According to the SPD Senior Staff and the Lieutenants and Captains Association you aren’t. In their complaint against Frank Straub they cited “inefficient resource allocation”, “duplication of efforts”, “wasted time”, and “unnecessary overtime” all of which were and are pretty easy to identify.

The COPS/DOJ Review folks saw the same thing I did before they even got here and came up with Recommendation 10.5, a recommendation every Citizen in Spokane and the City Council should demand be done independently or we will end up with nothing but “FLUFF” and “MANURE”.

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Recommendation 10.5

SPD should conduct a staffing analysis to determine if the department is meeting its operational needs and has an adequate amount of staff to ensure its continued mission, objectives, and community policing principles.

SPD should conduct a staffing analysis. This analysis should follow the workload-based model. This model will allow SPD to examine the “levels of demand for police services and matches that demand with the supply for police resources.” *143 In addition to examining calls for service received, this model also examines other “operational demands facing the department”144 (e.g., police activities league [PAL], community meet­ings, training) and makes staffing determinations based on these findings.

*143. McCabe, James. (n.d.). An Analysis of Police Department Staffing: How many officers do you really need? White paper prepared for International City/County Management Association, Center for Public Safety Management. http://icma.org/Documents/Document/Document/305747.

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Most folks unfamiliar with COPS/DOJ Reviews and Law Enforcement Consultant Analysis often overlook very significant aspects of those reports. Footnote *143 in the recommendation above has special significance given Rachael Alexander’s recent update of this Spokesman Review Section http://www.spokesman.com/doj/ .

Please follow this copy of the link in the COPS/DOJ Review footnote if you want to gain understanding of what the Citizens of Spokane need!

http://icma.org/Documents/Document/Document/305747

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The reason understanding the significance of that footnote is important is because of the predictable response Rachel Alexander received from SPD when she questioned them regarding Recommendation 10.5.

This was SPD’s response:

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 Status:

The Office of Justice Program’s Diagnostic Center will provide technical assistance to SPD to analyze its workload. The panel studying this met on June 12, 2015 and held additional meetings in July.

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When I read that “Status” I had to laugh as I predicted that the Mayor, Frank Straub, City Council, and SPD would do everything in their power not to have a legitimate independent staffing analysis done, and the use of OJPDC to provide “technical assistance” is evidence I was right in my prediction.

Allow me to explain. ICMA (linked in footnote) is one of several independent consulting firms that do detailed staffing analysis of law enforcement agencies, OJPDC is not. There have only been two independent efficiency and staffing analysis done of law enforcement agencies in the Spokane area, one in 2007 by the Matrix Consulting Group of the SPD which was very critical of SPD and despite very good recommendations the vast majority were never carried out primarily because there was no pressure from politicians to do so.

Here is a link to the SPD portion of the Matrix Report which I feel the Mayor, City Council, the Media, and interested Citizens should read and understand because this is the type of analysis the Community deserves and not one conducted by our much troubled SPD.

https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A6d395a6b-809c-472a-a277-2b5fbc4988c5

This link is an independent analysis done by ICMA (International City/County Management Association) of the SCSO for the City of Spokane Valley when they were considering their own Police Department. Please not this is the same consulting firm mentioned in the COPS/DOJ footnote. What I found funny about this report is that the consultants caught the Sheriff supplying them with phony data (refer to pages 14, 15, and 16) something that is often the case when independent analysis is done.

https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A9ee49e56-2630-45c5-a669-5cdf27c3e25e

As I mentioned earlier ICMA and Matrix are two of several consulting firms that have a long history of doing law enforcement staffing analysis and their work products of many, many other law enforcement agencies are readily available if you are interested.

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So exactly what is OJPDC that according to SPD will be providing “technical assistance” to them in completing Recommendation 10.5? The TRUTH is, that they are relatively new having been established in 2012 by DOJ’s Office of Justice Programs. The TRUTH also is, that they have no experience in department wide staffing analysis. The TRUTH is, just like experienced consulting groups their “technical assistance” also costs us money. The TRUTH is, there is no indication on the OJPDC website that SPD has even requested their “technical assistance” so how about the SR obtaining a copy of the request?

https://www.ojpdiagnosticcenter.org/

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The FACTS stated here demonstrate two options for the Mayor, City Council, and SPD Administration:

1) Go ahead and try to “game it” so you don’t look real bad.

2) Do it right in the best interest of the entire Community.