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News, Events & Festivals Police Service Options Report for City of New Iberia A special session has been called for Thursday, February 18, 2010 to discuss the findings of a study recently conducted by the International Association of Chiefs of Police with regards to the future policing of the City. Below is a synopsis of that study. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In mid-summer 2009 the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) contracted to study the functioning of the current Cooperative Policing Agreement between the city of New Iberia and the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office (IPSO). The study was to examine how well the agreement is being honored, develop models for reestablishing a city-controlled police force in place of the agreement arrangements, including estimates of cost, and to assess the advantages and disadvantages of all options. IACP professional staff conducted four on-site visits, interviewed stakeholders in the city and parish, reviewed supplied documentation, analyzed workload data, and conducted extensive research on issues raised. The study team reviewed previous studies of the New Iberia Police Department and the work of the Blue Ribbon Committee convened by the Mayor in 2005 to evaluate progress under the initial contract with the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office. ENGINEERED FOR FRUSTRATION Our most fundamental observation is that arrangement, memorialized in the contract and operationalized during the past several years, inhibited opportunity to maximize success and satisfaction - for both parties. 1. The original contract was not well costed-out. The entire program got off to a rocky start and both sheriff's have played catch up in one form or another until the recent contract was completed in 2009, provoking continued appeals from the IPSO for payments in excess of the original contracted amount. 2. Conflict between the city and the IPSO is easily traceable to broad language in the contract, not followed further definition, and reconciliation of understandings and misunderstandings. 3. Measurable goals and objectives for policing the city in its entirety and neighborhoods individually have never been set. 4. The contract lacks performance metrics - indicators or ways in which to determine effectiveness. Nothing is quantifiable from an output standpoint, except for the sole requirement to staff the patrol function with 10 deputies at all times. Supplemental work on metrics does not seem to have occurred. 5. The contract does not call for program-based crime control or a commitment to employing best practices, including cost-reduction strategies when possible. 6. Data systems in Iberia Parish do not lend themselves readily to the workload analyses needed to determine staffing for the contract. Users are frustrated by the lack of a friendly, desktop report writer to query the data systems. 7. Reports are not provided in the most user-friendly and graphical formats, frustrating non-technical users such as citizens and elected officials. GOING FORWARD: SERVICE DELIVERY OPTIONS Guided insightfully by New Iberia elected leadership, three service delivery models have been constructive, costed, and subjected to qualitative and quantitative analysis. Option 1: IPSO Contract with Modifications. Continue contracting for law enforcement services with the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office, strengthening the contract to maximize capacity for a more productive collaboration. Option 2: A New Iberia Police Department - Limited Service. Reestablish a NIPD, but in a reduced size and focus that provides patrol, traffic, and community policing services only, contracting with the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office for support services. Option 3: A New Iberia Police Department - Full Service. Reestablish a NIPD, a return to the 2004 model, a full service agency, contracting with the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office for a limited range of administrative support services. Each option has a distinct set of operational advantages and disadvantages, most compelling being levels of control, flexibility for innovations and course-corrections, and police coordination and redundancy considerations. The New Iberia climate raises costs to priority consideration. Comparative cost estimates are: ANNUAL OPERATING COST START-UP COSTS TOTAL Option 1: IPSO Contract $4,900,000 (1) -- $ 4,900,000 We estimate that the cost of Option 2 would exceed that of a contract by more than $914,223 annually (18%), and Option 3 would exceed the cost of a contract by $1,525,562 (31%). Additional costs for start-up are estimated at $2,700,000 and $3,600,000 respectively. RECOMMENDATION The IACP recommends that the city consider as its priority selection, Option 1, continuation of the contracted services with the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office, provided the Sheriff agrees to what we consider essential changes to the contract. This recommendation is based on projected costs and our belief that with a clarified, auditable contract the city and parish can create and sustain a highly productive and professional collaboration that will maximize the quality of police service to the residents of New Iberia, at a cost that is fair and equitable to both partners. The arrangement can, properly executed, preclude duplication of services, command and control issues, and should provide the necessary voice in public safety matters for the city. Should the recommended arrangement not eventuate, the IACP recommends Option 3, the full service reestablishment of the New Iberia Police Department.
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