To rise from the ranks of the good to the great, the St. Paul Police Department must re-commit itself to the practice of community policing, an outside study suggested Wednesday.
Department managers speak of dedication to police-community crime-fighting, yet too little of a patrol officer's time -- only 13.9 percent -- appears devoted to such activities, according to a consultant's report commissioned by the city.
Mayor Chris Coleman said the assessment by Berkshire Advisors, Inc., of Bay Village, Ohio, was proof that the city has a police department, of which residents can be proud.
But he and Deputy Mayor Ann Mulholland agreed the Police Department must rededicate itself to a clearer community-policing strategy that Mulholland said should see more cops walking beats and working with block clubs and others to resolve neighborhood concerns.
"This blueprint really dials us in to some new directions as to how we will get to true excellence across the board," said Police Chief John Harrington.
The $176,000 best practices assessment was one of two police-related reports presented Wednesday to the City Council -- the other involved Republican National Convention security -- and it follows a more explosive audit issued two years ago of the city's Fire Department. That report advocated closing three of 16 firehouses and called for mending the "internal crisis" then dividing union members and their now-former fire chief.
The union that represents St. Paul's police officers took Wednesday's study in stride. "There is nothing in there that's going to shock anybody," said Dave Titus, president of the St. Paul Police Federation.
However, the report, which now goes to an implementation team of city managers and union representatives, recommends possible cutbacks to two high-profile operations -- the canine unit and the horse patrol -- and also spells out internal concerns over Harrington's leadership style.
