City of Morgan Hill Public Safety Master Plan

information from the committee was inconsistently provided. As well, the department holds an annual meeting for all employees to facilitate an exchange of information in both directions. CPSM would offer another option that involves executive staff hosting a quarterly lunchtime “State of the Department” briefing where staff can give a short status report on important issues, changes, new programs, etc. facing the department and allow for questions or input from all employees. This effort will not be a panacea, but it will enable those who are truly interested in department activities outside of their “workspace” to get a better understanding of the department’s work plan and how they may contribute to the betterment of the department. For those who have selective awareness, they have only themselves to blame should they choose not to participate.  Finally, at the request of Chief Swing, CPSM staff met with a group of citizens and police volunteers, selected by the department, to solicit input from the broader community. The group encompassed neighborhood residents, property managers, and business owners/representatives, along with volunteers. Given the departments responsiveness to community issues, it was not surprising to hear the support for the department from this group. The common denominators of the concerns raised were a perceived uptick in the number of thefts in neighborhoods, some concern about groups of young people gathering in both the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, and concerns about traffic offenses. One comment was provided concerning interaction with the mentally ill. State training mandates exist for dealing with the mentally ill, and the department includes this training as part of its training curriculum. Concerns raised by the group were shared with the department.

Recommendations  Empanel a calls for service (CFS) committee to evaluate service demands and attempt to reduce and/or eliminate the number of nonemergency responses.

 Maintain the current patrol shift schedule and continue to utilize 12-hour tours for patrol.

 Examine the reasons for, and minimize, the excessive time spent by patrol officers on out- of-service tasks.  Add one sergeant position to Field Operations for coordinating administrative and planning efforts.  Address “hot spots” in the community by leveraging all operational assets of the department.  Embrace a more strategic approach to traffic safety. Place the responsibility for traffic safety with the supervisor of the Traffic Division and use this section as the research and planning arm to support this effort.  Incorporate data management (caseload, clearances, etc.) into the operations of the Detective Bureau.

Police Operations and Data Analysis Report, Morgan Hill, California

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