illustration by elizabeth bisegna
  • illustration by elizabeth bisegna

A year ago, as the scalpels of budget season were glinting in the March sunshine, the Portland Police Bureau seemed marked for some serious invasive surgery.

A city-wide budget study ordered up the previous year had just suggested the bureau was obscenely top-heavy, finding that 33 command officers supervised three or fewer underlings. It found redundancy among high level positions, and recommended 22 command staff be incised.

The police bureau— rumored to have been hostile to the budget inquiries in the first place—reacted how you'd expect. Then-Chief Mike Reese sent a curt memo to Commissioners Steve Novick and Nick Fish, who'd helmed the study. He said the findings were oversimplified, and that the suggested cuts would "severely impact accountability and oversight." He also pointed out that "oversight and accountability" had been central tenets in ongoing police reform efforts, and said eliminating supervisors ran contrary to progress.

In the end—despite determined and studied arguments by Novick—the police bureau was spared the knife.

The reason? Mayor Charlie Hales, the police bureau, and others pointed out there needed to be more study. "Wait 'til Autumn," this argument went, "when the police bureau plans to release its own staffing study. Then we'll talk."

But Autumn came and went. The staffing study just landed.

On Wednesday afternoon, Hales will present a report—commissioned by the police bureau and carried out by a private consulting firm—that largely disagrees with the findings of a year ago.

Amid jargon-filled recommendations for tweaks and organizational shuffles, consultants say just three command staff should be shaved from the bureau's ranks. All told, the report says the police bureau should add 27.5 positions—largely focused in the ranks of officer (11), detective (7), and sergeant (5).

And researchers for Matrix Consulting Group say the problems highlighted in last city report—that captains and commanders perform redundant tasks—is incorrect. It recommends, as a "high" priority, that the police bureau "retain the Commander/Captain management structure in the precincts to focus accountability for operations and external responsibilities."

While last year's study found the bureau's "span of control" (the number of people command staff directly supervise) was too often too narrow, the new consulting report says, at the highest levels, police brass are overseeing too many people.

"The functional spans of control in the Bureau at [sic] too wide at the top level," the report finds. "A fourth Branch should be created to manage all operational support functions."

It's a finding that makes new Chief Larry O'Dea's decision to create a fourth branch late last year seem prescient, though it's entirely possible O'Dea made that decision because of the discussions that led to this report.

In total, the report makes nearly 100 recommendations. Many of them are wonky and difficult to parse, but here are some suggestions that could come up for discussion, now that the budget scalpels are glinting again:

More cops for schools. The report wants three more School Resource Officers, one per public high school.

And more cops that are dogs! Two more, consultants say, increasing the number to of canine officers to 10.

Less cops in several areas. Like units assigned to robbery, burglary, white collar crime, and human trafficking.

A new auto theft unit. One sergeant. Four detectives.

A new "organized crime" squad! Which would actually just meld the Gang Enforcement Team, Drugs and Vice Division, and human trafficking cops into one unit, and eliminate the stand-alone drugs and vice unit. Notably, the report says drugs and vice cops need to be staffed at current levels. I can think of at least one commissioner who disagrees.

More public information people Shout out to lead bureau spokesman Sgt. Pete Simpson, who works hard to get updates on major occurrences out to the public at all times of night. (It's part of the bureau's strategy, this new report notes, to "no longer rely solely on traditional media to communicate with the public.") This isn't so much a budget matter, but the report says it's crazy to rely on "very little more than one" position to do that work, and says other members of the staff should be trained to speak with reporters.

This is just a tiny fraction of recommendations. And I'm probably missing some important ones. Check out the report summary [pdf] that will go before council on Wednesday.

That hearing, by the way, is just the beginning of this discussion—something Mayor Charlie Hales notes in a letter accompanying the report:

"Additional recommendations will need further examination in light of changing community priorities and needs, and available resources," Hales says. "Our goal is to create efficient and effective operational outcomes which will provide the community the levels and types of service they desire."