Goal 2 - Decentralization

The Grand Rapids Police Department shall move its resources and decision-making into the community. The police cannot stand apart from the community, but must instead become a part of the community. The decentralization of decision-making allows Captains to become mini-chiefs, who have the freedom to find creative ways to solve problems in their service areas. Decentralized deployment into neighborhood beats allows the officers to work as partners with the people they serve. This personalized police service allows the community to hold the officers directly accountable, at the same time that the officers can hold the community accountable for shouldering its fair share of the work and responsibility. The City of Grand Rapids will also literally and figuratively break new ground when form follows function and the six decentralized teams move into Neighborhood Police Service Centers in their respective service areas within the next two to three years.

Objective 1 - The department will establish six Neighborhood Police Service Centers within the next two to three years (one of which will also include downtown headquarters). Each NPSC will have its own management team, headed by a captain, with staff to fulfill neighborhood needs.

• Strategy 1 - PHASE ONE ( Pilot Project) of decentralization requires deploying the South Community Policing Team as a pilot project.
  • Milestone 1: The South Community Policing Team pilot initiative will be staffed and deployed geographically in October 1998.

•   Strategy 2 - PHASE TWO (Service Area Decentralization) of decentralization requires deploying the five additional teams in their geographic service areas.  

• Milestone 1: Identify the boundaries for the six service areas by October 1998.
• Milestone 2: Identify the commanders for each service area by November 1998 and the lieutenants and sergeants by January 1999. Identify officers for each service area by March 1999.
• Milestone 3: Identify beat boundaries for the South service area, using neighborhood and natural boundaries, population density, and quantity/severity of problems as criteria by October 1998. Identify beat boundaries for all other service areas, using the same criteria, by March 1999.
• Milestone 4: The commander selected for each service area will develop the Action Plan for staffing his or her area by February 1999. (The plan will include exploring opportunities to use new technology, new systems, new positions, and deployment of individual officers in beat offices to enhance effectiveness and productivity.)
• Milestone 5: The five additional teams will be deployed geographically by April 1999. The teams will still operate out of the department’s downtown headquarters, but they will be responsible for their individual service areas that together cover the entire city.

• Strategy 3: Community Officers, often operating out of neighborhood offices, will function as part of the team of officers that provide service to specific beats.

• Milestone 1: Criteria for deploying and re-deploying Community Officers in specific beat areas will be determined by Senior Management by December 1998.
• Milestone 2: By December 1998, the grant-funded Community Officers will be deployed according to priority needs.
• Milestone 3: Additional Community Officers will be deployed according to priority criteria as staffing increases, noting that not all beats will require the full-time attention of a Community Officer. Identify all community beats and assign Community Officers to those beats by October 1999.

• Strategy 4: PHASE THREE (Decentralized Buildings) of decentralization occurs when the decentralized teams move into decentralized facilities in the six service areas. (This phase also includes purchasing and remodeling the building that houses the Vice Unit and building a new, decentralized City of Grand Rapids Training Facility.)

• Milestone 1: Senior Police Management, in collaboration with other stakeholders and consultants, will identify optimal locations for the facilities centrally located in the six areas:

  1. Midtown (Headquarters) - June 1999

  2. South - April 1999

  3. Southwest - June 1999

  4. West Side - June 1999

  5. Southeast - June 1999

  6. North End - June 1999

• Milestone 2: Purchase and remodel the building for the Vice Unit by July 1999.
• Milestone 3: Identify the elements to be included in the City of Grand Rapids Training Facility and identify a site by June 1999.
• Milestone 4: Senior Management and NPSC commanders will develop the plan for staffing the new buildings and their beats three months before the opening of each new facility, including decisions on desk officers and new Community Resource Specialist positions.
• Milestone 5: Move into all facilities by October 2001.

• Strategy 5 - Identify other agencies, organizations, and services for potential co-location. An initial brainstorming session concerning (1) which groups could operate from the facility and (2) what kinds of direct services could be offered to visitors generated this list of possibilities:
  • Loaner Tools/Lawnmowers (available to residents with a "library card" system)
  • Bill-paying for water
  • Mini-Public Works Teams (generalists)
  • Code Enforcement
  • Application/Processing for City Permits
  • Vendor Registration & Business Licenses
  • Bag & Tag Sales
  • Voter Registration
  • Payment of City Taxes to Treasurer
  • Human Resource Department (Job) Applications
  • Hazardous Waste Disposal
  • Recycling
  • Translation Services
  • Community Court Services
  • Community Cashier (perhaps set up as an Automated Teller System)
  • Court Counseling
  • Social Services
  • Information on Social Services
  • Community & Multi-Purpose Rooms for Flexible Activities
  • An Office for the City Commissioner of that Ward
  • Office for the Neighborhood Association
  • Police Athletic League Office
  • Registration for Parks and Recreation Programs & Activities
  • Space to Exhibit City Building Project Models & Educational/Historical Exhibits
  • Survey Center (Question of the Week/Month for Citizen Input)
  • ATM Machines
  • GRATA (Bus) Tickets
  • Mini-Impound Lots
  • Listings of City & Private Property for Sale in the Area
  • Videotapes of Public Meetings
  • Child Care/Youth Centers
  • "Study Hall" Quiet Areas &Tutoring
  • Videoconferencing
  • Probation & Parole

  • Milestone 1: The City Manager and Police Chief will identify a Task Force to explore collaboration and co-location opportunities by February 1999.
  • Milestone 2: The Task Force will identify its Action Plan and timetable for making these decisions by May 1999.

Objective 2 - The Grand Rapids Police Department will use restructuring, civilianization, despecialization, and other creative strategies to maximize sworn officer deployment.

• Strategy 1 - The Chief and Senior Management will determine the administrative reorganization and produce an organizational chart that reflects efforts to eliminate, consolidate, and civilianize positions and to use technology to enhance productivity.

• Milestone 1: The Chief and Senior Management will identify positions that can initially be eliminated/consolidated/civilianized by December 1998.
• Milestone 2: The Chief and Senior Management will develop the new organizational chart by December 1998.
• Milestone 3: The issues related to revising the organizational chart will be revisited and revised for Phase Two and Phase Three.

• Strategy 2 - The department will explore development of two new job categories, the Community Detective and the Community Resource Specialist, to provide new levels of personalized and decentralized service to the community.
  • Milestone 1: The captain of detectives, in collaboration with the commander of the South Community Policing Team, will assess the results of the pilot project’s first six months of operation, to determine the feasibility and potential role of a decentralized and personalized Community Detective by April 1999. The Community Detective position will require that the new generalist detective is responsible for working cases in a specific geographic area, made up of a specified number of beats.
  • Milestone 2: The captain of detectives, in collaboration with Senior Management, appropriate union representation, and Human Resources specialists, will launch a pilot initiative to develop a task analysis and job description for the Community Detective position by February 1999.
  • Milestone 3: The captain of detectives will work with the commander of the South Community Policing Team to deploy at least two Community Detectives by April 1999.
  • Milestone 4: The captain of detectives will work with Senior Management to develop an appropriate plan to deploy Community Detectives in the other service areas within six months after their launch, by October 1999.
• Milestone 5: The Community Resource Specialist would be a high-level civilian position. The individual would provide information and assistance on police and City services directly to walk-in and telephone inquiries at each Neighborhood Police Service Center. This person would also train others in the Neighborhood Police Service Center on identifying resources for problem-solving initiatives.
• Milestone 6: Senior Management, in consultation with service area commanders, suitable union representation, and Human Resources, will develop a task analysis and job description, including where the financial and supervisory responsibilities rest, for a Community Resource Specialist by June 2000, with the goal of deploying individuals in these positions when Neighborhood Police Service Centers open their doors.

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