Police Consultant Report
The police consultant recommends cutting the uniform patrol force by 25%. Download the study and see for yourself.
Needless to say, this initial report points out many glaring deficiencies in the manner the Rochester Police Department has been run for the past twenty years.
Management Deficiencies Noted
- 25% more road patrol officers than necessary for adequate coverage
- Police sergeants who perform essentially no patrol duty and little other duties with recommendation that they begin to do police patrol functions
- The command structure appears to lack focus
- Output is not consistent among command officers - all could perform additional duties
- Morale and conduct of the police officers is an area of concern
- Investigative functions could be refined
- RPD has no formal training plan
- RPD lacks formal operating procedures
- RPD lacks rules of conduct
- A more formal evaluation process is needed other than counting traffic tickets
- The department has 100% more clerical staff than necessary
What? No rules of conduct in place? No standard operating procedures? A supervisory staff that “lacks focus” and “could all perform additonal duties”. No training plan? Certainly each and every one of these deficiences is directly attributible to the performance, or lack of performance, of both Chief Ted Glynn and City Manager Ken Johnson. In fact, Johnson was quote late last year in a Rochester Eccentric article as saying that Chief Glynn was one of the best police chiefs in the State of Michigan. Really?
Who is Accountable?
Behind the moderate language of this report are serious issues which are almost entirely the fault of the city administration. Accountability cannot be delegated. Police Chief Ted Glynn and City Manager Ken Johnson need to be held accountable for what amounts to a huge mess. In fact, the only comments noted in the report that relate to the rank and file police officers is that they exhibited some conduct that was unprofessional, and their moral is low, largely related to the “ticket standard that acts as a lightning rod for numerous other grievances and discontent”.
What Now?
Isn’t it about time that Ken Johnson and Ted Glynn were held accountable? If they are not to be held accountable for this mess that the consultant reports, who is? Let’s move forward with changes, but not while led by the very same administrators who got us to this point in the first place. I think the common understanding is that Chief Ted Glynn is merely a puppet of the city manager. He has essentially made no decisions in the past tweny years, and pretty much told the world this in an article in the Rochester Eccentric article earlier this year.
The Core Question
Is Chief Glynn going to accept responsiblity for the glaring deficiencies? He has been paid to be a top level police administrator for twenty years. Why is it that the consultant’s “police expert” can make determinations about glaring problems, but the career police chief did not? Or did he? It’s time for Chief Glynn to accept responsiblity for the problem - he can’t avoid it. But was it all his fault?
Perhaps he will put the ball into the city manager’s court as well? Perhaps he has made these recommendations to the city manager, who calls all the shots, and has been told to ignore the issues that have plagued the department for two decades. Where is the buck going to stop? Will Chief Glynn pass the buck (although he cannot delegate the accountability) to Ken Johnson? Who takes most of the blame? Hopefully a full inquiry, with competent questioning and answers demanded, will take place. Let’s count on the council to do the right thing.
A Perfect Example
One item on the matrix shows a comparison between Rochester and various “comparison” cities regarding the status of the Standard Operating Procedures / General Orders. If you read the report you will note that each of the comparison cities has a current and active set of standards that guide both the procedural and personnel practices of the department members. On the other hand, you will note that Rochester’s policies and procdures are not current and the process of making them current is underway, according to the report.
The fact that they are not current is abysmal and the direct responsiblity of Police Chief Ted Glynn and City Manager Ken Johnson. The joke of the situation is that the process of updating these critical policies did not even get underway until after the police consultant was hired. That’s right, after he was hired. How pathetic.
Glynn has had nearly twenty years to complete those critical policies and procedures, and Johnson has had nearly thirty years and two police chiefs who should have performed the tast. Who’s fault is this? Who should be held accountable?
My View
Please bear in mind that most of the deficiencies pointed out by the consultant are historical in nature and none of them are recent occurrences. With over twenty years to address these problems, I think the police chief’s opportunity to address these problems is long past. And with thirty years to address these problems, under two different police chiefs, I feel the same way about the city manager. Let’s move forward with new and improved police and administrative leadership!