KRW report: APD employees display widespread dissatisfaction

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Posted: June 28, 2016 - 9:02pm

By BIANCA R. MONTES

bianca.montes@amarillo.com

A revealing analysis of Amarillo Police Department shows widespread dissatisfaction among its employees. Issues over leadership – or a lack thereof – were prevalent in an 86-page report delivered to city council members on Tuesday.

While the in-depth investigation into APD’s policies and procedures is nearly six-months in the making, the delivery follows an announcement last week that Police Chief Robert Taylor will retire at the end of June.

A recent open record request obtained by the Amarillo Globe-News shows the police chief dropped from an 8.5 to a 7 ranking in his annual performance review. Questions about how the ranking system works and to provide context into the numerical change have yet to be answered by city staff.

Lorne Kramer, a managing partner of consulting firm KRW Associates, said his scrutiny of APD showed employees did not have a good sense of the department’s vision, don’t know what the future looks like and don’t have a clear vision of expectations from management.

Back in January, city leaders requested a fresh set of eyes to look at the police department’s policies, procedures and performance.

Kramer, who worked in law enforcement for nearly two decades, said he and other consultants spent months talking and listening to people — both inside and out of the police department — and gathering data. Their research included speaking to more than 300 people and holding four focus groups in all quadrants of the city.

The end result was 52 recommendations – some low-hanging fruit and others that will require a long-term plan.

Some of the proposed changes dealt with updating antiquated policies and procedures, defining community policing and revisiting goals and missions of the department.

“There is widespread consensus the department is stagnated and needs change,” the consultants wrote in the report.

APD has a current budget of $44.8 million – the largest budget of the city departments – and has increased 8.5 percent over the past three years. Staffing for the police department also has increased by 48 officers in the past six years. It has an authorized 428 employees.

While consultants say the staffing is in tune with the city’s needs, they said it’s not efficient.

“There is not a systematic way of determining staffing needs at the police department,” Kramer said.

One of the recommendations suggested staffing some 21 current positions with “civilians rather than sworn officers.” A plan, they say will free up officers to be more proactive in the community.

“Although the Department has embraced the unique needs and desires of customers by attempting to provide the best service possible, it is not clear that community service expectations are current,” the report stated.

For many theorists the chief of police, as well as other key leaders of the organization, shape and influence the direction and values of the organization, consultants wrote in the report. When talking with community members, consultants said the expressed sentiments was that “most of the staff in the department are nice people,” but there was clearly a strong feeling that change is needed.

Consultants said police staff also wants change and were not hesitant to say it. One of their chief complaints was they felt that instead of engaging in things such as community policing, they were “running call-to-call.”

However, based on an analysis of the department’s response time, consultants said that doesn’t seem to be the case. They noted that APD has an average response time for Priority One calls of 11.8 minutes compared to the average response to emergency calls for medium-sized departments of five to seven minutes.

Although APD professes to be involved in Community Policing, it is not practiced at the department, according to the consultant’s report.

“In fact, there is little evidence of Community Policing being practiced or discussed,” they wrote. “There is no organizational strategy which supports the systemic use of community partnerships or problem-solving techniques to proactively address conditions that contribute to crime, gangs, social disorder or the fear of crime.”

One person interviewed about public perception of the police department said, “Relationships are lacking; we only seem to interact with the police when they are writing us tickets.”

Another resident said, “I don’t ever bother to call the police. If they come it takes several hours to get there and then they act like they really don’t want to be there, and leave as quickly as they can get away.”

Consultants noted that in more than one incident after a report of a crime, police investigations seemed to show lack of interest and follow-up.

Consultants, who also focused on the organizational climate and culture of the police department, said they found it to be very authoritarian.

“The perception from the men and women in the organization is there has been an erosion of trust and very poor communication both upwardly and throughout the organization,” Kramer said, adding that how police officers treat community members is also a reflection of how they’re treated by leadership in the organization.

Kramer called the APD employees eager for change, but said they were cynical about whether change would come.

The lack of communication from the top-down and bottom-up represents a major organizational concern for the majority of personnel, according to the report.

Councilman Elisha Demerson, who has championed the idea of analyzing best practices of the police department, said he was very impressed with the work the consultants did, especially the candid comments they were able to obtain from community members and police department staff.

“No one can call this a white wash,” he said, adding that he wasn’t surprised by any of the findings.

The report reveals that the general consensus of one of APD’s departments was that “management is unresponsive to the concerns of the staff and really knows very little about the operations and challenges.”

Some of the key issues, consultants say, stem from the department’s promotional system, which they recommended be revised. Kramer said there seems to be no merit system when it comes to the department’s promotional system, and no judgment or oversight if those being promoted have the capacity of qualifications to be a leader. He also said employees are not allowed to participate in policy making, and instead are “being told what to do rather than feeling empowered.”

Other comments made by employees referred to the idea of a department analysis as “just another knee-jerk reaction, and we don’t expect much to come of it.” Another noted that the agency is a “blaming rather than a learning environment.”

Childers said he has already begun the process to move forward by passing a copy of the assessment to the future Interim Police Chief Ed Drain, saying, “take this report, examine it and address the low hanging fruit.

Going forward, Childers said a large part of the discussion while looking to fill the police chief position on a permanent basis will include vision to implement the report.

“This is important,” he said. “We want to move forward.”

Demerson echoed the interim city manager’s statement, saying he’d like to see a plan for improvements on council’s agenda soon, outlining a 30 day, 60 day, 90 day and long-term plan.

As for how the changes might impact the department – and those willing to stay there – Demerson said he can’t predict the future.

“Individuals, at all levels, who are ready, willing and able, will welcome the changes,” he said, “and those that feel they can’t do this, won’t.”

One of the key pieces of advise the consultant gave in their report was to rid the department of the “we have always done things this way and see no reason to change” attitude.

Despite the harsh assessment of the department, both the interim city manager and Mayor Paul Harpole praised Taylor on his way out the door.

“When you’re putting your dirty laundry in front of everyone it doesn’t always look good,” Harpole said, thanking the chief for his commitment to stay on during the analysis.