CC Minutes - 01/31/07 Work Session

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very distressed when they saw police breaking down a door because they suspected there was marijuana there, while people who needed help could not get it. She said it was more a focus on the helpful part of policing rather than the punitive part. She recognized that more money was needed for police, but more money was needed for almost everything. She was disturbed if the goal meant that money would be diverted from other things to provide more policing. Ms. Bettman recollected that some of the methodology used in the Hobson report was questioned several years after it was published, but the City was unable to confer with the author because he had died. She said the new report was a modified version; statistical data was not re-examined and modifiers were used to update the report. She questioned whether that was adequate in terms of resulting in a comprehensive staffing strategy. She suggested that funding for a new study would be a strategy to consider, given the council’s new goal. City Manager Taylor replied that inherent in the police department’s strategic plan was contracting for the Magellan report that would address staffing levels in the department as a whole. He expected that the report would not only present a snapshot of staffing but also inform action steps for moving forward and provide a tool for measuring progress along several dimensions of police staffing. Captain Steve Swenson added that the department hoped to develop a staffing plan that coincided with multi-year financial planning for implementation. Ms. Bettman said her understanding of the goal to reduce property crime was that when people called about property crime they got a response. She did not think that was a sustainable goal because as long as there was drug addiction there would be property crime. She said that addressing property crime meant providing for prevention and drug abuse treatment. Mr. Clark did not think that the County would retain the federal Secure Rural Schools Act funding and if not, the police chief needed a backup plan if the district attorney decided not to prosecute property crimes. He said that would change the dynamic of police response and any strategy to reduce property crime should include a backup plan if there were changes in other areas of the public safety system. Mr. Zelenka asked what commitment the council had made to the Hobson report or a subsequent report and the increase of staffing. He was not certain how the budget documents translated into council policy. City Manager Taylor said the Hobson report was before his time, but he understood that specific outcomes were identified based on that report and the City was poised to make a major investment in the level of police staffing, but the impact of ballot measures 47 and 50 required a retrenchment involving reprioritization through the Budget Committee process. Mr. Zelenka said he had heard differing opinions about whether the goal meant increasing police staffing at the expense of other things in the budget or increasing police staffing when resources allowed. Ms. Ortiz said she could fully support the goal if she had a clear vision of what increased police staffing meant and whether that effort would be supported by the City’s partners in the public safety system in terms of prosecution and incarceration. She was concerned about diverting resources from other services without knowing if there was a high level of coordination among jurisdictions. Mr. Pryor said he depended on the knowledge and experience of the chief and professional staff to know what needed to be done. He was focused on the outcome, which was for the residents of Eugene to be safe and secure, and while he wanted to know how that would be achieved, he would defer to the police chief on developing specific details of the plan. MINUTES—Eugene City Council January 31, 2007 Page 5 Work Session