VANCOUVER POLICE DEPARTMENT
PLANNING, RESEARCH & AUDIT SECTION
July 14, 1995
To: Vancouver City Council
From: Ken Higgins
Acting Chief Constable
Subject: Attached Police Department Policy Reports
The Policy Reports from the Police Department have linkages that may not
be obvious in the reading. The following summary explains these
linkages and summarizes the financial and personnel impacts.
P2 INSTALLATION OF A JAIL BOOKING AND CRIMINAL RECORDS
(attached) MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (THE CREMM/DES PROJECT)
This project involves the installation of a computerized booking and
criminal records tracking system at the Police Department. The system
contains elements of a jail booking system and on-line criminal records
updating system which is tied into CPIC and the National Identification
System. The Department is to provide the computer hardware for the
system at a cost of $106,100 and the RCMP will provide the software at
no cost to the City.
Installation of this system will greatly improve criminal records
management in the Department and will allow sufficient productivity
improvements to free up four positions in the Information Section. The
Department proposes to eliminate one of these positions to pay for
system installation and reallocate the other positions to other needs
within the Department. This reallocation is summarized below and
discussed in more detail in Report 2 below.
ELIMINATE PROPOSED USE
1 FTE Warrant Squad clerical 1 FTE Privacy Analyst(sworn)
position
2 FTE CPIC Operators 1 FTE Clerical in FOI Office
1 FTE eliminated to pay for
CREMM/DES
1 FTE Clerical position to assist with Information
Management project
Of the two CPIC Operator positions noted above, one is currently vacant
so that elimination will not affect a permanent employee.
It is proposed that the one time costs of this project be financed from
the Service Improvement Reserve with repayment (with interest) to be
achieved over a four year period by the elimination of a clerical
position. As a result, there will be no increase cost to the Operating
Budget.
P2(i) STAFFING NEEDS IMPOSED BY THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION &
PROTECTION OF PRIVACY ACT
Although this report also deals with Freedom of Information issues, it
is unrelated to the proposals reviewed above. The report reviews the
needs of the Department in relation to the Freedom of Information and
Protection of Privacy Act. The report notes that, based on comparisons
with other Police Departments and other public sector agencies, a unit
comprised of three staff is required to process the volume of requests
being received under the new legislation. This compares to the single
sworn staff member who handles FOI requests at present.
The proposal of the report is to convert the existing Sergeant position
in the FOI section to a civilian coordinator position and to reallocate
staff freed up because of the installation of the CREMM/DES system
(Report 1 above) to staff the unit. This can be done with no increase
in City cost as follows:
ELIMINATE
1 FTE FOI Coordinator (sworn) $(81,000)
1 FTE Warrant Squad clerical position (53,000)
CREATE
1 FTE FOI Coordinator (civilian) $ 70,000
1 FTE Privacy Analyst (sworn) 64,000
NET COST 0
In addition, it is proposed to move a clerical position from the
Information Section to support the Freedom of Information Office at no
net cost.
P2(ii) STAFFING REQUIREMENTS - INFORMATION MANAGEMENT PROJECT
This is a separate proposal from those above requesting one time funding
to complete the Information Management Project approved by Council in
June, 1993. At that time an Information Manager was approved on a term
basis to develop and implement an information management strategy and
system for the Department. The project has proceeded to the
implementation stage and additional temporary help is now
requested.Implementation of that system was recognized as an additional
cost which is dealt with in this report. The work program, which is
detailed in the report, requires the following staff support:
Temporary reclassification of a clerical position $ 3,200
24 months of temporary clerical support
(details in the report) 72,000
16 month of temporary clerical support
(details in the report) 48,000
TOTAL 123,200
1995 cost (approximately) 40,000
The Department has identified no offsets to this request. Funding for
the 1995 portion of the cost is to be provided from Contingency Reserve
and the balance will have to be added to the 1996 Operating Budget.
The Recommendations
The recommendations in Reports P2 and P2(i) are, for the most part,
inextricably linked. Approval of the recommendations in these reports
will provide the authority to install the CREMM/DES Project, and convert
positions freed up to the Freedom of Information Section.
As noted, the recommendations in Report P2(ii) are separate and Council
may deal with them without impacting on the proposals in P2 and P2(i).
Ken Higgins
Acting Chief Constable
(pra council\1995\infosec.mem)