About 60 people attended two public workshops on the city’s
effort to devise an
”
outcome-based
”
public safety strategy, many expressing a common request for
more such outreach and communication from the police department,
according to police chief David Swing.
About 60 people attended two public workshops on the city’s effort to devise an “outcome-based” public safety strategy, many expressing a common request for more such outreach and communication from the police department, according to police chief David Swing.
Attendees were asked two questions at the facilitated discussions at the Community and Cultural Center – What are the public safety issues currently facing Morgan Hill? And what do you want from your police department?
Swing explained the answers to those questions, to be asked of as many community members as possible over the next few weeks, will determine the shape of an outcome-based strategy.
An outcome-based strategy would focus on broad, long-term outcomes rather than short-term results such as arrest numbers or crime statistics. Police hope to develop at least three such outcomes, based on public expectations.
Those expectations were somewhat mixed on some topics, such as traffic enforcement (some wanted more and some wanted less), but a common request was for more communication from police, Swing said.
“People say they want there to be a healthy dialogue” between police and residents, Swing said.
That’s something Swing, who was just appointed to police chief earlier this year, wants to work on anyway. The department is planning on publishing a newsletter, and improving their efforts to follow up with crime victims. Plus, they will continue to conduct meetings with the public, including homeowners associations, both to develop a long-term strategy and to stay in touch.
Some people at the workshops expressed fear of crime “in general terms,” Swing said. Part of the outcome-based strategy will be to determine where that fear is based, whether on the press given to more serious incidents, for example, or personal day-to-day experiences.
The city council established the formation of an outcome-based strategy as one of its goals for 2011 earlier this year. The strategy could have the effect of streamlining public safety services by focusing directly on issues the public is most concerned about, at a time when the city is strapped for funding.
“We’ve got to be as efficient and as effective as we possibly can, and make sure we spend every dollar in a way that makes sure that people get what they want,” Mayor Steve Tate said. The goal of the strategy will be to “optimize” the delivery of services in line with public expectations, he added. “You’ve got to pin down what people are expecting.”
When drafted, the strategy will include both broad-based long-term objectives, as well as day-to-day measurement efforts the department will enact in order to reach those goals. The city recently hired a new crime analyst to assist in the measuring aspect of the plan.
No more public workshops or meetings are planned for the immediate future, but police staff will continue to discuss the desired outcomes and expectations with city staff and smaller groups of the public in the coming months, Swing said.
Tate added the attendance at last week’s workshops was lower than the city would like to see, and he hopes to see more public participation in the process as it continues.
