PHOTO BY CHUCK KIRMAN, VENTURA COUNTY STAR // BUY THIS PHOTO
Chuck Kirman/The Star File photo: Simi Valley Police Chief Mitch McCann says he’s tried to improve morale in his eight months on the job.
The Simi Valley Police Department has completed a five-year strategic plan that includes anticipating future technological needs of the department, finding better ways to address quality-of-life issues and providing community-oriented policing.
This is the department’s first strategic plan in nearly 25 years. Police Chief Mitch McCann said he’s excited by the results and hopes the plan will be a good starting point to focus on the needs of the department and the community.
“If you don’t have a plan, it’s very easy to go nowhere in the wrong direction,” McCann said. “This is our way of focusing our attention on the things that are important.”
The plan was drafted over a year of discussions with dozens of police officers, civilian staff and community members who researched specific topics and developed goals they believed to be achievable over the next five years. The document proposes five core areas of improvement:
Delivery of service.
Keeping pace with technology.
Customer service.
Developing personnel to succeed.
Facility development and rehabilitation.
Now that the plan has been approved, McCann said it will be “constantly in motion” and will be updated in about three years to reflect new research and changing needs.
Some strategic goals include new programs to enhance calls for service; replacing the iconic Ford Crown Victoria police cars with Ford Police Interceptor sport utility vehicles; launching a smartphone app that would alert residents to important public safety information and allow them to report crimes or leave tips; and outfitting the entire force with new vehicles with a new emblem.
“Our officers carry between 20 to 30 pounds on them, and in the current vehicles, we’re being maxed out on space,” McCann said.
Computers that are now inside the old patrol cars will be replaced in a few years with more affordable electronic devices such as tablet computers, Deputy Chief John McGinty said. Also planned are better visual recording devices inside squad cars to assist during field sobriety stops.
Other planned improvements target quality-of-life issues such as noise complaints or recurring issues affecting residents and businesses. The goal is to enhance communication and the delivery of service targeted at the policing issues unique to each area, according to the plan.
In one neighborhood, McCann said, officers responded to the same residence 48 times in one year. Once a community liaison was assigned to the house to try and resolve some of the personal issues, calls were reduced significantly, he said.
“A patrol officer can only do so much because they are always moving along to different calls during a shift,” McCann said.
Other initiatives include more leadership and training for personnel and facility improvements.
One major project that the department is involved with is to bring a new firing range to the city.
Officers now must travel out of the county for target practice, officials said.
McCann said the project has the potential to save the department money and improve the quality of training for officers.
“We’re trying to go through the process now with the county’s planning department,” McCann said, “but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it will come through soon.”
Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2014/may/02/simi-valley-police-strategic-plan-includes/#ixzz30gQ7fzZ7
- vcstar.com
PHOTO BY CHUCK KIRMAN, VENTURA COUNTY STAR // BUY THIS PHOTO
Chuck Kirman/The Star File photo: Simi Valley Police Chief Mitch McCann says he’s tried to improve morale in his eight months on the job.
The Simi Valley Police Department has completed a five-year strategic plan that includes anticipating future technological needs of the department, finding better ways to address quality-of-life issues and providing community-oriented policing.
This is the department’s first strategic plan in nearly 25 years. Police Chief Mitch McCann said he’s excited by the results and hopes the plan will be a good starting point to focus on the needs of the department and the community.
“If you don’t have a plan, it’s very easy to go nowhere in the wrong direction,” McCann said. “This is our way of focusing our attention on the things that are important.”
The plan was drafted over a year of discussions with dozens of police officers, civilian staff and community members who researched specific topics and developed goals they believed to be achievable over the next five years. The document proposes five core areas of improvement:
Delivery of service.
Keeping pace with technology.
Customer service.
Developing personnel to succeed.
Facility development and rehabilitation.
Now that the plan has been approved, McCann said it will be “constantly in motion” and will be updated in about three years to reflect new research and changing needs.
Some strategic goals include new programs to enhance calls for service; replacing the iconic Ford Crown Victoria police cars with Ford Police Interceptor sport utility vehicles; launching a smartphone app that would alert residents to important public safety information and allow them to report crimes or leave tips; and outfitting the entire force with new vehicles with a new emblem.
“Our officers carry between 20 to 30 pounds on them, and in the current vehicles, we’re being maxed out on space,” McCann said.
Computers that are now inside the old patrol cars will be replaced in a few years with more affordable electronic devices such as tablet computers, Deputy Chief John McGinty said. Also planned are better visual recording devices inside squad cars to assist during field sobriety stops.
Other planned improvements target quality-of-life issues such as noise complaints or recurring issues affecting residents and businesses. The goal is to enhance communication and the delivery of service targeted at the policing issues unique to each area, according to the plan.
In one neighborhood, McCann said, officers responded to the same residence 48 times in one year. Once a community liaison was assigned to the house to try and resolve some of the personal issues, calls were reduced significantly, he said.
“A patrol officer can only do so much because they are always moving along to different calls during a shift,” McCann said.
Other initiatives include more leadership and training for personnel and facility improvements.
One major project that the department is involved with is to bring a new firing range to the city.
Officers now must travel out of the county for target practice, officials said.
McCann said the project has the potential to save the department money and improve the quality of training for officers.
“We’re trying to go through the process now with the county’s planning department,” McCann said, “but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it will come through soon.”
Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2014/may/02/simi-valley-police-strategic-plan-includes/#ixzz30gQ7fzZ7
- vcstar.com
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