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Report focuses
on HPD goals,
performance

The department is concerned
about public dissatisfaction
with police response

By Rod Ohira
Star-Bulletin

Public dissatisfaction with police response and employee concerns about promotional practices are among the issues raised by a performance measurement report commissioned by the Honolulu Police Department.

Campbell DeLong Resources Inc. of Portland, Ore., prepared the report, including surveys of HPD employees and members of the community, as part of Chief Lee Donohue's HPD 2003 Strategic Plan.

"In order to set goals on our performance, we need benchmarks to see where we were and what we need to do to accomplish my vision," Donohue said.

Department responses were provided by 260 HPD employees out of 400 who were randomly selected to participate in the survey.

The survey noted that nearly one-third of those who had reported crimes were dissatisfied with HPD's response. Based on the survey, it was difficult to determine the source of the public's dissatisfaction, Donohue said.

To find out what the problem was, Donohue started a "call-back" system where recent victims were contacted and asked about police service.

"We were relieved to find that 92 percent (95 of 103 people) we interviewed were satisfied with HPD's response," Donohue said.

A breakdown of the surveys on some of the plan's outcomes:

Management Alignment: HPD employees expressed more trust in immediate supervisors making fair decisions than higher-ranking chiefs.
Staff Alignment: Co-workers, officers, civilian staff and those with a rank of lieutenant or below received close-to-average mission-alignment ratings, which were better than the higher ranks received, but lower than that of immediate supervisors.
Reduced Crime: Crime decreased by 10 percent in 1999, marking the fourth year of double-digit decline on Oahu.
Identification of Crime Trends: Community surveys indicate a perception of improvement in safety in Kalihi and more crime in Wahiawa, Mililani and the North Shore over the past 12 months.
Chronic Call Problem Solving: About 13 percent of Oahu households called police last year to report a chronic problem. Less than half (6 percent) had to call more than once; one out of five households who did call rated HPD's response as unsatisfactory.
Youth Intervention: There has been a steady decline of juvenile arrests for crimes since 1996.
Citizen involvement: According to police patrol data, there were 822 community security groups with more than 41,000 participants active on Oahu in 1999.

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