MINUTES

 Portland Police Bureau Budget Advisory Committee Meeting

 DATE:  November 28, 2018

ATTENDEES:  Community representatives: Anthony De Los Reyes, Mark Klein, Musse Olol, Fred Sanchez, Barbee Williams; Bureau representatives: Shyvonne Williams, Equity Representative, Assistant Chief Chris Davis, Chief’s Office, Sergeant Lacey Sparling, Chief’s Office, Christy Owen, Fiscal, Bob Del Gizzi, Fiscal, Catherine Reiland, Fiscal

ABSENT: Sergeant Tom Perkins, PPB Labor representative

The BAC returned to consider the bureau’s program summary to rank them in terms of how the community values the outward-facing services of each.  This discussion is relevant to the potential for reduction or elimination of program offerings in order for the bureau to operate in the budget constraint of 99% of current appropriation level (CAL) in the FY 2019-20 budget.

 For each program the summary includes the dollar cost and staffing level as well as the funding source and associated performance metrics.  The programs are ranked on two dimensions: most to least aligned to the bureau’s core mission and, for outward-facing programs, most to least valued by the community.  At the last meeting BAC members had been asked to provide their assessments and rankings from the community perspective in preparation for this meeting.  The following observations and questions were discussed:

• It was difficult for BAC members to rank with a cost/benefit consideration – the size and scope aren’t immediately apparent when reviewing programs
• Using the viewpoint of community value some appear to have high relative social value – the Service Coordination Team (SCT) and Behavioral Health Unit were deemed to have a high financial and social return on investment
• Bureau representatives pointed out that the most recent assessment of societal cost reductions for SCT exceeded 10:1 – though much of that cost avoidance is external to the City budget (opportunity and hard cost reductions benefit County agencies and the cost of livability crimes to the public is lowered)
• Is auto theft included in the Property Crimes program?  (yes, it is)
• What is the public’s expectation in property crime victimization for public response?
• Is a strong uptick in certain types of property crime and other types of crime when there is a reduction in an enforcement program? (yes, there is)
• Sunshine Division was noted by a BAC member as having a significant positive impact among immigrant and refugee members of the community, not only in the provision of needed food and clothing, but in fostering trust and a more favorable perception of the police within a community that may otherwise have shunned contact with the police based on experience in their place of origin
• The community engagement aspect of the Sunshine Division plays an role in relations with the public that is aligned with achieving more effective community policing, making it an important element of the bureau’s efforts to foster community inclusion and the partnership of community and police in enhancing public safety

The bureau discussed the initiative to develop a set of strategies to meet 1% efficiency required by a Budget Note in the FY 2018-19 Adopted Budget.  That 1% constitutes the constraint in the 99% of CAL for FY 2019-20.  The required savings is $2.05 million.  There is $830,000 in possible external revenue and $400,000 in hard-dollar savings from projects that are in development.  That is $822,000 short of the 1% target.  The bureau will review options for programmatic reductions to achieve a base set of programs that meet the 99% of CAL constrained budget.  Alternatively, strategies that are expected to reduce ongoing cost in FY 2020-21 but which cannot be implemented as early as July 1 may be included in one-time bridge funding for FY 2019-20.

The bureau and the Mayor’s Office have discussed possible directives to develop request packages to address goals which may include:

• Records Division capacity
• Communications
• Accountability
• Records management system replacement
• Bridge funding for the 1% savings strategies that cannot be implemented by July 1

The bureau has not received direction from the Mayor’s Office to develop any package yet.

The next BAC meeting is scheduled for December 19^th, 2018.