Berkeley City Council
May 5, 2022

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY After filtering
through the data using the methodology outlined above, the remaining incidents represent the community-generated calls for service handled by IPD patrol units.
(2) Calls for Service by Hour and Weekday
The following table displays the total number of calls for service handled by patrol units by each hour and day of the week:

Calls for Service by Hour and Weekday
Hour Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Total

12a 99 42 41 42 40 69 95 428
1am 91 40 42 45 40 61 93 412
2am 67 24 26 35 31 37 67 287
3am 36 17 19 23 25 29 28 177
4am 24 18 16 20 16 23 16 133
5am 20 16 17 21 19 24 18 135
6am 22 25 23 22 22 26 22 162
7am 25 30 25 43 34 44 36 237
8am 42 56 46 61 60 65 50 380
9am 69 86 70 83 64 69 79 520
10am 63 103 73 91 79 85 58 552
11am 72 98 83 97 79 95 102 626
12pm 90 97 80 76 91 108 91 633
1pm 83 91 94 101 80 110 96 655
2pm 85 115 120 119 121 148 105 813
3pm 88 122 116 127 151 126 130 860
4pm 104 143 146 133 143 130 113 912
5pm 84 125 123 156 113 130 94 825
6pm 76 109 102 98 94 109 91 679
7pm 80 99 89 78 74 107 94 621
8pm 63 84 97 76 71 78 78 547
9pm 75 68 70 74 75 87 99 548
10pm 67 80 66 67 85 92 94 551
11pm 55 55 66 56 81 101 110 524

Total 1,580 1,743 1,650 1,744 1,688 1,953 1,859 12,217
Matrix Consulting Group 2

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY The chart demonstrates that, across all days of the week, call activity during the late night and early morning hours is minimal compared to the busier hours of the day – generally during the afternoon and early evening. This is particularly notable given the deployment schedule of the department, which assigns equal numbers of o fficers
to all
three shifts (days, swings, and nights) despite vastly different workload levels. The following chart summarizes call for service activity on an hourly basis across all days of the week:

Call for Service Activity by Hour
Call activity has a relatively even buildup and decline up to and trailing from the peak of 4:00PM. This is somewhat more pronounced than in other agencies, where there is often a longer-lasting ‘plateau’ of higher levels of call activity. (3) Calls for Service by Month
The following table displays calls for service totals by month, showing seasonal variation as a percentage difference from the quarterly average:

Calls for Service by Month
Month # of CFS Seasonal +/-

Jan 783
-17.8%Feb 777
Mar 950
Apr 974
+0.9%May 1,055
Jun 1,052
Jul 1,076
+14.2%Aug 1,183
Matrix Consulting Group 3

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Sep 1,230
Oct 1,143
+2.7%Nov 1,039
Dec 955

Total 12,217
Seasonal variation is signi ficant
in Ithaca, likely owing to in fluence
of the cold winters
experienced in Upstate New York. The variation in call generation due to this factor does not appear to be signi ficantly
moderated by the additional population in Ithaca during Fall through Spring as a result of Cornell University and Ithaca College being in regular session.
(4) Most Common Types of Calls for Service
The following table provides the ten most common incident categories of calls for service handled by patrol units over the last year, as well as the average call handling time (HT) for each:1
Most Common Call for Service Categories
Incident Type # CFS HT

12a 4a 8a 12p 4p 8p

ASSIST 1,224 29.7

WELFARE CHECK 1,015 29.5

PD ACCIDENT 919 37.5

THEFT 760 45.6

ALARM POLICE 732 12.8

NOISE CMPLNT 665 16.6

SUSPICIOUS 637 25.8

DISPUTE 633 36.4

PARKING PROBLEM 596 19.5

TRAFFIC CMPLNT 532 18.6

1 Handling time is de fined as the total time in which a patrol unit was assigned to an incident. It is calculated as the difference between the recorded time stamps the unit being dispatched and cleared from the incident.

Matrix Consulting Group 4

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY

All Other Types 4,504 39.6

Total 12,217 32.4

IPD uses relatively broad categories for CAD incident types, with the generic “ASSIST” category comprising 10% of all calls for service handled by the department.

It is worth noting that “PD ACCIDENT” refers to accidents that the department responds to, not accidents involving the police department.

Even so, there is a noticeable clustering of the top four incident categories – which together account for just under one third of all calls for service – in terms of when they are most likely to occur. Each peaks around the late afternoon and early evening hours, with their frequency rising and declining over the several hours preceding and following that period. Most of the other leading call categories, by contrast, peak in the evening and nighttime hours.

The department’s demand pro
file
of high-volume, low-priority incidences is typical, with most police forces having similar trends. The signi ficant workload incurred from some
of these incident categories, which involve lower-priority, non-violent offenses, indicates that there is opportunity to divert some of these calls for service to alternative response.

The next phase of the study will examine the feasibility of such options further, such as non-armed professionals, in addition to non-response report options (e.g., online reports and telephone reporting).
(5) Call for Service Response Time by Year
The following table displays call for service statistics priority level, showing the median (middle value) response time and distribution of calls by response time for each2 category:
2 Response time is de
fined in this report as the duration between the call creation timestamp and the arrival time stamp for the first patrol officer on the scene.

Matrix Consulting Group 5

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Call for Service Response Time by Priority Level
In 2019, response time performance was exceptional, with 85% of all calls for service – regardless of severity – answered within 30 minutes. 97% of all calls were answered within an hour. It is important to stress that the computer-aided dispatch data received by the project team did not contain priority level information. Thus, this analysis is not able to break response times down by priority, which generally works as a proxy for call severity.

Nonetheless, a median response time of 10.5 minutes for all calls for service is extraordinarily low, and could indicate – but does not necessarily prove – that current sta
ffing allows for the capacity t
o handle community-generated workloads.

Matrix Consulting Group 6

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY

3. Analysis of Patrol Resource Needs
Analysis of the community-generated workload handled by patrol units is at the core of analyzing field
staffing
needs. Developing an understanding of where, when, and what types of calls are received provides a detailed account of the service needs of the community, and by measuring the time used in responding and handling these calls, the sta
ffing
requirements for meeting the community’s service needs can then be determined.

To provide a high level of service, it is not enough for patrol units to function as call responders. Instead, o fficers
must have su fficient
time outside of community-driven
workload to proactively address community issues, conduct problem-oriented policing, and perform other self-directed engagement activities within the community. As a result, patrol sta
ffing
needs are calculated not only from a standpoint of the capacity of current resources to handle workloads, but also their ability to provide a certain level of service beyond responding to calls.

With this focus in mind, the following sections examine process used by the project team to determine the patrol resource needs of the Ithaca Police Department based on current workloads, staff availability, and service level objectives. (1) Overview of the Resource Needs Analysis
An objective and accurate assessment of patrol sta
ffing
requires analysis of the
following three factors:
i. The number of community-generated workload hours handled by patrol.
ii. The total number of hours that patrol is on-duty and able to handle those workloads, based on current sta
ffing
numbers and net
availability factors (e.g., leave, administrative time, etc.). iii. The remaining amount of time that patrol has to be proactive, which can also be referred to as “uncommitted” time.

This study de
fines
the result of this process as, patrol proactivity, or the percentage of patrol officers’
time in which they are available and on-duty that is not spent responding to community-generated calls for service. This calculation can also be expressed visually as an equation:

Matrix Consulting Group 7

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Total Net Available Hours– Total CFS Workload Hours
Total Net Available Hours
= % Proactivity
The result of this equation is the overall level of proactivity in patrol , which in turn provides a model for the ability of patrol units to be proactive given current resources and community-generated workloads. There are some quali fications to this, which
include the following:
• Optimal proactivity levels are a generalized target, and a single percentage should be applied to every agency. The actual needs of an individual department vary based on a number of factors, including:
– Other resources the department has to proactively engage with the community and address issues, such as a dedicated proactive unit. – Community expectations and ability to support a certain level of service. – Whether fluctuations
in the workload levels throughout the day require
additional or fewer resources to be staffed to provide adequate coverage. • Su fficient
proactivity at an overall level does not guarantee, based on workload patterns, and deployment schedules, that resources are su fficient throughout all
times of the day and week.

Overall, to provide effective patrol services and handle community-generated workload, IPD should generally target an overall proactivity level of at least 40-45% as an effective benchmark of patrol coverage. Agencies below this number typically lack the resources to avoid issues caused by resource shortages, such as frequently experiencing queues of calls that lead to longer response times, particularly for lower-priority calls for service. An important quali
fier
is that even agencies above this number can have
inefficient
deployment schedules that do not staff high-activity periods of the day with sufficient
resources, thus resulting in the same effects on response times as if sta ffing as
a whole is adequate. Thus, the overall proactivity target of 40-45% should be thought of as a benchmark for the potential to provide effective levels of service – to avoid both longer response times to lower-priority calls for service, as well as to be able to have the time available to be proactive outside of responding to calls.

Matrix Consulting Group 8

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY (2) Patrol Unit Sta ffing and Net A
vailability
The Ithaca Police Department follows an 8.25-hour shift con figur ation that assigns
personnel to workday sets of 4 days on, followed by 2 days off. As a 6-day rotation, the workdays are not fix
ed to days of week, and are instead constantly rotating forward.

The 24 o fficers
in patrol and their supervisors are assigned to one of three shifts: Day3 (2245–0700), Swing (1500–2315), or night (0700–1515). O fficers on a platoon are
assigned to a speci fic
sergeant who is responsible for direct field
supervision on shared
workdays and for completing regular performance evaluations.

Given patrol sta ffing
allocations, net availability calculations can provide a realistic picture of how sta ffing
translates to active on-duty hours. Out of the 2,008 hours per year that o fficers
are scheduled to work in a year (excluding overtime), a large percentage is not actually spent on-duty and available in the field.

As
a result, it is critical to understand the amount of time that o fficers are on leave –
including vacation, sick, injury, military, or any other type of leave – as well as any hours dedicated to on-duty court or training time, and all time spent on administrative tasks such as attending shift brie
fings.

The impact of each of these factors is determined
through a combination of calculations made from IPD data and estimates based on the experience of the project team, which are then subtracted from the base number of annual work hours per position. The result represents the total net available hours of patrol o
fficers,
or the time in which they are on-duty and available to complete workloads and other activities in the field:

The
table below outlines this process in detail, outlining how each contributing factor is calculated:

Factors Used to Calculate Patrol Net Availability
3 Filled positions only. Numbers do not include trainees, those in the academy, or o fficers on long-term disability leave.

Matrix Consulting Group 9

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Work Hours Per Year
The total number of scheduled work hours for patrol o ffi cers, without factoring in
leave, training, or anything else that takes o ffi
cers away from normal on-duty work.

This factor forms the base number from which other availability factors are subtracted from.

Base number: 2,008 scheduled work hours per year
Total Leave Hours (subtracted from total work hours per year) Includes all types of leave, as well as injuries and military leave – anything that would cause offi
cers that are normally scheduled to work on a specifi
c day to instead not be
on duty. As a result, this category excludes on-duty training, administrative time, and on-duty court time.

Calculated from IPD data: 391 hours of leave per year
On-Duty Court Time (subtracted from total work hours per year) The total number of hours that each o ffi
cer spends per year attending court while on
duty, including transit time. Court attendance while on overtime is not included in the figur
e.

Without any data recording on-duty court time speci fi
cally for patrol o ffi
cers, the
number of hours is estimated based on the experience of the project team.

Estimated: 20 hours of on-duty court time per year
On-Duty Training Time (subtracted from total work hours per year) Matrix Consulting Group 10

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY The total number of hours spent per year in training that are completed while on-duty and not on overtime. This number based using watch sheet data for 2019 to estimate the training hours that would have been conducted on regular time, as opposed to overtime. If training is completed on overtime, it does not necessarily take away from the number of regular work hours an o ffi
cer works in a pay period, and thus is not
relevant to this analysis. However, data systems rarely designate which training is conducted on regular time versus overtime.

Estimated/calculated from IPD data: 139 hours of on-duty training time per year Administrative Time (subtracted from total work hours per year) The total number of hours per year spent completing administrative tasks while on-duty, including briefi
ng, meal breaks, and various other activities.

The number is calculated as an estimate by multiplying 60 minutes of time per shift4 times the number of shifts actually worked by o ffi
cers in a year after factoring out the
shifts that are not worked as a result of leave being taken.

Estimated: 196 hours of administrative time per year
Total Net Available Hours
After subtracting the previous factors from the total work hours per year, the remaining hours comprise the total net available hours for offi cers – the time in which
they are available to work after accounting for all leave, on-duty training, court, and administrative time. Net availability can also be expressed as a percentage of the base number of work hours per year.

Calculated by subtracting the previously listed factors from the base number:
4 Typically, 60 minutes are assumed for shifts from 8-9 hours in length, and 90 minutes per shift for longer patrol shifts.

Matrix Consulting Group 11

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY 1,261 net available hours per officer
The following table and chart summarize this calculation process, displaying how each net availability factor contributes to the overall net availability of patrol officers:

Calculation of P
atrol Unit Net Availability
Base Annual Work Hours   2,008

Total Leave Hours − 391
On-Duty Training Hours − 139
On-Duty Court Time Hours − 20
Administrative Hours − 196

Net Available Hours Per Officer = 1,261

Number of Officer Positions × 24
Total Net Available Hours = 30,274
Overall, the 24 filled
officer
positions combine for 30,274 net available hours per year, representing the total time in which they are on duty and able to respond to community-generated incidents and be proactive.
(3) Overview of Call for Service Workload Factors
The previous chapter of the report examined various trends in patrol workload, including variations by time of day and of week, common incident types, as well as a number of Matrix Consulting Group 12

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY other methods. This section advances this analysis, detailing the full extent of the resource demands that these incidents create for responding patrol personnel.

Each call for service represents a certain amount of workload, much of which is not captured within the handling time of the primary unit. Some of these factors can be calculated directly from data provided by the department, while others must be estimated due to limitations in their measurability.

The following table outlines the factors that must be considered in order to capture the full scope of community-generated workload, and provides an explanation of the process used to calculate each factor:

Factors Used to Calculate Total Patrol Workload
Number of Community-Generated Calls for Service
Data obtained from an export of CAD data covering a period of an entire year that has been analyzed and filter
ed in order to determine the number and characteristics of all community-generated activity handled by patrol offi
cers.

The calculation process used to develop this number has been summarized in previous sections.

Calculated from IPD data: 12,217 community-generated calls for service Primary Unit Handling Time
The time used by the primary unit to handle a community-generated call for service, including time spent traveling to the scene of the incident and the duration of on-scene time. For each incident, this number is calculated as the difference between ‘call cleared’ time stamp and the ‘unit dispatched’ time stamp.

Matrix Consulting Group 13

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY In the experience of the project team, the average handling time is typically between 30 and 42 minutes in agencies where time spent writing reports and transporting/booking prisoners is not included within the recorded CAD data time stamps. At 32.3 minutes per call, IPD is somewhat on the lower end of most agencies, although not an outlier by any means.

Calculated from IPD data: 32.3 minutes of handling time per call for service Number of Backup Unit Responses
The total number of backup unit responses to community-generated calls for service. This number often varies based on the severity of the call, as well as the geographical density of the area being served.

This number can also be expressed as the rate of backup unit responses to calls for service, and is inclusive of any additional backup units beyond the fi rst.

Calculated from IPD data: 0.55 backup units per call for service Backup Unit Handling Time (multiplied by the rate)
The handling time for backup units responding to calls for service is calculated using the same process that was used for primary units, representing the time from the unit being dispatched to the unit clearing the call.

Calculated from IPD data: 24.7 minutes of handling time per backup unit Number of Reports Written
Matrix Consulting Group 14

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY The total number of reports and other assignments relating to calls for service that have been completed by patrol units, estimated at one report written for every three calls for service. This includes any supporting work completed by backup units. In this case, the number has been estimated based on the experience of the project team. This was done for several reasons, as explained below:

The project team requested a dataset showing written reports and their incident numbers; however, this dataset was not available or possible to produce with IPD resources.

As a backup methodology, the CAD/RMS data provided by the department incudes a call clear field
with a disposition added, which can in some cases be used to estimate report writing. There are four options, each of which repeating for all backup units on the call:
– BLANK CLEARANCE CODE (3)
– NO REPORT NEEDED (2,381)
– REPORT TO FOLLOW (9,540)
– TRANSFERRED TO OTHER AGENCY (1)
9,540 out of 12,217 community-generated calls for service had the disposition value of “REPORT TO FOLLOW” listed in that field.

At 0.78 reports per call for service, this would
represents an unrealistically high report writing rate. The degree to which it is an outlier is also relevant – the vast majority of agencies fall within a report writing rate of 0.25 to 0.35.

At 0.78, IPD would be more than double. Consequently, it must be assumed that the disposition values for “REPORT TO FOLLOW” correspond with some type of reporting required in CAD/RMS upon clearing, given the type of incident it corresponds to. For instance, 81% of calls under the category 911 Hang Up are listed with the “REPORT TO FOLLOW” disposition code. In reality, reporting requirements for such a call type would not likely be signifi
cant.

Given these considerations, a normative estimate was used that is at the conservative (higher) end for communities the size of Ithaca, at 1 report for every 3 community-generated calls for service.

Estimated: 0.33 reports written per call for service
Report Writing Time (multiplied by the report writing rate) Matrix Consulting Group 15

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY The average amount of time it takes to complete a report or other assignment in relation to a call for service. Without any data detailing this speci fi cally, report writing time must be
estimated based on the experience of the project team. It is assumed that 45 minutes are spent per written report, including the time spent by backup units on supporting work assignments.

Estimated: 45 minutes per report
Total Workload Per Call for Service
The total time involved in handling a community-generated call for service, including the factors calculated for primary and backup unit handling time, reporting writing time, and jail transport/booking time.

The product of multiplying this value by the calls for service total at each hour and day of the week is the number of hours of community-generated workload handled by patrol units – equating to approximately 12,398 total hours in 2019.

Calculated from previously listed factors: 60.9 total minutes of workload per call for service Each of the factors summarized in this section contribute to the overall picture of patrol workload – the total number of hours required for patrol units to handle community-generated calls for service, including primary and backup unit handling times, report writing time, and jail transport time.

These factors are summarized in the following table:

Summary of CFS Workload Factors
Total Calls for Service 12,217

53%Avg. Primary Unit Handling Time 32.3 min.

Backup Units Per CFS 0.55

22%Avg. Backup Unit Handling Time 24.7 min.

Matrix Consulting Group 16

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY

Reports Written Per CFS 0.33

25%Time Per Report 45.0 min.

Avg. Workload Per Call 60.9 min.

Total Workload 12,398 hrs.

Overall, each call represents an average workload of 60.9 minutes, including all time spent by the primary unit handling the call, the time spent by any backup units attached to the call, as well as any reports or other assignments completed in relation to the incident.
(4) Calculation of Overall Patrol Proactivity
Using the results of the analysis of both patrol workloads and staff availability, it is now possible to determine the remaining time in which patrol units can function proactively.

The result can then function as a barometer from which to gauge the capacity of current resources to handle call workload demands, given objectives for meeting a certain service level.

The following table shows the calculation process used by the project team to determine overall proactivity levels, representing the percentage of time that patrol o
fficers ha
ve available outside of handling community-generated workloads:

Calculation of Overall Patrol Proactivity
Total Patrol Net Available Hours

30,274
Total Patrol Workload Hours

–

12,398
Resulting # of Uncommitted Hours

=

17,876

Divided by Total Net Available Hours ÷

30,274

Overall Proactive Time Level

=

59.0%
Overall, 59.0% of on-duty time is available to be proactive – well above the targeted threshold of 40-45% as a base. This indicated that IPD has not only su fficient capacity
to handle community-generated workloads, but also to provide exceptional proactive policing.

Matrix Consulting Group 17

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY The following chart shows this analysis at a more detailed level, providing proactivity levels in four-hour blocks throughout the week:

Proactivity by Hour and Weekday
The consistency in proactive time capabilities is highly evident. The chart’s color scale ranges from white to gray to green, fully reaching the end of the scale at 40% – indicating that proactive time is not only su
fficient
to handle workload on a consistent
basis, but to provide exceptional levels of proactive service as well. In IPD’s case, virtually every four-hour block reaches this threshold, even during the daytime hours when workload is highest. A few blocks narrowly reach this level, falling just short at 38-39%, which remains a high level of proactive policing for peak activity hours.

Consequently, it can be strongly concluded from the results of this analysis that current sta
ffing
in patrol meets the demands of workload and provides for ample time to be proactive.
(5) Patrol Sta ffing Le
vels Required to Meet Service Level Objectives
Given the results of the workload and availability analysis, sta ffing levels can be
determined based on achieving a certain target for proactive time. Prior to this, however, there are several considerations that must be made that provide context to sta ffing r
equirements.

Matrix Consulting Group 18

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY (5.1) Adjusting for the Impact of Turnover
For staffing
targets to be grounded in the long-term reality of a workforce, is important to consider the number of vacancies that currently exist, as well as the rate of turnover.

An agency will never be fully staffed, as there will always be vacancies occurring as a result of retirement, termination, and other factors. When these events occur, it takes a signi
ficant
amount of time to recruit a new position, complete the hiring process, run an academy, and complete the FTO program before the individual becomes an on-duty o
fficer
. Given this consideration, agencies must always hire above the number needed to provide a targeted level of service.

The amount of ‘buffer’ that an agency requires should be based on the historical rate of attrition within patrol. Attrition can take many forms – if it is assumed that the majority of vacancies are carried in patrol sta
ffing,
a vacancy at the officer
level in any other area
of the organization would consequently remove one o fficer from regular patrol duties.

Likewise, promotions would have the same effect, in that they create an open position slot in patrol. Not included, however, are positions that become vacant while the individual is still in the academy or FTO program, and they are not counted in our analysis as being part of ‘actual’ patrol sta
ffing.

Giv
en these considerations, an additional 5% authorized (budgeted) positions should be added on top of the actual number currently filled
(actual) positions in order to account
for turnover while maintaining the ability to meet the targeted proactivity level. The resulting figur
e can then be rounded to the nearest whole number, assuming that positions cannot be added fractionally. It is worth noting that the number of o fficers needed
without turnover is fractional, as it is an intermediate step in the calculation process.
(5.2) Additional Considerations
The overall patrol proactivity level should function as a barometer of potential resource capacity to handle workloads and be proactive, and different levels have varying implications for the effectiveness of an agency in being proactive at addressing public safety issues and engaging with the community. These considerations can be summarized as follows:
• In agencies that are severely understaffed in patrol functions, and consequently have very little proactive time ( under 35% overall), calls will frequently be held in queues as resources cannot handle the incoming workload. Proactivity also falls behind, as o
fficers
in such agencies would have little to no time to be proactive.

Matrix Consulting Group 19

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY When gaps do occur, the high rate of workload relative to available time can have a limiting factor on self-initiated generation, as o fficers avoid being tied up on a
proactive activity such as a traffic st
op in case priority calls for service occur.
• As proactivity increases ( around 35-45% overall ), the generation of self-initiated activity rapidly increases, as o fficers
are able to deal with already-identi fied
oppor
tunities to proactively address issues in the community, some of which are prioritized and project-oriented engagements.
• Beyond those levels ( at least 45-50% overall , depending on scheduling and deployment efficiency),
the time available for proactive policing increases further, and opportunities to engage in self-initiated activity expand. However, the number of priority needs for self-initiated activity (e.g., addressing narcotics activity) also decrease. Despite this, no limitations exist on the time that can be spent on activities such as saturation/directed patrols and community engagement activities.
(5.3) Calculation of Sta
ffing Needs
Staffing
calculations provide the culmination of thee proactive time analysis, using the proactive time target to determine how much time must be staffed for relative to workload such that the proactive time target equals the target on an overall basis.

Based on number of net available hours per o
fficer
, the number of authorized positions
needed to achieve the requisite number of hours staffed can be calculated, with a buffer for turnover added thereafter.

It is important to note that the calculations do not take into account the effect of cumulative vacancies that are not able to be replaced and filled
over a multi-year period.

This is intended, as budgeting for additional staff does not fix recruiting, hiring, or
training issues. Instead, the turnover factor is designed to provide a balance against the rate of attrition, assuming new recruits can complete the academy and FTO program each year.

Nonetheless, the following table presents these calculations, showing the number of o
fficers needed t
o maintain the current level of proactive time, at 59% overall:

Staffing Needs @ 59% Pr
oactive Time Target
Total Workload Hours   12,398
Proactivity Target   59%
Matrix Consulting Group 20

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Staffed Hours Needed = 30,239

Net Available Hours Per Officer ÷ 1,261
Turnover Factor + 5%

Patrol Officer FTEs Needed = 26
This process can be repeated for any proactive time target, as shown in the next table:

Officers Needed b
y Proactive Time Level
% Proac. Time

# of Ofc. # to Raise +1%

55%

23 56%

24 +1
57%

25 +1
58%

25 +0
59%

26 +1
60%

26 +0
61%

27 +1
62%

28 +1
63%

28 +0
64%

29 +1
65%

30 +1
66%

31 +1
67%

32 +1
68%

33 +1
69%

34 +1
70%

35 +1
The findings
from this analysis are particularly notable given that as the proactivity level increases, the number of o fficers
needed to raise it further grows exponentially.

Whereas at low proactivity levels, adding several more o fficers would have a significant
eff
ect on overall proactivity, doing so at high proactivity levels (>60%) would have very little effect if the proactivity level was around 60 or 60%.

Matrix Consulting Group 21

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY The following chart provides a visualization of this issue, showing the diminishing returns of adding additional officers on patr
ol proactivity and service levels:

The gray vertical bar indicates the current level of patrol proactivity.

The steeper the curve, the less returns are gained from investing additional resources in patrol. This chart demonstrates that, generally, 40-50% represents the level that should be aimed for, and that improvements to service level experience diminishing returns beyond that point. Below 40%, however, adding staff to patrol achieves signi ficant
eff
ects on proactive time with comparatively minimal financial expenditur es.

Recommendation:

Maintain the current staffing le
vel in patrol.

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DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY

4. Self-Initiated Activity
The analysis to this point has focused exclusively on the reactive portion of patrol workload, consisting of community-generated calls for service and related work. In the remaining available time, which is referred to in this report as proactive time, o fficers
are
able to proactively address public safety issues through targeted enforcement, saturation patrol, community engagement, problem-oriented policing projects, and other activity. Equally critical to the question of how much proactive time is available is how and whether it is used in this manner.

There are some limitations on how the use of proactive time is measured, however. Not all proactive policing efforts are tracked in CAD data, such as some informal area checks, saturation patrol, miscellaneous
field
contacts, and other types of activity.

However, many categories of o fficer-initiated
activity are nonetheless recorded, such as
traffic st
ops, predictive policing efforts, and follow-up investigations.

Nonetheless, CAD data does provide for a signi ficant
portion of o fficer-initiated
activity
to be analyzed to examined for how utilized uncommitted time is for proactive policing. (4.1) Self-Initiated Activity by Hour and Weekday
Self-initiated activity displays different hourly trends compared to community-generated calls for service, as illustrated in the following table:

Self-Initiated Incidents by Hour and Weekday
Hour Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Total

12am 66 66 45 72 66 79 82 476
1am 31 37 44 48 43 42 61 306
2am 52 27 28 28 23 39 33 230
3am 21 13 23 19 17 29 18 140
4am 17 9 9 16 11 14 20 96
5am 8 9 9 7 10 15 8 66
6am 10 7 7 9 11 5 4 53
7am 6 9 3 6 3 8 9 44
8am 13 12 19 14 9 28 16 111
9am 23 25 20 28 15 20 23 154
10am 20 34 23 25 19 26 29 176
11am 32 18 24 18 18 17 30 157
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DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY 12pm 25 23 23 14 16 31 12 144
1pm 15 13 18 17 19 31 26 139
2pm 31 27 23 18 14 14 19 146
3pm 11 16 19 11 13 13 25 108
4pm 31 32 29 25 29 41 26 213
5pm 36 23 18 23 25 29 28 182
6pm 35 31 27 28 24 25 29 199
7pm 28 18 15 15 19 20 23 138
8pm 14 10 27 23 20 16 24 134
9pm 12 26 14 19 24 26 29 150
10pm 13 18 13 15 15 20 12 106
11pm 45 35 28 34 33 43 38 256

Total 595 538 508 532 496 631 624 3,924
Interestingly, self-initiated activity peaks sharply from around 12:00AM to 1:00AM, with an hour or so on either side having comparable levels of activity. At these times, vastly more proactive policing is conducted than during other hours. Possible explanations could include it being immediately after shift change, as well as the high levels of proactive time that exist during those hours.
(4.2) Self-Initiated Activity by Category
Unlike community-generated calls for service, self-initiated activity is typically more concentrated over a few call types:

Most Common Categories of Self-Initiated Activity
Incident Type # CFS HT

12a 4a 8a 12p 4p 8p

TRAFFIC OFFENSE 1,512 13.3

PROPERTY CHECK 996 22.1

ASSIST 435 46.6

WARRANT 113 45.0

SUSPICIOUS 97 23.5

PARKING PROBLEM 94 18.2

LOCAL LAW 83 13.2

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DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY PROPERTY CMPLNT 76 13.7

TRAFFIC CMPLNT 59 35.9

WELFARE CHECK 54 19.8

All Other Types 405 19.6

Total 3,924 21.6

“Traffic
Offense” incidents (i.e., tra ffic
stops) account for about 39% of all self-initiated
incidents, averaging just over 13 minutes per event. Beyond the top three or four categories, activity is relatively sparse. Proactive ‘suspicious’ events (e.g., suspicious vehicle, person, etc. – common categories of police self-initiated activity in most agencies) occur only 97 times over the course of calendar year 2019. (4.3) Total Utilization
Overall, the rate at which self-initiated activity is conducted is not high relative to the amount of proactive time available. This can be shown by examining total utilization – the percentage of o
fficers’
net available time that is spent handling both
community-generated calls for service and self-initiated activity:

Total Utilization of Patrol Officers on Calls for Ser
vice and Self-Initiated Activity
Matrix Consulting Group 25

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Outside of the mid-afternoon to early evening hours, net available time is not highly utilized on either calls for service or o fficer-initiated activity. Of course, it could be
argued that there are only so many opportunities to be proactive. Certain services, such as security checks, however, are highly repeatable in comparison to other types of activity.

Moreover, any proactive policing efforts should be balanced with their potential effects on community trust, a principle echoed in the report on the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing . Too many vehicle stops in certain areas, for instance, can create long-lasting effects on relationships with those communities, creating perceptions that may not be aligned with the original intentions of the activity. Thus, it is not necessarily the goal for o
fficers
to be completely utilized, or for a certain threshold of self-initiated activity to be met.
(4.3) Historical Self-Initiated Activity Trends
To investigate this further, the CAD analysis can be extended for the entire fiv e-year
period for which data was received in order to gauge trends in activity levels, as was provided earlier in the analysis for community-generated calls for service.

The following table presents the findings of this analysis:

Fiv
e-Year Self-Initiated Incident Trends
Year
# Self-Initiated
Incidents +/- Change
2016 5,184 N/A
2017 5,723 +10%
2018 5,610 -2%
2019 3,924 -30%
2020 3,163 -19%
There is a clear drop-off in activity after 2018, with 2019 – the last pre-pandemic year – having signi ficantly
less activity than the year before. The chart below puts this into context, showing the year-by-year changes in both community-generated calls for service and o
fficer-initiated activity:

Matrix Consulting Group 26

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Declining Self-Initiated Incidents Versus Community-Generated Workload The decline in o fficer-initiated
activity does not correlate with an increase in workload, and consequently does not appear to be indicative of a lack of sta ffing capacity to be
proactive.

Matrix Consulting Group 27

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY

5. Shift Schedule Optimization Analysis
The following analysis examines the effectiveness of the current shift schedule and analyzes the feasibility and effects of implementing alternative schedules. This analysis is both quantitative and qualitative, balancing the objective of optimizing resource deployment with the need to have this schedule be broadly popular with o fficers
and
provide for quality of life concerns to be addressed.

The latter point is critical in part because work hours, shift length, and workday patterns are set by the collectively bargained labor agreement made with the Ithaca Police Benevolent Association (PBA), which covers all sworn personnel. Changes to work hours or any schedule characteristics must be made through the collective bargaining process, and cannot be made unilaterally by the department’s management.

This analysis is intended to provide the analytical framework for any discussion on shift schedules, outlining a number of alternatives that most effectively deploy o fficers
to
achieve high levels of service, as well as to provide for o fficer quality of life
considerations to be facilitated.

1. Current Shift Con figur
ation: 8.25-Hour Schedule (Rotating Workdays)
(1.1) Overview
The current shift schedule, which has been in place since 2005, is an 8.25-hour shift, with o fficers
working in a pattern of 4 days on, followed by 2 days off. Because this cycle repeats every 6 days, it is forward-rotating – officers do not have fix
ed workdays. If
an officer
worked Monday to Thursday in one calendar week, the next would be Sunday to Wednesday. Start times are schedule to provide for slight overlaps between shifts, as shown below:

Current 8.25-Hour Shift Con
figur
ation
Working 8.25 hours in a 4 on, 2 off pattern equates to 38.6 work hours per calendar week, or approximately 2,008 scheduled work hours over an entire year. This is a highly Matrix Consulting Group 28

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY unusual con figur
ation, with the vast majority of departments following a 40-hour workweek that equates to 2,080 hours annually. The weekly average of 38.6 hours results in fewer hours worked per officer while also lik
ely not reducing costs overall.

An advantage of the forward-rotating workday schedule is that it gives all o fficers some
weekend days off. This typically a leading consideration for o fficers, particularly among
newer or younger officers
that value an active social life and that lack the seniority to bid for workday sets that provide for weekend days off.

However, on balance with other concerns, the 4-on, 2 off pattern does not necessarily provide for ideal o fficer
quality of life. Forward-rotating workday patterns such as this can often be unpopular due to their disruption on domestic and social life. It can be more di
fficult
to schedule child care and align life outside of work with a domestic partner. Organized activities such as sports or clubs generally have fix ed days when
they occur, making regular attendance impossible in a rotating workday pattern.

Off-duty work is also much more di
fficult
to schedule in a rotating workday pattern – a
critical issue for o fficers
in many departments, particularly those that work 10 or 12-hour shifts and have more consecutive off days. In essence, a constantly changing set of workdays can, for some, misalign and isolate o
fficers
from life outside of work
that generally follows a regular weekly pattern.

Consequently, despite this being a schedule that was and is collectively bargained for – and one that has been in place for more than 15 years – the lack of fix ed workdays
must be considered a key weakness of the current schedule. (1.2) Performance and E fficiency of the Curr
ent Schedule
The following chart provides the proactive time levels, a measure of capacity and service level, achieved by the current shift schedule in four-hour blocks. As values drop below 40%, the color of the cell shifts closer to gray:

Matrix Consulting Group 29

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Overall, the schedule clearly is able to accomplish high levels of proactive time throughout the day, dropping below 40% only during the afternoon and early evening, without decreasing below 34%.

The high proactive time levels do necessarily mean, however, that the schedule is achieving the results e fficiently
. At 59% proactive time on an overall basis, sta ffing
is at
such a high level relative to workload that even moderately ine fficient schedules still
accomplish deployment objectives.

While not the only aim of developing an optimized shift schedule, schedules should efficiently
match staff deployments against periods when workload is greatest. In Ithaca, as explored in the patrol sta ffing
analysis, the difference in workload levels
between day and nighttime hours is exceptional. To this point, 7 times more calls for service are generated during the busiest daytime hour and the least busy nighttime hour:

Matrix Consulting Group 30

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Calls for Service Activity by Hour
Granted, it should not be inferred that 1/7 th of the staff are needed at night – during those hours, sta ffing
for o fficer
safety and emergency response capability are
paramount. The objective of filling
beats in itself is important only so far as it allows for response time to be minimized. In a community the size of Ithaca, this is less likely to be an issue.

Using workload and net availability data, the project team calculated the number of staff that would need to be deployed in order to achieve a proactive time level of 50% – which would represent an extraordinarily high level of service during the daytime hours. While not the only consideration in scheduling, it provides a benchmark against which to gauge how the current schedule used by the Ithaca Police Department allocates personnel against workload demands.

Matrix Consulting Group 31

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Deployed Staff Required for 50% Hourly Proactive Time vs Expected Number Deployed5 With IPD using an equal deployment of 8 officers
to each shift, the 4 officers
expected at
certain times (as opposed to 3) is the result of slight overlaps increasing the average slightly enough to be rounded up.

Nonetheless, the results show that, if 50% proactive time is targeted for at any given hour – an exceptional level of service – too few o fficers are deployed during the
afternoon and early evening hours, with more o fficers
deployed than needed during the
nighttime and early morning hours.

2. Priorities for Alternative Schedule Creation
To be able to offer concrete advantages over the current schedule and ensure that they could realistically be adopted through the collective bargaining process, the following aims are central to the development of alternative schedules:
• Deploy o
fficers
efficiently
based on workload patterns by hour and day in order to
provide for consistently high levels of service.
• Provide for o fficer
safety and emergency response capabilities to be maintained at all hours of the day.
5 The expected number deployed takes into consideration the number scheduled on any particular day and factors in net availability factors such as leave, training, etc. to develop the ‘typical’ scenario. This does not factor in the usage of overtime to fill positions or controls against officers taking time off, nor does it include sergeants in the counts.

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DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY • Prioritize and provide for o fficer quality of lif
e by:
– Using workday patterns that are fix
ed over a weekly or biweekly cycle.
– Maximizing the number of o fficers that r
eceive weekend days off.
– Scheduling reasonable shift start and end times, particularly for night shift personnel.
• Ensure that alternative schedules are Implementable and have the potential to be popular among o fficers,
by using configur
ations that are analogous to schedules
that are popular in other departments.

Effective schedules are able to balance these concerns, which are both qualitative and quantitative and qualitative in nature.

3. Alternative A: 10-Hour Schedule (Fixed Workdays, Adjusted Start Times) The first
alternative is a 10-hour shift in which officers
work the same days each week in
a four-on, three-off pattern. Such a con figur
ation is extremely common throughout the
country, given its ability to provide for overlap between shifts during high-activity periods, while also giving o fficers
the same three days off each week. This results in a
40-hour workweek, totaling 2,080 hours per year.

In this con figur
ation, officers
are staggered across workday sets, spreading staff out as evenly as possible across the week. This avoids a critical issue in many departments’ 10-hour schedules that assigns a shared overlap day where every o fficer is on duty. This
is inherently ine fficient,
as any time in which an above average o fficers
are deployed
results in other times having a below average number of o fficers deployed. By doubling
the o fficers
on one speci fic
day, this occurs in an extreme magnitude, having a
noticeable effect on service levels on other days of the week.

Staggering o fficer
workday sets to address this problem also achieves the bene fit of
giving o fficers
more options and more ways to have at least one weekend day off, whereas most two-team approaches give half of o fficers
the entire weekend and others
no weekend days. However, a key weakness of the schedule that this creates is that officers ar
e not working with the same sergeant each day they are on duty.

The following chart illustrates this schedule and the allocation of o fficers to each shift,
with darker-shaded cells indicating a workday:

Matrix Consulting Group 33

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY 10-Hour Fixed Workday Schedule Configur
ation
In total, 8 o fficers
are assigned to the night shift, 8 o fficers
on the day shift, and 8
officers on the swing shift – the same allocation that exists curr ently.

Matrix Consulting Group 34

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY The following chart shows the proactive time levels achieved by this currently by hour and weekday:
10-Hour Shift Configur
ation Proactive Time Performance
Clearly, the schedule outperforms the current schedule signi ficantly , consistently
providing for extraordinarily high levels of proactive time while still deploying su fficient officers
during the night shift to maintain o fficer
safety and emergency response
capabilities:

Potential modifications
to this schedule include shifting the start times of the night shift back to 2100 in order to end at 0700, allowing for the shift to facilitate a better circadian rhythm. In this scenario, the day shift would also begin at 0700. An overlap of 15 minutes on either side could also be planned for. No adjustments would be needed to the swing shift, which already has a su
fficient o
verlap with the night shift.

4. Alternative B: 12-Hour Schedule (Pitman Configur
ation)
Taking a different approach, the second alternative schedule features a 12-hour shift using the popular ‘Pitman’ con
figur
ation, which uses a regularly repeating set of fix
ed
workdays over a 2-week cycle. In this schedule, o fficers work a 2-on, 2-off, 3-on, 2-off,
2-on, and 3-off pattern.

The workday cycle equates to 84 hours biweekly, or 2,184 hours per year. Some departments pay all hours as regular time and specify the 84-hour biweekly work Matrix Consulting Group 35

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY periods in the labor agreement, thus bypassing the FLSA requirements for overtime.

Others pay the time in excess of 80 biweekly hours as built-in overtime, resulting in 2,080 hours of regular time and 104 hours of scheduled overtime per year as part of the schedule.

With o
fficers
completing 7 shifts over a two-week period, the con figur ation allows for a
high degree of simplicity to be achieved. There are just four shift teams and sets of workdays – one each for day and night shifts, working opposite sides of the week.

The following chart illustrates this, with workdays represented by darker-shaded cells:
12-Hour Pitman Schedule Configur
ation
In the Pitman con figur
ation, all o fficers
get one weekend day off every week. If the
workdays are often backwards by one day in the biweekly cycle shown in the chart, then all officers
get both Saturday and Sunday off every other week. Virtually no other leading schedule con figur
ation guarantees weekend days off to all o fficers
regardless of
seniority.

Another key benefit
of 12-hour shift schedules is that they allow for o fficers for greater
opportunity to work off-duty employment should they chose to. This can sometimes make transitioning away from 12-hour systems unpopular among a subset of o fficers once the
y are implemented.

The effects of the 12-hour Pitman schedule on proactive time are apparent, as shown in the following chart:

Matrix Consulting Group 36

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY 12-Hour Shift Configur
ation Proactive Time Performance
No four-hour block falls below 50%, which places the 12-hour schedule slightly ahead of the 10-hour system in terms of efficiency
and effectiveness. This is aided by the 84-hour
biweekly period, which raises proactive time to 65% on an overall basis.

In spite of the positive characteristics of this schedule, the primary weakness of the schedule, is readily apparent – 12 hours is a relatively long shift in law enforcement work. Issues of fatigue and sleepiness have been attributed to 12-hour shifts by various studies, although it should also be noted that studies have found these effects for 8-hour shifts as well in comparison to 10-hour con
figur
ations.

In general, 12-hour shift con figur
ations can be more popular and potentially cause less
fatigue issues when sta ffing
levels are adequate, or particularly, above that level. This is intuitive – if o fficers
are going call to call for 12 hours, fatigue issues mount and be exacerbated as o fficers
are held over at the end of a shift to handle a call or write a report. However, if o fficers
are handling on average fewer calls per shift and have more time in between handling calls for service, then 12-hour shift con figur ations can be
more palatable.

In Ithaca, o fficers
have a high proactive time level of 59% of available time on an overall.

This indicates that sta ffing
levels are relatively high in comparison to workload, and consequently mean that o fficers
often have ample time in between shifts to ward off
some of the negative effects of a 12-hour shift system.

Matrix Consulting Group 37

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Potential modifications
to the shift schedule include shifting the workday cycles back a day to guarantee a full weekend every other week for all o fficers, as well as adjustment
of start times. It is critical, however, to have the night shift return as early as possible in order to maintain adequate circadian rhythm.

5. Conclusions
The current shift schedule is highly unusual, resulting in a forward-rotating work schedule without fix
ed workdays, while also guaranteeing fewer hours on duty per officer
than virtually any other shift con figur
ation. The 8.25-hour shift length, in itself
becoming less common as agencies shift to 10 and 12-hour systems, is particularly misaligned given the department’s high proactive time levels and consequently longer time for o
fficers
on average in between handling calls for service. In a scenario where the norm is for o fficers
to be going from stacked call to stacked call for an entire shift without break, trading a shorter shift length for fewer days off per week or non- fix ed
workdays might be a reasonable trade. However, with an 8.25-hour shift worked in a 4-on, 2-off rotating pattern, given the sta
ffing
levels and service needs of Ithaca, the
current schedule neither maximizes efficiency nor officer quality of lif e.

The 10 and 12-hour alternatives developed for this analysis provide for a balance of both qualitative and quantitative factors, offering improvements. Both have fix
ed sets of
workdays, meaning that o fficers
will work the same days every weekly or biweekly
period.

Despite the advantages, both schedules represent a monumental change for o fficers, many
of whom have worked this schedule for their entire careers. Furthermore, neither schedule is without its drawbacks and weaknesses. These must be considered within the context of the issues with the current schedule, as well as the relative advantages of each options. As any change to the shift schedule must be collectively bargained, o
fficers
will decide whether it makes sense for them – both professionally, as well as in their personal lives.

Recommendation:

As part of the collective bargaining process, implement either the 10-hour fix
ed workday schedule or the 12-hour Pitman schedule, allocating and deploying officers as outlined in the analysis.

Matrix Consulting Group 38

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY

6. Redesign of the Patrol Beat Structure

1. Objectives in Patrol Beat Redesign
The following subsections outline the priorities used in both assessing the current beat structure, as well as creating new beat areas.
(1.1) Patrol Workload Equalization:

Workload should be equalized across all beats in order to maintain proactive capabilities and meet service level mandates.

All beats should be created to have call for service totals that are within ±20% of the overall average. Exceptions can be made in areas that are geographically isolated and/or have signi
ficant
response time issues, such as hilly terrain or signi ficant distances
that must be covered, which require fewer calls. In these cases, a lower call for service target should be used. However, no beat should exceed ±40% of the average – indicating extraordinarily uneven workload – even with these exceptions in mind.

Workload equalization ensure that patrol units in each area are able to respond to calls for service in a timely manner, and that these capabilities are distributed equitably across the city.

IPD sta
ffing
provides for the potential to consistently deploy 4 o fficers during daytime
hours, and 3 o fficers
at night, without using high levels of overtime. Given this, a maximum of four beats can be established – the same number that exist now.

Over a fiv
e-year period from 2016-2020, the patrol sta ffing
analysis identi fied
56,949
calls for service that occurred within Ithaca’s city boundaries . Among the four beats,6 this averages out to 2,847 calls per year, or 14,237 calls per beat over the entire fiv e-year
period.

To stay within the benchmark range for workload equalization of ±20% the average call for service total, each beat must have between 11,390 and 17,085 calls for service over fiv
e years.
6 This excludes any responses to incidents outside of Ithaca, as well as calls for service that could not be geolocated, though these occurred at a relatively negligible rate.

Matrix Consulting Group 39

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY The project team geolocated the calls for service that occurred within this period and counted the number that occurred within each beat in order to measure whether workload was adequately equalized among the patrol areas. (1.2) Neighborhood Integrity
Neighborhoods and business districts should be kept together as much as possible in order to facilitate community policing.

By designing beats around entire areas and neighborhoods – rather than through them – the patrol o
fficers
assigned to that area are better able to become familiar with the community and its issues and concerns. From the perspective of the public, this can provide for the development of trust and one point of contact for speci fic
neighborhoods.

Some departments even publicize the patrol o fficer
assigned to the
area on their website, which can further this sense of geographic responsibility and accountability for community policing.

Consider an example in another municipality where a business district, highlighted in teal could either be split between a beat or kept within one:

Less Effective: The split down the middle of
an arterial road that functions as a focal point
for the business district.

More Effective: The beat extends to both
sides of the street, keeping the business
district together.

Matrix Consulting Group 40

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Differences in how these boundaries are drawn have real-world impacts in how community policing is coordinated, particularly when distinct areas have assigned points of contact within the police department.

These considerations must also be balanced with call equalization and geographic barriers, although the latter is almost always congruent with neighborhood integrity.

Geographic barriers – even manmade barriers such as freeways – are prominent markers that divide and form our understanding of where one community ends and another begins.
(1.3) Logical Barriers and Transportation Routes
The road and transportation network within a beat structure should facilitate timely response times.

Beats should be designed with the local road network in mind, taking into account how features such as creeks or rivers, hills, and highways with limited access impact the ability of o
fficers
to travel from one side of the beat to the other in order to respond to a call for service.

Despite its small size of around six square miles, the geography of Ithaca is shaped by its numerous features such as waterways that provide for transportation barriers.

Among them, the Cayuga Inlet and several creeks run through the heart of the city, with varying degrees of access across them. Where numerous connection points exist across these features, areas can be joined together in the same beat. Where this is not possible, the transportation barrier it creates could lead to higher response times.

Matrix Consulting Group 41

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY In Ithaca, for example, the many crossings (highlighted in green) across this part of Six Mile Creek prevent any impacts to transportation. Further upstream to the east, by contrast, there are only a few crossings across the creek.

To the contrary, the hillside on the west side of the Cornell campus has only two access points – one at the southern terminus of University Ave, and the other at the northern terminus of Lake St. Traversing west to east can take an extra minute or two as a result of this impediment.

However, these considerations must also be balanced with competing priorities, such as neighborhood integrity and balance of workload. As a result, the degree to which transportation is affected must be weighed as well.

2. Assessment of the Current Beat Structure
Workload equalization the most quanti
fiable
metric by which to evaluate how well a
beat structure is able to provide the framework for community policing, by ensuring that no beats are too busy relative to others to be able to have su fficient – or at least
equitable – levels of proactive time available. Calls for service over a fiv e-year period
(2016–2021) are used for the assessment, with the totals for each beat then compared against the average for all four beats.

The following map provides the
fiv
e-year call for service totals by beat:

Matrix Consulting Group 42

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY 5YR Call for Service Totals by Beat (Current Beat Structure) The hashed green areas represent officer foot beats, which overlap the car beat structure.

The four beats range from 9,821 calls (-31% below the average) to 18,050 calls (+27% above the average), with the other two remaining within around ±5% of the average.

Compared to the benchmark established for patrol workload variation of ±20% from the average, beats 203 (northern) and 204 (eastern) exceed this threshold. However, no beats are more than ±40% of the average, which would indicate severely unequal workloads.

In other words, workload is somewhat even under the current beat structure. O fficers
assigned
to 204 (eastern) would have a largely different day-to-day experience Matrix Consulting Group 43

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY compared to o fficers
assigned to 203 (northern), assuming o fficers
have primary
responsibility for responding to calls that occur in their beat.

In terms of neighborhood integrity, a few of the principally identi fiable neighborhoods
include Downtown Ithaca – particularly its core, but also extending along State Street –the Cornell University campus, Collegetown, and the box store commercial district surrounding Elmira Rd that includes a Walmart Supercenter. Other neighborhoods include the industrial area along the Cayuga Inlet, the upsloping residential neighborhoods west of the inlet, and the single-family home neighborhoods north of Downtown.

For the most part, the current beat structure is able to keep each of these neighborhoods together. There are some exceptions, however.

In the greater Downtown area, a few blocks of what would generally be considered to be part of the same district are split from 203 (the downtown/northern beat) into 202 (western beat) and 204 (eastern beat), as shown in the following map:
1) On the western border, the area along State Street continues into another beat, separating those blocks from the main beat covering the State Street corridor. 2) The block between N Aurora St and E State St immediately east of the boundary contains several restaurants and bars that would be considered part of the Downtown area from the public’s perspective.

For the most part, however, the current beat structure does an effective job of aligning communities and business districts to beat boundaries.

As discussed earlier, the issue of transportation routes and logical barriers is complex in that it depends greatly on the context of the surrounding transportation network. A river Matrix Consulting Group 44

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY or creek can be a signi ficant
impediment if there are no routes across it for an extended area of its course, but these issues are mitigated and even eliminated if numerous bridges exist crossing it.

The following map provides the road network and waterways of Ithaca with beat boundaries overlayed on top, and bridge crossings highlighted in green:

Transportation Barriers and Waterway Crossings (Current Beat Structure) It is evident that barriers are well accounted for in the current beat boundaries. One example is the stretch of the creek in the SW quadrant of Ithaca, just SW of E State St label on the map, which has no crossings for almost a mile. The boundary between the two beats is approximately along the river, ensuring that cross-waterway travel is not needed to respond to calls within the same beat.

The following table summarizes the
findings
made in this assessment of the current
beat structure against the criteria established previously:

Matrix Consulting Group 45

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Current Beat Structure Findings
Category Rating Description
Workload Equalization B-
Moderate workload inequality is an issue in 2 of 4
beats, creating differences in the ability to conduct
community policing.

Neighborhood Integrity A- Major neighborhoods kept together with only minor exclusions.

Logical Barriers and
Transportation A
In short, there are no major issues with the current beat structure. The issue of call inequality between beats 203 (Downtown/northern) and 204 (eastern) is tempered by being somewhat moderate in severity, as well as the context of the geographic and transportation barriers that run through and around the area. However, improvements can be made to the beat structure to address call workload inequalities.

3. Redevelopment of the Beat Structure
To accomplish the objective of addressing the current call inequalities within the current structure, the project team undertook a restructuring of its beat boundaries. To accomplish this in a manner that keeps communities together and is cognizant of where concentrations of calls exist, this process must begin with an entirely clean slate.

The project team started with a shape
file
layer of U.S. Census blocks – the smallest
level of geography available – and combined these to form cluster areas. The resulting cluster areas, which number around 90, each represent a portion of either a neighborhood, line at a geographic barrier such as a waterway, or a notable concentration of calls for service. Within each of these areas, calls for service were totaled over the entire
fiv
e-year period used in the data analysis.

Matrix Consulting Group 46

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Initial Cluster Areas Used to Redraw Beat Boundaries
The approximately 90 clusters represent a portion of a larger area, a section of a neighborhood, a cluster of calls, or a geographical barrier (e.g., the Cayuga Inlet).

The clusters are not weighted equally in terms of calls, given the different purposes that the different types of clusters service.

To better illustrate this in the beat redesign process, these numbers are shown visually.

For mapping purposes, however, a better illustration can be shown by a point overlay map, which shows each call for service as semi-transparent dots. As more calls occur at the same location or area, the overlapping points become more opaque and visible.

Matrix Consulting Group 47

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Given that redrawing boundaries requires notice of speci fic hotspots rather than more
generalized areas, this approach avoids some limitations of heat maps. The following map presents this analysis:
5YR Call for Service Concentrations
Clearly, the State Street corridor is a signi ficant
area of calls based on this map. And
additionally, while the commercial district along Elmira Road may not seem like a concentration, because the addresses are mostly large stores such as a Walmart Supercenter, each of those points can represent hundreds to well over one thousand calls for service.

The clusters are merged together in a continuous process until several areas of focus emerge, which later form the redesigned beats.

The ‘mega-clusters’ that are formed from combining the smaller clusters represent the major areas and concentrations of calls – the Downtown core, Cornell and Collegetown, the commercial district around Elmira Rd, everything west of the Cayuga Inlet, and so Matrix Consulting Group 48

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY forth. Each of these are guaranteed to be joined within the same beat later in the analysis, and their call totals are recalculated.

Between each of the areas are buffers comprised of unmerged cluster areas, which are then gradually joined to the larger areas to reach equalized workload and to finetune the
boundaries. Edits are made in order to ensure that neighborhoods are kept together and geographic barriers are consistent. If needed, travel time estimates from point to point are developed based on the road networks in order to ensure that in-beat travel is kept generally under 8-10 minutes without requiring lights and sirens under normal tra ffic
cir
cumstances.

Input was sought from the community on where walking beats would be desired. These have been incorporated into the alternative beat structure, which include additional walking beats compared to the current con
figur
ation.

The following map provides the results of this analysis, displaying the total calls for service over the past
fiv
e years in the redesigned beat structure:

Matrix Consulting Group 49

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY Redesigned Beat Structure: Boundaries and 5YR Call for Service Totals The hashed green areas represent the community-de fined
officer
walking beats, which
overlap the car beat structure. One of these, represented with dotted lines, is a secondary/optional walking beat area.

All four beats have call for service totals that are within 20% of the average, accomplishing the goal of equalizing workload while keeping neighborhoods together.

Geographic barriers are also accounted for, within the contest of available road networks. Nonetheless, trade-offs are inherently part of this process. For instance, a compromise may need to be made in equalization of calls in order to keep travel times Matrix Consulting Group 50

DRAFT Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment Ithaca, NY to a minimum, as well as vice versa. In these circumstances however, the magnitude of any issues caused by these decisions are kept within tolerable limits.

The alternative beat structure should be reviewed and revised in consultation with the community and the police department, including line-level patrol o fficers who ultimately
have the greatest day-to-day stake in the new geographic deployment structure.

The draft patrol beat structure can be downloaded electronically as a shape file (.shp) for
use in GIS applications such as ArcGIS or QGIS using the following Drive link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fEs-JiAYS1GOsxmiQR8nkXIp2aZnrhn-/view?usp=sharing The beat structure can also be viewed as an interactive map at the following Google Maps link:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/edit?mid=1iDD-a-INVbdCYgJUvwSOsFnDA9W9k_l0&usp=sharing Recommendation:

After a process of review and revision in consultation with the Ithaca Police Department and the community, adopt the alternative patrol beat structure in order to equalize workload and better facilitate community policing.

Matrix Consulting Group 51

APPENDIX D:

NEW YORK STATE BASIC COURSE FOR POLICE OFFICERS TRAINING CURRICULUM 44

APPENDIX E:

ITHACA POLICE DEPARTMENT TRAINING TOPICS
45

Ithaca Police Department Training Topics

Annual Training Minimums:

There are NO annual training minimums required by the State of New York. Training is conducted to increase officer’s abilities, lesson agency and municipal liability, and stay updated on evolving topics or agency needs. Training may be required by individual companies who provide equipment that we use (example: Taser.)

The items listed below are representative of our minimums.

Spring Firearms
- Topics include marksmanship, weapons handling, priority of life and cover concealment usage, Legal updates, Use of Force refreshers, medical aid for gunshot wounds (suspect aid, officer aid ect.), Tourniquets, quick clot gauze. Tactics related to firearms. Department qualifications and minimum acceptable standards to successfully complete.

Taser Recert/ Updates
- Yearly updates from Taser on device usage, considerations, safety processes, aid to those who the device is used on.

Defensive Tactics
- Review of procedures and practice of techniques and principles. Introduction of newly adopted methods from DCJS updates. Use of Force refreshers, De Escalation techniques, Handcuffing, OC Spray, Baton Usage. Competency Checks.

Fall Firearms
- Topics include all of the above from Spring Firearms but also focus on low light conditions. Data shows that the majority of OIS occur in low light conditions and therefor training in colder weather and in the dark is data driven and valuable. Patrol Rifle

Reality Based Training
- Officers are exposed to a series of realistic scenarios each designed to specifically train and/or test their abilities. These training topics are adopted each year by a panel of instructors and include topics of local value, topics related to national incidents, topics that may need updating. We partner with local agencies and experts to build and conduct scenarios as often as possible. For example, we worked with TC Mental Health on a suicidal subject scenario this spring and TCMH was on site to evaluate and provide feedback on officer’s performance.
- Examples of recent topics include but are not limited to:
o Suicidal Subjects
o Welfare Checks
o Narcan Usage
o Fentanyl Exposures

o Domestic Disputes
o Mental Health Related Calls for service
o Low Light operations
o Verbal De Escalation
o Rendering Medical Aid
o Traffic Stops
o Officer Rescue
o Ambushed Officers
o Emergency Vehicle Operations
o Active Killer/Shooter Response
o Search and Seizure Scenarios

Additional In Service Training
- These training topics vary from year to year and are selected based on local items of importance, national trends, changes in laws or tactics, and department needs. - These may include entire multi day training all the way to Body worn camera review of incidents with lead discussions follow ups.
- This year’s topics are:
o Persons in Crisis
o Search and Seizure
o Domestic Violence Law
o Basic Crash Investigation
o Excited Delirium
o Evidence Collection and Preservation
o Juvenile Refresher (Coordinated with Suzi Cook from TC Probation) o Trans Mindfulness
o De Escalation
o Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion
o Principle Based Policing

Instructor Development
- Maintaining a progressive and updated capable instructor cadre is vital to a program’s success. It is the goal of the IPD to ensure that all instructors, in every topic area receive either in house Instructor training or are sent to an off-site program or course to update their skills, learn new methods or discover new areas of need within the Department to focus on.
- We hosted other agencies (to include our own) and delivered NYS Firearms Instructor School
- We have some of the best respected LE Instructors in New York State. Lt Jake Young and I co Created the NYS 5 day Reality Based Training Instructor Course and are considered Subject Matter Experts in the field. Lt Young also just completed revamping NYS Firearms Instructor Course as a Subject Matter Expert in that field.

Outside Training
- Trainings attended off site this year include:

o Supervisor School (New Sergeants)
o High Impact Leadership
o Peer Support and Mentoring in Law Enforcement
o NYS Human Trafficking Awareness
o Advanced Internal Investigations Course
o Initial Response Strategies for Missing Children
o Read Recognize Respond
o Legally Justified, but was it Avoidable
o Accreditation Program Manager
o Material Creation and Program Implementation
o De Escalation, Intervention and Force Mitigation
o Instructor Development Course
o Master Instructor Course work
o AMBER Alert Best Practices
o Course Director Orientation
o Explosive Detection K9 Handler Panel
o Advanced Assisting Individuals in Crisis
o Progressive Force Concepts Instructor Development
o DCJS Missing Persons
o Child Homicide Investigations
o Force Science Body Worn Camera Course
o National Criminal Justice Training Center De Escalation Training o Property and Evidence Room Management
o Deceptive Behaviors Hidden Compartments Training
o New York Tactical Officers Association Conference
o Performance Pistol and Carbine Course
o Assisting Individuals in Crisis
o Crisis Intervention Team Training
o New York State Homicide Seminar
o National Association of Black Law Enforcement Officers Conference o Law Enforcement Training Directors Conference
o DNA and Genetics Training
o Use of Force Summit (Daigle Law Group)
o Taser Instructor Recertification
o Sequential Mapping Exercise (Mental Health and Law Enforcement Collaboration)

Academy Training
- Ideally we would deliver and run our own Police Academy but unfortunately we do not have the resources. We currently possess an instructor in all the basic topic areas, but the logistics of staffing the necessary units simultaneously managing an academy are more than we can currently accomplish with our staffing. - The two attachments include the DCJS Basic Academy Curriculum. o It’s important to understand THESE ARE THE MINIMUMS
o WE UTILIZE THE Brome Academy and the Syracuse Academy. I’ve attached a copy of the Broome Academy’s Curriculum Content Form. You

will see that they go way beyond the minimums and add many topics that are important that do not appear on DCJS basic minimums. I do not have Syracuse’s form but know that they as well go well beyond state minimums.

www.publicsafetyreimagined.org

2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7120 ● E-Mail: [email protected]

ACTION CALENDAR
May 5, 2022
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Councilmember Taplin
Subject: Response to Reimagining Public Safety Recommendations

RECOMMENDATION

1. Adopt the City Manager’s April 2022 recommendations for Reimagining Public Safety with the following revisions, and;

2. Refer to the City Manager’s office establishment of an Office of Racial Equity to aid in the implementation:

Policy Recommendation amendments
 “Implement the Specialized Care Unit Pilot using all of the recommendations of the consultant and the SCU Steering Committee as a road map” o Add: with regular review of performance metrics and service evaluations.  “Continue to plan for a civilian traffic enforcement unit, both by informing the content of state law changes to enable such a unit, and by developing an implementation plan once state law does change”
o Revise: Conduct a feasibility analysis of a non-sworn auxiliary traffic enforcement unit, including comprehensive analysis of any and all traffic violations and dangerous road behavior that may be safely addressed entirely by a civilian unit.
 “Approve a new Vision Zero staff position in Public Works’ Division of Transportation to conduct collision analysis”
o Add: and to study extent of feasibility and scope of potential civilian enforcement pilot, implementation of Vision Zero and Berkeley Department of Transportation and Infrastructure department structuring models to advance engineering-first solutions to traffic safety with a racial justice and social equity lens.
 “Develop additional capabilities to address public safety goals with appropriate response level”
o Revise: Develop additional capabilities to address
root causes of crime
and violence, including reductio
n of poverty and recidivism through a
Guaranteed Income pilot program and City employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated individuals, and locally-based Crisis Stabilization. In addition, the City Manager’s Office, and subsequently an Office of Racial Equity as appropriate, shall periodically report on performance metrics, administrative capacity, and fiscal sustainability for partnering CBOs and other NGOs performing violence prevention services, mental health crisis

01b
Special Meeting Item

Response to Reimagining Public Safety Recommendations ACTION CALENDAR May 5, 2022

responses, and any other services under the auspices of Reimagining Community Safety.

Budget Recommendation amendments
 Consulting services - $650k amended to:
o Office of Racial Equity Associate Management Analyst (1) to oversee a Guaranteed basic income pilot, city employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated, and support position (1) to conduct structural assessment and administrative capacity building for CBO partners- $480k o Consulting services for Priority Dispatch, Call Data Analysis for Crisis Stabilization - $170k.
 Add: Vision Zero analyst - $200k

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Modifications to City Manager’s budget recommendations, plus $200,000 in FY23-24 period for Vision Zero analyst.

CURRENT SITUATION AND ITS EFFECTS
Reimagining Public Safety is a Strategic Plan Priority Project, advancing our goal to create a resilient, safe, connected, and prepared city.

The City of Berkeley’s General Fund is facing a projected budget deficit of $14 million by Fiscal Year 2023.1 Unfunded pension obligations will impose greater fiscal constraints on the City’s ability to spend and borrow.2 Restructuring public safety services will be a years-long process. Meanwhile, shootings and other serious crimes have increased. The municipal government must focus and prioritize policy proposals that can be quickly and effectively implemented and evaluated while laying the groundwork for robust, long-term sustainability. To achieve positive outcomes both in the near- and long-term, the City Council must synthesize the findings and recommendations of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR), the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force (RPSTF), and the City Manager’s office, with a view toward sustainability and accountability.

BACKGROUND
On July 14, 2020, the City Council passed Resolution No. 69,501-N.S. authored by Mayor Jesse Arreguín, an omnibus package of items to initiate robust community engagement and expert consultation to reimagine public safety in Berkeley. This process has produced three main documents: NICJR’s Final Report and Implementation Plan, the Task Force’s Response and New Recommendations to the 1 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Clerk/Item%204%20presentation%20.pdf 2 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/2022/04_Apr/Documents/2022-04- 26_Special_Item_02_Accept_the_Risk_Analysis_for_Long-Term_Debt_pdf.aspx

Response to Reimagining Public Safety Recommendations ACTION CALENDAR May 5, 2022

former, and the City Manager’s Response with Recommendations & Implementation Plan.

The following goals should be considered in pursuing a new paradigm for public safety:

Reimagine:

Redesign public safety from a traditional Police Department to one that is focused on the diverse needs of the community it serves.
 Civilian traffic enforcement has formed a major plank of Berkeley’s public safety reform goals. However, California law only permits sworn officers to respond to traffic violations. Because advocacy for state legislative reforms may take years and would inherently be uncertain, the City of Berkeley should otherwise explore ways to improve traffic safety that do not rely on ex post facto police enforcement, including auxiliary civilian traffic monitors, especially in light of low staffing in the Police Department’s traffic division. In keeping with the City’s Vision Zero goals to eliminate traffic fatalities, strengthening implementation of Complete Streets designs and evaluating engineering-first solutions while pursuing automated enforcement for speeding and red lights can produce significant positive outcomes.
 Community policing is a frequent request from Berkeley residents who wish to see more deeply engaged, integrated and community-interfacing police response to patterns of crime without increasing counter-productive tension with civilians. Various models of Problem-Oriented Policing, which are discussed in NICJR’s New and Emerging Models for Community Safety and Policing Report, would help strengthen relationships of trust between the community and police, forming partnerships to address root causes of crime and repair long-standing patterns of criminal behavior with evidence-based solutions. The Berkeley City Council has approved several policies to enable this approach, including funding to initiate a Gun Violence Intervention program commonly known as Ceasefire, and a Flex Team for Problem-Oriented Policing. The City Manager’s budget proposals would increase full-time staffing so that these services could be rendered more effectively without increasing reliance on overtime. In addition, increasing staffing for non-sworn Parking Enforcement personnel will improve administrative capacity for redesigning the Police Department’s relationships with the community.

Improve:

Improve the City of Berkeley’s public safety system for residents and communities that have experienced the greatest hardships from the current public safety status quo.  The City of Berkeley has budgeted $5.7 million to establish Councilmember Ben Bartlett’s Specialized Care Unit (SCU) initiative to respond to mental health service calls without police. The SCU Steering Committee, consultants at RDA,

Response to Reimagining Public Safety Recommendations ACTION CALENDAR May 5, 2022

and the community at large generally agreed that the City should provide a civilian response to mental health crises where law enforcement responses may not be necessary or warranted, while maintaining the option for police to provide backup as the need arises. Because the pilot would be contracted to a Community Based Organization (CBO), the program must have rigorous oversight and accountability with regular staff review of performance metrics, capacity, and financial stability.
 While the City may need to expand its partnership with Alameda County Behavioral Healthcare Services to provide services such as Crisis Stabilization at Amber House, it is imperative to begin long-term planning for more locally-based services, due not only to increased medical transport costs, but also an ongoing US Department of Justice investigation of ACBHS over civil rights violations stemming from inadequate facilities at John George Hospital and Santa Rita Jail.

The first step would be to conduct an analysis of call data to determine the full volume of need in the community, and most effective strategies for providing specific responses.
 In November 2020, Berkeley voters approved Measure FF, which included funding for Priority Medical Dispatch along with more resources for fire safety.

Improving this service to better allocate medical responses would improve public safety both for severe hazards and low-acuity medical calls. Citygates Associates reported in a recent study of the City’s fire/EMS response that “Low-acuity medical incident demand is lengthening travel time and causing high crew workloads.”3 Further analysis and rigorous tracking of performance metrics would help better calibrate civilian responses to medical emergencies, and would likely improve the services of a future SCU pilot.

Reinvest:

Increase equitable investment in vulnerable communities and for those who have been historically marginalized.

In June 2020, the City Council passed a budget referral authored by Councilmember Rashi Keserwani to establish a framework for a new Office of Racial Equity within the Office of the City Manager.4 This is consistent with best practices in neighboring cities, such as Oakland and San Francisco, which have recently established such an office.

The duties of such an office can be manifold, but a primary responsibility should be to provide capacity-building for CBOs providing auxiliary community safety, mental health, and other key services, by monitoring performance metrics and providing technical assistance, as well as a program to provide and employment opportunities for the formerly incarcerated to reduce recidivism (similar to Berkeley YouthWorks).

Additionally, this office should monitor and/or assist with two other programs for reducing economic hardships that are already successful in Oakland: Ceasefire, and a 3 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/2022/04_Apr/Documents/2022-04- 19_(WS)_Supp_2_Reports_Item_1_Rev_Fire_pdf.aspx
4 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/2020/06_June/Documents/06- 09_Annotated_Agenda_4pm_pdf.aspx

Response to Reimagining Public Safety Recommendations ACTION CALENDAR May 5, 2022

Guaranteed Basic Income pilot. Oakland’s Guaranteed Income pilot provides monthly cash payments to a randomly selected pool of low-income residents, and is funded entirely through private philanthropic donations, with collaborative management by the City and nonprofit agencies.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE IMPACTS
None.

CONTACT PERSON
Councilmember Taplin Council District 2 510-981-7120

Office of the City Manager
2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7000 ● TDD: (510) 981-6903 ● Fax: (510) 981-7099 E-Mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.CityofBerkeley.info/Manager

ACTION CALENDAR
April 21, 2022
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Dee Williams-Ridley, City Manager
Submitted by: LaTanya Bellow, Deputy City Manager
Subject: City Manager Presentation and Response to the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force and National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform Recommendations

RECOMMENDATION
Accept the report from the City Manager with the goal of supporting council discussion and recommendations on a path forward to transforming public safety and policing in Berkeley.

CURRENT SITUATION AND ITS EFFECTS
On July 14, 2020, in Resolution No. 69,501-N.S., City Council passed a package of items providing direction for the development of a new paradigm of public safety in Berkeley. As part of the items that were adopted, City Council adopted Item 18c (“Referral to City Manager to Re-imagine Policing Approaches to Public Safety Using a Process of Robust Community Engagement, to Develop a Path Forward to Transforming Public Safety and Policing in Berkeley”) and Item18d (“Transform Community Safety and Initiate a Robust Community Engagement”), which directs the City Manager to engage a qualified firm(s) or individual(s) to lead a robust, inclusive, and transparent community engagement process with the goal of achieving a new and transformative model of positive, equitable and community- centered safety for Berkeley.

BACKGROUND
 The omnibus package consisted of numerous elements including, but not limited to the following:
o Having the City Auditor perform an analysis of City’s emergency 9-1-1 calls-for- service and responses, as well as analysis of the Berkeley Police Department’s (BPD) budget
o Analyzing and developing a pilot program to re-assign non-criminal police service calls to a Specialized Care Unit

01c
Special Meeting Item

Reimagining Public Safety ACTION CALENDAR
April 21, 2022

o Creating plans and protocols for calls for service to be routed and assigned to alternative preferred responding entities and consider placing dispatch in the Fire Department or elsewhere outside the Police Department

o Analyzing litigation outcomes and exposure for city departments in order to guide the creation of City policy to reduce the impact of settlements on the General Fund

o Engaging a qualified firm(s) or individual(s) to lead a robust, inclusive, and transparent community engagement process with the goal of achieving a new and transformative model of positive, equitable and community-centered safety for Berkeley

o Pursuing the creation of a Berkeley Department of Transportation (“BerkDoT”) to ensure a racial justice lens in traffic enforcement and the development of transportation policy, programs and infrastructure, and identify and implement approaches to reduce and/or eliminate the practice of pretextual stops based on minor traffic violations

Subsequent to the adoption of the omnibus package, the City established a multidepartment working groups to oversee and implement various components of the package. The working group consisted of the following:

City Manager; Deputy City Managers; City Attorney; Fire Chief; Health, Housing and Community Services (HHCS) Director; Human Resources Director; Police Chief; and Public Works Director.

National Institute of Criminal Justice Reform

On December 15, 2020, the City Council authorized the City Manager to enter into a contract with the National Institute of Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR) to conduct research, analysis, and use its expertise to develop reports and recommendations for community safety and police reform as well as plan, develop, and lead an inclusive and transparent community engagement process to help the City achieve a new and transformative model of positive, equitable and community-centered safety for Berkeley Community Engagement
Reimagining Public Safety Task Force (Task Force)1
1 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/RIPST.aspx.

Reimagining Public Safety ACTION CALENDAR
April 21, 2022

On January 19, 2021, the City Council adopted revisions to the enabling legislation for the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force
Per the Enabling Legislation, the Task Force’s work centered on providing input to and making recommendations to NICJR and City Staff on a set of recommended programs, structures and initiatives incorporated into a final report and implementation plan developed by NICJR to guide future decision making in upcoming budget processes for FY 2022-23 and, as a second phase produced, in the FY 2024-2026 budget process.

The Public Safety / Police Re-Imagining and community engagement process was led initially by Deputy City Manager David White and then Deputy City Manager LaTanya Bellow who provided overall project management support to the team.

The City Manager report presented is in response to the March 10, 2022 presentations by the following:

Reimagining Public Safety Task Force
https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Clerk/City_Council/2022/03_Mar/D ocuments/2022-03-
10%20Item%2001%20Consideration%20of%20Recommendations.pdf National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform
https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/2022/03_Mar/Documents/2022 -03-10_(Special)_Supp_2_Reports_Item_2_Rev_NICJR_pdf.aspx

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY AND CLIMATE IMPACTS
There are no identifiable environmental effects or opportunities associated with the subject of this report.

CONTACT PERSON
LaTanya Bellow, Deputy City Manager, City Manager Office, (510)-981-7012

April 21, 2022
Reimagining Public
Safety: A Reference
Guide for City
Council Discussion
City of Berkeley
City Manager’s Office
2180 Milvia Street
Berkeley, CA 94704
Serving Berkeleyoften requires
tackling issues of broad scope and importance. Doing
that well takes significant time. But when values align with operations, that means our budget, work plan and
staffing are synchronized and we can accomplish
remarkable things. That’s exactly what our Strategic
Plan sets out to do.

Our City Council identified a need in our homeless
services: a structured place for people who are homeless to receive supportive services and temporary housing
as they transition to permanent housing. Using Council’s vision, city staff implemented this reality within 12 months to create a place where a broad range of people who are homeless receive housing, meals and access to services
such as addiction treatment, mental health and job
assistance. Achieving this Strategic Plan priority so quickly was exceptional, but it is just one of many ways we are building toward a stronger Berkeley.

New STAIR Navigation Center.

City Manager’s Office

2

Dee Williams-Ridley
City Manager
[email protected]
Letter from the City Manager
Policing in the United States continues to be one of the most important civil and racially charged issues facing people in the world today, especially people of color. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others brought police racism and violence to the forefront, and spurred a national conversation about reimagining public safety.

Although Police violence is a national problem, the most impactful approach for ending it is at the local level. This is where police and community seek to work together and create a shared public safety model that promotes engagement, transparency, and accountability. Here in Berkeley, I am proud that we have a Police Department that shares our City’s values and strives to treat people fairly. Our police officers have worked hard to remain ahead of their peers and lift up best practices. While this has not been perfect nor easy, our commitment is evident in the recognition of Berkeley Police as national leaders in de-escalation, an important practice that other departments are now employing.

I want to thank the Mayor and Council for the opportunity to recommend existing initiatives to how we approach public safety. The City of Berkeley has begun the conversation of transforming public safety from a traditional Police Department to one more focused on the needs of the community it serves. This will be a multi-year process and require collaboration from all stakeholders, the Council and a number of city departments and staff. Our successful collaboration will ensure a redesign that puts in place a mechanism to measure what matters most; Public Trust in our Berkeley Police Department, and a commitment to ensure a community-centered focus on safety for all Berkeleyans.

I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Reimagining Public Safety Task Force for their engagement, and expertise. They volunteered many hours of their time, attending regular meetings and participating in meaningful discussions. The breadth of their dedication was evident in their presentation for the future of policing and funding proposals that policymakers can use to improve public safety outcomes.

I would also like to thank the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, our commissioned consultants, for their guidance, professionalism and support throughout the community engagement process, including facilitating Task Force discussions, convening community listening sessions, and presenting relevant reports for consideration to support reimagining public safety in Berkeley.

In response to the concerns expressed by the community during the March 10, 2022 work session 1 and
reflecting Council’s commitment to meaningful change, I want to ensure you, I have heard your message and will demonstrate what we learned from the community, outside vendor participation, Council direction and staff in the Berkeley Police Department. We will look introspectively and push ourselves to answer the call of doing better.

This work would not be possible without my amazing executive team and city staff. Together we are committed to the work of the reimagining process and appreciate the responsiveness of the residents, and the support of our Mayor and City Council.
1 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Clerk/City_Council/2022/03_Mar/City_Council__03-10-2022_Special_Meeting_Agenda.aspx 3

Table of Contents:

Letter from the City Manager 3
01 Executive Summary 7
02 Background 15
Specialized Care Unit 16
Priority Disp atch 18
BerkDOT 19
03 Recommendations 23
and Implementa tion Plan
Reimagine, Improve, Reinvest Tenets 25
Recommendation Summary 26
Recommendations, REIMAGINE 28
Recommendations, IMPROVE 32
Recommendations, REINVEST 40

04 Budget 45
05 Closing Remarks 53
4

06 Appendix 55
Appendix 1 - Referral to City Manager to
Re-imagine Policing Approaches to Public
Safety Using a Process of Robust Community
Engagement, to Develop a Path Forward to
Transforming Public Safety and Policing in
Berkeley
Appendix 2 - Transform Community Safety and
Initiate a Robust Community Engagement
Process
Appendix 3 - Revisions to Enabling Legislation
for Reimagining Public Safety Task Force
Appendix 4 - City of Berkeley Crisis Response
Models Report
Appendix 5 - City of Berkeley Mental Health
Crisis Response Services and Stakeholder
Perspectives Report
Appendix 6 - City of Berkeley Specialized Care
Unit Crisis Response Recommendations
Appendix 7 - Task Force: BerkDoT Presentation
to RPSTF
Appendix 8 - Task Force: BerkDoT Presentation
of Scientific Survey
Appendix 9 - Task Force: BerkDoT Survey Results
Appendix 10 - Data Analysis of the City of
Berkeley’s Police Response
Appendix 11 - Reimagining Public Safety Budget
Analysis
5

Downtown Berkeley,
courtesty of Far Out City
6

Executive Summary
01

8 City of Berkeley
Subsequent to the adoption of the omnibus
package, the City established a multi-
department working group to oversee and
implement various components of the package.

The working group consists of the following:
• City Manager
• Deputy City Managers
• City Attorney
• Fire Chief
• Health, Housing and Community Services
(HHCS) Director
• Human Resources Director
• Police Chief
• Public Works Director
Monthly meetings were established and an
organizational structure was developed that
enabled the City of Berkeley to advance the
various referrals in the omnibus package at the
same time. The work to support the omnibus
package was organized in the following manner:
• HHCS Director Lisa Warhuus, led the work
to develop a Specialized Care Unit pilot
program.
• Fire Chief Abe Roman, led the work to
develop a plan for Priority Dispatching.
• City Attorney Farimah Brown, is managing
the analysis of litigation claims and
settlements.
• The Public Safety / Police Re-Imagining
and community engagement process was
led by Deputy City Manager David White
until September 2021 and then Deputy City
Manager LaTanya Bellow from September
2021 forward. Both Deputies, and Senior
Management Analyst Shamika Cole supported
the City Manager by providing overall project
management support to the team.
• BerkDOT was led by Public Works Director
Liam Garland.

City Leadership
On July 14, 2020, City Council adopted an
omnibus package to reimagine public safety and
policing in the City of Berkeley. The omnibus
package consisted of numerous elements
including, but not limited to the following:
• Having the City Auditor perform an analysis
of City’s emergency 9-1-1 calls-for-service and
responses, as well as analysis of the Berkeley
Police Department’s (BPD) budget.
• Analyzing and developing a pilot program to
re-assign non-criminal police service calls to a
Specialized Care Unit.
• Creating plans and protocols for calls for
service to be routed and assigned to alternative
preferred responding entities and consider
placing dispatch in the Fire Department or
elsewhere outside the Police Department.
• Analyzing litigation outcomes and exposure
for city departments in order to guide the
creation of City policy to reduce the impact
of settlements on the General Fund.
• Engaging a qualified firm(s) or individual(s)
to lead a robust, inclusive, and transparent
community engagement process with the
goal of achieving a new and transformative
model of positive, equitable and community-
centered safety for Berkeley.
• Pursuing the creation of a Berkeley
Department of Transportation (“BerkDOT”)
to ensure a racial justice lens in traffic
enforcement and the development of
transportation policy, programs and
infrastructure, and identify and implement
approaches to reduce and/or eliminate the
practice of pretextual stops based on minor
traffic violations.

9Reimagining Public Safety
Public Safety and Police
Reimagining Community
Engagement
On December 15, 2020, the City Council
authorized the City Manager to enter into a
contract with the National Institute for Criminal
Justice Reform (NICJR) to conduct research,
analysis, and use its expertise to develop reports
and recommendations for community safety
and police reform as well as plan, develop, and
lead an inclusive and transparent community
engagement process to help the City achieve
a new and transformative model of positive,
equitable and community-centered safety
for Berkeley.

City staff from the City Manager’s Office
met regularly with NICJR to discuss project
deliverables under their scope of work, prepare
for Task Force meetings, review timelines and
coordinate their work with other parallel efforts
in the City surrounding reimagining public
safety. NICJR collaborated and coordinated with
the City Auditor on the calls for-service analysis
to make progress on their report addressing new
and emerging models of community safety
and policing.

Interim Police Chief Louis and the Police
Department staff presented to the Task Force
on several occasions discussing the Police
Department’s budget, along with an overview of
Patrol Operations, the Field Training Program,
Civilian Oversight of the Police Department and
the disciplinary process. In addition, the Police
Department invited Task Force members to
participate in ride-a-longs with Police Officers
and sit in the communications center to
observe dispatchers. Many Task Force members
participated in these activities that resulted
in deeper knowledge of Police Department
operations.

Lastly, to ensure the highest level of
transparency, staff from the City Manager’s
Office has supported deep community
engagement and outreach, coordinated public
meetings, published meeting minutes and
agendas, managed email submissions from the
Task Force and the community and posted full
video recordings of each session on the City’s
website at: https://www.cityofberkeley.info/
RIPST .aspx.

10 City of Berkeley
engagement process and support the City in
achieving a new paradigm of public safety in
Berkeley. The City received a total of six (6)
proposals that were deemed to be complete and
met the submittal requirements.

In order to ensure a thorough review of the
proposals, staff from the City Manager’s Office
convened a team that consisted of thirteen
(13) individuals: six (6) city staff and seven
(7) members of the community and other
stakeholders. The following outlines the
individuals that reviewed the proposals:

Elana Auerbach LaT anya Bellow
Farimah Brown Kitty Calavit a
Shamika Cole Lupe Galle gos-Diaz
Alecia Harger Kathy L ee
Emily Murphy Andre a Pritchett
Kevin Schofield Marc S taton
David White
As summarized in regular updates3 provided to
the City Council, the proposal review team met
on three (3) occasions. At the first meeting, the
City’s Manager’s Office organized the team in
discussing the proposals that were submitted
to the City and ultimately selected four (4) out
of the six (6) teams to be interviewed. At the
second meeting, staff from the City Manager’s
Office convened a proposal review team
to discuss the format of the interviews and
develop a set of questions for teams invited to
advance to the interview phase. Staff organized
the third and final meeting with the proposal
review team to conduct interviews on the zoom
platform, rank the teams, and discuss perceived
“Strengths” and “Concerns” . The City Manager
interviewed the top two firms on November 20,
2020. The National Institute for Criminal Justice
Reform was selected based on the strength of its
team, subject matter expertise, familiarity with
the City, and robust community engagement
background. The contract was fully executed on
January 22, 2021.
3 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/off-agenda-memos/
Staff Participation
Beginning in late 2020, staff convened a series
of meetings and developed an organizational
structure to advance the various referrals in the
omnibus package at the same time. Our work to
coordinate overall project support and lead the
work included the following:

Community Engagement
On July 14, 2020, the City Council adopted Item
18c
1 (“Referral to City Manager to Re-imagine
Policing Approaches to Public Safety Using a
Process of Robust Community Engagement, to
Develop a Path Forward to Transforming Public
Safety and Policing in Berkeley”; see Appendix
1) and Item 18d
2 (“Transform Community Safety
and Initiate a Robust Community Engagement
Process”;
see Appendix 2), which directs the City Manager
to engage a qualified firm(s) or individual(s)
to lead a robust, inclusive, and transparent
community engagement process with the goal
of achieving a new and transformative model
of positive, equitable and community-centered
safety for Berkeley.

Immediately following the adoption of
the legislative package by City Council, on
September 8, 2020, the City issued a Request
for Proposal to solicit proposals from firms
and/or individuals to plan, develop, and lead
an inclusive and transparent community
1 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Clerk/Level_3_-_Com- missions/2020-07-14%20Item%2018c%20Referral%20to%20City%20 Manager%20to%20Re-imagine%20Policing%20Approaches%20to%20 Public%20Safety.pdf
2 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Clerk/Level_3_-_Com- missions/2020-07-14%20Item%2018d%20Transform%20Community%20 Safety.pdf

11Reimagining Public Safety
Reimagining Public
Safety Task Force
City staff worked with the Mayor and City
Council on implementing the Reimagining
Public Safety Task Force. Subsequent to
the adopted Item 18 Revisions to Enabling
Legislation for Reimagining Public Safety Task
Force
4 see Appendix 3, an application for the
Task Force was developed, and a press release
was prepared to notify the community of the
application. Once the City Manager’s Office
received all seventeen (17) appointments to the
Task Force, Staff worked to prepare a meeting
schedule and coordinate with the National
Institute for Criminal Justice Reform. The first
meeting of the Reimagining Public Safety Task
Force occurred on February 18, 2021. At this
meeting, the Reimagining Public Safety Task
Force established a regular meeting schedule
on the 2nd Thursday of each month. City staff
worked very closely with the Reimagining Public
Safety Task Force and other key stakeholders
early on to collaboratively reach the diverse
populations in Berkeley.

City Staff facilitated approximately nineteen (19)
Task Force meetings ranging from 2.5–5.5 hours
in length with an average of sixty (60) attendees,
including City Staff, Task Force Members,
consultants, residents, and interested parties.

In addition staff accommodated requests from
Task Members to convene additional meetings
as needed to meet the goals and objectives
of their work related to the July 14, 2020
Omnibus packaged adopted by City Council. A
Reimagining Public Safety Task Force website
5 was created to provide community and key
stakeholders access to information.

4 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Clerk/Level_3_-_ Commissions/2021-01-19%20Item%2018%20Revisions%20to%20
Enabling%20Legislation%20for%20Reimagining.pdf
5 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/RIPST .aspx
Task Force Coordination
The Task Force served as the hub for a broad,
deep and representative process. They uplifted
the community’s input into a new positive,
equitable, anti-racist system of community
safety. Staff from the City Manager’s Office set
up 1-hr meetings on a bi-weekly basis with the
Chair and the Vice-Chair of the Reimagining
Public Safety Task Force to align the multiple
forms of participation the Task Force was
managing, support guest presentations on
the agenda and provide a dedicated space
to honor and respect feedback from the Task
Force around meeting facilitation and support.

Concurrent with this effort, staff participated in
over twenty-six (26) meetings.

Interdepartmental Coordination
City leadership took concerted action to
immediately address the multiple components
adopted in the City of Berkeley’s Reimagining
Public Safety Initiative. Staff comprising of
the City Manager; Deputy City Managers; City
Attorneys; Fire Chief; Health, Housing and
Community Services (HHCS) Director; Human
Resources Director; Police Chief; Public Works
Director and a Senior Management Analyst
met weekly as an interdepartmental team to
organize parallel efforts and to discuss how best
to consult with various stakeholders regularly
and utilize consultants to apply lessons learned
from other contexts. The internal working group
participated in approximately fifty (50) meetings
to strategize, analyze reports, review budgets
and staffing and prepare recommendations that
were responsive and in alignment with council
direction activities and respond to referrals set
forth by the omnibus package.

12 City of Berkeley
City Auditor
The elected City Auditor performed analysis of
the City’s emergency 9-1-1 calls-for-service and
responses, as well as analysis of the Berkeley
Police Department’s (BPD) budget. City staff met
with the City Auditor to collaborate and respond
to questions. The City Auditor presented the
results of the calls-for-service analysis to the
Reimagining Public Safety Task Force at its April
29, 2021 meeting.

National Institute for Criminal
Justice Reform (NICJR)
The National Institute for Criminal Justice
Reform (NICJR) was selected to conduct the
work in partnership with Bright Research Group,
which led the community engagement. City staff
from the City Manager’s Office convened bi-
weekly meetings with the to facilitate project
direction and oversight of contract deliverables,
in addition to support and preparation for
Task Force Meetings. These collaborative
efforts resulted in over eighteen (18) meetings
throughout the work plan.

City Manager’s Office Coordination and Meeting Schedule Meeting Type # of Participants
Internal Working Group Coordination 43
National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform Coordination 18 Reimagining Public Safety Task Force Meetings 19
Reimagining Public Safety Coordination Meetings 26
Community Engagement 12

13Reimagining Public Safety 13

14

02 Background

16 City of Berkeley
The first report, City of Berkeley Crisis Response
Models Report1
(see Appendix 4), provides detailed information
about thirty-seven (37) alternative crisis response
models that have been implemented in the
United States and internationally. The second
report, City of Berkeley Mental Health Crisis
Response Services and Stakeholder Perspectives
Report
2 (see Appendix 5), provides information
about Berkeley’s current crisis response system
and also summarizes stakeholder perspectives
gathered through a deep community
engagement process conducted by RDA, in which
input was gathered from utilizers of Berkeley’s
crisis response services, local community-based
organizations (CBOs), local community leaders,
and City of Berkeley and Alameda County
agencies. RDA’s third and final report, City of
Berkeley Specialized Care Unit Crisis Response
Recommendations
3 (see Appendix 6), utilized
information gathered in completing the first two
reports and makes specific recommendations for
an SCU model for Berkeley.

Recommendations
These recommendations are organized
in the following thematic areas:

The SCU Mobile Team

1. The SCU should respond to mental health
crises and substance use emergencies
without a police co-response.

2. The SCU should operate 24/7.

3. Staff a three-person SCU mobile team to
respond to mental health and substance
use emergencies.

4. Equip the SCU mobile team with vans.

5. The SCU mobile team should provide
1 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Clerk/Level_3_-_ Commissions/Berkeley-HHCSD_SCU_Crisis-Response-Models-Report FINAL.pdf

2 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Clerk/Level_3_-_ Commissions/Berkeley-SCU_Current-State-Report_FINAL.pdf

3 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Clerk/Level_3_-_ Commissions/Berkeley-MH-SCU_Final-Recommendations_FINAL.pdf Specialized Care
Unit
The Berkeley Mental Health Commission and
other community stakeholders have long
advocated for the need for a 24/7 crisis care
program and the need to reduce the role of
law enforcement in crisis response. In January
of 2020, the Mental Health Division released
an RFP to evaluate the current mental health
crisis system in Berkeley. After a robust process,
Resource Development Associates (RDA) was
selected as the vendor.

On July 14, 2020, City Council directed the
City Manager to develop a Specialized Care
Unit (SCU) pilot, consisting of trained crisis-
response field workers who would respond to
behavioral health crisis occurrences that do not
pose an imminent threat to safety without the
involvement of law enforcement. The action by
City Council is aligned with the original scope
RDA was selected to implement, but required
a deeper community process, more extensive
data gathering, and alignment with the other
Omnibus efforts. Consequently, with input
from the proposal review team and community
advocates, RDA was awarded funds to expand
their scope.

To oversee and advise RDA in completing its
scope of work, the City formed an SCU Steering
Committee consisting of representatives from
the Health, Housing, and Community Services
Department, the Berkeley Fire Department,
appointees of the Mental Health Commission,
and community representatives from the
Berkeley Community Safety Coalition. The
Steering Committee met regularly during the
period of January 2021 through January 2022,
and advised on RDA’s completion of three critical
reports.

17 Reimagining Public Safety
transport to a variety of locations.

6. Equip the SCU mobile team with supplies
to meet the array of clients’ needs.

7. Clearly distinguish the SCU from the Mobile
Crisis Team.

Assessing the SCU Crisis Response:

Dispatch & Alternative Phone Number

8. Participate in the Dispatch assessment
and planning process to prepare for future
integration.

9. Ensure the community has a 24/7 live
phone line to access the SCU.

10. Plan for embedding a mental health or
behavioral health clinician into Dispatch to
support triage and SCU deployment.

Implement a Comprehensive 24/7
Mental Health Crisis Response Model

11. Fully staff a comprehensive model to
ensure the success of the SCU mobile team,
including supervisory and administrative
support.

12. Operate one SCU mobile team per shift for
three 10-hour shifts.

13. SCU staff and Dispatch personnel should
travel to alternative crisis programs for in-
person observation and training.

14. Prepare the SCU mobile team with training.

Administration and Evaluation

15. Contract the SCU model to a CBO.

16. Integrate the SCU into existing data
systems.

17. Collect and publish mental health crisis
response data publicly on Berkeley’s Open
Data Portal.

18. Implement care coordination case
management meetings for crisis service
providers.

19. Implement centralized coordination
and leadership across city agencies to
support the success of mental health crisis
response.

20. Continue the existing SCU Steering
Committee as an advisory body.

21. Solicit ongoing community input and
feedback.

22. Adopt a rapid monitoring, assessment, and
learning process.

23. Conduct a formal annual evaluation.

Promoting Public Awareness

24. Launch a public awareness campaign
to promote community awareness and
education about the SCU.

25. The SCU mobile team should conduct
outreach and build relationships with
potential service utilizers.

Following completion of RDA’s final report,
the SCU Steering Committee held detailed
discussions and further analyzed each
category of recommendations. The purpose
of these discussions was to establish where
there was broad agreement among steering
committee members and where individual
members differed, and also to add additional
considerations where needed. While there was
strong agreement among steering committee
members with most of RDA’s recommendations,
there were some nuances and additional
considerations that should be considered as
part of SCU implementation. The Steering
Committee’s analysis was submitted as an
Information Item on the March 10, 2021 Special
meeting on Reimagining Public Safety.

18 City of Berkeley
Priority Dispatch
The City of Berkeley provides 24/7 dispatch
services for police, fire, emergency medical
service (EMS), and the Mobile Crisis Team.

Every EMS call for service receives a suppression
company and paramedic ambulance.

Suppression companies are dispatched because
they are strategically located throughout the
City to minimize response time and can arrive
on scene first to begin lifesaving advance life
support (ALS) care. The City of Berkeley does
not currently utilize a prioritized or criteria
based dispatching model. The adoption of a
new model would allow the Fire department
to triage calls for service using standardized
Possible Priority Dispatch Models
Models Considered Pros Cons
Current Model Simplicity, easier staffing Inefficient, delays for callers, expansive resources sent to call
Criteria Based Dispatch Affordable, flexible, trusts well-trained dispatchers Non-standard, not used by neighboring agencies
Medical Priority Dispatch
System
Standard System, Used by neighboring agencies Expensive licensing, inflexible, heavily scripted
The recommended dispatch model will lead to a community and policy discussion about the resources that should be deployed to calls received by the Communications Center. questioning and call categorization. The major
focus is to reduce response time (the time
between the receipt of a call at the dispatch
center and the arrival of the first emergency
response vehicle at the scene) by placing the
ambulances in optimal locations.

As part of the reimagining public safety process,
the City Council authorized the City Manager to
enter into a contract with Federal Engineering
(FE) to conduct an analysis of the staffing,
infrastructure, and technology needs of the
Berkeley 9-1-1 Communication Center and
create a project plan to implement an accredited
emergency medical dispatch system based on
industry standards. Federal Engineering’s scope
of work also includes an analysis of adding
behavioral health dispatch capabilities to the
Communication Center.

19Reimagining Public Safety
BerkDOT
The BerkDOT component of the Public Safety
Reimagining process involved input from the
Transportation Commission, Public Works
Commission, and Public Safety Reimagining
Task Force; public speakers at the Commission
and Task Force meetings; 650 respondents to
a scientific survey and three separate listening
sessions with high school students of color,
college and university students of color, and
religious minority groups of color; and director-
level interviews with Transportation and Public
Works departments in Los Angeles, Minneapolis,
Oakland, Denver, Ft. Collins, and Cambridge.

Regular reports on BerkDOT were provided to
the Transportation Commission on June 17,
2021, September 6, 2021, October 21, 2021,
November 18, 2021, January 20, 2022, and
February 17, 2022.

To ensure staff were connecting with the
most up-to-date information nationwide and
engaging in an equitable, thorough public
process, staff secured consulting support
from Fehr & Peers, Equitable Cities, and EMC
Research at a cost of approximately $175,000.

This work produced an 18-page report supplied
to the Task Force
4 (see Appendices 7, 8, and 9),
and results from both a scientific opinion survey
and focus groups.

Findings
Staff and the consulting team reviewed the City
of Berkeley’s current Public Works Department
and existing Public Works and Departments of
Transportation nationwide.

4 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Clerk/Level_3_-_ Commissions/Reimagining-Public-Safety-Task-Force%205-19%20 Meeting%20Packet%20(rev).pdf
The review found:
• Few cities of Berkeley’s size have a
stand-alone Division of Transportation
(DOT). Berkeley’s existing Division of
Transportation (BerkDOT) has more breadth
of transportation functions assigned to it than
comparable cities of its size.
• Berkeley could choose to begin a full,
stand-alone Department of Transportation
(BerkDOT), remake the existing Public
Works Department into a Department of
Transportation and Infrastructure (BerkDOTI),
have Public Works’ Division of Transportation
become BerkDOT , or take a phased approach
to a BerkDOTI or stand-alone BerkDOT .
• Berkeley’s Public Works Department and
BerkDOT had been promoting racial justice
and equity within their programs and projects,
but more was needed.
• Creating a new Department of
Transportation made the most sense
if the City’s existing transportation plans and
policies lacked the right vision.
• While there were opportunities with a new
Department of Transportation, there were
also costs of at least $750,000 per year, risks
in implementation, and logistical challenges.
• Shifting transportation functions between
Police and a Department (or Division) of
Transportation ranged from straight forward
(e.g., crossing guards) to difficult (e.g., parking
enforcement officers).
• Civilian traffic enforcement faced
significant obstacles from state law.

Public Survey and
Listening Sessions
This project included a first-of-its-kind, city-led
survey on the intersection of race, mobility, and
traffic enforcement. From September 20–28,
2021, EMC Research administered a scientific
survey to 630 residents of the City of Berkeley
using a combination of telephone and online
administration. All survey modes were offered in
English and Spanish.

20 City of Berkeley
The survey found the following:
• Residents of Berkeley, regardless of identity
or personal experience, are supportive of
the idea of shifting traffic enforcement,
including routine traffic stops, away from
police officers and to specially trained city
employees
• Self-identified Black and Hispanic residents
report both higher concern about police
treatment and more negative experiences
than those who do not identify as Black
or Hispanic
• A majority of residents across gender, age,
and racial lines acknowledge the role race
can play in interactions with the police,
with Black residents particularly aware
• Women are more likely than others to rate the
safety of getting around Berkeley negatively
• There is consensus across demographic
subgroups that allocating more
transportation money to historically
underfunded neighborhoods is desirable
The survey included 550 interviews with
a random, representative sample of adult
Berkeley residents, and additional interviews to
ensure a minimum of 100 interviews with both
Black and Latinx residents.

(The maximum margin of error for the citywide sample was +/- 4.2 percentage points, and the maximum margin of error for the Black and Hispanic sample was +/- 9.8 percentage points.)
Listening Session Findings
Equitable Cities conducted three separate
listening sessions in October and November
2021 with high school students of color, college
and university students of color, and religious
minority groups of color.

The listening sessions involved twenty (20) participants, and each participant received a $50 e-gift card at the completion of each session.

A detailed questionnaire was used to facilitate
discussions in all three listening sessions,
focusing on key questions and topics such as:
• Favorite and least favorite places
to visit in the City
• Transportation infrastructure
• Mobility challenges
• Unsafe and unwelcoming places and people
• Police
• Policy and funding decisions
• Alternatives for traffic enforcement
• Improved access and mobility

These listening sessions found the following:
• Most participants from all three groups
mentioned the Berkeley Marina and the
Rose Garden as their favorite places to visit
within the City.
• Most participants from all three groups
mentioned Telegraph, Berkeley High, and
Downtown Berkeley as their least favorite
places to visit within the City, in part due
to feeling uncomfortable and unwelcomed
on crowded streets and/or because of the
unhoused and encampments.
• Most of the participants favorably viewed
the existing transportation infrastructure
within the City, including the existing bike
and pedestrian infrastructure, with the
exception of participants in the high
school listening session.
• The overwhelming majority of the concerns
around feeling unsafe and unwelcome in the
City were shared by the female participants
in all three listening sessions, as compared to
the male participants.
• The overwhelming majority of participants
thought it was a good idea for the City
to consider moving traffic enforcement
responsibilities away from police officers
and instead assign these responsibilities
to a specialized set of city employees who
would not carry weapons or have the power
to detain or arrest people.

21Reimagining Public Safety

22

03 Recommendations &
Implementation Plan

In July of 2020, the City of Berkeley made a historic commitment to transform its approach to public safety through a reimagining process. The City prioritized the input and experiences of those residents and communities that have experienced the greatest harm from existing public safety models. The stated objectives of positive, equitable and community-centered safety for all Berkeley residents resonated deeply throughout the community.

The reimagining process aligns deeply with the City of Berkeley’s adopted strategic plan goals to:
• Champion and demonstrate social and racial equity
• Create a resilient, safe, connected and prepared city • Be a customer-focused organization that provides excellent, timely, easily accessible service and information to the community Numerous City Departments in support of the City Manager’s direction worked to understand, inform, and collaborate on the individual items within the Council’s omnibus package to reimagine public safety. City Staff have participated at every step of the process and closely reviewed the recommendations of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, the City of Berkeley’s Reimagine Public Safety Task Force, the reports generated through the Specialized Care Unit Steering Committee, and community and stakeholder feedback.

The following guiding principles provide a framework for the city to move forward with developing and implementing
priorities identified through the body of this work.
24 City of Berkeley

IMPROVE
Improve the City of Berkeley’s public safety system for residents and communities that have experienced the
greatest harm from the existing public safety model.

REIMAGINE
Redesign public safety from a traditional Police
Department to one that is focused on the diverse
needs of the community it serves.

REINVEST
Increase equitable investment in vulnerable
communities and for those who have been
historically marginalized.

City of Berkeley Mission
Provide quality service to our diverse community; promote an accessible, safe, healthy, environmentally sound and culturally rich city; initiate innovative solutions; embrace respectful democratic participation; respond quickly and effectively to neighborhood and commercial concerns, and do so in a fiscally sound manner. 25

Implement the Specialized Care Unit Pilot using all of the recommendations of the consultant and the SCU Steering Committee as a road mapRPSTF #17

Continue legislative advocacy for changes in state law to grant cities the authority for non-sworn civilian traffic enforcement, enable automated enforcement for speeding, and modify red light camera enforcement. This continues the City Council’s advocacy for state law changes on these issues that started in 2021, and will help ensure the City’s input in changes are ultimately adopted by the state legislature RPSTF #13, 14

In the FY 2023 and FY 2024 Budget, move crossing guards from the Police Department’s Traffic Unit to Public Works’ Division of Transportation. This consolidates a transportation function into the Transportation Division and aligns this function with the Vision Zero Program
RPSTF #15

Continue to plan for a civilian traffic enforcement unit, both by informing the content of state law changes to enable such a unit, and by developing an implementation plan once state law does change RPSTF #14

Review Berkeley Municipal Code for proposed changes to increase equity and racial justice in the City’s existing transportation fines and fees, especially related to parking. Involve the Transportation Commission in the recommendation of such changes to City Council.

RPSTF #13

Assess progress in incorporating equity, mobility, Vision 2050, and Vision Zero in transportation functions, and determine which organizational structure best matches a new or revised mission for transportation functions:
a stand-alone Berkeley Department of Transportation, Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, or Division of Transportation RPSTF #14

REIMAGINE
Evaluate the Specialized Care Unit Pilot and use quantitative and qualitative data to make identified improvementsRPSTF #17

Continue to partner with the SCU Steering Committee, the Mental Health Commission, and community members in implementation

Continue the consolidation of transportation-related functions in existing Public Works’ Division of Transportation. Public Works has both the engineering and transportation functions reporting up through a Deputy Director, Transportation, and consolidates transportation functions within this reporting structure so that the paving planning and constructions functions both are within this Deputy Director’s purview. In addition, with Council’s approval, the crossing guard function will shift to this Division of Transportation in FY 2023. The dialogue with the Parking Enforcement Officers and the City’s labor partners on the preferred department for the parking enforcement function will continue RPSTF #14

Approve a new Vision Zero staff position in Public Works’ Division of Transportation to conduct collision analysis. This will promote the City’s Vision Zero approach by boosting the City’s capacity to analyze collision data collected by the Police Department, and, with Police input, propose engineering improvements at high-collision corridors and locations RPSTF #15

Continue to address disparities in traffic and other enforcement stops; and disparities in Use of Force incidents RPSTF #45; NICJR #6

Support expanding dispatch responsibility and expertiseRPSTF #29, 35

Conduct regular analysis of data to ensure that departmental responses align with Fair and Impartial Policing conceptsRPSTF #45 Conduct ongoing training in support of Fair and Impartial Policing conceptsRPSTF #27, 36

IMPROVE
Develop and implement a finance strategy for long-term sustainability of the SCURPSTF #17

Assist the Communication Center with change management and implementation of the plan.

This will include considerations for design changes to the existing center, staffing alternations, initial and on-going training and assisting in the accreditation processNICJR# 1, 2; RPSTF# 16, 17, 19, 22, 29, 32, 35, 36, 37, 47, and 48

REINVEST
City of Berkeley

Develop BPD and Community-Based organization engagement and collaboration structuresNICJR #1; RPSTF #24, 38, 42, and 47

Implement formal BPD community engagement unitRPSTF #21 Support reimagining efforts of City Departments

BPD support and assistance implementing Vision Zero goals and BERKDOT processRPSTF #14

BPD expand capacity to provide non-sworn parking enforcement and emergency traffic responseNICJR #1; RPSTF #14

BPD collaborate with City Departments on redirecting enforcement responsibilities where appropriateRPSTF #14

Develop additional capabilities to address public safety goals with appropriate response levelNICJR #1

Explore additional or alternate responses specifically related to traffic and bicycle safetyRPSTF #13

Analyze the current dispatch center including available hardware and software, current staffing model, current level of training, existing facility, accreditation status and accreditation options, and existing quality improvement practices. Phase I includes a recommendation for a prioritized emergency fire & medical dispatch system
NICJR# 1, 2; RPSTF# 16, 17, 19, 22, 29, 32, 35, 36, 37, 47, and 48

Conduct staffing assessment, including a beat study to ensure departmental staffing levels meet public safety expectations and employee health and wellnessNICJR #1
Continued support of employee health and wellness; and employee training and professional development

Ensure public and employee safety through recruitment efforts aligned with adequate staffing levels and technology

Provide transparency through public facing data dashboards; and community engagement through increased information sharingNICJR #6
Build relationships with community groups to support best possible outcomesRPSTF #45

Gather data around mental illness and homelessness to support overall City responses and needs assessment

Strengthen investigation capabilities and victim support network

Expand problem-oriented teams to support community needs and address violent crimeRPSTF #42

Promote traffic and pedestrian safety through data analysis, education and enforcement where appropriate
RPSTF #13, 14
Create a detailed implementation plan for Priority Dispatch including timelines and critical dependencies, a budget identifying one-time and on-going costs, staffing requirements, technology needs, start up and on-going training requirements, and physical/facility improvements
NICJR# 1, 2; RPSTF# 16, 17, 19, 22, 29, 32, 35, 36, 37, 47, and 48

Reimagining Public Safety

REIMAGINE
12 MONTHS
Implement the Specialized Care Unit Pilot using all of the recommendations of the consultant and the SCU Steering Committee as a road mapRPSTF #17

RPSTF
28

$450K 18-24
MONTHS

REIMAGINE
Continue legislative advocacy for changes in state law to grant cities the authority for non- sworn civilian traffic enforcement, enable automated enforcement for speeding, and modify red light camera enforcement. This continues the City Council’s advocacy for state law changes on these issues that started in 2021, and will help ensure the City’s input in changes are ultimately adopted by the state legislatureRPSTF #13, 14

In the FY 2023 and FY 2024 Budget, move crossing guards from the Police Department’s Traffic Unit to Public Works’ Division of Transportation. This consolidates a transportation function into the Transportation Division and aligns this function with the Vision Zero Program
RPSTF #15

Continue to plan for a civilian traffic enforcement unit, both by informing the content of state law changes to enable such a unit, and by developing an implementation plan once state law does change
RPSTF #14

Review Berkeley Municipal Code for proposed changes to increase equity and racial justice in the City’s existing transportation fines and fees, especially related to parking. Involve the Transportation Commission in the recommendation of such changes to City CouncilRPSTF #13

Assess progress in incorporating equity, mobility, Vision 2050, and Vision Zero in transportation functions, and determine which organizational structure best matches a new or revised mission for transportation functions: a stand-alone Berkeley Department of Transportation, Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, or Division of Transportation
RPSTF #14
RPSTF
29

REIMAGINE
$3.1M 12-36
MONTHS
$200K
Develop BPD and Community-Based organization engagement and collaboration structuresNICJR #1; RPSTF #24, 38, 42, and 47

Implement formal BPD community engagement unit1; RPSTF #21

Support reimagining efforts of City Departments2

BPD support and assistance implementing Vision Zero goals and BERKDOT process

BPD expand capacity to provide non-sworn parking enforcement and emergency traffic response3; NICJR #1; RPSTF #14

BPD collaborate with City Departments on redirecting enforcement responsibilities where appropriate

Develop additional capabilities to address public safety goals with appropriate response level4; NICJR #1

Explore additional or alternate responses specifically related to traffic and bicycle safety

Resources:

1. (1) Community Services Officer position;
(1) Sworn Officer position

2. (1) Project Manager position

3. (5) Parking Enforcement Officers and (1)
Parking Enforcement Officer Supervisor
positions

4. (9) Community Services Officers and (1)
Supervising Community Services Officer
positions
RPSTF
30

REIMAGINE
$200K 12-72
MONTHS
Analyze the current dispatch center including available hardware and software, current staffing model, current level of training, existing facility, accreditation status and accreditation options, and existing quality improvement practices.

Phase I includes a recommendation for a prioritized emergency fire & medical dispatch system
1; NICJR# 1, 2; RPSTF# 16, 17, 19, 22, 29, 32, 35, 36, 37, 47, and 48

Resources:

1. For consulting support
RPSTF
31

IMPROVE
$175K
12-24
MONTHS
Evaluate the Specialized Care Unit Pilot and use quantitative and qualitative data to make identified improvementsRPSTF #17

Continue to partner with the SCU Steering Committee, the Mental Health Commission, and community members in implementation

RPSTF
32

IMPROVE
$175K 12-24
MONTHS
Continue the consolidation of transportation-related functions in existing Public Works’ Division of Transportation. Public Works has both the engineering and transportation functions reporting up through a Deputy Director, Transportation, and consolidates transportation functions within this reporting structure so that the paving planning and constructions functions both are within this Deputy Director’s purview. In addition, with Council’s approval, the crossing guard function will shift to this Division of Transportation in FY 2023. The dialogue with the Parking Enforcement Officers and the City’s labor partners on the preferred department for the parking enforcement function will continueRPSTF #14

Approve a new Vision Zero staff position in Public Works’ Division of Transportation to conduct collision analysis. This will promote the City’s Vision Zero approach by boosting the City’s capacity to analyze collision data collected by the Police Department, and, with Police input, propose engineering improvements at high-collision corridors and locations 1; RPSTF #15

Resources:

1. (1) Associate Planner position
RPSTF
33

IMPROVE
12-36
MONTHS
$3.8M $4.1M
Continue to address disparities in traffic and other enforcement stops; and in Use of Force incidentsRPSTF #45; NICJR #6

Support expanding dispatch responsibility and expertise1; RPSTF #29, 35

Conduct regular analysis of data to ensure that departmental responses align with Fair and Impartial Policing conceptsRPSTF #45

Conduct ongoing training in support of Fair and Impartial Policing concepts3; RPSTF #27, 36

Conduct staffing assessment, including a beat study, to ensure departmental staffing levels meet public safety expectations and employee health and wellness NICJR #1

Continued support of employee health and wellness; and employee training and professional development
Ensure public and employee safety through recruitment efforts aligned with adequate staffing levels and technology
Resources:

1. (1) Supervising Public Safety Dispatcher
and (8) Public Safety Dispatcher II
positions

2. For consulting support

3. Increased training

4. Seven (7) Sworn Officer positions
RPSTF
34

IMPROVE
6-36
MONTHS
$4.1M
Provide transparency through public facing data dashboards; and community engagement through increased information sharingNICJR #6

Build relationships with community groups to support best possible outcomesRPSTF #45

Gather data around mental illness and homelessness to support overall City responses and needs assessment
Strengthen investigation capabilities and victim support network

Expand problem-oriented teams to support community needs and address violent crime
RPSTF #42
Promote traffic and pedestrian safety through data analysis, education and enforcement where appropriate
RPSTF #13, 14
Resources:

1. Fourteen (14) Sworn Officer positions
RPSTF
35

IMPROVE
12-72
MONTHS
$100K
Create a detailed implementation plan for Priority Dispatch including timelines and critical dependencies, a budget identifying one-time and on-going costs, staffing requirements, technology needs, start up and on-going training requirements, and physical/facility improvementsNICJR# 1, 2; RPSTF# 16, 17, 19, 22, 29, 32, 35, 36, 37, 47, and 48 Support Reimagining efforts including grant writing services

36 Resources:

1. For consulting support
RPSTF

IMPROVE
Fair and Impartial Policing
Building off the work of the Fair and Impartial Policing task force, BPD will continue to address disparities in traffic and other enforcement stops. Throughout the Reimagine Public Safety process, the department listened and heard the community’s concerns, and therefore provided specific departmental guidance on the focus for traffic enforcement. Officers have been provided data regarding primary collision factors and have been directed to enforce those violations wherever they are observed. In addition to focusing on enforcement of primary collision factor violations, sworn personnel are also expected to make investigative stops related to criminal intelligence and information brought forth by the community or our investigations. This is a work in progress that we will continue to assess through data metrics.

Also connected to important concepts identified in Fair and Impartial Policing was a need to understand and address disparities in Use of Force incidents. BPD now captures detailed stop data and force data and will regularly provide this information to the community and review and assess the data to identify if additional training, policy, or equipment is needed.

Updates to the department’s Early Intervention System will provide a framework and means to ensure that the department is able to recognize emerging performance issues. 37

IMPROVE
12-24
MONTHS
Fair and Impartial Policing, continued
Building on Fair and Impartial Policing concepts calling for regular analysis of stop, search and use of force data, BPD has established a data analyst team. A primary responsibility of that team is to analyze data and review effectiveness allowing BPD to prioritize most effective response. Long-term this program could be expanded or replicated to ensure that non- enforcement approaches have access to pertinent data and information to guide appropriate response. Identified problems tend to generate data, whether it be in the form of calls for service, crime reports, city complaints, or service requests. Careful analysis of such data from various sources will help the City to better understand the nature and extent of a problem; and thus be better equipped with the collaborative information to address it; especially with non-traditional interventions.

BPD continued training focus on racial justice issues, deescalation, specialized responses, cultural and disadvantaged community sensitivity.

Again, building of the department’s efforts to implement concepts identified in the Fair and Impartial Policing recommendations, BPD will look to partner with more community- based groups to build relationships of understanding and collaboration. The department is responsible for ensuring open lines of communication so that police-civilian encounters result in the best possible outcomes. This work also includes ensuring the community understands their rights and the external and internal processes that are in place to ensure accountability.
38

IMPROVE
6 MONTHS
City Auditor
In the City of Berkeley Auditor’s audit report on the City of Berkeley’s Police Response CFS (Calls For Service) Data Analysis of the City of Berkeley’s Police Response1 (see Appendix 10), which was part of the Reimagining Public Safety omnibus package, a recommendation was made by the Auditor that BPD begin more formally collecting information on when homelessness or mental health was a component to a call for service received by the Department. Starting July 1, 2021, BPD formally began utilizing “H” homeless and “MH” mental health disposition codes when closing out any call involving a homeless person or a person with mental health issues. Officers were instructed that they were not required to ask people what their housing status is unless necessary for identification purposes. Further, unless there are mental health issues which are related to the call, they are not required to ask about a person’s mental health status. Officers are expected to use their best judgment or perception in determining if a call is related to a homeless issue or someone suffering from a mental health issue. If so, they are directed to add the “H” and/or “MH” disposition to the CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) disposition. A review of the total numbers of times “H” and “MH” has been entered as a disposition code in CFS from July 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021 revealed that of the 36,180 CFS during that time period 1,534 (4.2%) involved a person experiencing homelessness and in 1,481 (4.1%) mental health issues were a factor in the call. During this time period 3,015 total calls had associated dispositions codes of “H” and/or “MH” which represents 8.4% of the total CFS for that time. Data from January 1, 2022 through March 19, 2022 reflected similar percentages:
14,525 total CFS, 522 “H” dispositions (3.6%), 500 “MH” dispositions (3.4%) and a total count of 1,022 (7%)“H” and “MH” codes can occur in the same incident, which is why the grand total of dispositions counts is not simply a totaling of the codes. As the department moves closer to production of a public facing dashboard, this specific data will be available regularly updated there.

1 https://www.cit uditor/Level_3_-_General/Data Analysis of the City of Berkeley’s Police Response.pdf 39

REINVEST
12-36
MONTHS
Develop and implement a finance strategy for long-term sustainability of the SCURPSTF #17

RPSTF
40

12-72
MONTHS
41 REINVEST
RPSTF
Assist the Communication Center with change management and implementation of the plan. This will include considerations for design changes to the existing center, staffing alternations, initial and on-going training and assisting in the accreditation processNICJR# 1, 2, RPSTF# 16, 17, 19, 22, 29, 32, 35, 36, 37, 47, and 48

42

43

44

Budget
04

Reimagining Public Safety Fiscal Summary
The pathway to reimagining public safety will require transformative change, community involvement and funding to ensure we provide the most appropriate public safety resources. Many of the departments have including reimagining public safety request in their budget development in anticipation of the work. The financial information provided here is a proposed look at what the budget for this process will look like in the future.

It provides for some immediate needs, while understanding this will be a multi-year process and staff will collect more experience and data following the implementation of alternative response models in order to determine actual needs, particularly around Police Department staffing levels.

While we are requesting 181 positions be utilized and remain in the Police Department, the City Manager is proposing to defer five (5) Sworn Officer positions in FY23-24 to meet the objectives of council and the community while city staff completes the following:

1. Conduct a staffing analysis, which includes a beat study

2. Lift Up SCU and gather data to make very good decisions based upon what we are learning

3. Analyze staffing and workforce data including attrition annually

4. Implement Fair and Impartial Policing

5. Analyze call data and response data
The recommendation to fully fund our Police Department is in part to the items stated above and the understanding it will take years to recruit and train new officers. We will continue to see officers retire from the City that could yield the appropriate attrition needed for funding programs and initiatives for Reimagining Public Safety.
46 City of Berkeley

Staff have been monitoring staffing levels and have determined within the next five (5) years approximately 33% of Sworn Officers are eligible to retire.

Eligible means employees who have satisfied the vesting rights for their California Public Employees Retirement Service benefit. It should be noted that the Police Department will be experiencing reduced staffing levels as referenced below:

The Berkeley Police Department have 24 officers who have stated their intent to retire within the next two years. Recruiting Officers is a challenge for most municipalities with many offering hiring incentives, and it takes 18 months to full train and integrate a new officer into the community. This level of attrition would render the City in a very positive position for moving forward to funding the reimagining initiative. As a result we have been monitoring our staffing levels and have determined within the next 5 years approx.. 33% could retire as they are eligible. Eligible means employees who have satisfied the vesting rights for retirement. •
Berkeley Police Department Sworn Staff as of 4/5/22
CURRENT SWORN STAFFING LEVEL * 156
Retirement Eligibility
Currently Eligible Now 15
Eligible in less than 2 years 15
Eligible in 2-5 years 21
Total eligible in next 5 years 51
The funding sources available for Reimagining Public Safety include a portion of the City’s remaining allocation of the American Rescue Plan Act Fund, General Fund, Measure P Fund and grants. The City of Berkeley has successfully received a grant for the Specialized Care Unit, and additional grant opportunities may be forthcoming. The City Manager’s Reference Guide for City Council Discussion also includes funding requests for a Project Manager to provide overall project management, a grant writer to research grant funding opportunities, additional parking enforcement positions that have the potential to generate increased revenue to offset operating costs, and Community Services Officers to support community based work and collaboration.

In addition, City Council can consider utilizing salary savings as a result of deferring five (5) Sworn Officer positions in FY23-24.

Current Police Staffing
Potential Funding
47Reimagining Public Safety

FY23-24 Reimagining Public Safety Budget Analysis1
1 See Appendix 11

IMPROVE
As part of the FY23-24 budget process, additional funding sources available to support the reimagining public safety process include the City Manager’s proposal to defer five (5) Sworn Officer positions, resulting in a $1,600,000 net salary savings for the City.
1 See Appendix 11

REIMAGINE REQUESTED FUNDING
Consulting Services - BerkDoT , Priority Dispatch $ 650,000 City Staffing/Additional Positions $3,106,911
Sworn Officer positions (1) *deferred ($ 293,334)
Community Services Officer positions (10)
Community Services Officer Supervisor positions (1)
Parking Enforcement Officers (5)
Parking Enforcement Officer Supervisor positions (1)
Assistant to the City Manager positions (1)
Specialized Care Unit (1yr Pilot Program–already budgeted) ($5,700,000) Specialized Care Unit (Ongoing) TBD
Subtotal $3,756,911

IMPROVE REQUESTED FUNDING
Consulting Services - BerkDoT , Grant Writer, PD Training, PD Wellness $ 170,000 City Staffing/Additional Positions $8,275,258
Associate Planner (1)
Public Safety Dispatcher II positions (8)
Supervising Public Safety Dispatcher (1)
Sworn Officer positions (7) *deferred ($6,453,348)
Community Services Officer positions (1)
Training $ 250,000
Subtotal $ 8,695,258

REINVEST REQUESTED FUNDING
City Staffing/Additional Positions ($293,334)
Sworn Officer positions (1) *deferred
Subtotal ($293,334)
FY 23-24 TOTAL FUNDING REQUEST* REQUESTED FUNDING
TOTAL $12,452,169
48 City of Berkeley

49 Intended Purpose of Police Department Positions

SUMMARY OF
CITY MANAGER’S

RESPONSE NEW RESOURCES

ESTIMATED

COSTS JUSTIFICATION TIMELINE
Implement formal
BPD community
engagement unit
(1) Police Officer
Salary and Benefits
FY23 Budget FTE =
$293,334 (deferred)
$293,334 BPD formalize a unit focused on revitalizing
community engagement. This team will
be made up of sworn and non-sworn
personnel developing stronger relationships
with CBO, faith-based organizations, youth
groups and others. This unit will have the
lead in partnering with community based
organizations on violence interventon
programs such as Ceasefire.
12-24
months
Implement formal
BPD community
engagement unit
(1) Community
Services Officer
Salary and Benefits
FY23 Budget FTE =
$150,952
$150,952 BPD Community Service Officers (CSO)
proposed increase in staffing will support
public safety goals and build non-sworn
response to address responses where the
call type or specific call factors indicate a
sworn response is not necessary. The CSO’s
will be focused on community supports
and other community based work being
directed through other Departments or
personnel such as code enforcement. BPD
formalize a unit focused on revitalizing
community engagement. This team will
be made up of sworn and non-sworn
personnel developing stronger relationships
with CBO, faith-based organizations, youth
groups and others. This unit will have the
lead in partnering with community based
organizations on violence interventon
programs such as Ceasefire.
12-24
months
Develop additional
capabilities to
address public
safety goals with
appropriate response
level
(9) Community
Services Officer
Salary and Benefits
FY23 Budget
FTE = $150,952 +
(1) Supervising
Community Services
Officer Salary and
Benefits FY23 Budget
FTE = $171,466
$1,530,037 Reimagining Public Safety(RPS)
Recommendation: To develop additional
capabilities to address public safety goals
with appropriate response level, increase
capacity for community engagement.

Budgeted at mid-step with 3% COLA.

Reimagining Public Safety(RPS)
Recommendation: To ensure the required
supervision for the additional CSO positions
described above. Budgeted at mid-step
with 3% COLA. BPD Community Service
Officers (CSO) proposed increase in staffing
will support public safety goals and build
non-sworn response to address responses
where the call type or specific call factors
indicate a sworn response is not necessary.

The CSO’s will be focused on community
supports and other community based work
being directed through other Departments
or personnel such as code enforcement.
24-36
months
Reimagining Public Safety

SUMMARY OF
CITY MANAGER’S

RESPONSE NEW RESOURCES

ESTIMATED

COSTS JUSTIFICATION TIMELINE
Strengthen
investigation
capabilities and
victim support
network
(3) Police Officer
Salary and Benefits
FY23 Budget FTE =
$293,334 (deferred)
$880,002 Reimagining Public Safety(RPS)
Recommendation: These additional
positions will address various facets of
enhanced community engagement and
related services to support enhanced safety
through increased criminal investigation,
collaboration with Community Based
Organizations, and victim support.
24-30
months
Expand problem-
oriented teams to
support community
needs and address
violent crime
(10) Police Officer
Salary and Benefits
FY23 Budget for 1 FTE
= $293,334 (deferred)
$2,933,340 Reimagining Public Safety(RPS)
Recommendation: To develop flexible
capabilities to support public safety goals
through problem solving focused and
data driven approaches. Building off of
Bike Team success in both engagement
capabilities and violent crime reduction.

Budgeted at mid-step with 3% COLA
24-30
months
Promote traffic and
pedestrian safety
through data analysis,
education and
enforcement where
appropriate
(1) Police Officer
Salary and Benefits
FY23 Budget FTE =
$293,334 (deferred)
$293,334 To support continued efforts and
partnerships with Transportation to
prevent, educate, reduce, assess impact
of traffic violations and collisions on
community safety.
24-30
months
Intended Purpose of Police Department Positions (cont.) City of Berkeley

SUMMARY OF
CITY MANAGER’S

RESPONSE NEW RESOURCES

ESTIMATED

COSTS JUSTIFICATION TIMELINE
Ensure public and
employee safety
through recruitment
efforts aligned with
adequate staffing
levels and technology
(7) Police Officer
Salary and Benefits
FY23 Budget FTE =
$293,334 (deferred)
$2,053,338 Lack of adequate staffing and limitations on tools and technology can negatively impact
not only overall safety, but also morale
and mental health of personnel. BPD will
identify and implement the necessary tools,
technology and personnel levels to support
these important needs. BPD will maintain
focus on recruitment efforts which support
a diverse workforce reflective of community
values.
18-24
months
Develop and
implement violence
prevention programs
such as Ceasefire
(1) Police Officer
Salary and Benefits
FY23 Budget FTE =
$293,334 (deferred)
$293,334 Developing Community violence prevention
and intervention programs can be effective
in reducing violent crime and create
meaningful opportunities for community
members to give back. These community
based organizations work with to interrupt
cycles of violence and the department and
crime data can be critical to the success of
this work. Programs such as Ceasefire or
Voices Against Violence could be supported
through dedicated staff managing these
efforts.
12-24
months
Intended Purpose of Police Department Positions (cont.) Reimagining Public Safety

52

Closing Remarks
05 53

Closing Remarks
What we have learned through this process, is that the time has come for leaders, communities and public safety institutions to declare that community safety requires a broad brush of components. Those components include public health, youth programs, re-design of our current police policies and procedures, in addition to structural change to align community safety with the community we serve. While our City Council has led transformative policies to address multiple issues locally, there is still growth needed in how we deploy, engage and serve our community.

Transforming community safety in Berkeley has required deep and complex discussion, joint decisions, and shared goals with the Mayor and Council, National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform, Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, and City staff.

I am profoundly grateful for all the work that has gone into this effort.

Reimagining Public Safety for Berkeley has been robust and thoughtful coordination and collaboration with many stakeholders.

The strategies and recommendations from this process all centered around increasing trust and improving the relationship between all members of the community and law enforcement. The recommendations will shape policy and practice and transform how our city provides public safety.

Going forward, we recommend taking actionable steps to further develop our efforts toward an equity-driven safety system.
54 City of Berkeley

00 Title
If approved by Council, we will work toward the
following priorities:

1. Analyze our dispatch system to make changes that will support a system with greater triage capabilities

2. Implement the Specialized Care Unit Pilot

3. Implement greater BPD community engagement to build
relationships with community groups

4. Establish the Office of Race Equity and Diversity

5. Complete a police staffing assessment and Beat structure analysis

6. Continued funding supports of approximately 14.1M annually to Community Based Organizations to support programs that improve community well-being and collaboration
55Reimagining Public Safety

Dee Williams-Ridley
City Manager
Farimah Brown
City Attorney
David White
Deputy City Manager
LaTanya Bellow
Deputy City Manager
Jen Louis
Interim Police Chief
Abe Roman
Fire Chief
Dr. Lisa Warhuus
HHCS Director
Liam Garland
Public Works Director
Shamika Cole
Senior Management Analyst
Thank you, From Your City Team
Our overarching goal of a reimagined public safety system including a new transformative, community-centered way is necessary but there are important matters to consider:

While there is more that needs to be done, we must recognize this is a journey to make meaningful change, and a commitment to continue the work and collaboration will be needed from all stakeholders. It is the marathon, not the sprint that we run today, that will dictate the race that is won. We look forward to the journey in implementing this important work.

CHALLENGES CERN MODEL CONSIDERATIONS
Ongoing funding Underdeveloped and needed
additional data
Honoring our MOU’s as it relates to
contracting
Staffing considerations Needs more work and components
may be effective to implement as we
move forward with the reimagining
process
Moving Dispatch to the Fire
Department
State Law to changes around traffic
enforcement
Labor Issues
Timeline could be 3-5 years for full
implementation of all items
Community Services Officers to be
housed in Neighborhood Services
City of Berkeley

00 Title
Reimagining Public Safety

58

Appendix
06

Susan Wengraf
Councilmember District 6
2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7160 ● TDD: (510) 981-6903 ● Fax: (510) 981-7166 E-Mail: [email protected]

CONSENT CALENDAR
July 14, 2020
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Councilmember Wengraf (author), Councilmember Davila (Co-Sponsor) Subject: Referral to City Manager to Re-imagine Policing Approaches to Public Safety Using a Process of Robust Community Engagement, to Develop a Path Forward to Transforming Public Safety and Policing in Berkeley.

RECOMMENDATION
We must have our communities of color, particularly our African American community, at the forefront of conversations to re-imagine approaches to policing and public safety in Berkeley. The people most disparately impacted must have a vital role in the creation of new ways to enhance accountability, compassion and transparency as we move forward to address racial inequities and disparate outcomes of policing in Berkeley.

This item is an urgent referral to the City Manager to act quickly and thoughtfully in creating substantial community engagement to develop a new model for policing in Berkeley, to address racial inequities, ensure community health and safety needs are met, and to build trust within our communities of color.

This work should begin with public, transparent community forums to listen, learn and receive people’s ideas about how policing should be re-imagined and transformed so that communities of color can be safer within their neighborhoods, the City of Berkeley, and trust in the Berkeley Police Department can begin to be rebuilt. The City Manager will send a list of recommendations to the full Council for review and public input.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
Staff time

BACKGROUND
The recent heinous murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery in the context of centuries of sanctioned murders of and violence towards Black people in our country, have catapulted the nation and our community to call for change in rooting out systemic racism from our policing models.

At the June 9, 2020 Council Meeting Berkeley residents demanded an end to racial disparities in Berkeley’s policing. Some demanded defunding the Berkeley Police Department. This item seeks to vigorously initiate the development of a strategic framework to end disparate racial outcomes resulting from practices, policies and

Referral to City Manager to Re-imagine Policing Approaches to Public Safety CONSENT CALENDAR July 14, 2020

deployment of the Berkeley Police Department, by engaging the communities most impacted in the discussion about how to re-imagine our Police Department. This is one step towards moving forward with a Police department that is responsive to the health and safety needs of our communities of color.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
None

CONTACT PERSON
Councilmember Wengraf Council District 6 510-981-7160

Office of the Mayor
Jesse Arreguín
1 ACTION CALENDAR
July 14, 2020
To: Honorable Members of the City Council
From: Mayor Jesse Arreguín, Vice-Mayor Sophie Hahn, Councilmember Ben Bartlett, Councilmember Kate Harrison
Subject: Transform Community Safety and Initiate a Robust Community Engagement Process

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Adopt a Resolution expressing the City Council’s commitment to:
a. A transformative approach to community-centered safety and reducing the scope of policing,
b. Equitable investment in the essential conditions of a safe and healthy community, especially for those who have been historically marginalized and have experienced disinvestment, and
c. A broad, inclusive community process that will result in deep and lasting change to support safety and wellbeing for all Berkeley residents.

2. Direct the City Manager to track and report progress on actions to implement this initiative, and other actions that may be identified by the Coalition and referred by Council to the City Manager. Updates shall be provided by written and verbal reports to Council and posted on a regularly updated and dedicated page on the City website.

3. Direct the City Manager to collaborate with Mayor and select Councilmembers to complete the following work, to inform investments and reallocations to be incorporated into future Budget processes:
a. Contract with independent subject matter experts to:
i. Analyze the scope of work of, and community needs addressed by, the Berkeley Police Department, to identify a more limited role for law enforcement, and identify elements of police work that could be achieved through alternative programs, policies, systems, and community

2 investments. Analysis should include but not be limited to: calls received by dispatch by type of complaint, stops by law enforcement generated at officer discretion (as contained in the Police Department’s open data portal) or on request of other city agencies, number of officers and staff from other city agencies that respond to incidents, estimated time in response to different types of calls, daily patrol activities, organizational structure, and beat staffing. Work to include broad cost estimates of police and other city agency response to different types of calls, and other information and analysis helpful to identify elements of current police work that could be transferred to other departments or programs or achieved through alternative means. Work should be completed in time for the November 2020 Annual Appropriation Ordinance revision. ii. Identify immediate and longer-term opportunities to shift policing resources to alternative, non-police responses and towards alternative and restorative justice models, to better meet community needs, that could be considered in the November 2020 AAO#1 budget process.

Some areas to be considered include homeless outreach and services, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and mental health/crisis management, as well as alternative models for traffic and parking enforcement, “neighborhood services” and code enforcement. Provide a broad timeline and process for transitioning functions not ready for transition at this first milestone.

Deliverables should coincide with budget cycles, including the November 2020 AAO and FY 2022-2023 Budget processes, and provide a suggested timeline for transitioning functions at these and other budget opportunities, so that alternative investments may be considered for funding and launched in a timely and orderly manner.
b. Contract with independent Change Management experts to initiate and facilitate a representative Community Safety Coalition, guided by a Steering Committee, that will begin meeting no later than January 2021.The CSC and its Steering Committee should be broadly inclusive and representative of Berkeley residents and stakeholders. The Steering Committee, with the support of Change Management professionals, shall be responsible for engaging the Coalition and the broader Berkeley community and relevant City Staff in a robust process, to achieve a new and transformative model of positive, equitable and community-centered safety for Berkeley.

The work of the Coalition should include but not be limited to:

3 1. Building on the work of the City Council, the City Manager, the PRC and other City commissions and other working groups addressing community health and safety.

2. Research and engagement to define a holistic, anti-racist approach to community safety, including a review and analysis of emerging models, programs and practices that could be applied in Berkeley.

3. Recommend a new, community-centered safety paradigm as a foundation for deep and lasting change, grounded in the principles of Reduce, Improve and Reinvest as proposed by the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (Attachment 3), considering, among other things:
a. The social determinants of health and changes required to deliver a holistic approach to community-centered safety
b. The appropriate response to community calls for help including size, scope of operation and powers and duties of a well-trained police force.
c. Limiting militarized weaponry and equipment.
d. Identifying alternatives to policing and enforcement to reduce conflict, harm, and institutionalization, introduce alternative and restorative justice models, and reduce or eliminate use of fines and incarceration.
e. Options to reduce police contacts, stops, arrests, tickets, fines and incarceration and replace these, to the greatest extent possible, with educational, community serving, restorative and other positive programs, policies and systems.
c. The Coalition’s goal/output will be a set of recommended programs, structures and initiatives to incorporate into upcoming budget processes for FY 2022-23 and, as a second phase, in the FY2024-2025 budget processes to ensure that recommended changes will be achieved. The Coalition shall return to City Council an initial plan and timeline by April 1, 2021, to ensure the first phase of changes can be incorporated into the FY2022-23 Budget Process.

4 SUMMARY
Local government’s most fundamental role is to provide for the health and safety of its residents. Cities around the country are acknowledging that they are falling behind in this basic function, and are embarking on efforts to reimagine health and safety, and to consider reallocating resources towards a more holistic approach; one that shifts resources away from policing towards health, education and social services, and is able to meet crises with a variety of appropriate responses.

The current re-energized movement for social justice and police reform highlights a problematic expansion, over many decades, in the roles and responsibilities of the police. As other systems have been defunded, most notably mental health, education, affordable housing and other health and safety-net programs, the police have been asked to respond to more and more crises that could have been avoided with a different set of investments in community wellbeing. Rather than being the responders of last resort, focused on criminal, aggressive and violent behaviors, police are now frontline responders routinely called to address mental health crises, poverty and homelessness, substance abuse, stress in the school environment, traffic and code violations and neighborhood disputes. This is an extensive set of responsibilities that is not traditionally the purview of the police.

This item initiates a restructure and redefinition of “health and safety” for all Berkeleyeans, with immediate, intermediate and longer-term steps to transform the city to a new model that is equitable and community-centered. It roots the transformative process in broad, deep and representative community engagement which empowers the community to address social determinants of health and safety and deliver transformative change, with the help of change management professionals and informed by research and analysis of current and best practices.

BACKGROUND
The recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery have ignited the nation in passionate protest against police brutality and racial injustice. Across the country, community members have gathered for weeks to demand change and called out the enduring, systemic racism, white supremacy and accompanying police brutality that have defined the United States for too long. Among the more immediate demands are calls to reduce funding and the scope of police work and to invest in alternative models to achieve positive, equitable community safety.

These demands for change go beyond necessary efforts in procedural justice, implicit bias training, and improved use of force policies. Activists, organizers and their allies in our community are seeking a broader discussion about the true foundations for a safe and healthy community for all people. For too long, “public safety” has been equated

5 with more police, while economic and social welfare programs have been viewed as special projects unrelated to health and safety.

Responding from the epicenter of this moment, the City of Minneapolis has voted to disband their police department and engage in a deep and detailed year long process to fundamentally transform community health and safety in their city.1 Closer to home, Mayor London Breed has announced that San Francisco will demilitarize their police force and end the use of police as a response for non-criminal activity.2 As this movement ripples across the nation, Berkeley has an opportunity to lead in transforming our approach to public health and safety. We need the right response for each crisis rather than defaulting to police. This resolution and recommendations initiate a thoughtful, thorough approach to restructuring and redefining health and safety through investment in the social determinants of health, rooted in deep community engagement and empowerment.

Community members are calling on city leaders to be creative in reimagining the city’s approach to health and safety and to make clear, demonstrated commitments and timelines for this work.

In order to earn community buy-in for these important changes it is critical that the future of community health and safety be defined by the Berkeley community, centering the voices of our Black, Native American/First Peoples and other communities of color, LGBTQ+ people, victims of harm and other stakeholders that have been historically, and continue to be, marginalized and under-served by our current system. A community-wide process would ultimately inform recommended investments and approaches to achieve a higher and more equitable level of community safety for the entire community.

CURRENT SITUATION AND ITS EFFECTS
Despite strong efforts and leadership on police reform, homelessness, health, education and housing affordability in Berkeley, racial disparities remain stark across virtually every meaningful measure. According to the City of Berkeley’s 2018 Health Status Summary Report, African Americans are 2.3 times more likely to die in a given year from any condition as compared to Whites. In 2013, African Americans were twice as likely to live in poverty in Berkeley. By 2018, they were eight times more likely. The Center for Policing Equity (CPE) found that Black drivers are 6.5 times as likely as white drivers to be stopped by Berkeley police officers and four times as likely to be searched.

Latinx people are also searched far more often than white people. Furthermore, there is a striking disproportionality in BPD’s use of force against Black community members. 1 https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/File/3806/Transforming%20Community%20Safety%20Resolution.pdf 2 https://sfmayor.org/article/mayor-london-breed-announces-roadmap-new-police-reforms

6 Black people comprise 8% of Berkeley’s population but 46% of people who are subjected to police force.3
Local government’s most fundamental role is to provide for the health and safety of its residents. Cities around the country are acknowledging that they are falling behind in this basic function and are embarking on efforts to reimagine health and safety, and to consider reallocating resources towards a more holistic approach; one that shifts resources away from policing towards health, education and social services, and is able to meet crises with a variety of appropriate responses.

In addition to renewed efforts around policing in places like Minneapolis and San Francisco that were prompted by George Floyd’s murder, the financial and public health impacts of COVID-19 had already required Berkeley to reimagine and innovate to meet the moment. Berkeley now faces multiple intersecting crises: the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impacts, the effects of systemic racism and the ongoing climate emergency. There is no returning to “normal.”
COVID-19 has demonstrated that we are only as healthy and safe as the most vulnerable amongst us, and we are in fact one community. There is both a moral and fiscal imperative to restructure the way Berkeley envisions and supports health and safety.

Berkeley is facing a $40 million budget deficit, and while deferrals of projects and positions can help close the gap in the short term, the economic impacts of the pandemic will require deeper restructuring in the coming years. The current structure of the police department consumes over 44% of the City’s General Fund Budget. With the increase in payments required to meet pension and benefit obligations, the police budget could overtake General Fund capacity within the next 10 years. Thus, even before the important opportunity for action created through outrage at the murder of George Floyd, the City’s current investments in safety were unsustainable. To provide meaningful safety and continue critical health and social services, Berkeley must commit to, and invest in, a new, positive, equitable and community-centered approach to health and safety - this is affordable and sustainable. 3 https://www.berkeleyside.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Berkeley-Report-May-2018.pdf

7 RATIONALE FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Resolution expressing City Council’s commitment to a new city-wide approach to public health and safety
Transforming our system of health and safety requires strong commitment from our leaders and the community. This resolution (Attachment 1) is an expression of commitment and a tool for accountability to the public.

The proposed set of principles as well as specific initiatives are the starting point for a robust and inclusive process. Some actions will require significantly more work and additional council direction prior to implementation. For example, moving traffic and parking enforcement from police is a concept that is recommended but would require a significant redesign of city operations. Other changes may be able to move forward more quickly. These ideas are submitted in a spirit of conviction and humility. The future of community health and safety must be addressed in a fundamentally different way and the Council is committed to collaborating with the community to define a new, positive and equitable model of health and safety for everyone.

2. Direct the City Manager to publicly track progress on actions that respond to the directives of the principles herein and others identified by the Coalition.

Progress shall be updated regularly and available on a dedicated page on the City website.

This webpage should include a summary of the actions outlined in this item, as well as other work already underway such as the Mayor’s Fair and Impartial Working group, the Use of Force policy updates, other work underway by the Police Review Commission and any other Council referrals or direction on public safety, including existing referrals addressing alternative and restorative justice, that reflect the spirit and scope of this item.

Transformative change will only be successful if processes are transparent and information widely disseminated, as the City has so successfully demonstrated in managing the COVID-19 crisis. By publicly posting this information, the public will have the capacity to keep its elected officials, city staff, and our whole community accountable for realizing a new system of community centered safety that meets the needs of all of Berkeley’s residents.

8 3. Direct the City Manager to collaborate with Mayor and select Councilmembers to complete the following work, to inform investments and reallocations to be incorporated into future Budget processes:
(a) Begin the process of structural change including directing the analysis of the activities of the Berkeley Police Department and other related departments.

Transforming community health and safety has to start by understanding the existing system, the calls to which it responds and other activities. This recommendation seeks to build on Councilmember Bartlett’s George Floyd Community Safety Act to immediately engage independent, outside experts to conduct a data-driven analysis of police calls and responses and a broader understanding of how the police actually spend their time.45
Engaging the services of outside experts will ensure a transparent and trusted process and provide accurate data required to effectuate substantive change will be identified and that data will inform immediate change and the work throughout the community engagement process. The experts must be knowledgeable about policing, code enforcement, criminal justice and community safety and have deep experience with current and emerging theories, as well as expertise in data collection and analysis to inform recommendations for transformative change.

This analysis should commence as quickly as possible with the goal of providing some recommendations in time for the November 2020 AAO and then to more broadly inform the work of the Community Safety Coalition.
(b) Identify immediate opportunities to shift elements of current policing resources to fund more appropriate community agency responses This re-energized movement for social justice also highlights a problematic expansion, over many decades, in the roles and responsibilities of the police. As other systems have been defunded, most notably mental health, education, affordable housing and other health and safety-net programs, the police have been asked to respond to more and more crises that could be avoided with a different set of investments in community wellbeing. Rather than being the responders of last resort, focused on criminal, aggressive and violent behaviors, police are now frontline responders routinely called to address mental health crises, poverty and homelessness, substance abuse, stress in the school environment, traffic and code violations and neighborhood disputes. This is an extensive set of responsibilities that have slowly accreted to the police. 4https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Clerk/Update_Budget%20Request%20to%20Hire%20a%20Consul tant%20to%20Perform%20Police%20Call%20and%20Re.._.pdf
5 New York Times- How Do the Police Actually Spend Their Time?

9 By November 2020, with preliminary information provided by outside experts, the City Manager and Council should identify some responsibilities that can be quickly shifted to other programs, departments and agencies. Some areas to be considered include:
● Mental health and crisis management (consideration should be given to possible expansion of the Mobile Integrated Paramedic Unit (MIP) Pilot initiated by the Berkeley Fire Department during the COVID-19 pandemic), and other models for mental health outreach and crisis response, including by non-profits ● Homeless outreach and services
● Civilianizing some or all Code Enforcement + Neighborhood Services and placing these functions elsewhere
● Alternatives for traffic and parking enforcement, and ● Substance abuse prevention and treatment
The consultants should work with the City Manager to provide a specific timeline and process for transitioning functions as quickly as possible, with deliverables to coincide with timelines for budget processes.
(c) Contract with Change Management experts to initiate and facilitate a Community Safety Coalition (“CSC”) and Steering Committee that will begin meeting no later than January 2021.

While the Council can make some important changes and investments in the near future, a complete and enduring transformation in community safety is only possible through robust community engagement. It is critical that the future of community health and safety is defined by the Berkeley community, elevating the voices of our Black, Native American/First Peoples and other communities of color, LGBTQ+ people, victims of harm and other stakeholders that have been historically marginalized and under- served by current systems. The Community Safety Coalition, guided by a steering committee, will serve as the hub for a broad, deep and representative process, and uplift the community’s input into a new positive, equitable, anti-racist system of community health and safety.

Berkeley has a history in leading transformational change to achieve a more equitable society. The robust public process that led to school desegregation is an example of our community’s success in bringing about significant, transformative change (Attachment 4).

The robust public process, led by the Community Safety Coalition and its steering committee, will be guided and facilitated by outside experts.

10 The work of the Coalition should include but not be limited to:
● Build upon the work of the City Council, City Manager, the Fair and Impartial Policing Working Group, the Use of Force subcommittee and other efforts of the Police Review and other City Commissions, and the work of other community agencies addressing community-centered health and safety ● Research and engagement to define a holistic, anti-racist approach to community safety, including a review and analysis of emerging models, programs and practices that could be applied in Berkeley. This research should explore and propose investments in restorative justice models, gun violence intervention programs, and substance abuse support, among other things. ● Recommend a positive, equitable, community-centered safety paradigm as a foundation for deep and lasting change, grounded in the principles of Reduce, Improve and Reinvest as proposed by the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (Attachment 3), considering, among other things:
○ The social determinants of health and changes required to deliver a holistic approach to community-centered safety
○ The appropriate response to community calls for help including size, scope of operation and powers and duties of a well-trained police force. ○ Limiting militarized weaponry and equipment.
○ Identifying alternatives to policing and enforcement to reduce conflict, harm, and institutionalization, introduce alternative and restorative justice models, and reduce or eliminate use of fines and incarceration. ○ Options to reduce police contacts, stops, arrests, tickets, fines and incarceration and replace these, to the greatest extent possible, with educational, community serving, restorative and other positive programs, policies and systems.

The Coalition’s goal/output will be a set of recommended programs, structures and initiatives to incorporate into upcoming budget processes for FY 2022-23 and, as a second phase, in the FY2024-2025 budget processes to ensure that recommended changes will be achieved. The Coalition shall return to City Council an initial plan and timeline by April 1, 2021, to ensure the first phase of changes can be incorporated into the FY2022-23 Budget Process.

11 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
$160,000 from the Auditor’s budget to assess police calls and responses $200,000 from current budget cycle from Fund 106, Civil Asset Forfeiture, for initial subject matter expertise and engagement of outside consultants Staff time to support the process of identifying and implementing change.

REVIEW OF EXISTING PLANS, PROGRAMS, POLICIES AND LAWS
This effort is in support of the following strategic plan goals:
● Champion and demonstrate social and racial equity
● Create a resilient, safe, connected, and prepared City ● Create affordable housing and housing support services for our most vulnerable community members
● Provide an efficient and financially-healthy City government ● Be a customer-focused organization that provides excellent, timely, easily- accessible service and information to the community

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
No Environmental Impact.

CONTACT PERSON
Mayor Jesse Arreguín 510-981-7100
Vice-Mayor Sophie Hahn
Councilmember Ben Bartlett
Councilmember Kate Harrison
Attachments:

1. Resolution

2. Safety for All: The George Floyd Community Safety Act - Budget Request to Hire a Consultant to Perform Police Call and Response Data Analysis

3. “Shrink the Beast” A Framework for Transforming Police, National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform

4. School Desegregation in Berkeley: The Superintendent Reports, Neil Sullivan 1968

12 Attachment 1

RESOLUTION
Whereas, The recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery have ignited the nation in passionate protest against police brutality and racial injustice; and
Whereas, Demands for change go beyond necessary efforts in procedural justice, implicit bias training, and use of force policies and seek a broader discussion about investment in the conditions for a safe and healthy community; and Whereas, Investment in “public safety” has been equated with more police for too long while economic and social welfare programs have been viewed as special projects unrelated to health and safety; and
Whereas, This movement is highlighting the problematic expansion in the roles and responsibilities of police officers. Rather than being the responders of last resort, focused on criminal, aggressive and violent behaviors, police are now frontline responders to mental health crises, homelessness, drug addiction, sex work, school disruption, traffic and code violations and neighborhood conflicts; and Whereas, the adopted 2020 budget allocated $74 million to the Berkeley Police Department, which represents over 44% of the City’s General Fund of $175 million, and is more than twice as much as the combined City budgets for Health Housing and Community Services, and Economic Development; and
Whereas, It is clear that our current system of public health and safety is not working and is not sustainable in Berkeley. Despite strong efforts and leadership on police reform, homelessness and affordable housing, racial inequity remains stark across virtually every meaningful measure of health and well-being; and Whereas, Local government’s most fundamental role is to provide for the health and safety of its residents. Cities around the country are acknowledging that they are falling behind in this basic function and are embarking on efforts to reimagine health and safety, and to consider reallocating resources towards a more holistic approach that shifts resources away from policing towards equitable health, education and social services that promote wellbeing up front;678 and
Whereas, As this movement ripples across the nation, Berkeley has an opportunity to lead in transforming our approach to public health and safety. We need the right response for each crisis rather than defaulting to using the police; and 6 Transforming Community Safety Resolution-Minneapolis
7 San Francisco Mayor, Supervisor announce effort to redirect some police funding to African-American community 8 The cities that are already defunding the police

13 Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved by The City Council of The City of Berkeley:

That the City Council commits to the principles of reduce, improve and re-invest: reduce the scope and investment in policing, improve the response and accountability of public and community agencies, reinvest in racial equity and community-based intervention initiatives9;
Be It Further Resolved that the City Council will engage with every willing community member in Berkeley, centering the voices of Black people, Native American people, people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, victims of harm, and other stakeholders who have been historically marginalized or under-served by our present system.

Together, we will identify what safety looks like for everyone.

Be It Further Resolved that the process will center the role of healing and reconciliation.

The process will require healers, elders, youth, artists, and organizers to lead deep community engagement on race and public safety. We will work with local and national leaders on transformative justice in partnerships informed by the needs of every block in our city.

Be It Further Resolved that decades of police reform efforts have not created equitable public safety in our community, and our efforts to achieve transformative public safety will not be deterred by the inertia of existing institutions, contracts, and legislation.

Be It Further Resolved that these efforts heed the words of Angela Davis, “In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist. We must be anti-racist.” Be It Further Resolved that the transformation under consideration has a citywide impact, and will be conducted by the City Council in a spirit of collaboration and transparency with all constructive stakeholder contributors including the Mayor’s Office, the City Manager, the Police Chief, and community organizations.

Be It Further Resolved that the City Council of the City of Berkeley is committed to:

1. A transformative approach to community-centered safety and reducing the scope of policing

2. Equitable investment in the essential conditions of a safe and health community especially for those who have been historically marginalized and have experienced disinvestment

3. A broad, inclusive community process that will result in deep and lasting change to support safety and wellbeing for all Berkeley residents. 9 A Framework fo Transforming Police- NICJR

14 Be it Further Resolved that the City Council supports taking the following actions to realize this transformation:

1. Direct the City Manager to track and report progress on actions to implement this initiative, and other actions that may be identified by the Coalition and referred by Council to the City Manager. Updates shall be provided by written and verbal reports to Council, and posted on a regularly updated and dedicated page on the City website.

2. Direct the City Manager to collaborate with Councilmembers later selected by the Mayor to complete the following work, to inform investments and reallocations to be incorporated into future Budget processes:
a. Contract with independent consultants/Change Management and subject matter experts to:
i. Analyze the scope of work of, and community needs
addressed by, the Berkeley Police Department, to identify a more limited role for law enforcement, and identify elements of police work that could be achieved through alternative programs, policies, systems, and community investments.

Analysis should include but not be limited to: calls received by dispatch by type of complaint, stops by law enforcement generated at officer discretion (as contained in the Police Department’s open data portal) or on request of other city agencies, number of officers and staff from other city
agencies that respond to incidents, estimated time in
response to different types of calls, daily patrol activities, organizational structure, and beat staffing. Work to include broad cost estimates of police and other city agency
response to different types of calls, and other information and analysis helpful to identify elements of current police work that could be transferred to other departments or
programs, or achieved through alternative means. Work
should be completed in time for the November 2020 Annual Appropriation Ordinance revision.
ii. Identify immediate and longer term opportunities to shift policing resources to alternative, non-police responses and towards alternative and restorative justice models, to better meet community needs, that could be considered in the

15 November 2020 AAO#1 budget process. Some areas to be considered include homeless outreach and services,
substance abuse prevention and treatment, and mental
health/crisis management, as well as alternative models for traffic and parking enforcement, “neighborhood services” and code enforcement. Provide a broad timeline and
process for transitioning functions not ready for transition at this first milestone.

Deliverables should coincide with budget cycles, including the November 2020 AAO and FY 2022-2023 Budget processes, and provide a suggested timeline for transitioning functions at these and other budget opportunities, so that alternative investments may be considered for funding and launched in a timely and orderly manner.
b. Contract with independent Change Management experts to create and facilitate a representative Community Safety Coalition, guided by a Steering Committee, that will begin meeting no later than January 2021.The CSC and its Steering Committee, should be broadly inclusive and representative of Berkeley residents and stakeholders. The Steering Committee, with the support of Change Management professionals, shall be responsible for engaging the Coalition and the broader Berkeley community and relevant City Staff in a robust process, to achieve a new and transformative model of positive, equitable and community-centered safety for Berkeley.

The work of the Coalition should include but not be limited to:

4. Building on the work of the City Council, the City Manager, the PRC and other City commissions and other working groups addressing community health and safety.

5. Research and engagement to define a holistic, anti-racist approach to community safety, including a review and analysis of emerging models, programs and practices that could be applied in Berkeley.

6. Recommend a new, community- centered safety paradigm as a foundation for deep and lasting change, grounded in the principles of Reduce, Improve and Reinvest as proposed by the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (Attachment 3), considering, among other things:

16 a. The social determinants of health and changes required to deliver a holistic approach to community-centered safety
b. The appropriate response to community calls for help including size, scope of operation and powers and duties of a well-trained police force.
c. Limiting militarized weaponry and equipment.
d. Identifying alternatives to policing and enforcement to reduce conflict, harm, and institutionalization, introduce alternative and restorative justice models, and reduce or eliminate use of fines and incarceration.
e. Options to reduce police contacts, stops, arrests, tickets, fines and incarceration and replace these, to the greatest extent possible, with educational, community serving, restorative and other positive programs, policies and systems.

The Coalition’s goal/output will be a set of recommended programs, structures and initiatives to incorporate into upcoming budget processes for FY 2022-23 and, as a second phase, in the FY2024-2025 budget processes to ensure that recommended changes will be achieved. The Coalition shall return to City Council an initial plan and timeline by April 1, 2021, to ensure the first phase of changes can be incorporated into the FY2022-23 Budget Process.

Councilmember Ben Bartlett
City of Berkeley, District 3

2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7130 ● E-Mail: [email protected]

EMERGENCY ITEM AGENDA MATERIAL
Meeting date: June 16, 2020
Item Description: Safety for All: The George Floyd Community Safety Act - Budget Request to Hire a Consultant to Perform Police Call and Response Data Analysis
Submitted by: Councilmember Ben Bartlett (Author), Mayor Jesse Arreguin, and Councilmembers Kate Harrison (Co-Sponsor)
Rationale:

Pursuant to California Government Code Section 54954.2(b) (2), Councilmember Ben Bartlett submits the attached item to the City Council for placement on the June 16, 2020 meeting agenda. Gov. Code Section 54954.2(b) (2) states that “Upon a determination by a two-thirds vote of the members of a legislative body presents at the meeting, or, if less than two-thirds of the members are present, a unanimous vote of those members present, that there is a need to take immediate action and that the need for action came to the attention of the local agency subsequent to the agenda being posted as specified in subdivision (a).”

This item meets the criteria for “immediate action” as follows:
1) The budget is being considered and there is public outcry for Council to take action.
2) Racism Is a Public Health Emergency.
3) Council is considering numerous police items right now.

Hundreds of thousands of people in every state have marched in solidarity to call for an end to police brutality, to demand police accountability, and to reform law enforcement, bringing justice to the Black lives and people of color who have been wrongfully harmed at the hands of the criminal justice system. Police brutality has taken the lives of 46-year- old Black man George Floyd, 26- year-old Black woman Breonna Taylor, and countless other people of color. Often resorting to violent means of punishment, police officers are not trained to handle noncriminal and nonviolent situations. Unfortunately, the lack of sufficient data and reporting has allowed police misconduct to be swept under the rug, which has increased police militarization, failed to prioritize community safety, and prevented providing the civilian with the necessary treatment to resolve the situation.

To respond to urgent calls for police transparency and accountability, this item requests the City Manager to hire third-party consultants to conduct a data-driven analysis of the Berkeley Police Department’s calls, responses, budget, and expenditures to determine which calls can be serviced to non- law enforcement agencies, ensuring noncriminal and nonviolent situations are properly handled by trained community professionals.

Councilmember Ben Bartlett
City of Berkeley, District 3

2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7130 ● E-Mail: [email protected]

CONSENT CALENDAR
June 16, 2020
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Councilmember Ben Bartlett (Author), Mayor Jesse Arreguin, and Councilmembers Kate Harrison (Co-Sponsor)
Subject: Safety for All: The George Floyd Community Safety Act - Budget Request to Hire a Consultant to Perform Police Call and Response Data Analysis

RECOMMENDATION:

1. Refer to the Thursday, 6/18/2020 Budget & Finance Policy Committee and the FY 2020-21 Budget Process the $150,000 to
a. Hire a consultant to conduct a data-driven analysis of police calls and responses to determine the quantity and proportion of these calls that can be responded to by non-police services. The third-party consultant must be hired and engaged in work within three months of the item’s passage. b. Hire a consultant to conduct an analysis of the Berkeley Police Department’s budget and its expenditures by call type. The third-party consultant must be hired and engaged in work within three months of the item’s passage.

2. Direct the City Manager to:
a. Implement initiatives and reforms that reduce the footprint of the police department and limit the police’s response to violent and criminal service calls.

CURRENT SITUATION
In all 50 states and more than 145 cities, Americans are calling to end police violence and brutality, to legitimize police accountability, and to transform the police system to protect the safety of communities and people of color. Police violence and brutality led to the death of a 46-year-old Black man George Floyd and the murders of other Black people, igniting a flame that has been brewing for a long time. These events of police violence gave rise to a wave of demonstrations and demands for change, including many in the City of Berkeley.

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the City of Berkeley is facing a nearly 30+ million dollar budget deficit, sharply stalling economic growth with effects that parallel the Great Depression. At the same time, the City is projected to undergo an increase in people experiencing homelessness, trauma, and mental health crises. Therefore, the City must ensure that each dollar is spent for the residents’ best interest and will produce the maximum return.

Councilmember Ben Bartlett
City of Berkeley, District 3

2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7130 ● E-Mail: [email protected]

In order to better respond to the needs of the Berkeley community, it is critical that the Council takes local-level action on police reform. In particular, the City must examine the types of calls and responses from the police department and analyze the agency’s budgets and expenditures according to call type.

As a component of the REDUCE, IMPROVE, RE-INVEST framework, this item works towards the REDUCE goal: the City should implement initiatives and reforms that reduce the footprint of the police department and limit the police’s response to violent and criminal service calls. Specifically, this item proposes to hire an outside consultant to conduct an analysis of police calls and responses as well as the department budget.

With military-style techniques and structure, police officers are trained to combat crime in a manner that exerts violence through punishments, establishing a monopoly on force in communities. While law enforcement is supposed to protect our communities and keep us safe, crime waves from the 1970s and 1980s have transformed the police community into a body for crime control, maintaining such focus until modern-day despite declines in criminal activity

1. With this focus on crime control, police officers lack the necessary training to adequately respond to noncriminal and nonviolent crimes. Non Criminal crimes refer to issues involving mental health, the unhoused community, school discipline, and neighborhood civil disputes

2. Nonviolent crimes are categorized
as property, drug, and public order offenses where injury or force is absent3. When police respond to these types of matters, they resort to violent means of arrest or problem escalation because they are ill-equipped and not trained to resolve the underlying issues.

According to the Vera Institute of Justice’s report between 1980 and 2016, more than

10.5 million arrests are made every year; only 4.83 percent of those arrests were for violent offenses

4. Eighty percent of these arrests were for low-level offenses, such as “disorderly conduct,” non-traffic offenses, civil violations, and other offenses. This criminalization may be attributed to the arrest quotas for police productivity, which promotes punishment by rewarding the number of arrests for police funding instead of finding solutions to these issues

5. This high percentage of low-level offenses resulted in

1 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/first-step-figuring-out-what-police-are/612793/ 2 https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-12/san-francisco-police-reforms-stop-response- noncriminal-calls
3 https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/ascii/pnoesp.txt#:~:text=Nonviolent%20crimes%20are%20defined%20as ,possession%2C%20burglary%2C%20and%20larceny.
4 https://arresttrends.vera.org/arrests?compare%5Boffense%5D%5Bpart1%5D=part1&compare%5Boffens e%5D%5Bpart2%5D=part2#infographic
5 https://theintercept.com/2019/01/31/arrests-policing-vera-institute-of-justice/

Councilmember Ben Bartlett
City of Berkeley, District 3

2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7130 ● E-Mail: [email protected]

arrest when other nonviolent, rehabilitative methods could have occurred from the solutions of community workers with the experience to handle these situations.

It is imperative that the City of Berkeley develops, implements, and enforces a clear and effective roadmap towards making real change, ending anti-Black racism, stopping police violence, and holding police accountable for their actions. Thus, the Council should direct the City Manager to hire third party consultants to conduct a data-driven analysis of police calls and responses as well as their budget and expenditures in order to determine ways in which experienced community workers can reduce the police footprint by addressing noncriminal situations. We recommend that community workers also resolve nonviolent situations.

BACKGROUND
In order to achieve the aforementioned goals, the City must implement a series of important law enforcement reforms and take action by initiating the following:

REDUCE:

I. Hire a consultant to conduct a data driven analysis of police calls and responses.

University of Denver Political Science Professor Laurel Eckhouse stated, “One method of reducing police presence… is to separate and reassign to other authorities various problems currently delegated to the police… such as the problems of people who don’t have housing… mental health issues… and even things like traffic

6.” Community organizations, civilian workers trained in mental health situations, or neighborhood problem-solvers would better address these specific issues due to their experience, ensuring that the police are not the only force addressing these issues and promoting community vitality

7. Conducting a data driven analysis of police calls and responses would signify a report of the calls and responses that police receive and would inform the city where to better allocate resources to resolve specific issues. Noncriminal and nonviolent activities can thus be properly addressed by those who are equipped to handle these situations and would relieve law enforcement from these calls to then pursue more serious criminal situations. For example, the San Francisco Police Department receives approximately 40,000 calls per year about homeless people on the streets

8. Social workers who can help unhoused citizens and those with mental health disorders are better equipped to help these citizens receive

6 https://www.stanforddaily.com/2020/06/04/police-abolition-looks-like-palo-alto/ 7 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/first-step-figuring-out-what-police-are/612793/ 8 https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-12/san-francisco-police-reforms-stop-response- noncriminal-calls

Councilmember Ben Bartlett
City of Berkeley, District 3

2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7130 ● E-Mail: [email protected]

proper treatment while also protecting the safety of our communities, which would give law enforcement time to handle other crimes.

One suggestion to reduce the costs of policing is to boost productivity by allocating a portion of the calls for service to community organizations who have the resources and training to handle such situations

9. For example, in Mesa,
Arizona from 2006 to 2008, a third of calls for service are handled by civilians; these calls are for incidents of “vehicle burglaries, unsecured buildings, accidents, loose dogs, stolen vehicles, traffic hazards, and residential burglaries

10.” Approximately half of calls for service in Mesa are handled by police officers, but among those, there are ways to reduce police authority. For example, 11 percent of those calls that police officers handled were in response to burglary alarms, where 99 percent were false. Six percent of those calls included “juveniles disturbing the peace.” This situation in Mesa demonstrates the possibility of reduced police force in exchange for community based response teams who can better resolve these issues with their experience.

The City Manager should hire a third party consultant within three months of this item’s passage to conduct the data analysis, ensuring that the report is completed in an impartial and timely manner.

The third party consultant should create a report with the following information by analyzing and gathering the data from the police department, reporting their findings to the City every two years. We recommend the following data to be considered for analysis:
a. Number of calls the police department receives per day, week, month, and year, which will be categorized into noncriminal, misdemeanor, nonviolent felony, and serious and violent felony calls.
b. Demographics for these calls
c. Characteristics of traffic stops
i. Quantity
ii. Type/reason
iii. Number of those resulting in searchings paired with the frequency at which illegal items were found
iv. Police response (i.e. citation, arrest, use of force) v. Demographics of the civilian in the traffic stop that is broken into type of stop and whether a search occurred
d. Number of complaints against an officer
i. Enumerate the officers with a high number of complaints

9 https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/231096.pdf
10 https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/231096.pdf

Councilmember Ben Bartlett
City of Berkeley, District 3

2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7130 ● E-Mail: [email protected]

ii. Reason behind the complaints.

With the results of the data analysis, the City can determine the portion of calls that the community crisis worker pilot can properly address with the resources and experience they have.

II. Hire a consultant to conduct an analysis of the police department budget.

Using the analysis generated by a review of police call and response data, a third party consultant should be hired to analyze the police department’s expenditures and budgets for various calls of service and report their findings to the City every two years.

According to the 2019 budget, the Berkeley Police Department’s expenditures were approximately $69 million, which consists of 5.6 percent of the city’s net expenditures. However, for the 2020 budget, the BPD is expected to have $74 million in expenditures, reflecting a $5 million increase from the previous year and approximately $8 million higher than 2017’s expenditures

11. Unfortunately,
anecdotal evidence suggests that only 20 percent of police time is spent on solving crime and the majority is spent towards addressing those experiencing homelessness and mental health crises. The City should reallocate resources to a crisis worker entity who would be tasked with responding to noncriminal calls.

We recommend that nonviolent calls also be addressed by this entity. This would give police officers more time to focus on crime, leading to better outcomes for public safety, community health, and a higher quality of life.

In Canada, Police Information and Statistics Committee police services Waterloo Police Regional Service and Ontario Provincial Police collaborated with Justice Canada and Public Safety to collect data on their calls for service and determine the costs of policing

12. Their research reported that in 2013, bylaw complaints were listed as the most frequent call for service in Waterloo at 8,769 calls and non-crime policing activities were listed as the most frequent. In contrast, the only criminal activity listed in the top 10 generated calls were domestic dispute, theft under $5000, and major violent crime in property damage. Considering the most frequent of costly calls are noncriminal activities such as selective traffic enforcement programs ($22,212.45 in sum of total unit service time in hours) and vehicle stops ($206,668.13), the greatest cost in calls were for noncriminal activities. As noncriminal activities result in the greatest costs, it would be more efficient for community workers to handle these situations in order to reduce

11 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/uploadedFiles/Manager/Budget/FY-2020-2021-Adopted-Budget- Book.pdf
12 https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/rsrcs/pblctns/2015-r018/index-en.aspx#c-1-i

Councilmember Ben Bartlett
City of Berkeley, District 3

2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7130 ● E-Mail: [email protected]

police department costs, allowing trained professionals to resolve the issue and giving police officers time to spend on more serious criminal offenses.

By analyzing the budget expenditures for the police for each call type, the community can divest from the police and reallocate those funds for trained community organizations who can handle noncriminal and nonviolent offenses.

Considering the significantly delayed response to former requests for the police department’s budget, the data analysis should be conducted by a third party consultant that is hired and engaged in active service within three months of this item’s passage, ensuring that the police department’s budget information is transparent to the public and reported in an impartial, timely manner.

REVIEW OF EXISTING PLANS, PROGRAMS, POLICIES, AND LAWS
The City Manager provides regular reports on crime in Berkeley and on the policies of the Berkeley Police Department13. The data on serious crime is collected annually by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which consists of over 17,000 law enforcement agencies that represent over 90 percent of the United States population.

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report (UCR) reports crime statistics on violent crimes (including murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) and property crimes (including burglary, larceny, auto theft, and arson). This data allows the BPD to analyze national and local crime trends, determine effectiveness of response to crime, and plan for future policies and resource allocation. Additionally, the City of Berkeley implements the Daily Calls for Service Log that the community can access to see the volume and nature of police activity.

Currently, Utah requires agencies to report tactical deployment and forcible entries where such reports are summarized by the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice. Utah Law Enforcement Transparency reporting interface was added to Utah Criminal Justice Information System in 2014 through the use of federal grant funding.

Law enforcement agencies are required to report incidents of forcible entry and the deployment of tactical groups, representing data collection of police use of force

14. However, these reports do not analyze the demographics or types of calls and responses from the BPD, which makes it difficult to hold police officers accountable for the mistreatment of individuals. Without this information, it becomes difficult to determine how to decrease the police footprint or implement safer policing practices if the analysis only pertains to the quantity and types of arrests and does not include the

13 https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Police/Home/Annual_Crime_Reports.aspx 14 https://justice.utah.gov/Documents/CCJJ/LETR/2018%20LET%20Annual%20Report.html

Councilmember Ben Bartlett
City of Berkeley, District 3

2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7130 ● E-Mail: [email protected]

background, call of service, reason, demographics, complaints against the police officer, and other important factors to the BPD’s response.

Despite voluntary data sharing and crime reports, data collection still remains vague and insufficient, leaving many unanswered questions regarding the number of instances of and reasons for use of force, complaint process against police officers, and other information about police actions. This lack of clarity allows police misconduct to perpetuate due to the lack of research that would hold police departments accountable.

ACTIONS/ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED
One possible alternative to the community response teams would be to implement better training procedures so that police officers are more equipped to handle nonviolent and noncriminal activities. For example, the state of Washington requires both violence de-escalation and mental health training for police officers

15. Such reform may render
the data analysis on the types of calls unnecessary because the police department would be trained to handle all services regardless of the type of call.

However, training police officers to handle situations such as mental health or homelessness would signify an increase in funding for the police department to provide such training services. Not only would this type of training be difficult to maneuver when police forces are currently trained in a militarized manner, but it would be more efficient for community professionals to peacefully and properly resolve such issues since they have already engaged in this training and experience for years.

Reforming police training may be beneficial, but in this case, it would also indicate the lack of basis for reporting the police department’s types of calls and responses, which is necessary to hold the police accountable and ensure safer practices. While reporting the data analysis could still occur without the community crisis workers, only having the police department manage all situations would increase their authority over the communities, which would lead to increased militarization of the police forces if other community organizations do not intervene or hold them accountable.

OUTREACH OVERVIEW AND RESULTS
The District 3 Office has consulted with David Muhammad, who is the Executive Director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform; the former Chief Probation Officer in Alameda County; and the former Deputy Commissioner of Probation in New York City. David Muhammad is a leading expert on criminal justice who has helped inform our response to the current situation.

15 https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/how-actually-fix-americas-police/612520/

Councilmember Ben Bartlett
City of Berkeley, District 3

2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7130 ● E-Mail: [email protected]

The District 3 Office has also consulted with Marcus McKinney, the Senior Director of Government Affairs & Public Policy at the Center for Policing Equity.

The District 3 Office has also consulted with Professor Tracey L. Meares, Walton Hale Hamilton Professor and Faculty Director of the Justice Collaboratory at Yale Law School.

RATIONALE FOR RECOMMENDATION
Police departments across the country enforce policies and practices that breed a culture of violence resulting in killings--like those of Floyd and Moore, and of countless other people of color. These authoritative, militarized behaviors are often rooted in anti- Black racism, and such behavior must stop being acceptable. Transformation of police departments, their role, and relationship to our communities requires a change in culture, accountability, training, policies, and practices.

To prioritize community safety and reduce police violence, the City must hire a third party consultant to analyze police data in order to decide how to divest from the police to fund experienced community workers who can adequately resolve noncriminal and nonviolent situations. These community workers would protect the community from violence and emphasize revitalization and rehabilitation over the punishment that police officers often enforce. Implementing a data-driven analysis on police data would increase the transparency of the police department and hold them accountable, detecting the issues within the police force that community response teams can help heal. The Council must make informed legislative decisions that will reduce police footprint, improve current practices of law enforcement, and reinvest in the community for the safety of our civilians.

FISCAL IMPACTS OF RECOMMENDATION
The third party consultant/s would cost approximately $150,000 to $200,000. It is up to the City Manager to hire the third party consultants who will analyze the data of the police department’s calls, responses, budget, and expenditures. Consultants must be hired and engaged in service within three months if this item passes. These consultants would ensure that noncriminal situations are handled by those with the necessary training, which may lead to a decrease in repeat offenses when community workers properly resolve the situation and guide civilians to helpful resources.

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
We do not expect this recommendation to have significant negative impacts on environmental sustainability.

OUTCOMES AND EVALUATION

Councilmember Ben Bartlett
City of Berkeley, District 3

2180 Milvia Street, Berkeley, CA 94704 ● Tel: (510) 981-7130 ● E-Mail: [email protected]

If this item is passed, third party consultants would be hired by the City and engaged in data analysis within three months of passage. These consultants would produce biennial reports regarding the Berkeley Police Department’s types of calls and responses as well as the budgets and expenditures in order to inform the City how to reallocate funds from the police into a community response team with better experience to handle noncriminal situations. We recommend that nonviolent situations also be addressed by community crisis workers.

CONTACT PERSON
Councilmember Ben Bartlett 510-981-7130
James Chang [email protected]
Kyle Tang [email protected]
Kimberly Woo [email protected]

ATTACHMENTS

1. Cover Letter - Safety for All: George Floyd Community Safety Act ● https://drive.google.com/file/d/16pqqd9J6NPRzh6298Bgazo7jw1qxTK6Y/v iew?usp=sharing

The killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police was the match that lit a fire that has been building in our communities for a long time. Nationwide demands for not just reform, but complete transformation of policing have put pressure on local jurisdictions across the country to make rapid and real change.

Since its founding, the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR) has worked to reform the juvenile and criminal justice systems through a process of Reduce – Improve – and Reinvest. This framework can also be effective in transforming policing. In the past 15 years, the U.S. juvenile justice system has been reduced by more than half. Youth correctional facilities have been shuttered and investment into community services has increased. While there is certainly more progress to be made, the movement to transform policing can learn a great deal from criminal justice reform.

NICJR’s framework to Shrink the Beast focuses on three areas: reducing the footprint of law enforcement, significantly improving what remains of policing, and reinvesting the savings from smaller police budgets into community services.

One of the most significant structural reforms we must advance in policing, already happening in the criminal justice arena, is shrinking its scope. Officers are asked to do too much with too few resources. The warrior mentality that police are indoctrinated with, starting as early as the first day of the police academy, does not allow them to handle many of those responsibilities well. It is time for an alternative response network for all non-violent calls for service. Similar to the community-based organizations that provide diversion programs for youth and adults who would otherwise end up in the justice system, a new infrastructure of community safety and problem-solving responders, with expertise in crisis response, mental health, and de-escalation techniques, must be developed. Such a network should be vast and well equipped, including 24-hour on-call community crisis response and outreach workers. The resulting reduced police force would then focus primarily on responding to serious violence. Small, but promising examples of this model already exist:

Reduce
Reduce Improve Reinvest
SHRINK
THE BEAST:

A Framework for Transforming Police

https://www.koat.com/article/mayor-keller-announces-civilian-response-department-to-help-with-abq-public-safety/32869947 https:/ /www.efficientgov.com/public-safety/articles/austin-budget-adds-millions-for-mental-health-response-in-911-services-Dq https://whitebirdclinic.org/services/cahoots/
https:/ /nicjr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Oakland%E2%80%99s-Successful-Gun-Violence-Reduction-Strategy-NICJR-Jan-2018.pdf https:/ /nicjr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Oakland%E2%80%99s-Successful-Gun-Violence-Reduction-Strategy-NICJR-Jan-2018.pdf In Oakland, CA, non-profit organizations employ street outreach workers and crisis response specialists who respond to shooting scenes, intervene in and mediate conflicts, and sit down with young adults who have been identified as being at very high risk of violence to inform them of their risk and offer them intensive services. These City-funded efforts have been credited with a 50 percent reduction in shootings and homicides in the city.

In Eugene, OR, Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets (CAHOOTS) responds to more than 22,000 requests for service annually with its Crisis Intervention Workers. This represents nearly 20 percent of the total public safety call volume for the metropolitan area.

In Austin, TX, the Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team is equipped to respond to 911 calls where callers indicate that a mental health response, not police, is needed.

In Albuquerque, NM, where the police have been involved in numerous unjustified killings, the Mayor has proposed creating a new non-law enforcement public safety agency that will respond to non-violent calls.

Create a robust alternative
emergency response network
with mental health workers,
crisis intervention specialists,
and street outreach workers –
the Community Emergency
Response Network (CERN).

CERN Crisis Intervention
Specialists would respond to
all other calls.

Significantly reduce police
patrol divisions which are
currently primarily responsible
for responding to 911 calls.

Police will instead focus on
responding to serious and
violent incidents, a small
percentage of all current calls.

Traffic policing should be
replaced by technology to the
maximum extent possible.

Investigation Units should
also remain intact.

Violence reduction teams should
be created or remain intact:

Steps T o Reduction
Patrol and investigation units
focused on reducing gun
violence. Like all remaining
police personnel, these units
must be trained in and adhere
to strict use of force and
Procedural Justice policies.

The primary challenge in police agencies is culture. Many have described it as a warrior culture. Adrenaline-filled young officers want to “knock heads” during their shifts; the “us vs them,” military occupation syndrome. We must confront and transform this destructive culture. Policing should focus on protection and service to the community.

Improving the smaller police departments that remain, after taking the steps to reduction outlined above, includes three components: policy, training, and accountability. Implement new policies including restricting the use of force, mandating verbal de-escalation, community policing, and eliminating stop and frisk. Implement high quality and frequent training on these newly developed policies. And, most importantly, hold all police personnel accountable for adhering to and demonstrating these policies in action.

Increase hiring standards to screen out candidates with any signs of racial bias, interest in the warrior culture, or those who have been fired or forced to resign from previous law enforcement positions.

Prioritize hires of those who grew up in the city and/or live in the city.

Make deliberate efforts to have the police force representative of the community it serves.

Revise use of force policies to limit any use of deadly force as a last resort in situations where a suspect is clearly armed with a firearm and is using or threatening to use the firearm.

All other force must be absolutely necessary and proportional.

Provide thorough, high quality, and intensive training in subjects including:
• New use of force policy
• Verbal de-escalation
• Bias-free policing
• Procedural Justice
Transparency: Provide regular reports to the public on stops, arrests, complaints, and uses of force, including totals, demographics, and aggregate outcomes data.

Effectively use an early intervention system that tracks various data points to identify high risk officers and implement discipline, training, and dismissal where necessary.

Use aggressive, progressive discipline to root out bad officers.

Rescind state and local laws that provide undue protection to police unions and prohibit effective and efficient disciplinary action.

Improve
A smaller footprint of law enforcement should result in a reduced police budget. Resources should be shifted away from the police department to the CERN and other community-based intervention initiatives, including Credible Messengers/Life Coaches, social workers, and mental health service providers.

Reinvest
Steps T o Improvement
1 2
3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10

NICJR.org
The National Institute for Criminal Justice
Reform (NICJR) is a non-profit organization
providing technical assistance, consulting,
research, and organizational development in the
fields of juvenile and criminal justice, youth
development, and violence prevention. NICJR
provides consultation, program development,
technical assistance, and training to an array of
organizations, including government agencies,
non-profit organizations, and philanthropic
foundations.

REPORTRESUMES
ED 015 988U0 004 752

SCHOOL DESEGREGATION IN BERKELEY--THE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT REPORTS.

BY- SULLIVAN, NEIL V.

PUB CATENOV 67
ECRS PRICEMF-S0.25HC-$0.9221P.

DESCRIPTORS- *SCHOOL INTEGRATION, *BOARD OF EDUCATION POLICY, *BOARD OF EDUCATION ROLE, SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION, SCHOOL

SUPERINTENDENTS, JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS, ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS,

COMMUNITY COOPERATION, BUS TRANSPORTATION, STAFF ROLE,

ELECTIONS, INTEGRATION PLANS, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA

DESCRIBED IS THE HISTORY OF THE EFFORTS TO DESEGREGATE

THE BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, SCHOOL DISTRICT, WHICH IS SCHEDULED TO BE FULLY DESEGREGATED BY SEPTEMBER 1968. CHANGE BEGAN IN THE 1950'S WITH THE ELECTION OF A 'LIBERAL' TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. FIRST STEPS INVOLVED IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL

OPPORTUNITIES FOR MINORITY GROUP CHILDREN AND MAKING EFFORTS FOR BETTER RACE RELATIONS. DESEGREGATION BEGAN IN THE JUNIOR

HIGH SCHOOLS BUT NOT WITHOUT COMMUNITY FRICTION TO THE POINT OF A DEMAND FOR A RECALL ELECTION OF THE BOARD. HOWEVER THE BOARD WAS VINDICATED ON ITS STAND rOR VOLUNTARY INITIATION OF DESEGREGATION. A NEW SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT WAS FACED WITH THE

JOB OF IMPLEMENTING THE PLAN ANC BEGAN HIS EFFORTS BY

DEVELOPING COMMUNITY SUPPORT AND PRODUCTIVE LIAISON WITH HIS STAFF. THE NEXT STEP INVOLVED DESEGREGATING THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. THE WIDE GEOGRAPHIC SEPARATION OF IMBALANCED SCHOOLS

IN THE CITY REQUIRED THE DESIGNATION OF CERTAIN WHITE SCHOOLS

AS RECEIVING SCHOOLS AND THE USE OF FEDERALLY FUNDED BUSES AND ADDITIONAL STAFF FOR THE 230 INCOMING PUPILS. HOWEVER THIS WAS ONLY A 'TOKEN' EFFORT. VOLUNTARY REVERSE BUSING AND A TIMETABLE FOR COMPLETE DESEGREGATION HAVE BEEN RECOMMENDED.

IT IS FELT THAT THE REQUISITES FOR SUCCESSFUL SCHOOL

DESEGREGATION ARE FULL COMMITMENT BY THE SCHOOL

ADMINISTRATION AND THE BOARD, COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT WITH AND

FAITH IN THE BOARD AND ADMINISTRATION, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF 'WORKABLE' PLANS. THIS PAPER WAS PREPARED FOR THE NATIONAL

CONFERENCE ON EQUAL EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY IN AMERICA'S CITIES, SPONSORED BY THE U.S. COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS, WASHINGTON, D.C., NOVEMBER 16-18, 1967. (NH)

/7111732-
u,/
SCHOOL DESEGREGATION IN BERKELEY:

THE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT REPORTS
Prepared by
Neil V. Sullivan, Ed. D.,Superintendent of Schools
Berkeley Unified School District-Berkeley, California
for the
CX,National Conference on Equal Educational Opportunity CT" in America's Cities
sponsored by the
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Washington, D.C.

November 16-18, 1967(:)
C:1
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE

OFFICE OF EDUCATION

THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT.POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS

STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POUCY.
11/In recent years Berkeley, California,has been fortunate to have a school district which recognizes its problems and works efft:c- tivelY toward their solution.The city schools already have completely desegregated the junior high schools, and have made a token start at 116
the elementary level.The School Board has committed itself to com- pleting the process in all schools by September 1968.When that goal is reached, Berkeley will be a rare example ofa major city working rf
out a solution to this
Q
roblem without court orders, violence, boy-
_
cotta, or compulsion, but only with the conviction of the Board of4E) Education, the Administration,and the citizens that itwas right.

This has not been achieved overnight.To place the present achievements in their proper context it is necessary totrace the de- velopment of events in the recent lost.

PRE-1964
The Liberal Renaissance- Prior tc the mid-1950's Berkeley's local government-- including the Board of Education-- was typical of those found in most middle-size,middle-class communities.The orien- tation was pro-business, witha heavy emphasis on keeping the taxrate down.This condition was so pronouncedthat teachers, in orderto ob- tain a much needed and earned salaryincrease, were forced touse an initiative petition to get schoolrevenues raised; the Board hadre- fused to do so.

There are many different versionsconcerning the beginning of the liberal renaissance.There is general agreement thatthe first con- crete step was the election ofone liberal to the Board in 1957,fol- lowed by another in 1959,andtwo more in 1961.With the 1961 election the liberals assumed control ofboth the Board of Education andthe City Council.However, even with onlyone "liberal" Board member in the late 1950's, the Board beganto give attention to the problemsof race relations in a multi-racial city.

Preliminary Steps -A citizenscommittee (named the Staats Committee after its chairman)was organized to study race relations within schools.This committee did notcome to grips with the question of de facto segregationbut sought to deal otherwisewith improving educational opportunities for minorityyoungstersand improving race relations in the schools.,'nor the late 1950's thisreport was a for- ward-looking document.It led to two particularlynoteworthy develop- ments.

First, the hiring practices for minority teachers were greatly improved.The number of Negro teachers increased from 36 in 1958 to 75 in 1962.Negroes also were advanced to principalships and other high positions in the District's administrative hierarchy. And by 1962 there were about 30 Orientals on the certificated staff.*
Second was the Intergroup Education Project (IEP).This'pro- ject was designed to help teachers appreciate cultural diversities and better understand youngsters from other than middle-class backgrounds.

It conducted seminars for teachers, mass community meetings, and week- end conferences for this purpoe:t,The IEP helped prepare the ground for the high staff support for later integration efforts.

Junior High School Desegregation - In 1962 4 delegation from the Congress on Racial Equality visited the Superintendent of Schools -- and later the Board of Education.Complimenting the School District for progress already made, the CORE delegation suggested that it was time to get on with the task of desegregating the schools.CORE asked that a citizens committee be appointed to study this problem.

The report included a recommendation for desegregating the junior high schoolsby assigning some students from the predominantly Caucasian "hill" area to Burbank, the Negro junior high school; stu- dents from predominantly Negro west Berkeley would 'be assigned partly * The distribution of minority teachers among, the various schools did not keep pace with progress in hiring.Most of these recruits were assigned to predominantly Negro schools.In more recent years we have made a concerted effort to achieve a better racial balance on all faculties.It is important, especially to combat stereotypes, to the education of all children to see members of all races working together in such respected vocations as teaching.
3

to,Qarfield, the Caucasianjunior, high school.Since the third junior high school alreadywas racially balanced, this recommendationwould have eliminated de factosegregation at the junior highschool level.

The report struck the communitylike a bombshell. _Although the communitywas aware that the committeewas functioning,; most people had not taken seriously thepossibility that sucha,contrete recommen- ,dationyould be made.The reactionwas intense.During the remainder of 1963 and through Januaryof 1964 therewas extensive community dis- cussion of the proposal.Two hearingswere held -- one attracting 1200 people and other drawingover 2000.PTA's and othergroups set up study committees on this problem;never before had.such crowds attendedPTA meetings!
In the hill area affected bythe recomendation many.liberals faced a dilemma.Some asked:"Elow dowe express our opposition to this particular. proposal withoutsounding.like bigots?"Our response was to ask them to develop a better plan.Many sincere critics of the citi- zens committee proposal set out to do justthat.

One of these alternative proposalswas named the "Rsmsey Plan" after- the junior high school Englishteacher who suggested it..This. plan proposed desegregation ofBerkeley's three junior highschools by making the predominantly Negroschool into a 9th gradeschooland.divid- ingthe 7th and 8th graders betweenthe two remaining juniorhigh schools.

In February 1964 a five-meuberstaff committeewas asked to study the reactions of the Berkeleyschool staff to the citizenscom- mittee proposaland to other ideas that hadbeen offered.Every school faculty was asked to considerthe matter.
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In March the 5-member staff committee reported' to the-Board that the staff as a whole was favorable toward integration, and'pre- ferred the Ramsey Plan to the original citizens committee proposal.

The Board instructed the-Superintendent to consider the educational pros and cons of the Ramsey Plan, and its feasibility for September 1964 implementation.

The results of this study were preiented to the Board and the community on May 19, 1964, a landmark date in the history of'Berke- ley schools.Again there were over 2000 people in the audience.The opposition, which had formed thfi "Parents Association for Neighborhood Schools" (PANS) solemnly warned that if the Ramsey Plan or any such desegregation proposal were adopted, the Board would face a recall elec- tion.The Board members did vote for the Ramey Plan -- and they did face recall.

The Recall - Through the summer months the opponents of the Board collected signatures on recall petitions. A rival group was formed to defend the Board (Berkeley Friends of Better Schools).By Late July the PANS group had enough signatures to force a recall elec- tion.

There followed a series of procedural skirmishes before the City Council and the state courts.Finally, an election was called for October 6, and after an intensive and heated campaign it was held.It was a stunning triumph for the courageous incumbent Board members. This election was another landmark for Berkeley education. and for the cause of desegregation across the nation.There was more at stake than indi- 5

vidual Board members continuing in office.The basic issue was the sur- vival of a Board of Education which voluntarily took effective action to desegregate schools -- not because of court order,or other compulsion, but simply because the Board believed desegregation wasright.If such a board of F 'lucation could not be sustained the lesson wouldnot be lost on boards of education in other cities facingthe same problem.

Thus, it was extremely significant that in this electionthe Board was .vindicated by the Berkeley community.

SULLIVAN ADMINISTRATION
The New Administration- On"SePteMber 1, 1964, five weeks prior to the recall election, I took office-as Berkeley's Superintendentof Schoolsin" the midst of a climate of.change and uncertainty.Of the `five-member Board Of Education whichhad unanimously invited me tocome to Berkeley, only two remained in office.One had resigned because his business interests led him to move from -the city.Another was trans- ferredcto become minister ofone at the largest churches of his denomi- nation in NeW York City, and a third was appointed by the Governorto 'be a Superior Court judge.The two who remained were facinga recall election.

There also was a sweeping change in the school administration.

Virtually every top ranking member of the central administrationwas either new to the District or new in his position.Over one-third of our schools had new principals.

Making the New Plan Work- The decision to desegregate the junior high schools had been made before I arrived.The role of the 6

new administrationwas to make-it WY k.

School Opened as usual and thenew system was put into effect with no marked difficulties.'In fact, the orderliness of the transi- tion was an important contributionto the defeat of the recall attempt.

It demonstrated clearlythat desegregationcould be achieved without the dire consequences that had beenforecast.

Developing Community Support- Defeat of the recall election meant that courageous Board members would remainin office, andthe junior high school desegregation plan wouldcontinue.My next task as Superintendent was to attempt to reunitea badly split community, to develop a sense of community understanding,and to provide a basis for school Support.-
i approached this problem by creatinga climate of openness with the public.We immediately established' the Practice'ofrecognizing And admitting our problems and invitingthe community's help in seeking solutions.As a new superintendent, Iwas beseiged by invitations to speak 'publicly.I accepted as many as I could and duringthe 1964-65 school year scheduled over 100 speakingengagements.

I issued an open invitationto citizens to visit my office and discuss their school concerns,-to share their ideas and suggestions.In addition I telephoned' or wroteto dozens of people who had beenrecom- mended to me as community leadersdeeply interested in schools.For several months' I met almobL continually,often a few times a day, with citizens individually and ingroups.These meetings mademe familiar with the Berkeley community andestablished a climate that encouraged exchange of ideas.
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I established a liaison channel betweenmy office and the area- wide PTA Council.I made it a practice toconvene three or four briefing sessions a.year with the unit presidentsand council officers of that organization, and included othergroups such as the League of Women Voters.

At these sessions problems andissues facing the schools,as well as hc23s and plans for improvementwere discussed.

The day after the recall electionI recommended the formation of a broadly-based SchoolMaster Plan Committee, to examineall facets of the School District's operationand to develop guidelines for the future.I urged participation of all elementsof the community, making it clear that we wanted cooperation,regardless of positions in there- call election.The response was heartwarming;over 200 highly Oali- fied citizens were nominatedor volunteered their services.The Board of Education selected 91 peoplefrom this list toserve on the committee.

Also named were 47 staffmembers.The committee has been hardat work for two years, and presented itsreport in thelall of 1967.

During my first year in Berkeley,I was invited by the local newspaper to write a weekly column on local and nationaleducation mat- ters.This column has been a valuablemeans of keeping the community informed and introducing somenew ideas.During the past year I accepted the invitation from a local radio stationto conduct a weekly program of fifteen minute sessions dealing withevents in the school system and issues facing public education.Each month the final week'sprogram is extended to one hour, and featuresa direct phone-in from the radio audience.
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in addition to developing relationships with the general pub- lic, we have worked to maintain good liaisonwith the staff.We have frequent breakfast conferences with the leadersof both teacher organi- lAtions, and meet regularly with the Superintendent'sTeacher Advisory Council, made up of teacher representativeschosen by each faculty.

The purpose of these communication effortshas been three- fold.First, extensive dialogue with staff andcommunity helps to identify and define problems needingattention.Second, it serves as an excellent source of new ideas and suggestions.Third, it helps in- terpret our problems, goals, andprograms to the community.

Our efforts have been, in short, to "mold consensus"in the community behind the school system.Although we have not achieved unanimity on any single subject that wouldbe impossible in Berkeley!) there have been good indications during thepast three years.It seems that we have succeeded in molding community support for the schools, and in developing sufficientconsensus to resolve some of the crucial problems facing urban schools today.

LEMIETAPJANIETWELUMWEMII
lOgregation inthe.Elementary, Schools - The Board's adoption of the Ramsey Plan, followed bythe defeat of recall election, insured desegregation at the junior high school level.Since there is only one regular senior high school,our entire secondary school program, begin- ning with grade 7,was desegregated.However, we still face de facto segregated elementary schools.The four elementary schools in south and west Berkeley are overwhelmingly Negro.The seven schools located in 9

the northern and sastern hillareas of the city are overwhelmingly Cauc- asian.In between, in a strip running through themiddle of Berkeley, are three desegregated schools.Since the racially imbalanced Negro and Caucasian schools are on opposite sidesof the city, separated by the integrated schools, boundaryadjustments will not solve the problem.

When the Ramsey Plan was adopted theBoard tabled a companion recommendation that would have desegregatedthe elementary schools by dividing the city into foureast-to-west strips, each containing three or four schools.The schools within each- of thesestrips would have been assigned studentson a Princeton .principle, i.e., 1-3 in some schools, grades 4-6 in others.

Educational_ Considerations- It is not the function pf this paper to develop fully the ,case for school desegregation.However, the basic motivation underlyingour progress in Berkeley can be stated concisely.

Many studies,in Berkeley and elsewhere,.have documented the fact that segregation hurts the achievement,of disadvantaged youngsters.

Schools with a preponderance of theseboys and girls have low prestige and generally lack an atmosphere conduciveto serious study.

The emotional and psychological harm doneto children through this type of isolation also has beendemonstrated.Regardless of cause, racial segregation carries with it the symbolof society's traditional rejection of Negroes.

The benefit of integration extendsto children of all races.

We are all sharing this society, and if it isto be successful we must learn to respect each other andget along with one another.This will not happen if segregation remains.
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These considerations have been taken seriously in Berkeley as we move toward total school integration.

ESEA Busing Program - The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 allowed the schools to makea beginning on the problem of elementary school segregation.Berkeley's share under Title I of that Act was approximately a half-million dollars.A major share of these funds was used to reduce pupil-teacher ratios inour four target area (Negro) schools and to provide extra specialists andservices for stu- dents attending them.The reduction of pupil-teacher ratios lefta surplus of 235 children.The seven predominantly Caucasian hill-area schools had spaces for these youngsters.Our proposal for the first year's use of Title I funds, then, imiuded improvedservices and re- duced pupil-teacher ratio in the targetarea schoolsand the purchase of buses to transport the 235 "surplus" youngstersto the till area schools.

In the preparation of this projectwe again employed our principle of mass community involvement.Each school faculty was in- vited-to submit suggestions.Their response was gratifying.These suggestions, when piled together, produceda stack of paper several :finches high.When they had been sifted and evaluated, anda project developed, we submitted it to the Board.-Copies were made available to the school faculties and the public for their reactions.Two major public meetings were held in different sectionsof the city, and the Board of Education held a workshop sessionat which teachers could react.Many valuable suggestions and constructive criticismsresulted and were incorporeted into the final proposal.
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As might have been predicted,most of the public attention was centered on the busing proposal, although itinvolved a relatively minor share of the funds.This time the opposition, though byno means silent, was much less severe.

Since the children in the hillarea schools were not being asked to go anywhere else-- the hill schools were 7'mply going tore- ceive youngsters from the otherareas of the city -- this providedno focal point for the development ofopposition.And the proposal in- cluded employing elevenextra teachers, paid with localmoney, and placing them in the receiving schoolsto maintain the pupil-teacher ratio there.A few scattered voiceswere raised against the proposal, but the preponderance of communityopinion was favorable.Both teach- er organizations endorsed the project, andon November 30, 1965, the Board adopted the program for implementationthe spring semester.

The proposal went to the State Boardof Education and became one of the firi't fourteen ESEA projects approvedin tne State of Cali- fornia.We had approximately two monthsto prepare for its implementa- tion -- the selection ofyoungsters (this was voluntary on the part of the parents), the employment of teachers,arrangement of transportation, and other administrative details.Parent groups in the receiving schools helped by establishingcontact with the parents of thetrans- ferring btudents.The students in the receiving schoolslikewise participated, and some wrote letters ofwelcome to thenewcomers.Dry runs were conducted with the busesso that by the time the programwas implemented in February 1966, thenecessary advance preparation had been accomplished.
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Results to Date - Although the program has not been in effect long enough for an extensiveobjective evaluation, early indications are that it has been extremely successful.The children have adjusted well in their new school environment and, by their performance, have made friends for integration.One evaluation, made by an outside con- sultant employed by the District, found that receiving school parents whose children were in class with Negroes were more favorable to inte- gration than parents whose children were not in class with Negroes.

And parents of the bused students were so pleased with the results that many requested that their other children be included.

This limited program provided an integrated experience for the 230 youngsters being transferred, less than 10 percent of the send- ing schools' enrollment.It also provided token integration for the receiving schools.However, it left the four southwest Berkeley schools just as segregated as they were before, Although with a somewhat im- proved program due to the reduced pupil-teacher ratio and added services.

COMMITMENT TO TOTAL INTEGRATION
The Problem - Although the ESEA program has provided a start in the direction of elementary school desegregation, we never regarded the busing of only 235 youngsters as the solution to the segregation problem.The problem will not be solved as long as our four south and west Berkeley schools remain overwhelmingly Negro, and the schools in the north and east overwhelmingly Caucasian.The segregation problem must be solved if minority youngsters are ever to close the achievement gap and if all youngsters, regardless of race, are to be adequately pre- pared for life in a multi-racial world.
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_----,....gmewomignmwsligleglIWA
Although we have integrated the schools-down to the 7th grade, we strongly believe that integration must b.tgin earlier.In too many cases attitudes already are hardened and stereoty1es developed by the time the youngsters reach the 7th grade.It is, of course, politically and logistically easier to desegregate the secondary schools.In fact, a bi-racial city that has not desegregated its secondary schools is by definition not committed to integration.The problem is much more dif- ficult at the elementary level.Buildings and attendance areas are smaller, children are younger, and community emotionsare more intense.

Yet, the problem must be solved at the elementary level.It is ironic that solutions come more easily atone level, but more good can be ac- complished at the other.

The Commitment - The commitment of the Board of Education to desegregation of all elementary schools in Berkeley came in the spring of 1967.In early April a delegation from west Berkeley madearesen- tation to the Board, stating that it was time to get on with the job of total desegregation.The delegation had many other recommendations specifically relating to the south and west Berkeley schools and the programs available to minority youngsters.At this meeting I recommended that the Board authorize the Administration to developa program of voluntary reverse busing from Caucasian areas to south and west Berke- ley.I let it be known that this was to be regarded onlyas a stop-gap measure to demonstrate good faithand did not represent a solution to the desegregation problem.

At the next meeting, however, before we could developa reverse busing plan, the issue moved ahead.Both of our certificated staff or- ganizations made appeals to the Board for action eitherto erase de facto 14

segregation completely or at least to make a significant step in that direction.Officials of the local NAACP and other members of the audi- ence supported these appeals.A motion was presented to the Board calling for desegregation of all Berkeley schools.The Board concurred and established September 1968 as the target date for desegregating the schools.

The next,two or three Board meetings, including one workshop or "open hearing",-!drew crowds of several hundred spectators, and many speakers.Most of the speakers and most of the crowds were supportive of the Board's action; there was a minority who disagreed with the Board's position -- some opposed desegregation altogether, and others felt that 1968 was too long to wait.

On May 16 the Board adopted a formal resolution reaffirming the September 1968 commitment and adding an interim calendar of dead- lines for the various steps required to achieve desegregation.The.

Administration was instructed to develop plans for total integration.

We were instructed to make our report by the first Board meeting in October, 1967.The timetable calls fol. the Board to adopt a particu- lar program by January or February 1968.Seven or eight months would then remain for implementing the program in time for the opening of school in September 1968.This is the calendar on which we now are operating.

The Board included in its Resolution on Integration two other features:first, the assumption that desegregation is to be accomplished in the context of continued quality education, and second, that massive community involvement was to be sought in development and selection of the program.Both of these features I heartily support.
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Developing the Plan - We went to work immediately.The Admin- istration compiled infmation on enrollment and racial makeup ofeach school, school capacities and financial data.This information was dis- tributed to each faculty.We then called a meeting of all elementary school teachers; I relayed our charge from the Board and asked each faculty to meet separately and develop suggestions.We also sent in- formation packets to over sixty communitygroups and invited them to contribute their ideas.By the end of June we had received manysugges- tions, both from staff members and lay citizens.

Meanwhile both local and national endorsementswere pouring in.

The Berkeley City Council passeda resolution commending the-Board on its commitment to integration.Other local organizatima and individuals did the same.

Wring the summer months two task groupswere assigned to work on the problem.One Was concerned With the logistics of achieving de- segregation and the other Was concerned with the instructionalprogram under the new arrangement.The Bard appointed a seven-member lay citi- zens group to advise the Administration in development of itsrecommen- dations.Even after the Administration's recommendatiOn has been given to the Board, this group will continue to function asan advisory body to the Board.Upon receiving the Administration's recommendation, the Board plans a series of workshop sessions to provideevery opportunity fOr community' reaction and suggestion.

AA this paper is written (mid-September) weare making excel- lent progress toward meeting our deadline.Soon after the opening of school, a report from the Summer Task Group outlining fouror five 16

of the most promising plans was sent to each school faculty and to each group or individual who submitted a plan during the summer.These pro- posals are being made available to the community as well, along with the many suggestions received earlier from staff and lay citizens.

School faculties and the community-at-large are invited to react to these proposals and to make suggestions to the Administration.Proce- dures have been organized to facilitate a response from school andcom- munity groups.Each faculty has been asked to meet at least twice.On one afternoon, schools will be dismissed early and the district wide staff divided into cross sectional "buzz" groups.Each of these groups will submit ideas.Following these steps we will use the taskgroup proposals, along with the reactions and suggestions thatcome from the staff and community, in developing our recommendationto the Board.

This recommendation will be presented to the Boardon schedule, at the first meeting in October.From that point onthe matter will be in the hands of the Board, which is to make its decision by Januaryor February 1968.

As our plans develop, we have received invitations toappear before many groups, large and small.Some have been hostile at first.

However, meeting with them has made possible an excellent exchange of views and an opportunity for explaining our program to people who had not been reached earlier.We anticipate that the fall months will be crowded with such speaking assignments.It is our firm commitment, and that of the Board of Education, to inform the citizens of Berkeley thor- oughly about the iusueand about prospective plans prior to the Board's adoption of a program in January or February.
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