The past three posts:
Police Merger Study Cancellation Letter
Report cites management, morale issues in Campbell PD
Police study details morale issues
We were skeptical from the very beginning about this issue.
Any reasonable observer could tell you what an honest study would reveal.
Our primary concern during this process was would the study be honest or would Judge-Executive Steve Pendry get the results he wanted since he was funding this through taxpayer funds.
We wonder if he was surprised when the consultants called it like it was. He shouldn’t have been. He has been aware of these issues for several years and has refused to rise to the occasion, be strong, take control and make the hard choices that must be made if this sad state-of-affairs is ever going to change.
He’s spinning the results in his Police Merger Study Cancellation Letter by saying “Seventy-one percent of 417 respondents to the consultants’ online survey said they were satisfied with the current level of police services provided by either the county or Alexandria. Nearly 80 percent of 399 respondents said current police services matched the community’s needs”.
We have obtained a copy of the study and in regards to interpreting the results of the survey the consultants have this to say;
The online survey was developed to provide opportunities for citizen input; the survey, as it was constructed, was not intended to be representative of Alexandria residents or Campbell County (non-Alexandria) residents. Moreover, one cannot generalize the survey results back to the respective populations. Quantifying results of the survey is problematic; in no way should the aggregated results of the survey items-the individual questions-be construed as being indicative of the sentiments or attitudes of the citizens of Alexandria, Campbell County, or any group as a whole.
On the issue of “Performance Standards” which are in place within the Campbell County Police Department (CCPD) the consultants write;
As they are presently construed, it appears that CCPD assigns quotas to its patrol officers. Without embarking on a long discussion of the evolution of police practices in the United States, or discussing the associated perils of quantifying police stops, arrests or the like, it is still necessary to discuss the implications of quotas on the moral of the department and the perception of the general public. In the case of intra-departmental concern, assignment of quotas for objective behaviors ostensibly removes discretion from officers; removal of discretion is problematic in that it confines an officer to only a limited set of reactions to contact with an infraction or criminal event. The result of the interaction is very frequently dissatisfaction on the part of the officer and confusion and/or anger on the part of the private citizen with whom the encounter centered. For a variety of scenarios that could and likely have played themselves out, quotas are an antiquated practice of a bygone era of policing; contemporaneous utilization of quotas is not advised. Labeling them as something other that what they are is likewise a poor policy choice that assumes that subordinates and the general public are not capable of understanding what is in practice.
On “Transfers” or turnover at CCPD the consultants say in part;
CCPD has lost eight (8) officers to other agencies since 2003; three (3) others have left with unknown dispositions.
In the law enforcement community, turnover rate is a commonly accepted barometer of the conditions at a department.
Interviews suggest that CCPD’s internal culture under present leadership is a primary contributor to the turnover.
We suggest that CCPD and the Fiscal Court consider the turnover rate as a bell ringing.
The Alexandria Police Department (APD) has only had three transfers during the same reporting period. This was later corrected to one (1). While the two agencies differ in size – obviously a key factor in describing retention of incumbent officers – it should be noted clearly that APD has a remarkably high retention / low turnover rate.
A low turnover supports other data that suggests APD enjoys an environment and other circumstances that officers do not look to greener pastures often.
Low turnover and high retention factors considerably in reducing the expenses of hiring, training and equipping new officers.
APD personnel are self-actualized and confident in their organization; with no exception, APD articulated confidence in leadership and comfort the culture of the agency
Other comments of consequence in the study are;
Campbell County should consider engaging a management study based upon;
Profound morale issues within its ranks,
Leadership that does not appear to either be concerned about morale issues or does not understand them for what they are, and
Persistence of these issues over an extended period of time that have not be addressed or rectified.
Elected officials within Campbell County should be aware of the issues within the police department and should avail themselves of the opportunity to address the issues substantively. CCPD has a strong, well-trained complement of officers who carry themselves in a professional manner and, based upon our interaction and citizen responses, are terrified of running afoul of leadership at the department.
Alexandria Police Department enjoys high morale, places a priority on community policing and has strong leadership in place.
Citizen responses indicate that there is a persistent concern of Alexandria residents that merger might cause their present level of services to be diluted or changed.
Intuitively, the City should be cautious of merger with another agency that would introduce issues that APD does not presently have.
The study consists of 31 pages not including the survey results. We have only hit the highlights and summarized here. But it begs the question; “What were they thinking?”
Judge-Executive Steve Pendery knows what’s going on. It’s been going on for a number of years. He’s had CCPD officer’s wives attend Fiscal Court meetings and publicly present grievances and pleadings on this issue.
We can only conclude that he does not have the fortitude to tackle this issue and tried to find some easy way to get rid of his problem.
Alexandria officials took the bait and came perilously close to making a major mistake for its citizens.
Alexandria officials failed to listen to the citizens from the get-go and stubbornly plodded forward wasting a year only to have consultants’ finally tell them what they were hearing from the community all the time.
Should Alexandria’s officials have been aware of the problems with the CCPD? Sure they should and they were. They should have never taken the City on this journey.
