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| Photo: Two of the four dispatch consoles at the police
department. All four are located in a cubicle roughly 10' x 20'. I used to think that the police pretty much drove around picking up the pieces after a crime. I know they can't be everywhere at once, and the chances of a patrol car rolling up just as someone's about to commit a crime are pretty low. They also don't have a lot of resources available to investigate crimes. So home burglaries will probably not get the CSI treatment often displayed by Hollywood. You don't even get the Law and Order "duh-duhhh" when they show up. That opinion changed after I went on a ride-along. Our police officers are continually dealing with minor incidents, some of which could escalate into crimes if left alone. Some are a public service, like the "cat in the tree". Others are pretty much a waste of time dealing with lame people. They also perform some dramatic crowd control when our student areas begin to boil over. I referenced the Police Facilities Needs Assessment (see document here) in a post last year. This document makes an argument for improved facilities for the local police. It's also a good reference on growth and crime statistics. It shows a gradual decline in officers per 1000 citizens from 1988 until now (1.67/1000 to 1.2/1000). It shows a similar decline in non-sworn employees per 1000 citizens during that time frame. Money and discussions at the city often relate to officers on the street. But there's some indication that support needs of the force are not being met. For example, the dispatch function is sometimes difficult to keep staffed. The job is intense, with some similarities to air traffic controllers. The facility in use is old, dark, and crowded and probably contributes to turnover. On weekends the police make use of the Public Works radio band for information exchanges, while the other channels are filled with calls for service. Bathroom and meal breaks can be sparse for dispatchers when the city is going full throttle on a Saturday night. The city recently spent $18,200 upgrading the dispatch room. That's less than we spent on a downtown plaza art treatment ($24,731) to enhance the $250K chess playing area. Still, with 45% of our General Fund ($22,087,995) going to the police department it's a difficult argument to make that we need to spend more. In fact our total sales tax income to the General Fund doesn't even cover the police department's cost (43% of income, or $18,264,100). I doubt we'll achieve the staffing levels we saw in the late 80's. With the inflationary cost of police work, and other human resources, it seems like we may need to concentrate on doing things differently. A discontinued police unit called TARGET (I don't know what the acronym stands for) was described to me that deserves some attention. This unit's job was to focus on crime plagued areas until the bad element could be identified and removed. There are a handful of low income housing areas in Chico that generate significant response calls. Creating a team to investigate problem areas, ensure property owners are doing their part, and remove the bad element could be effective. It seemed to work before. Although for PR purposes a new acronym might be chosen. The question of adequately funding our emergency services is a complex one. How much is enough, and how much can we really afford, will need to be answered by elected officials. But for the public to really engage in the conversation we need to be aware that it's not just officers on the streets, but also where and how they're housed, and how they're supported that needs to be discussed. |
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CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Gregg Payne, see comments below for the answer. |
The Dispatch Patch
15 Comments
Lon
About Me: Fasten your seatbelts for an exhilarating trip through Chico's public policy; I guarantee it's marginally better than public access TV.
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That's Sir Francis Drake.
Does he have anything to do with Police dispatch?
CSI doesn't always need fancy equipment, sometimes simple powers of deduction and applying the scientific method are enough.
Sir Francis Bacon
I think the same picture was in my grade school history book. He was quite the hero, or quite the terrorist depending on who you ask.
One country's good guy is another country's bad guy.
Ivan the Terrible. complete with axe and burning village.
Lon -
You reference the statistic that the police ratio to 1000 people has gone down from 1988. Do you also have the ratio of how much the police salary in gross and benifits has changed since 1988 relative to inflation?
As you have posted and the recent Richard Eck (sp?) articles in the News and Review have pointed out, the relative increase in salaries for all city employees over the last 10-20 years has far outstripped inflation and the private sector. Perhaps the police actually deserve the extra money, as they have made their own jobs significantly harder as evidenced by the police to population statistic. It's a postivie feedback loop:
- We need more money because our job is so hard
- There aren't enough officers - hire more officers
- Can't do it as 45% of the city revenue already go to police
- OK then, give us a raise because our job is so hard.
It would be interesting to find the total spent on police as a percentage of the city revenues in 1988 in addition to the amount paid the "average officer". Then that could be compared to today's outlays in inflation-adjusted dollars. In keeping with the CI challege, I bet dollars to donuts that the 1988 figures would be less than todays'.
Dave
hey Lon, something fun for you and your kid to do sometime, is go down to the creek, and get some of the fake bamboo or "marsh reed" as my dad calls it, and make some reed flutes. A few friends and I have been attempting to make them recently, and they are quite fun. My first try I managed to make one that put out different tones in 4 of the 6 holes I drilled in it.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/kramer42.html
The article says to use a hot drill bit, but we used a dremel with a conical sandpaper bit to burn out the holes. the smoke is very aromatic too. =)
I made one for marissa and tried to play it for her, she thought it was a nice try... =P
This is a pic of my buddy, (gonna be the best man at the wedding) testing out one of the flutes.
http://awi.deviantart.com/art/Sean-the-Pied-Piper-65295606
Hey Dave,
Good points. I'll leave it up to the reader to do a comparison of salary and benefits increases to officers available. Or maybe I'll look into it, but that seems kind of hard. If someone wants to research that in the short term and send it to me I'd be happy to post it.
However, Eck seems to have researched and identified a significant increase in pay and benefits for city employees over the last decade. In a recent presentation the Finance Office stated the the PERS contributions have increased 445% since 2000 (highlighted in the header image for Burkland's Bypass post). That increase draws $6.6 million annually out of city funds.
Here are the systemic facts as I see them.
1. City unions will likely ask for an increase in pay and/or benefits.
2. All previous pay and/or benefit increases have been approved by our elected officials, to my knowledge they've been unanimous votes.
3. Based on current city figures we can't afford those increases any longer.
Here are some other facts that I believe are true
1. Police infrastructure (primarily the building) is not adequate to house expected growth in the force, based on expected growth in the community.
2. In addition to having fewer officers/1000 people than in 1988, we have fewer officer/1000 people than other similarly sized communities.
3. I don't believe salaries are out of line with other communities, and PERS agreements are definitely in line with state wide commitments.
Recent Finance Office figures state that we spend more of our General Fund, as a percentage, than other similar communities. We also have a lower per-capita contribution (by population) to the General Fund than other similar communities. That's a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison. I don't know if we spend more in dollars, or if we just have fewer dollars to start with.
I do know that when the Finance Office queried 70 other communities on PERS contributions(public employee retirement system). Ours were the same as the others (I recall that just a handful were lower). I'm not fully informed on PERS, but I believe that we have a 3@50 program. Example: an employee with 25 years of service can retire at 50 with 3% of their pay times the years of service, or 75%.
One city of interest in the comparison that I saw was Roseville. Roseville maintained a 7.25% sales tax rate, but had a much higher per-capita contribution to their General Fund. They also has a much lower percentage of their General Fund going to emergency services. I think it was 41% versus our 74%.
In looking at the budget for Roseville they have an estimated operating revenue of $392 million (10x ours). That includes $92 million from local taxes and $170 million from public utility sales. Expenditures are $313 million with 17% going to emergency services (~$50 million, about 140% of ours). The towns population is 104,000, similar to Chico's. So there's some significant structural differences between Chico and Roseville somebody should probably identify.
Lon
Gregg,
You are correct. What does it have to do with dispatch? Drake was a privateer at times, or a pirate. Pirates are known to have eye-patches, but Drake did not. Therefore he was a dispatched pirate.
Lon
Anthony,
Sir Francis Bacon? You should have a heartier meal in the morning. Was he sent west by Queen Elizabagel the Thirst?
Lon
Trevor,
It's illegal to remove plant material from the park. A while ago I was accused of organizing an aggravated assault on the defenseless Butte County Checkerbloom (by Friends).
So I'll have to clear any reed-flute construction with the powers-that-be. But thanks for the info, it sounds like a fun project.
Lon
actually, you can go into the rio lindo channel. there is plenty there, and it grows fast. I go to a copse a couple hundred yards west of the cussick foot bridge. It's not in the park, so it's not illegal. I have been cutting it there since i was little, and the copse has never dissapeared. infact, its starting to get a little overgrown and some of it is falling over from soil erosion.
I use the reed for my garden also, to hold up tomato plants, and i build trellis' out of it also, for vine type plants.
If you still feel bad about cutting it, I can supply you with some. Anyway, just a thought.
Trevor,
A neighborhood group sometimes sets up a disc golf course in the channel. If I go there I'll be blamed for setting up the course.
You see, I pretty much just have to sit in my closet with my lap top to keep from getting in trouble.
I'll have to get it from you. In an unmarked envelope. In a dark corner of the street, late at night. Wearing a disguise.
Lon
That'd be one big envelope. I have a LOTR costume from a few years ago. or a clown suit.
Lon, Sir Francis Bacon isn't just the patron saint of breakfast, he was also father of the scientific method, which is why I thought you made references to CSI in the post.
Also for the record, since one of my office workers who reads this blog pointed it out, my reference to Bacon was only about the CI challenge and what Sir Francis had contributed to science. No other parallels should be drawn.