possible. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson thought the community would not react well if the City went to it again and said <br />"what do you want?" People had been asked before about their feelings about community policing, <br />and would now want to know what was being done about it. She thought the results would be <br />apathy at best or anger at worst. Ms. Nathanson suggested that the commission and staff identify <br />the logical next steps in community policing that existed in current planning and go out to the <br />public with that information and fine-tune it. If there was nothing in the prior plans that the City <br />could afford to implement, she believed that the City avoid further irritating the public by asking it <br />about something that could not be accomplished. <br /> <br /> MINUTES--Eugene City Council September 24, 2001 Page 5 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />