Grand Rapids Reporter

City of Grand Rapids issued the following announcement on Aug. 7.

Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Payne today released a draft of his department’s three-year strategic plan that will transform policing in the city. The plan provides defined action steps with measurable outcomes using a neighborhood-based policing model that will help the Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) ensure all people feel safe and are safe at all times throughout the community. Payne will formally present the draft plan to the City Commission on Tuesday.

The strategic plan is closely aligned with the City of Grand Rapids’ strategic plan, specifically the priority areas of safe community, governmental excellence and engaged and connected community. The plan establishes a new vision for the police department to partner with the community to make Grand Rapids the safest mid-sized city and make GRPD the most trusted police department in the U.S. 

The plan’s equity statement acknowledges that, historically, segments of the community, including people of color, low-income residents and others, have been disproportionately impacted by policing practices and the criminal justice system. It also includes a commitment to providing fair and just services for all individuals.

“This plan lays out a vision for reimaging policing in our community,” Payne said. “Through compassion, empathy and courage, we are driven to meet the public safety needs of our community. I am excited to present this draft of our strategic plan for fiscal years 2021 to 2023.

“Our nation is undergoing a significant social awakening that demands both recognition and a commitment to change. This moment is the turning point for our department’s relationship with the community. Our strategies will help build a stronger bond and safer neighborhoods.”  

The plan – informed by past community feedback, studies and input from various external experts that have taken place over the past five years – identifies three strategic priorities: safety, innovation and engagement. 

The plan acknowledges 32 key items from the department’s “WeHearYou” community feedback analysis. This includes:

• SAFE (Safe Alliances for Everyone) Task Force’s focus groups and report
• #GRTalksBack community session 
• Police Chief recruitment 
• June 2020 town halls and July 21 City Commission meeting

“Our plan is the product of self-evaluation, study, introspection and deliberate change that has been in motion for more than five years,” Payne said. “It is reflective of the collaborative efforts of our personnel, other City departments and community input.”

Here’s a breakdown of the three strategic priorities:

Safety

Provide professional neighborhood policing services to prevent crime, enhance trust and ensure safety for every community member, visitor and business. Key objectives include:

• Be a positive presence in neighborhoods, respond to police calls for service and engage in collaborative problem-solving initiatives with the community. This will be done by transitioning to neighborhood-based policing that makes every patrol officer a community policing specialist who is focused on crime prevention, improving the quality of life for community members and building trust. Action steps include assigning a patrol officer on each shift to each geographic beat, ensuring beat officers collaborate with residents and neighborhood stakeholders to address neighborhood-specific crime, issues and concerns and ensuring beat officers communicate with neighborhoods prior to the deployment of proactive strategies that increase police presence in neighborhoods. Other strategies include increasing officers’ unallocated time so they can actively engage in their assigned neighborhoods and maximizing the use of data to provide timely and accurate intelligence, including ensuring beat officers regularly receive beat-level intelligence and crime data and using data to hold personnel accountable for department goals and objectives.
• Create a data-driven Crime Reduction Team to identify and address criminal offenders. Beat officers will use crime date and community input engage in hot spot policing – targeting of small geographic areas where crime is concentrated. Action steps will include identifying the need and locations for hot spot policing and tracking date related to hot spot policing to appropriately evaluate impact.
• Engage with the City’s Oversight and Public Accountability and Equity and Engagement offices to pursue date-driven, evidence-based strategies that address root causes of police-related emergencies. The police department will identify funding for a collaborative approach that integrates community leaders and past offenders in violence-reduction strategies such as Cure Violence or a similar program. Action steps include identifying stakeholders to develop an implementation plan and determining the best violence-reduction model for Grand Rapids. The department also will partner with the SAFE (Safe Alliances for Everyone) Task Force to implement its recommendations.

Innovation

Leverage partnerships and technology to improve services, decrease crime and increase efficiency. Key objectives include:

• Explore alternative responses to certain calls for service. This includes a co-response model that integrates permanent behavioral health professionals to City’s Homeless Outreach Team. It also includes developing and piloting a mental and behavioral health team that can co-respond to calls for services related to mental health and non-violence substance use, among others, and developing a plan for a community assistance team comprised of non-sworn personnel who can assist and work with beat officers to address neighborhood concerns that are non-criminal and more in line with quality-of-life issues. The police department also will collaborate with the City’s Mobile GR-Parking Services Department to transition parking enforcement to non-sworn City employees outside the police department.
• Partner with the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office to coordinate victim advocacy and restorative justice program. 
• Leverage technological opportunities to decrease crime and increase efficiency while ensuring objective and constitutional use and accountability. This includes continued evaluation of the constitutional use of unmanned aerial systems as a first-responder, re-visiting the effectiveness of gunfire detection technology and developing a real-time crime center with access to public space video that is actively monitored. The police department will hold community meetings to seek input on unmanned aerial systems and gunfire detection technology and provide education on them. 

Engagement

Build community trust and mutual understanding by enhancing community engagement strategies within the framework of neighborhood-based policing. Key objectives include:

• Align engagement with neighborhood-based policing. This includes enhancing communication with residents, businesses and visitors through regular neighborhood meetings and events, social and traditional media, website and apps. The department will hire a non-sworn public information officer, collaborate with the community on the development of a communications and engagement strategy and develop specific plans for more timely release of information and transparency related to neighborhood calls for service while still protecting the privacy of those involved. It also will better educate the community on police operations by reimaging its Citizen Police Academy and increasing participation – particularly among Grand Rapids residents – in its Youth Police Academy. The department will ensure equitable engagement representation throughout the city by creating equity-centered training and staff development for community engagement and mapping and publishing engagement efforts.
• Partner and collaborate with the Oversight and Public Accountability and Equity and Engagement offices and community stakeholders to increase community trust through transparency and accountability while elevating the community’s voice in police operations. The police department will provide accurate and timely data to the newly launched Police Metrics Dashboard for community education and transparency and use data on community sentiment through surveys to constantly evaluate and improve police services while ensuring equity. The department also will add a formal structure to the police chief’s newly created advisory team so it can provide input on the department’s budget, policies, performance metrics and outcomes, among others.
• Attract, hire and retain high-performing employees who embrace a guardian mentality and neighborhood-based policing philosophy. This includes reimagining recruiting strategies to ensure the department’s demographics are representative of the community’s. The department will collaborate with the Greater Grand Rapids NAACP, Hispanic Center of Western Michigan, Urban League of West Michigan, among others, on recruiting strategies. It also will recruit within neighborhoods as part of the City’s Grow Our Own initiative.
• Ensure a guardian culture and impartial policing philosophy is valued and promoted throughout the police department. All employees will be held accountable for knowing and incorporating the department’s values, vision and mission into their daily interactions with community members. Training will be provided to sworn personnel that emphasizes the guardian mindset while preparing them to be warriors when necessary. Impartial policing values will be incorporated into all departmental training.

“As we transform our policing model, we will engage community members,” Payne said. “We welcome feedback so we can adjust what we are doing to ensure we are connected to the community and policing the community the way it wants to be policed.”

The news police dashboard tracks six categories, including disaggregation by demographics where possible:

• Accountability
• Budget
• Community engagement
• Crime statistics
• Criminal charge statistics
• Staffing

More data will be added to the dashboard over time.

In addition to equity, the strategic plan includes the following values:

• Service – Through compassion, empathy and courage, we are driven to meet the public safety needs of our community.
• Integrity – We will do the right thing at the right time for the right reasons.
• Accountability – We are committed to transparency and will always take responsibility for our actions.

The strategic plan also includes newly adopted mission and vision statements that will drive the department’s daily decision-making and actions. They are:

• Mission – Protect life and property, prevent crime and ensure all people feel safe and are safe at all times throughout our community
• Vision – In partnership with our community, we will become the safest mid-sized city and most trusted police department in the United States.

The timeline for the plan’s implementation is:

• Aug. 11-25 – Receive feedback on the draft plan from community members, police personnel and other stakeholders – Payne will announce formalized plans for community engagement Tuesday
• Sept. 29 – Present final strategic plan and fiscal year (FY) 2020 performance management update 
• November – City staff will present an analysis of the City’s FY2020 budget versus actual expenditures, FY2021 mid-year adjustments and a FY2022 budget forecast. The City Commission will discuss a FY2021 reprioritization strategy and FY2022 prioritization. 
• Dec. 15 – City Manager Mark Washington will propose any mid-year budget amendments as needed. 
• February 2021 – City staff will provide a FY2021 mid-year performance management update and the police department will provide its first quarterly strategic plan update.  
• Quarterly in 2021 – The police department will provide performance updates.
• June 30, 2023 – Complete plan and report outcomes

“As police departments address the call for transformational change, we must do so in a transparent way that embraces community participation and fosters mutual understanding,” Payne said. “No police department – no matter how well-equipped or staffed – can maintain safety unless it enjoys legitimacy, trust and public support.”

Original source can be found here.

Source: City of Grand Rapids