Vancouver Police Chief Cliff Cook’s presentation on the Matrix report updates will be available by Wednesday at
www.cityofvancouver.us/police.asp
Full presentation
www.cityofvancouver.us/cvtv/cvtvindex.asp
In the wake of an announcement by the Vancouver Police Officers Guild that the membership is conducting a no-confidence vote on his leadership, Police Chief Cliff Cook outlined for the city council Monday the progress his department has made in implementing policies an outside consulting group recommended.
Cook, joined by Assistant Police Chiefs Nannette Kistler and Chris Sutter, said that 21 of 38 recommendations presented last July by the Matrix Consulting Group of Palo Alto, Calif., have been put into place. Eleven more are in development and six others are part of the department’s current negotiations with the police guild, they said.
“Reforms have been implemented in our department,” Cook said. “Considerable progress has been made on those recommendations.”
The chiefs’ presentation followed a March 4 statement by Guild President Ryan Martin that the 181-member group, comprised of officers, corporals and sergeants, would hold a no-confidence vote, saying communications have broken down and the guild’s concerns about disparate treatment, unfair punishment and lack of management accountability have not been addressed.
The vote will be finished March 22, with the results expected to be tallied by the end of the month, Martin said.
Vancouver paid the Matrix Consulting Group more than $48,000 to review the police department after the city agreed to a $1.65 million discrimination settlement with former Officer Navin Sharma. After four months of review, the Matrix report found issues with discipline and internal investigations, inadequate communication, organizational dysfunction and labor-management unrest.
Many of the problems, the report noted, began before Cook became chief in April 2007. Vancouver has had nine police chiefs in 20 years.
Members’ thoughts
The city council took time during the presentation to address the impending results of the no-confidence vote. Most seemed inclined to back the police chief.
Councilor Jack Burkman noted the Matrix report addressed the problem of “a revolving door of command staff.”
“I don’t understand why a vote of no confidence would be advanced,” he said. “If the outcome is to replace the chief, it’s violating the principle of the Matrix report.”
The city’s current budget crisis is also coming into play, Councilor Pat Campbell said, and the officers’ insecurity about their jobs is also probably influencing the vote.
Mayor Tim Leavitt said City Manager Pat McDonnell, Cook and the guild need to “work this through as expediently as possible,” as the internal acrimony is causing residents to lose confidence in the department. That, he said, could affect the outcome of any future public safety levy vote.
Cook said he’s been trying to meet with Martin on a regular basis, but so far they’ve only met four times.
“Today’s presentation indicates we have made considerable progress,” Cook said. “I believe we can get there, but it’s going to take all of us. It can’t happen without meetings.”
Martin countered that the guild did not feel it was appropriate to meet with the chief while contract negotiations are under way. It may happen in the future, he said, but not without a mediator, which he says the city should pay for.
“(Cook) said he’s willing to sit down and talk, he’s not said he’s willing to sit down and listen,” Martin said.
Subcommitee at work
While relations have been icy with the union, Cook said “he still has to give credit to the guild” for its participation in a discipline subcommittee — perhaps the most contentious of the Matrix report topics.
The group has about 10 people, including human resources staff; members of the police guild, including Martin; and command staff, Sutter said.
Among the accomplishments the chiefs listed:
• A 28-page internal investigations policy.
• An administrative leave policy that requires an update and estimated duration of the leave be given to the city manager for each month an employee is on administrative leave. (Average paid administrative leave time has been 8.7 months in the department’s last seven cases).
The below steps are subject to bargaining with the police guild, though police administration said the subcommittee have agreed to the terms:
• A revised grievance procedure and a disciplinary matrix that would provide guidelines about punishments for offenses. Details of what the city’s matrix could look like will be discussed the next subcommittee meeting on March 25, Martin said.
• A discipline review board that includes police command, the city manager’s office, human resources and the employee’s guild or association that would provide input and review before punishment is imposed. Discipline involving a suspension of 15 days or more may be appealed to the city manager.
Reached by phone Monday night, Martin said that there “has been good communication on both sides of the table” in the subcommittee. But he also said that the work is still being negotiated in the guild contract.
Cook also cited advances in communication, which has included the regular updating of the department’s Web page, a new program on Clark-Vancouver Television and twice-monthly e-mails to all employees.
