Submitted By
Rasheda Jackson, Assistant Village Attorney
Reviewed By
A.M. Zayyad
Agenda Item Title
Title
Presentation and Discussion on the Village of Oak Park’s Community Safety Project Report
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Overview
Overview
BerryDunn will provide an overview of its findings and recommendations for the operational assessment of the Oak Park Police Department (OPPD). The assessment includes the following four specific areas: 1) Full management and operational assessment study; 2) Audit of race equity issues (internal and external); 3) Recommendations and research for alternative response to traditional police services; and 4) Presentation of successful measures to contribute to Fair and Impartial Policing which have been accomplished in similar cities.
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Background Information
At the June 6, 2022 Village Board meeting, BerryDunn gave a presentation entitled “Emergent Issues Memorandum and the Oak Park Police Department’s Response Memorandum” which provided information about the most urgent issues identified during the Community Safety Project that require immediate attention. The five key areas identified are 1) operational policies; 2) data collection; 3) police department facility; 4) data use and analysis; and 5) complaint intake and documentation.
On September 6, 2022, BerryDunn gave a presentation entitled “Essential Calls for Service Evaluation.” The presentation provided an overview of the Village’s current calls for service procedures and provided recommendations regarding the best alternative calls for service model for the Village. The evaluation also included comparisons between the calls for service models at other municipalities.
BerryDunn will now provide the Village Board an overview of its findings and recommendations including what was already presented and the potential financial implications associated with the Community Safety Project evaluation. The following recommendations that have fiscal implications are as followed:
Facility
BerryDunn has observed that there are numerous challenges with the current police facility, and it does not contribute to efficient and effective operations. More importantly, several security risks in the facility are likely uncorrectable, which create various liability and safety concerns for the Village and staff. BerryDunn reinforces prior recommendations to replace the police facility.
Records Management System (RMS)
The OPPD’s current RMS has numerous functional challenges and needs replacement. BerryDunn would expect full replacement of the computer-aided dispatch (CAD), RMS, and Mobile environment to cost approximately $2M - $4M (across the acquisition and implementation cycle). If the CAD system is not replaced, costs could be closer to $1.5M - $2M, depending on interface requirements.
Software
Throughout BerryDunn’s recommendations are several opportunities for the OPPD to improve operational efficiencies through enhancements to the current RMS. Although BerryDunn is recommending replacement of the RMS, doing so can be a lengthy process and often spans 18-24 months after a replacement is determined. BerryDunn recommends making specific software adjustments now and ensuring these processes are included in any new RMS acquired.
Categories for software enhancement include:
• Integrating e-Citations (including parking) with RMS (and state submissions)
• Allowing for automated use of solvability factors by patrol
• Improved impartial policing data (IPD) collection
• Developing remote access to RMS for field personnel
• Configuration for report processing and case management routing
BerryDunn would expect costs for these enhancements to be at least $30,000 - $40,000. It is worth noting that although these enhancements will benefit the Village and OPPD in the interim, they will not mitigate the need to acquire and implement a modern CAD/RMS.
Community Service Officers (CSO)
BerryDunn is recommending the OPPD add non-sworn field personnel (CSOs) to respond to low-level police CFS, consistent with the findings of the Alternative CFS Evaluation report. BerryDunn recommends staffing two positions per day (day-shift and mid-shift). This will require the addition of four personnel to consistently staff these positions.
Additionally, BerryDunn recommends the OPPD staff two positions per day (day-shift and mid-shift) for a telephone response unit (TRU). Like the field-response positions, staffing two TRU shifts per day will require four personnel to provide consistent staffing.
BerryDunn recognizes that the OPPD already has six CSOs, who staff the walk-up window at the police department. These CSOs also monitor the temporary holding facilities at the police department and manage other minor work responsibilities. It is likely that these personnel could manage TRU responsibilities as well, at least initially. If the TRU volume becomes onerous, the OPPD might need to add personnel to manage TRU's responsibilities.
BerryDunn’s recommendation is to add four CSOs initially, to manage low-level field response CFS. BerryDunn is also recommending the OPPD assign TRU responsibilities to the current CSOs staffing the desk, and the OPPD should provide for monitoring TRU workloads to determine whether additional personnel will be needed to staff one or both shifts BerryDunn has recommended. Note that adding CSOs for field response will require adding 1-2 additional vehicles for their use.
Alternative Service Response
BerryDunn has recommended the Village move to a hybrid model for an alternative response, particularly for mental-health-related CFS. This would likely include the continuation of the current arrangement with Thrive, and the possible addition of one or two full-time mental health/social workers. BerryDunn expects any additions will be determined as an output of the alternative response Taskforce the Village is establishing.
Other Personnel
The OPPD should add an administrative supervisor to the Administrative Section to support operations. This supervisor should oversee the body-worn camera (BWC) program, and the other units within the Administrative Section, other than Records.
Summary
The information provided is a general overview of the recommendations that would include significant direct costs to the Village. It is likely that some other recommendations would have soft costs associated with the implementation not necessarily identified at this stage.
In preparation for this evenings Village Board meeting, the Community Safety Project Final draft report has been uploaded to Social Pinpoint and there is a tab for community feedback. Any community feedback that is received will be attached as an addendum to the Final report.
Anticipated Future Actions/Commitments
Recommendation
Dependent upon Board direction:
- Development of Implementation Plan
- Feedback for Alternative Calls for Service Mental Health Taskforce
Body
Report
See attachments.
Alternatives
Dependent upon Board direction.