CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: February 22, 2017
PREPARED BY: David L. Swing, Chief of Police and Derek Witmer, Fire Chief
APPROVED BY: City Manager
Title
PUBLIC SAFETY MASTER PLAN
END
RECOMMENDATION(S)
RECOMMENDATION
1. Accept report, and
2. Adopt Public Safety Master Plan.
BODY
COUNCIL PRIORITIES, GOALS & STRATEGIES:
Ongoing Priorities
Enhancing public safety
Maintaining fiscal responsibility
Supporting our community
Preserving and cultivating public trust
2017 Strategic Priorities
Infrastructure
Regional Initiatives
POLICY CONSIDERATIONS:
1. What criteria should the Council consider to determine if/when the third fire station is needed?
2. What is the desired patrol saturation index (PSI)?
REPORT NARRATIVE:
The City Council commissioned a Public Safety Master Plan (PSMP) to assess current service levels and provide a foundation for future policy decisions to enhance the City’s Police and Fire services. For many years, public safety has been the City Council’s highest priority and the majority of the General Fund revenues are allocated to keeping our community safe. Recently, the community affirmed the City Council’s public safety priority as part of the 2015 Community Priorities survey. City staff contracted with the Center for Public Safety Management (CPSM) as consultants to complete the PSMP. CPSM evaluated workload data and operational practices in its assessment of our Police and Fire Departments. The PSMP provides separate reports for each Department and includes the South Santa Clara County Fire District (SSCCFD) in the fire report.
Morgan Hill has enjoyed a reputation as a safe city for many years - and still does so today. The reason for this distinction is multi-faceted; however, it is due in large part to the proactive nature of our public safety providers and to effective community partnerships. Safety is more than just crime rates and trends but also includes feelings of safety from those who live and visit Morgan Hill. When one thinks of safety it is usually from the perspective of policing. The strategies employed by the Police Department to promote community safety are aligned with the six pillars from President Obama’s 21st Century Policing Taskforce. Although community safety is largely focused on police, fire and emergency medical services are equally important public safety partners. Community safety from a fire perspective has three parts: prevention, preparedness, and performance. Prevention occurs through public education and fire Codes, while partnering with Code Enforcement on building compliance issues. Preparedness occurs through community and teammate training; performance by having measurable response standards and outcomes.
As we build our community for tomorrow, safety continues to be the goal. A key policy question is what will it take to maintain a safe community and where should the City invest its resources to that end?
Key Findings and Recommendations:
In its assessment, CPSM made numerous findings and recommendations based on its review of the data from our dispatch system and operational review. Some of the highlights from that review are as follows:
Findings:
1. The Police Department is a well-managed service oriented department that strives to provide outstanding customer service and engage the community.
2. Crime rate and calls for service are below the average of other studies as are sworn staffing levels.
3. Out of service time - including report writing and administrative tasks - is extensive and workload hours are higher-than-average.
4. Implement a Professional Standards Unit - staffed by a new Police Sergeant position
5. Lengthy response time to high-priority calls for service
6. Internal communication efforts amongst patrol teams could be improved
7. The working relationship observed between the City, District, and CAL FIRE is impressive and is one of the more proficient cooperative arrangements for fire and pre-hospital emergency medical care that we have observed nationally.
8. The City of Morgan Hill should continue the contractual relationship with CAL FIRE for protecting its community.
9. Morgan Hill should maintain the current advanced life support (ALS) first responder services in its response area.
10. CAL FIRE should continue in its effort to maintain the use of volunteers to provide assistance during larger events or extended operations. In addition, other support functions as canteen efforts, CERT, fire prevention duties, and assistance during community public events are effective methods to utilize volunteer support.
Recommendations:
1. Examine the reasons for, and minimize, the excessive time spent by patrol officers on out-of-service tasks - Morgan Hill Police Department (MHPD) recently upgraded our body-worn camera solution to reduce officer time associated with the maintenance of this program. We are also testing and evaluating speech-to-text report writing software.
2. Recreate the Street Crimes Unit - Planned reinstatement in April 2017.
3. Identify the “dispatch delay” and call prioritization list - Reduced high-priority responses by over 60 seconds and continuing to analyze other opportunities.
4. Create a Professional Standards Unit - Currently evaluating three options to implement.
5. Quarterly lunchtime “State of the Department” meetings - Biannual end of shift events and quarterly communication committee meetings fulfill this recommendation.
6. CAL FIRE should conduct a formal fire risk analysis that concentrates on strip commercial establishments, big-box occupancies, high-rise structures, and processing and institutional properties.
7. CAL FIRE should work with County EMS in modifying CAL FIRE’s response protocols for Priority 2 call types (Alpha Designations).
8. CAL FIRE should build its training regimens and tactical strategies around an exterior or transitional attack when the fire scenario and the number of responding personnel warrant this approach.
9. CAL FIRE should improve the level of review of its incident reporting to ensure the complete and accurate documentation of its response activities.
10. CAL FIRE should undertake a concerted effort to expand its current performance measures in order to incorporate a comprehensive performance management system that monitors a full range of performance outcomes.
11. Morgan Hill and SSCCFD should consider Center for Public Safety Excellence (CPSE) fire accreditation in the future.
12. Morgan Hill and Santa Clara County should consider consolidating their fire prevention efforts (permitting, plans review, inspections, and code enforcement) under CAL FIRE in the delivery of fire prevention services.
13. The City of Morgan Hill and the SSCCFD should initiate discussions with CAL FIRE regarding options that can achieve greater efficiencies and operability in their fire and EMS dispatch operations.
Challenges and Opportunities to Remaining Safe
Police
In the law enforcement component of the study, CPSM references a formula known as a patrol saturation index (PSI). CPSM’s ideal PSI is known as a Rule of 60 where 40 percent of an officer’s time is unallocated allowing time for community policing or other engagement efforts. The policy consideration for Council is whether Rule of 60 an acceptable methodology to determine adequate staffing and if so is 40 percent of unallocated time ideal for Morgan Hill or is more unallocated time better for community policing efforts?
An analysis of 2015 call data showed that the Morgan Hill Police Department is below the PSI of 60 during most times of the year (pages 18-28); however, there are times during the summer months where that standard is exceeded during a 24 hour period. 2016 showed a 10 percent increase in calls for service (CFS) and a decrease in proactive activities; demonstrating how a further increase in CFS may lead to a further decrease in time available for proactive policing and engagement efforts. A reduction in proactive time will inhibit our crime fighting efforts potentially resulting in a lower clearance rate and increased crime rate. Additionally, the trend of transitory criminals continues to impact safety in Morgan Hill. The police department is experiencing criminals coming from cities throughout the region to commit crime in Morgan Hill. Some of these offenders are gang members and others are part of crime syndicates that target communities off the freeway. Finally, the effects of sentencing reform are being felt in Morgan Hill much like other communities, even though the full effects of the current and new programs are not yet fully realized. The aforementioned challenges will require the police department to closely evaluate the recommendations of the CPSM study and also keep a regional focus to find solutions that abate crime and enhance the quality of life for our residents and guests.
Fire
The increase in service demands, 31% since 2013, also presents a challenge for Fire and EMS related calls. Naturally, an increased frequency of time committed to other calls will increase the number of responses from other stations or Fire Departments increasing the response times. This impacts resource availability, and allocation of firefighter time from other duties that have an indirect impact on fire protection and emergency medical services to maintain our safe community. An example of some duties would include training, inspections, and public education.
In addition to the findings and recommendations for the Fire Department discussed above, a key policy consideration for Council is to determine what criteria the Council should consider in determining if/when the third fire station is needed. This consideration necessitates reviewing the staffing and deployment model and determining what is acceptable for fire and medical responses, while ensuring time for prevention, preparedness, and performance.
As stated in the report, the fire station is a critical link in service delivery and where these facilities are located is the single most important factor in determining overall response times and workload distribution. The two City of Morgan Hill stations have primary service responsibility within the city boundaries. CalFIRE operates from six fire stations, including the two City stations, three SSCCFD stations, and one CalFIRE station. CalFIRE also has mutual aid and automatic aid agreements with Gilroy and San Jose. The report states that when looking at the actual call distribution, the level of coverage is generally acceptable.
Standards for response to fires have been established by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). NFPA 1710 staffing standards conclude that for effective firefighting, accountability, and special operations such as rescue, the initial stages of a single family 2000 Sq. Ft. two-story structure with no exposures, require 14 personnel to be on the fire ground within eight minutes. In 2014, the Insurance Service Office (ISO) evaluated the Fire Department and lowered the risk rating to an ISO of 3. The lowering of this rating potentially saves Morgan Hill businesses and residents on their fire insurance.
As the community continues to grow, a new fire station will be required to meet service demands. According to the Government Use Dedication Agreement entered into on August 5, 2014, the City agreed to “complete the construction of a fire station” within ten years. The fire station is on the Butterfield site, between Main and Diana Avenues (currently the community garden). The cost for a fire station includes the capital cost for the architecture, design, and construction, as well as the operations and maintenance cost. The City previously estimated that the cost to operate a fully staffed fire station is between $2.5 million and $3.0 million annually. The City will continue to review its staffing, response times, and other performance measurements to determine when a third fire station will be recommended.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Inform
Through the PSMP process, the Police and Fire Departments engaged with the community through community meetings.
ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS:
Council could decide to not adopt the report and direct staff to conduct further analysis.
PRIOR CITY COUNCIL AND COMMISSION ACTIONS:
None
FISCAL AND RESOURCE IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact of adopting the report. A fiscal impact would result from the implementation of certain recommendations. Actual costs associated with any service level enhancements would be provided at the time of consideration.
CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act):
Not a Project
LINKS/ATTACHMENTS:
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