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2017 Strategic Plan for Community Policing in Alton
March 12, 2017
“The best way to predict the future is to create it!”
Dr. Dan Isom, PhD. Steve Finkelstein
Rachel Matthies
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS PROPRIETARY AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION AND SHALL NOT BE USED, DISCLOSED OR REPRODUCED, WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN FROM THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF ALTON.
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Table of Contents Executive Summary – Project Overview ....................................................................................................................... 4 Detailed Report ........................................................................................................................................................................ 8 Background of the City of Alton ................................................................................................................................... 8 Alton’s Police Department .............................................................................................................................................. 8 Data Gathering Process .................................................................................................................................................... 8
Survey Results ........................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Police Survey ........................................................................................................................................................................ 9 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Summary ................................................................... 10 High-‐Performance Team .............................................................................................................................................. 11 Trust Level Rating ........................................................................................................................................................... 12 Community Policing Survey Detailed Results ..................................................................................................... 13 Crime Areas ........................................................................................................................................................................ 14 Community Police Relationships .............................................................................................................................. 14 Hope and Fears ................................................................................................................................................................. 15
Focus Group Results ............................................................................................................................................................ 16 Community ......................................................................................................................................................................... 16 Police ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 Combined ............................................................................................................................................................................ 16
Community Focus Group ................................................................................................................................................... 17 Proposed Ideas to Work From ................................................................................................................................... 17 1.1. Strategic Priorities, Ownership, & Plan (Community Focus Group) ............................................ 19 1.2. Voting on Top Priorities (Community Focus Group) .......................................................................... 20 1.3. Change Assessment (Community Focus Group) ................................................................................... 21 1.4. Team Temperature Self-‐Assessment (Community Focus Group) ................................................. 22
Alton Police Focus Group .................................................................................................................................................. 23 2.1. Organizational Flow Chart: Alton Police Department, 2016 ........................................................... 23 2.2. Assignments: Alton Police Department, 2017 Roster ........................................................................ 24 2.3. Strategic Priorities, Ownership, & Plan (Police Focus Group) ........................................................ 25 2.4. Voting on Top Priorities (Police Focus Group) ...................................................................................... 26
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2.5. Chart: Police Success Model ........................................................................................................................... 27 2.6. Change Assessment (Police Focus Group) ............................................................................................... 28 2.7. Temperature Self-‐Assessment (Police Focus Group) ......................................................................... 29
Community and Police Combined Workshop .......................................................................................................... 30 Alton Future State Characteristics ........................................................................................................................... 30 3.1. Communication Strategic Priorities (Combined Workshop) .......................................................... 31 3.2. Educational Strategic Priorities (Combined Workshop) ................................................................... 32 3.3. Diversity Strategic Priorities (Combined Workshop) ........................................................................ 33 3.4. Positive Interaction Strategic Priorities (Combined Workshop) ................................................... 34 3.5. Key Goals, Strategic Projects and Priorities (Combined Workshop) ........................................... 35
Works Cited and Consulted .............................................................................................................................................. 36
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Executive Summary – Project Overview In support of our mission, the City of Alton is committed to providing efficient services to improve the quality of life of its citizens, to provide a safer, more vibrant and peaceful environment. The goal is to build upon our current success and develop a bright future for our community. The strategic plan initiative was the result of the Peter Hough, Megan Williams, and Chief Jake Simmons desire to maintain and improve the community and policing in Alton. The community of Alton has embraced the reality that government and relationships is a continuous process. It’s a process that requires reflection, evaluation and direction. A comprehensive, collaborative and inclusive three phase approach was utilized. Phase I – Police Department:
Survey: An internal review and assessment of the Alton Police Department was conducted via surveys and interviews in October and November of 2016. There was a great response with 55 out of 80 employees (69%) completed the survey. In addition, there were several ride-‐a-‐longs with police on duty plus an analysis of the 911 Call Reports to provide additional insights. The major issues identified in the survey included: Staffing needs, inadequate budget, ineffective communication, department morale, training needs, equipment needs, recruiting process, building and community relationships and trust.
Focus Group: Next, a Police focus group was conducted in January 2017 to review the survey results and identify major areas of focus. Communication / Internal Morale, Accountability / Job Descriptions, Performance Evaluation and Talent Management.
Phase II – Community:
A broad reaching survey was administered in December 2016 to key stakeholders of Alton to include residents, businesses, employees, government, students, and churches. There was a strong response with 1264 surveys completed with a demographics breakdown that aligns with community.
Next, a Community focus group was conducted in January 2017 to review the survey results and identify major areas of focus. The four key areas identified were racial diversity in the Police Department, Youth Activities, Drugs and Alcohol, Police/Community Relationships and Policies / Procedures.
Phase I Internal
Assessment Alton Police
Phase II Alton
Community Survey
Phase III Focus Groups Community &
Police
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Phase III – Police and Community Workshop:
As a follow-‐up to the Phase I and Phase II a joint workshop / focus group was conducted in February 2017. There were representatives from both the community and the Police Department. Many attendees were from the prior workshops to maintain continuity. Major areas of focus identified were: Education / Awareness, Police Department Diversity, and Positive Interactions between the Police and Community.
Police Community Strategic Priority Recommendations: Community Policing Plan Communication/Engagement Strategic Priority Strategic Projects/Actions
• Increase Communication w/ police & youth • Increase and Develop Police Social Media • Increase Awareness and Attendance of Organizations through Communication • Law Enforcement Community Awareness
Education Strategic Priority Strategic Projects/Actions
• Police Policy, Procedures and Work Environment • Use of Force • Department Policing Strategies • Study Community Participation Habits
Diversity Strategic Priority Strategic Projects/Actions
• Develop a Cadet Program • Change City Hiring Process • Increase Scholarships for AA applicants • Increase recruiting footprint
Police Department Plan Communication/Morale Strategic Priority Strategic Projects/Actions
• Develop a comprehensive internal communication strategy Accountability/Performance Strategic Priority
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Strategic Projects/Actions • Establish job descriptions • Improve call for service coding for tracking and evaluation • Performance evaluation of officers, supervisor and commander leadership • 6 month climate surveys to assess morale • Annual citizen surveys to assess satisfaction
Talent Management Strategic Priority Strategic Projects/Actions
• Develop a recruiting plan & change hiring process (Community Police Strategic Priority) • Establish a retention strategy • Engage and motivate officers • Improve field training program • Restructure allocation of personnel
City of Alton Community Relations Committee Within the report, the police department and community police strategic priorities have more detailed descriptions of the projects and actions to achieve the desired police community objectives. The police department has identified team leaders for their internal priorities. However, not every community police priority has well-‐ defined community and police leaders. It is recommended that the community relations committee act as the project manager moving forward to track progress and performance both for the police department and community priorities. Each month, the committee should track progress and hold the responsible parties accountable. The committee should also advocate for the resources to achieve the police department and community goals. Its is important to stress that both an investment in time and funding is necessary to achieve the police department and community vision for a better City of Alton. Additionally, the police department and community have identified additional priorities, which should ultimately become a part of the plan. This will require facilitating more work group sessions to identify detailed objectives and team leaders. The following is a template for the 30, 60, and 90-‐day goals for each strategic priority and team leadership group identified in the report. 30 Days
• Identify Team • Schedule Meetings • Define Objectives
60 Days • Develop a written plan • Develop an evaluate strategy
90 Days • Present plan • Approve Plan • Begin the implementation and evaluation process
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The following reports provide more detail of the Alton Community Policing Project.
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Detailed Report
Background of the City of Alton The population of Alton, Illinois is approximately 27,550. The city is on the Mississippi River and is located in Madison County. The demographics have been relatively the same over the past decade. Alton is almost all English-‐speaking, with only 1-‐3% of the city speaking Spanish or another language. About 71% of the city is Caucasian, while 24% are African American. The remaining 5% of the population falls mostly under mixed race, Asian, Hispanic/Latino, or American Indian races. The average age of Alton residents is 36. A majority of household incomes are from $10,000 to $100,000, with 24% of incomes ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 and 20% ranging from $40,000 to $60,000 (Area Vibes, 2017).
Alton’s Police Department Alton’s police department is located on 1700 E. Broadway. Jason A. Simmons is the Chief of Police. The Department is broken down into four main components: administrative, investigations, patrol operations, and support services. Please refer to Table 2.1 and Table 2.2 to better understand the structure of the Alton Police Department, as well as the internal assignment organization of 2017.
Data Gathering Process A collaborative approach was used to collect information for this project. Surveys, interviews and focused groups were conducted to provide for broad input. There were three Phases to the study. Phase I -‐ First, there was an internal Alton Police Department survey along with interviews conducted in November / December 2016 timeframe. There was a 69% response rate with 55 out of 80 surveys complete. The survey focused on the internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Additional questions focused on employee engagement and community relationships. In addition, Ride-‐A-‐Longs with Police Officers were also part of the review. Also, a review of the Call Reports was included. Next, a Police focus group was conducted in January, 2017 to review the survey results. Priorities were identified with a 90-‐day plan completed. Phase II -‐ The second phase was focused on the Alton Community to include residents, employees, businesses, schools, churches and other stakeholders. The survey had a 15% response rate with 1264 surveys completed. The survey population was fairly representative of the Alton’s demographics to include age, community, gender, role, and ethnicity. Survey input was made available either electronically or in paper copy, based on accessibility to a computer based on the economic status of each neighborhood. The next step was a community focus group also conducted in January, 2017. The objective was to review the survey results and to identify and prioritize the key areas to focus on going forward. Priorities were identified with a 90-‐day plan completed.
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Phase III –In February, 2017 a combined focus group with both the community and police was orchestrated to work towards improving police-‐civilian relationships and targeting problematic areas identified in the survey responses. Priorities were identified with a 90-‐day plan completed.
Survey Results
Police Survey Approximately 55 officers took the police survey. Of those 55, only nine of these officers have joined the department in the past five years. This means that the department has been relatively stable and has not gone through a recent surge of hiring. Only two of the officers are under 31 years of age as well, portraying a relatively older department in terms of officers’ age. As far as gender, the department is predominantly male. Less than 2% of the officers are African-‐American, which shows that the department’s racial make-‐up does not reflect that of its community. The demographics of the police in Alton do not necessarily explain the relatively low ratings as far as police-‐citizen relationships go, but it could present an explanation as to why many community members do not feel a sense of closeness or unity with their officers. If a department does not somewhat reflect the demographic of the people they are serving, it can sometimes be more difficult to build trusting relationships. Analysis of the police’s survey responses reflect that; Alton’s police force generally feels like the trust between them and the community, 1.86, as well as the trust within the department, 1.96, is low. Additionally, the major issues identified by Alton’s police in the survey are that there are too few police to meet the needs of the community, an inadequate budget, ineffective communication, low morale within the department, a lack of needed training, a lack of the right equipment, misinformation, the recruiting process, not enough time to build community relationships and trust, and media bias portraying negative news to the community. Key survey responses results are featured on the following pages.
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Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Summary
Top Strengths Top Weaknesses Ability of patrol to complete work despite manpower issues and being shorthanded
Manpower shortage; raising the bar on recruiting new hires
Experienced and knowledgeable senior staff Equipment is outdated and unreliable
Experienced and knowledgeable police officers at all levels Lack of needed training
12-‐hour shifts (instead of 8-‐ or 10-‐hour shifts) Low internal morale, internal conflicts, inconsistent and unfair discipline, low trust, cliques
Professionalism by the majority of the employees of the department
Lack of effective communication (internal and external)
Relationship with other departments and the state attorney’s office.
Lack of strong supervision – accepting mediocre performance, lack of performance reviews, accountability, etc.
Top Opportunities Top Threats / Risks Community engagement, relationships, building trust
Officers injured due to lack of staffing, lack of training, and/or poor equipment
Officer training Continued low morale impacting productivity, performance, recruiting, and retention
Upgrading equipment Neighborhood increases in crime, lower safety
Enhanced recruiting – higher qualified candidates Numerous pending retirements and their impacts Implementing performance management process – goals, reviews, accountability, performance, etc.
Increase in new laws and regulations that tie the hands of the police officer, leading to lower police productivity
Addressing the manpower shortage issue Continued lack of appropriate funding for training equipment, headcount, etc.
More effective communication Media coverage and media bias, media spins on police shootings, misuse of cameras, etc.
Improved training opportunities Community views of police officers nationwide continuing to trend negatively (The Ferguson Effect)
Addressing engagement and morale issues Continued low morale and its negative impacts
Improve productivity, new ideas for doing things – paperwork, etc.
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High-‐Performance Team There were 23 areas of a High-‐Performance Team rated on a scale from 1 to 5 with 3 being Good. Only 3 areas were a 3.0 or above. The overall average was 2.30, below Good. 57.2% of the responses were rated Very Low or Low, 32.4% rated Good and 10.4% rated very Good or Excellent.
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Trust Level Rating The trust level rating of 2.65 is below the average level rating.
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Community Policing Survey Detailed Results The total survey population is 1,264. Of that population, 57% were students under 21 years of age and 43% were over 21. Approximately 70% of the survey respondents have lived in the city of Alton for more than 11 years, which portrays that the City of Alton is not a transitional city at this time. Furthermore, 560 of the respondents were male, and 704 were female, leaving a pretty balanced male to female ratio when analyzing survey results. The racial breakdown of respondents are as indicated: 73% White or Caucasian, 16% Black or African American, 2% Hispanic or Latino, 2% American Indian or Alaskan Native, 1% Asian or Pacific Islander, and 7% preferred not to answer. Survey respondents were asked to rank common community issues on a Likert Scale ranging from inadequate to very adequate. They were also given an option not to respond to each question. Based on results from these questions, it is assumable that the most prominent issues in the City of Alton are littering, 1.91, and drug issues, 1.89. Other major areas of the community inquired about include traffic and parking, unreasonable noise, graffiti, animal control, alcohol issues, burglary, theft, assault, sexual assault, domestic violence, street violence, homelessness issues, and overall safety of neighborhoods. The average of all categories was 2.25, a fairly average rating. Part of the goal of this community policing strategic write-‐up is to properly propose and execute a plan that can increase that average rating of each community issue, while paying special attention to particularly low rated aspects of the community. Ideally this can be done more effectively through improving community-‐police relations. When discussing the relationship between the community and the police, the survey asked respondents specifically about five key areas of the community-‐police relationship. The lowest rated category was communication, 2.58, though all categories (relationship, trust, communication, responsiveness, problem solving) were relatively average. In addition to Likert scale questions, respondents were able to write in open-‐ended responses. From these responses, the major hopes for the community were recorded. In terms of safety, the City of Alton is most concerned with three major categories: family, police, and crimes. The community’s economic concerns revolve around small business, housing/property, poverty, and employment. The respondents also named the ways they felt they could have a stronger, more unified community, and these included relationships, race/diversity, cleanliness, and police relationships. Under each of these categories, there are specific comments that are listed in the appendix. The community’s fears were also divided into categories. Drugs, violence, and crime fall under crime/safety, while business and housing are the main areas of fear in the economy. In addition, racism in general is a larger fear, as are trust and respect between the community and police. There were a few notable differences in verbatim comments and ratings when comparing age groups of respondents. Those under 21 years of age were, on average, slightly more concerned with police brutality, a fear of gangs, a fear of drugs, and the desire for more teen-‐based activities in the community. Key survey questions are featured on the following pages.
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Crime Areas There were 16 areas rated by the community. On a rating scale of 1-‐4, with 3 and above Adequate or Above Adequate, none of the overall ratings met the Adequate. 58% of the responses were rated Inadequate or Somewhat Adequate with only 42% rated the areas Adequate or Very Adequate.
Community Police Relationships The overall rating in the areas of community police relationships was 2.67, below a Good rating of 3.0. 36% of the ratings were below Good and 64% were Good or Very Good.
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Hope and Fears
Hopes and Dreams Safety
Family, Police, Crimes
Economic Concerns
Small Businesses, Housing/Property, Poverty, Employment
Stronger/Unified Community
Relationships, Race/Diversity, Cleanliness, Police Relationships
Fears and Concerns
Crime/Safety
Drugs, Violence, Crime
Economy
Business, Housing
Racism
Racism in general
Police
Relationships, Trust, Respect
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Focus Group Results
Community In the focus group, the community identified the four main areas they would like the community and police to pay attention to. These areas include youth activities, racial diversity within the police department, community relations/engagement, and drugs and alcohol problems. These aspects of improvement are touched upon in the later section labeled “Proposed Ideas to Work From.” Supporting self-‐assessments and other resources are included in Table 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4.
Police The police identified five core goals that are mostly internal. It is the community and the department’s goal to have Alton’s police all on the same page and functioning at high performance, and this will put the police in the best position to be able to improve the police-‐civilian relationship. Table 2.4 shows the department’s selection of the goals most important for them. Please refer to Table 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, and 2.7 to further examine the police department’s self-‐assessment and the current plans to improve based on the research conducted.
Combined A combined workshop followed both focus groups and addressed practical steps to achieve the goals set forward by the focus groups. Strategic priorities for each area are addressed in Tables 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, and 3.5, identifying projects and actions that focus on appropriate strategic goals.
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Community Focus Group
Proposed Ideas to Work From Based on Community’s 4 Focus points As stated before, the four ideal focal points determined by the community are youth activities, racial diversity within the police department, community relations/engagement, drugs and alcohol problem. The rise of social media will be very useful when attempting get information out about new programs or events.
1) Youth activities • Officer visits to elementary and middle schools • Child who logs the most reading hours in a week gets a police ride to/from school • Sand volleyball tournament in summer-‐ police, kids, and parents
2) Racial diversity within police department
• Mandatory hiring of diverse individuals o As long as standards of hiring are not lowered in order to meet quotas
3) Community relations/engagement
• ”Coffee with a Cop” (small business offers free coffee for officers/civilians certain day) • Officers patrolling park district sports league games, interact with parents • Promote job seeker support services • Community Relations Committee
4) Drugs and alcohol problem
• Community-‐based prevention programs • Free, clean needles available for drug addicts • Pharmacotherapy programs (substitute medication) • Additional youth programs/facilities in order to keep them away from using AOD
o (i.e. skate parks, roller rink, BMX tracks, athletic clubs/leagues) • Meetings to inform parents of middle-‐school children, what to do when a child is
showing risky behavior, what risky behavior looks like, information on how to stay involved in children’s lives without being too controlling, what a child using AOD might look like
• High school sessions where the risks of alcohol (and drugs?) are discussed, no younger than 10th grade (discuss binge drinking v. appropriate amounts; it’s no secret that high school students drink, so teach them how to drink responsibly.)
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Based on Police’s Major Concerns
1) Hire animal control full-‐time staff • Free up time for officers
2) Establish authority of leaders
3) More interactive website for open feedback/communication
4) Sworn and trained civilian personnel
• Take care of bulk of non-‐violent calls
5) Mandatory diversity training
6) Weekend clean-‐up dates • Community volunteers and off-‐duty officers can work to clean up community
o Would assist with appearance of town while building relationships
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1.1. Strategic Priorities, Ownership, & Plan (Community Focus Group)
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1.2. Voting on Top Priorities (Community Focus Group)
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1.3. Change Assessment (Community Focus Group) The below chart represents the group’s assessment of the degree of change and the readiness for changes to move forward and implement the recommendations. Each participant placed their dot based on their belief for each question. The results indicate a readiness for the change ahead.
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1.4. Team Temperature Self-‐Assessment (Community Focus Group)
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Alton Police Focus Group
2.1. Organizational Flow Chart: Alton Police Department, 2016
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2.2. Assignments: Alton Police Department, 2017 Roster
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2.3. Strategic Priorities, Ownership, & Plan (Police Focus Group)
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2.4. Voting on Top Priorities (Police Focus Group)
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2.5. Chart: Police Success Model
Police Success Model
Provide a safer, more vibrant and peaceful environment.
Right officers, right passion,
experience and skills.
City Support & Police
Leadership Support
Right Equipment, Training, Process &
Technology
Training
Engagement
Supervisor
Mentoring
Salary
Benefits
Culture
Community Engagement
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2.6. Change Assessment (Police Focus Group) The below chart represents the group’s assessment of the degree of change and the readiness for changes to move forward and implement the recommendations. Each participant placed their dot based on their belief for each question. The results indicate a readiness for the change ahead.
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2.7. Temperature Self-‐Assessment (Police Focus Group) At the end of the focus group, the participants were asked to anonymously assess three questions to get feedback on the groups understanding of the priorities and the confidence level that they are the right priorities. Overall, these results were very positive, presenting a group with not only a clear understanding but also focused on the right priorities. In addition, the group also felt the focus group was worth their time and was valuable to their organization.
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Community and Police Combined Workshop
Alton Future State Characteristics
-‐ Increase of police presence in schools -‐ Welcoming/smiles -‐ Trust -‐ Mutual Respect -‐ Strong relationships
o Lasting o 1st name basis o Positive Engagement/ Approach
-‐ Communication o Positive o Open lines o Letting people know what’s going on o Statistics
-‐ Perceptions o Safe
-‐ Positive publicity -‐ Education
o Understanding what police do/don’t do -‐ Diversity
o Not just race -‐ Working together as a unit
o Common good -‐ Realistic involvement -‐ Volunteering
o Police and community -‐ Leadership in PD & city
o Buying in
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3.1. Communication Strategic Priorities (Combined Workshop)
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3.2. Educational Strategic Priorities (Combined Workshop)
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3.3. Diversity Strategic Priorities (Combined Workshop)
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3.4. Positive Interaction Strategic Priorities (Combined Workshop)
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3.5. Key Goals, Strategic Projects and Priorities (Combined Workshop)
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Works Cited and Consulted
Area Vibes. (2017). Alton, IL. Retrieved February 1, 2017, from
http://www.areavibes.com/alton-‐il/demographics/
