2 questions:

Hope city community/Bringing leaders together

2 questions:

1. Research the Hope City community. More info below that may be helpful:

• Give details on the community
• The issues in Hope city? The changing demographics in Hope city? Whats going on in Hope city?

2. Research how can leaders get together to improve Hope City? More info below that may be helpful:

• A. What can the city do to stop crime and bring the community together? How can the city improve? What needs to be done by the Police or leaders?

Answers don't have to be super long, all the bullet points above don't have to be answered. Those are just there for help as to what the questions is asking.

(get info from the hope city case below)

HOPE CITY CASE:

Hope City is a midsize urbanized community, part of a larger conurbation and therefore part of larger and more complex forces. It is changing in terms of demographics and the demands on policing. While there is no central crisis in this case, there are a number of disturbing trends that represent risks to the Police Service business model now in play and to the ability of the Police Service to meet the emerging needs of its community. The Hope City case is one that forces integrative thinking about risk management. It is a holistic set of facts and information designed to lead to the creation of a strategic risk management plan for the Police Service of Hope City. It is centered on the qualitative and impressionistic assessment of risk, rather than the quantitative. Therefore, coming to an assessment of the risks in this circumstance and rendering them relative weights will entail some form of collective, consensus-driven or centrally driven exercise. Further, aside from being a good platform for the effective assessment of risk and the assignment of weights, it is also useful when linked to the creation of a strategic or action plan for the Police Service as a whole. The case lends itself well to group work as well as written analysis.

THE CONTEXT: Like most police services, the Hope City Police Service is a busy place. There is no end of activity. Chief Karl Paulson has been in the job for 10 months now and feels that he is getting a handle on the culture and way things are done around Hope City. He came in from another service. This is his first job as chief, although he has held both operational and planning roles at the deputy level elsewhere. He finds working in a growing community of 500,000 like this one interesting. However, at the end of the day, while he fits in fine, he still does not feel in control of things. Being a good police leader and being used to rapidly changing time and resource priorities, he can certainly fit into the "What's next?" approach to management. He feels he and his organization are adept at responding and adapting to both operational challenges and changing situations. But is that what it is all about? He is also seeing some changes happening that he is not sure the Police Service is ready for. Hope City is indeed a growing and changing place. It is situated not far from a larger metropolitan area, one that gives a lot of employment to Hope City residents. In fact, about 20 percent of the Hope City working population commutes the 50 to 75 kilometers every day by way of the multilane highway that passes just west of town, the commuter rail link into downtown Benville, or the commuter bus systems. The others work in the large service sector or the many secondary manufacturing plants on the west side of the city. There is also a community college with extensive programming that employs about 500 people. It really is a regional hub, one that Hope City residents are proud of. Right now, as this community grows and changes, there is a lot to be optimistic about for the future. On the other hand, the more the community changes, the more that future changes. Having been a small city with a homogeneous population and relatively isolated for a long time, it is now becoming part of the growing conurbation around Benville. Taken at first blush, Hope City seems to be doing well. There is growth in residential and commercial construction as the result of an influx of new workers into the high-tech industries that are growing here. Many of these new workers are new Canadians, often well educated, some of whom come through family sponsorships. They have settled primarily in four communities in Hope City, often forming fairly close-knit communities. New services are arising to meet their needs, although schools, churches, and social organizations are at capacity. Working with the notion that it is always best to get ahead of issues before they get ahead of you, Chief Paulson decided to pull together his top managers for a planning session and a bit of a look forward. He is allergic to flip charts, consultants, and detailed reports that do not get used. However, he wanted to not just be a good day-to-day chief, but to set the future direction of the Police Service as well. He also had an uneasy feeling that the Police Service needed to get a handle on the challenges that it was facing, develop a better understanding of the communities it was serving, and get a bit savvier on the political developments in the area. All this was also part of his desire to bring along a number of top-notch operational commanders and broaden their perspective so they could take on more senior roles. Paulson clearly wanted to move to becoming a strategic leader. The Chief decided to get some help on an environmental scan. He was able to get the help of an old colleague (a consultant) who had retired from a senior police job (not in Hope City) and was known for her ability to talk to people. He asked her to do some interviews in preparation for the senior staff retreat. Her mandate was to gather information and impressions that would help the senior management team identify its challenges and risks. What follows is the result of those interviews.

SOME BACKGROUND ON THE HOPE CITY POLICESERVICE: The Police Service Board is made up of seven people who meet regularly with the Chief. Board members are appointed under the provincial legislation as a mix of provincial and municipal appointees. Two Hope City Council members sit on the board. Membership tends to turn over every four years, with some continuing members serving more than one term. It is this current board that hired Chief Paulson after an executive search process. The board has a legislated responsibility to oversee the direction of the Hope City Police Service, set broad policy and strategy, and monitor the performance of the chief. It has the power to hire and fire the chief.

The Hope City Police Service deployed 790police officers and 267 civilian members and responded to more than 85,000 calls for service during 2020. Its operating budget for 2020 was $129,600,000. The area covered is 1,382 square kilometers, serving a population of 508,000. The police also have an active volunteer program with 250 volunteers, plus 64 auxiliary officers.

Hope City is governed by a municipal council and mayor. The Police Service is part of the mandated municipal services. Hope City views the Police Service as a department of the city and budgets for it in that manner. This creates some friction, as the police chief reports formally to the Police Service Board, not the city. However, in reality, the chief must also work with the city, most notably the mayor and the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO).

Formal and informal lines cross frequently, and it requires a certain measure of diplomacy, tolerance, and restraint to make the system work. Generally, it does until the budget crunch, an annual event. The police budget is a significant portion of Hope City's budget. For 2021, policing will take up 22 percent of the total municipal budget. While these costs are supported generally and there is broad City Council backing of good policing, the city chafes at how little it actually controls these costs. The budget is set by the Police Service Board, and the City Council feels there is little incentive to restrain growth. Further, if there is a disagreement, the board can appeal to the province. Generally, the police win if there is a showdown. However, the process can be messy and leaves a lot of bad feelings.

As a first step in the process of reaching a strategic plan, the work of the consultants should began with interviews of key players. What follows is the result of those interviews.

In setting up the interviews, all those canvassed were informed of the purpose is to help the Hope City Police Service develop a strategic plan. What follows is the report offered to the Chief at the end. The following groups of people were interviewed:

Chief and all direct reports

Association President Chair

Police Service Board Chief Administrative Officer

Hope City Chair, Hope City Chamber of Commerce

Citizens against Racism Community Group President

East End Residents Association

Hope City Citizens for Responsible Government

Chief Administrative Officer of the City

In practical terms such as the formal budget, the Police Service is a department of the city. Therefore, the CAO has responsibility for it. This is clouded by the role of the Police Service Board, a provincially mandated oversight body. This is part of the municipal reality of the province, and the CAO is no stranger to it. However, the dynamic can sometimes make amazing tensions. His first concern about this interview was what this plan would look like in relation to Hope City's plans. However, he also realizes that working together is ultimately smarter than working apart or at odds. So, he weighed in. The CAO noted that the demographic shift in Hope City has only just begun. In spite of the lack of some services for recent arrivals, new residents still keep coming. He sees some distinct ethnic communities as growing and developing their own infrastructures and identities. Housing starts, especially for townhouses and apartments, are growing. There has also been an increase in the number of youths in these communities. Birthrates in these ethnic communities are generally higher, and there is evidence of that already. In some of the schools in those areas, the majority is now from these recently arrived families. This is creating pressure for more schools and also adjustments in school programming. The issue of English as a second language among the older cohorts of these groups is emerging as a service issue. They hardly use the 311 civic services line. When asked about city plans that might affect police, the CAO noted that several new major subdivisions were in the works or already approved. The Police Service will have to expand to provide adequate policing to those expansion areas. He recognizes that this will stress resources to adequately police these areas. He was not certain if the development charges1 would adequately cover the cost of the increase needed for public services. He thought that the Police Service needed to factor this into its capital planning; for example, would a new station be needed? His concerns extended to question whether the emergency services communications infrastructure was going to be sufficient. The high-use stress on highway infrastructure will mean construction on both of the two main north-south routes over the next two years. There will also be work on downtown main streets, including a long-term restoration of the main city square through which most of the downtown traffic now is routed. The CAO was concerned whether police were up to speed on the implications. This involves work by both the city and the province.2The CAO noted that several city councilors want to develop a new strategy for the downtown core, which is plagued by many of the usual problems of lower retail presence, some gang activity, and certainly a general degradation. He feels the Police Service needs to come up with some cost-effective safe street strategies or face pressure from both the City Council and neighborhood groups along with retailers. There is certainly a desire to get more condo development downtown. It was hard to keep the CAO off the issue of money in general. He feels that, while the Police Service takes up a major portion of the municipal budget, there is very little he can do for affecting what it will look like. The City Council does not feel there is adequate control either at the budget time or as the budget is managed over the year. Of course, the City Council theoretically has ultimate control over the budget, but it often feels it is being handed a fait accompli and that the Police Service Board and the Chief are not really team players, willing to take their hit along with the others. Whether it is the Police Service Board or the Chief, he does not know, but he feels left out of the loop and is often surprised at budget time. He feels it would be easy to say that the budget is too high and that the police get theirs while other services suffer, but he is more annoyed at the process than opposed to good policing. One example he cited was the number of years that overtime budgets had been exceeded, forcing a return for funding to the City Council. He could see one or two years and for exceptional circumstances, but he sees a pattern of poor management herehis words. He also noted that this preceded the current chief, but he has not seen much sign of any change. Also, he believes that the policing model, as he calls it, will only drive costs up more. Why are the Police Service Board and the Chief not pushing new ways of doing things? The CAO also noted that, while there were Provincial Adequacy Standards for police, Hope City did not appear to be following all of them. For instance, he noted that the Police Service did not have a business plan. He thought that would go a long way to making it more credible. He also had a few figures at hand, based on a comparison of most of the cities in the province: While the provincial clearance rate3 on violent crime was about 74 percent, Hope City's was only 53 percent. While the provincial median for total crime rate was 5,900 per 100,000, in Hope City it was only 5,300.He asked how these two facts squared. If you have a lower crime rate, surely you should expect a better clearance rate. The CAO was concerned that the increase in cross-jurisdictional police teams would lead to problems of financial control. He observed that Hope City had been a big player in the recent regional efforts on biker gangs that the province led. He noted, however, that there seemed to be a disproportionate number of resources devoted to this and very little compensation from the regional funding that was available from the province. He worried that there was not good costing and an aggressive effort to recoup funds to pay the bills. He also wondered about tracing costs and responsibilities for such horizontal-type work. Although he noted that he was no expert on these issues, he also pointed out that quite a number of municipalities across the country are complaining about what they see as the federal downloading of costs for policing in new crime areas such as terrorism and cyber crime.

Chair of Police Service Board. The Chair of the Police Service Board is appointed by the province for a three-year term. This is her second term and probably her last one .At the outset, she expressed strong confidence in Chief Paulson and his management team. She felt there was a good working relationship, at least at the level of meetings and sharing information on current issues. She did have some reservations about the capacity of the Police Service to adapt, especially around emerging crime patterns, policing methods, and the changing population profile. She reported on what she sees happening in Hope City and the police's role in it. Like the CAO, she sees the city changing. While she sees the rise in ethnic groups, she also sees parts of the city being nothing more than commuter subdivisions. The ones closest to the arterial roads seem to be deserted or ignored as far as active community policing goes. She also notes how there is a lack of community resources and activities to keep youths out of trouble. She feels that the issues of rising youth crime, vandalism, and drug use are not getting the attention they deserve. She even disputes a lot of the public opinion poll results, saying that these numbers are general and not community based. The chair is worried about succession planning for the Police Service. She sees an aging service with a lot of senior people ready to retire. More important, as far as she is concerned, she also sees that a lot of seasoned street-wise officers are leaving. She sees this as two issues, not one. In fact, she thinks the loss of street experience is more of a concern than the loss of managers. She also cites the inspector ranks with long experience in areas such as homicide who will be leaving soon. She notes that the rank below this, staff sergeant, is a small cohort populated by "a bunch of guys the same age as the bunch of guys they report to. "Generally, the Police Service Board feels that Chief Paulson tries to provide the information that is needed for the board to function well. She feels that he is overly protective of his operational role, insisting, for instance, on being the only senior officer to appear before the board. While the board members have plenty of informal interaction with line command staff, they seldom see them performing in a formal way. They miss out on seeing what their potential is. She feels that it is a lost opportunity not to use the board to profile senior staff accomplishments. The Chief argues (not aggressively) that he would rather his command group spend their time on operational priorities and he would handle external relations. The board members' view is that they are not external. The budget is a concern of the Police Service Board. The board supports the need for the best resourcing, but feels that the lack of a long-term perspective, especially for big-ticket items like computer systems and vehicle replacement, always puts them in opposition to the City Council. The board is responsible for setting the budget, but worries about whether the Police Service knows what it will need in the longer term to be sustainable. No matter what anyone says about who is responsible for what, the board needs the chief's advice in these areas. The board is concerned about the level of good professional advice on the financial and administrative side. The board feels it is often surprised by budget requirements. Board members are also aware that this surprise and its negative consequences are something the City Council and city staff note about the Police Service. She feels the police are responsive and professional. However, they are not as active in pursuing preventive measures generally associated with community-based problem solving as they might be. To date, she sees only token efforts; for example, even the community liaison officers, it would seem, are appointed only as a break from their car and street duty, and not with a strong mandate. She has also become aware of the move in some Canadian and American communities toward what is called intelligence-led policing, which is the application of computer analytics to both crime and police contact information to better understand trends, hot spots, and key priorities. She has seen demonstrations of this and was impressed. She also pointed out that the growing ethnic communities have little formal or informal contact with the Police Service. In fact, the gulf appears to be widening. She pointed to the number of comments that some ethnic community leaders make to the press about police insensitivity, even though she has no evidence of it. She wonders what the Police Service actually knows about these communities and what crime potential they pose (e.g., terrorism).The chair wonders how well some hot spot issues are being addressed. For instance, she noted that some neighboring communities had developed aggressive antigraffiti programs to increase community mobilization. She did not think that the Police Service had to do it on its own but should be open to partnerships. The chair felt that Chief Paulson was open to the public, but that the Police Service as a whole was not as active in such matters as consultation and outreach as it could be. She worried that the ethnic changes in Hope City had left the Police Service behind. Further, she often gets complaints from business groups that they are not being heard by the police, especially around issues of graffiti, and also youth in the downtown area who are intimidating seniors who shop there. Finally, she cited the relatively poor performance of the Hope City Police Service in comparison with other services, based on the Provincial Adequacy Standards program that uses performance data to compare services. She noted deterioration in some response time issues and the number of uncleared major crime cases. "I'm not one to proclaim we are the best. But it is not exactly satisfying proclaiming we are happily stuck in the middle. "Interviews within the Police Service A number of trends emerged from these interviews. First and foremost was the aging workforce challenge. It appears that recruitment is not keeping pace with departures, or rather, while there was a good intake, the promotion rate was not keeping up. Further, the Police Service is losing some valuable organizational know-how without doing anything about it, in terms of either retention or knowledge transfer. The expression "too damned busy" kept cropping up. The other factor, given that Hope City was in a cluster of urban development with similar services in nearby cities, was the theft of up-and-coming officers by other services. It was felt that Hope City had a good reputation for training new officers but then lost them to other services. There have been a lot of successes, too, in terms of transfers in and promotions. It just seemed to be taking a lot more time staying on top of things. The transaction costs of this churn were considerable. Several senior officers expressed concerns about emerging crime issues. Some were evident already. Some may or may not be on the horizon. For instance, computer pornography and child exploitation seemed to be on the rise. There was some notion that some is based in Hope City although there was no firm evidence to confirm this. Certainly, at this point the Police Service did not devote many resources in this area. Some officers had become more skilled in this area, but the Service had yet to move on creating a unit devoted to investigating child pornography. On the other hand, the concern about the potential for the development of terrorist activity in some of the newly opened ethnically focused private schools was an issue. Senior staff members were very worried about this in two ways. If they focused on it too much, they might be accused of profiling and lose any hope of building the intelligence and confidence links they needed with emerging ethnic communities. If they did not take some reasonable steps to inform themselves of the kind of new policing challenges the world was bringing to their doorsteps, they would be negligent in active policing.

As a summary, the following crime rate trends were recorded:

Generally following national and regional trends but rates slightly lower than the provincial patterns Overall decrease in the number of crimes, especially assaults on persons

Decrease in homicide and related crime

Slight increase of sexual assault, in isolated areas

Decrease in robberies

Increase in car thefts but a shift from individual thefts to more systematic patterns, suggesting a more organized approach

Increase in credit card fraud

Sharp increase in complaints or inquiries about identity theft with no real pattern emerging in the statistics

Youth-on-youth assaults up, especially in a number of both ethnic and non-ethnic housing projects that have police presence but little interaction with the community Increase in hate/bias crimes and complaintsfull range from graffiti to personal threats

=

Sharp increase in illegal ATM bank entries with a strong suspicion of organized crime involvement

More and more of the budget and management time are going to the information technology (IT) infrastructure. While direct entry from patrol vehicles has been in place for a couple of years now, it is mostly used by officers to download information that is already on the system rather than for direct input from their cars and station points. Summary data on contacts that would establish patterns of interaction, most notably among gang members and between gangs, is not yet regularly input. Further, the ability of Hope City to go anywhere on a COMSTAT4-type information management system is very low. Senior staff receive crime statistics on a weekly or monthly summary basis. The roll-ups are always questioned because of the amount of so-called dirty data they contain. This may also be why Hope City looks so bad in comparison with others. On the other hand, there was resentment of the amount of time that these administrative matters took. Reports and paperwork seem to have precedence over face time and street presence. Chief Paulson and his deputy were certainly aware of emerging technology trends, but to date there has been little internal interest in trying them out. This contrasts with one neighboring police service that has gone full tilt on geospatial intelligence analytics. This positions crime patterns onto maps to link trends to location. It also drives resource distribution. Senior service personnel felt that they had real strengths in the area of joint task force work and collaboration with other police services. They pointed with pride to their major contribution on the recent biker initiatives, which saw several of the key biker houses or chapters closed down as well as some important arrests. They felt that they were not encumbered by a "my turf or else" mentality. They saw this as a plus for the line officers who got to work with counterparts. They also saw it as a link to public security issues at the national level, such as the protection of critical infrastructure that the bikers had targeted for copper wire and electricity diversion for grow operations. President of the Police Association The president had a lot of praise for Chief Paulson and his personal openness. However, she felt that this was personal and that it was not being pushed into the senior ranks. She also felt that most consultations were a joke, usually more of an announcement than a real effort to consult, which should involve, in her view, actually asking for and listening to the other party's opinion. In general, working conditions were good for most of the officers. She noted that one recent survey of sworn officers indicated that 60 percent reported they had enough time to do their work. She was surprised at that. The president felt that the Police Service was like all the restmostly white menat a time when society was changing. However, she acknowledged that there were no ready answers and that she would speak for all her members, even the white men. However, the hiring practices should beef up recruitment of minorities, but without sacrificing standards. She has a personal focus on harassment in the workplace and had personally filed complaints about inappropriate sexual comments by senior staff. The Police Service just seems to be keeping up to the minimum of training requirements. It is always scrambling to meet standards without thinking about staff development. As such, there is a rush for the mandatory training and very little else. She feels the Police Service should be working harder on such issues as diversity awareness, use of technology, and emerging crime issues. Often the younger staff members are way ahead of the senior people on computer crime, but their capabilities are never used. The president doesn't feel that the Chief does enough to build up the image of frontline staff. He is too quiet with the media and seems to be responsive but not proactive on issues. He seems cautious in defending officers when something goes wrong. He should be more aggressive. While she has been with the Police Service for 12 years, the president says she feels like an old-timer. That's because she is. She is worried about the influx of younger officers who lack experience. She is also seeing promotions much earlier in people's careers than in the past. She supports the members getting ahead, but all this change can destabilize the Police Service. She sees management as responsible for making sure that these people succeed.

Chair of Hope City Chamber of Commerce Members of the Hope City Chamber of Commerce, too, are noticing the changing face of Hope City and are concerned that the Police Service is not intervening before things get out of hand. They know from their own surveys that many people are retiring there to get out of the big city, and young families want a safe community in which to raise their families. The problem is that some of the harbingers of big city youth issues are just beginning to surfacethings like graffiti and increased vandalismand the chamber of commerce feels that the police are not taking an aggressive enough approach to the problem.

In fact, the chamber of commerce is looking at increasing its use of private security firms and will ask the city to deduct some of these costs from the Police Service budgetthe chamber members are that upset. They want a more visible presence and a more serious arrest policy, not just giving these young criminals a talking-to and a ride home. The chamber of commerce invests a lot of energy into promoting the city as safe, and encouraging folks to come downtown for shopping and other social activities. If people begin to feel threatened, business will suffer. The chamber is seeing this in a number of instances in the downtown core.

In addition, the chamber of commerce is concerned about upcoming road construction and traffic diversion projects that will disrupt shopping patterns and the routine functions of businesses. At this point, time lines for construction, both the "when" and "for how long," have not been firmly set, or if set, not communicated to the chamber. Chamber members wonder about the challenges of policing business areas that have closed or impeded roads. In particular, they are concerned about the increased likelihood of vandalism and other crimes in these areas, and the likelihood of longer response times by police to emergency calls from businesses there. They feel that they have not been adequately consulted by the city or adequately reassured by police as to what steps will be taken to mitigate potential problems arising from the major traffic disruptions that are anticipated.

Editor of the Hope City Telegraph The editor expressed the view that overall the Police Service is run well but not very much in line with more modern views of community involvement. The Chief does not often volunteer to speak with the press but waits to be asked. As a result, not too many of the key newspaper reporters and editors know him or his deputies very well. In other cities, chiefs and deputies have adopted a more proactive approach and are coming to the press with news and issuesnot just the usual press release stuff designed to make them look good. Situating his paper as a watchdog over municipal spending, the editor noted that the Telegraph frequently takes issue with growing municipal expenditures, of which police expenditures represent an ever-increasing portion.

In particular, he noted that overtime expenditures appear to be out of control, and that the annual ritual of demanding extra money to cover these growing costs suggests that the police budget needs a major overhaul (i.e., better forecasting and more controls).Citizens against Racism Community Group The informal leader of this group reported that she feels that the Police Service is often too quick to pick on visible minority youths and men. She does not feel the police are in tune with modern Canadian society, and wants to see a lot more visible minority officers, as well as mandatory diversity training for officers. She stated that some of the group's members are getting very upset with this perceived racism and are ready to make this an issue for the courts. They are talking about civil suits and lots of media interviews. She also admits that they have no real data on which to base their conclusions but they know racism when they see itand it is clearly in the Hope City Police Service culture. She wants to see fewer arrests of young people and more diversity. While complaining of police heavy-handedness and racism, she noted that some communities with large ethnic populations are seeing little or no police presence in spite of increased complaints from residents about growing youth problems, including vandalism, noise, and assaults. When pressed on how this increase was recorded, she indicated that this is anecdotal, as many ethnic groups are reluctant to seek formal police help through 911 or even 311. Presumably, she would like any increased police presence to occur in the person of visible minority officers. Moreover, as an alternative to increased policing to deal with youth problems, she put forth her group's position that more of the city budget should be going to community-based groups to establish recreational and social programs for young people. She does not view the police as a potential partner in this process. In fact, she and her supporters are actively working with other community groups to make sure they get a bigger piece of the pie and the police get less. They are also actively lobbying city councilors, many of whom she feels seem to be agreeing with them. She intends to make this case to the mayor and CAO before the next budget talks occur.

East End Residents Association The president of the influential East End Residents Association stated that its members have been campaigning for the past two years for the police to address traffic problems arising from rapid growth in their part of the city. The association identifies traffic control as the number one policing issue in the city. While the number of vehicles has increased dramatically, road construction has not kept up. What were once rural roads are now used as arterial connectors leading to Benville, or to the expressway ramps to Benville. During commuting hours these roads are often totally gridlocked. Impatient and aggressive drivers add to the problem, and because these roads do not have sidewalks or large shoulder areas, pedestrians and bicycle riders are increasingly at risk. Further, where there is road constructionand there has been lots of it this yearthere seems to have been very little planning on how best to keep traffic moving safely and fluidly, especially to allow the movement of ambulances and fire trucks. The association president maintained that when traffic completely bogs down, particularly at minor accident sites or intersections where lights are out of commission, there is rarely a police presence to sort it out. The association president complained that he and some of the association's members have met with community police officers on these and other issues, including increased youth crime, but feel that these officers are not really committed to the exercise and/or have no real power. The president confided that his perception is that community policing officers seem to be "on sabbatical" (i.e., taking a break from real policing) rather than really working with the association's members to address community policing issues. In closing, he expressed the view that policing in Hope City appeared to be reactive rather than preventive, and committed to token consultation rather than real partnerships.

Hope City Citizens for Responsible Government Lowell Black, a local radio talk show host and leader of this group, expressed the view that it is high time that the city and Police Service got their finances in order. He noted that the Hope City police force seems to be trying to do more with less than other like-sized communities (i.e., answer more police calls with fewer officers and less annual money). In response, for years the force has had to make emergency appeals to the city for millions of dollars to cover overtime. He says that Hope City's citizens deserve a sufficiently funded police force, one that forecasts its future expenditures accurately and that does not waste millions of dollars annually on excessive overtime. Mr. Black maintains that his group has sought meetings with the police chief and the Police Service Board to put forth its views but has yet to get an audience. He is strongly supportive of a well-funded Police Service, but wants it managed in a more businesslike manner. Other Input As part of the report, the summarized some recent surveys that Hope City and the Police Service had conducted. These survey results are presented

Type Very Concerned 10%

Somewhat Concerned 28%

Not Concerned Noise 62%

Suspicious persons 35%5% 40%

Speeding traffic 39% 32% 28%

Breaking and entering 18% 45% 37%

Theft of property 18% 42% 36%

Car theft 15% 40% 46%

Vandalism 25% 40% 35%

Being assaulted on the street 22% 25% 52%

Being verbally abused 19% 22% 58%

Domestic disputes5% 30% 65%

Exhibit 17.1 Survey Results for Offense/Complaint Types On the legal front, the Police Service has also faced some challenges. A recent court case found that evidence in a case had been gathered improperly, leading to a City Charter violation. The exclusion of the evidence led to a dismissal of serious criminal charges. In dismissing the case, the judge expressed concern that the Hope City police officers lacked proper knowledge and training in the area of search and preservation of evidence. The Police Service is in the middle of a human rights complaint from one of its uniformed employees. She claims that she was not properly accommodated as the result of a medical condition that prevented her from riding in patrol vehicles. There is considerable resentment within the ranks of these special forms of accommodation.

Finally, the inquiries listed some developments that they were aware of in other work in the police community: The Provincial Ministry of Public Safety, which supervises policing in the province, is conducting a study on the creation of regional police services, one for the four cities east of Benville and one for the three cities to the west and north. This will be completed sometime in the next year. One of the currently favored options is the creation of two mega-services. Police Service Board appointments are up for renewal this year. Many of the current board members have been around for a couple of terms, and change can be expected. Vancouver has just launched an aggressive recruitment campaign in this part of the country, and the packages offered for young officers are attractive. Benville has launched a job search for two new deputy chiefs. All chiefs in the adjacent areas have been approached by the headhunter, including Chief Paulson. So have a number of deputies. COMMUNITY VIEWS ON POLICE ISSUESA Community Police Survey of Hope City was completed four months ago. Its objective was: "To gather information from the adult residents in Hope City about their contact with the police; their attitudes regarding the quality of policing services provided by the police; their level of concern regarding neighborhood crime issues; their attitudes about personal safety; and their home security and protection measures. "The target population for the survey consisted of people over the age of 18 residing in Hope City.