BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - The International Association of Chiefs of Police has concluded its study of the Bakersfield Police Department's performance. Although BPD was found to "have characteristics of an effective law enorcement agency," IACP did not hesitate to offer recommendations for improvement.
The independent report, which cost $100,000, was commissioned in January by the Bakersfield City Council. It focused on several aspects of poilce-work, including policing characteristics and trends, department objectives, policing style, and accountability, among others.
According to the report, BPD has been criticized for slow 911 response times, even with high priority incidents.
IACP recommends that BPD focus on reinforcing crime prevention and reduction, as well as community engagement and trust building. The organization states that, either as a conscious decision or an evolution over time, BPD focuses more on enforcement than on problem solving and policing.
IACP included 34 total recommendations for BPD to consider in the future. They are broken up in to four levels of priority.
Of top priority for BPD, according to the report, is working on community engagement, workload management, low staff, accountability, and "[refining] promotional processes to increase transparency and objectivity.
Lower priority items include developing juvenile crime prevention and intervention programs, creating a community liaison unit, making annual internal affairs investigation reports available to the public, and "[marketing] services, values and accomplishments of the BPD, both internally and externally."
The report states that, as part of the information gathering process, 38.5 percent of the BPD workforce responded to a survey regarding job performance and guidance, employee satisfaction, and priority needs.
The complete report is scheduled for discussion at the upcoming city council meeting Wednesday night at 5:15 p.m. It is available for download at the top of this page and the city's website.
The independent report, which cost $100,000, was commissioned in January by the Bakersfield City Council. It focused on several aspects of poilce-work, including policing characteristics and trends, department objectives, policing style, and accountability, among others.
According to the report, BPD has been criticized for slow 911 response times, even with high priority incidents.
IACP recommends that BPD focus on reinforcing crime prevention and reduction, as well as community engagement and trust building. The organization states that, either as a conscious decision or an evolution over time, BPD focuses more on enforcement than on problem solving and policing.
IACP included 34 total recommendations for BPD to consider in the future. They are broken up in to four levels of priority.
Of top priority for BPD, according to the report, is working on community engagement, workload management, low staff, accountability, and "[refining] promotional processes to increase transparency and objectivity.
Lower priority items include developing juvenile crime prevention and intervention programs, creating a community liaison unit, making annual internal affairs investigation reports available to the public, and "[marketing] services, values and accomplishments of the BPD, both internally and externally."
The report states that, as part of the information gathering process, 38.5 percent of the BPD workforce responded to a survey regarding job performance and guidance, employee satisfaction, and priority needs.
The complete report is scheduled for discussion at the upcoming city council meeting Wednesday night at 5:15 p.m. It is available for download at the top of this page and the city's website.