Audit Says We Oughta Change

illustration by Doug Potter

When the police audit finally came out on February 25 -- just days after former police chief Elizabeth Watson cheerfully kissed the force goodbye -- a subcommittee met to wade through the report on what's wrong with the Austin Police Department (APD). At the meeting, audit subcommittee member Ronney Reynolds noted to interim police chief Bruce Mills that communication, according to the audit, appeared to be exceptionally bad. Mills' response? Suggestion boxes. That's right, suggestion boxes. APD wanted to improve communication with patrol officers, so it installed suggestion boxes.

"The suggestion box seems like an old idea," explained Mills, "but we treat suggestions at our staff meetings very importantly. The first thing we do is read them, and discuss each one."

Sound lame? Maybe, but the Austin Five-0 claims it's in modernizing mode, shaking off the shackles of conventionality in the wake of the city's audit. Scant communication between divisions -- and even less between upper and lower levels of the department -- is just one of the factors that have led to low morale and sub-par operations, the audit warns. Combine that with "inadequate financial planning and control, unreliable financial analysis, uncollected revenue, and inattention to pursuit of potential donations," as the audit says, and you have a financial management system at APD that is more than just shoddy; it's wholly inadequate. Factor in the department's prehistoric equipment, and it's no wonder that "effective operations" is more a dream than a goal.

The latest round of trouble for the APD began surfacing shortly before city auditors initiated the review a little more than a year ago. Then-Police Chief Watson had received a vote of no-confidence from the powerful Austin Police Association. An unexpected rash of retirements left almost 100 positions unfilled, and the force almost 10% below authorized strength. Bulletproof vests were past warranty, yet still being used, with duct tape playing a linchpin role. All this, despite the fact that APD now spends 50% more ($79.3 million a year) than it did just six years ago, and has hired 47 police officers a year for the past five years.

But while throwing more bodies in blue at the problem has been the council's primary reaction to complaints about APD over the past five years, the audit points out that such a strategy may have done more harm than good. That's because the increase in the number of police officers has not been accompanied by an increase in managerial support. In other words, making the force larger without proper communications, financial management, and equipment, was simply a useless gesture. And get this, according to the audit: "Crime statistics show that the number of officers on the force has little correlation to the amount of reported crime." In fact, reports on other cities which have been successful in reducing crime show that it's community policing, not a full-to-busting police force, that keeps crime in check. (For more on APD's efforts in this area, see main story.)

Clearly, something is wrong at APD, and the root of ineptitude seems to stem from the ivory-towered suite of management. For starters, advancement to the upper echelons is based on tenure, rather than ability. The scant management training that APD requires focuses more on crime fighting rather than on fiscal oversight. Little wonder, then, that last year, the Alarm Unit, which issues fines for false alarms, didn't keep proper receipts. No one knows how much was actually made, or how much could have been made, from the program. We do know that the unit failed to collect at least $1.5 million in revenue, apparently because of an easy-come, easy-go attitude. In another fiscal abomination, an APD financial analysis predicted that the License and Weight Unit, which regulates commercial traffic, would reap $9 million a year from citations. The income in its first full year, 1994, totalled a paltry $151,000.

But the lights aren't entirely dim at APD administration. Remember, the budget has grown terrifically over the past six years, and guess where the lion's share has gone. Yep, salaries -- specifically for upper-level management. Between 1980 and 1996, wages increased $5,500 per employee, while equipment "support" decreased by $600. Meanwhile, "executive staff" spent beyond its means more than any other division. Between 1992 and 1995, on the average, it cost taxpayers $1.3 million a year, nearly twice its $673,000 budget. To cover that, management took the pruning shears to the front lines, the patrol unit, which had to give up an average of $932,000 a year from its budget to cover the posteriors of the executive staff and other divisions similarly over-budget.

APD administrators may seem like keystone cops, but the audit makes it clear that the financial management system is stacked against them. Since the development of sound financial management has not kept pace with the growth of the department for the past 15 years, administrators don't receive the financial information necessary to properly plan for APD's future.

	Salaries and benefits for APD employees
	APD money spent on support
Note that while salaries have risen dramatically, support has maintained a low level.

Is it any wonder, then, that 79% of captains and lieutenants say they "rarely" or "never" get sufficient funding, according to a survey reported in the audit? In the three years between 1992 and 1994, unmet needs, like new radios and building repairs, totaled $3.1 million. In 1995 and 1996, those needs were ignored when the budget was approved. In fact, preparing new budget requests each year was such a waste of time that some unit managers submitted budgets from previous years and simply changed the dates.

With so few needs met, it's not surprising, then, that 81% of police supervisors say that equipment, including technological support, is inadequate. While APD has begun purchasing laptops for officers, it has yet to provide e-mail, though it should be available later this year. There is no APD mainframe computer, and obtaining crime information from the existing system is sometimes impossible. Detective Bob Buck, of the theft unit, says, "Very little property is returned to victims because the computer system is slow with searches, and we can only search two categories."

Sector radios often break down, so two sectors may have to double up on one channel, increasing the workload of dispatchers. And the department does not have the technology to perform detailed, neighborhood-specific crime analyses. Vehicles are hard to come by, or in disrepair, slowing operations. "We have three detectives per car," says Buck. "Two detectives can't get out until the third returns."

"Some of the equipment we have is at best pathetic," adds Sean Mannix, in-service training instructor, which he says is functioning with the most minimal of resources. "The pistol range is completely inadequate. We have a Hogan's alley there because training officers got lumber and built it. But it's at best a makeshift course. It's a sad state of affairs."

While the problems outlined in the audit are formidable, APD has begun to implement 37 of 38 suggestions to, among other things, improve financial management, enhance communications, and update technology. (The department is unable to find any resource to implement one suggestion, which calls for training in the area of staffing decisions for specialized units, investigative services, and administrative support functions.) And although the audit makes no mention of needing more officers, last year APD created an extra training class to bring in more rookies in order to meet the staffing levels authorized by council. The department is expected to be fully staffed by October, 1998.

An improved 911 system is due to come online, as well as computer-aided dispatch; however, none of this new technology will be ready for use until 1998. "We're trapped in time right now," says Assistant City Manager Joe Lessard. "But at some point, we're going to make a leap forward in technology." Mills concurs: "We know we're not there yet, but we know what we want to be: the best police department in the nation."

Despite the promised revamping, City Manager Jesus Garza warns that change could take years, or even decades. In addition to the technological advancements, the department must still build an entire south substation, a $3.5 million expenditure that has been delayed for nearly four years. And within the next five years, Mills predicts, two more substations will be needed -- in far southwest and far northwest Austin.

Meanwhile, history doesn't bode well for promises of change. Many of the problems found in this audit were also pointed out in the last two APD audits, completed in the 1980s. Of the 28 major recommendations made in the last two audits that are still applicable and can be assessed, only nine were implemented.

The lack of follow-up on the 1988 audit is being blamed for the current crisis, so Mayor Bruce Todd and the council gang are trying to keep a close eye this time around. Todd has ordered staff to return by late this month with a time frame for implementation. Moreover, further audits have been requested, since this one focused only on management. Mills, City Manager Jesus Garza, and Councilmember Beverly Griffith are asking for a department-wide audit by the International Association of the Chiefs of Police, the same organization that completed the 1986 audit.

And with a new commitment to communication, maybe the cries of the front lines will this time be heeded. Already, in the event that money becomes available by the mid-year budget, APD program managers have compiled a list of needed equipment that will cost more than $2.8 million, approximately $900,000 of which is "critical to continued operations." In the past, suggestions for improvement, like sector lieutenants' plans for crime control, have frequently been lost up the chain of command, with no response coming from the powers above. But now that there's that suggestion box....