The Bend City Council held a work session starting at 5:00 p.m. followed by a regular meeting at 7:00 p.m. on April 5, 2023. The work session included presentations on the Bend Police Department's 2023 Community Survey, a proposed Right-of-Way Code, and the Transportation Capital Improvement Program (CIP) update. The regular meeting featured proclamations, public comments on homelessness, consent agenda approvals, quasi-judicial hearings on the Wildflower Master Planned Development and a right-of-way vacation, and approval of a grant to the Environmental Center. The Bend Urban Renewal Agency (BURA) met immediately after to approve meeting minutes and adopt two new assistance programs for the Core Area.
So let's begin our April 5th work session, Chief Krance. Good afternoon. Uh Mike Krance, Chief of Police, Ben Police Department. Um Council, today I have the opportunity to present to you the twenty twenty three community attitudes regarding public safety uh survey. And really I'm gonna give you an overview of the key findings, a very high level overview of the key findings, as is a pretty substantial report, and we have 30 minutes. Um the tech and the and the uh paper. Yes. Um I will uh I will introduce Hans Jorgensen and Laura Winberry, members of the police chief's advisory council, and they're gonna have an opportunity here and just uh provide a little bit of input. Um today uh the survey was completed in twenty twenty-three biennium, so it's for this biennium. Uh we've conducted a biannual survey since twenty seventeen. This is the fourth survey. The largest survey done, this is the largest survey done in the city on community sentiment around public safety, and it's uh statistically valid at ten thousand surveys going out with approximately fifteen hundred in return. Uh the results of the community input is used to provide direction and developing goals within the police department as as well as within the city. Uh for instance, as a result of the last survey, uh police uh Ben Police Department developed police chiefs advisory council consistent with the uh increased desire for community engagement and input. We developed something called the spider tech system, which I'll talk a little bit about a little later in the survey, which is a uh feedback um information sharing system that was highly needed or or wanted um based on the last survey. And um, like I said, we developed the police chief advisory council, and I'm gonna have uh Hans and Laura introduce themselves and have a couple minutes to talk about uh their perception of the survey. Hans? My name is Hans Jorgenson. I'm a member of the police chief's advisory council, as the chief said. Uh just a few thoughts that I want to share with you based on the survey, uh also in connection with the draft goals for public safety. Um some recommendations perhaps on long-term staffing strategy. Uh I would say that survey fatigue is real and uh seeing fifteen hundred responses. I'd I think that's pretty significant. I think it's representative, and I think we can draw conclusions that are consistent with the community as a whole. Uh regarding council draft goals for public safety. I I think they're very well aligned, and that's exciting. That's really encouraging to me. Um reduced service demands. The thing that really stuck out to me under the reduced service demands was the need for education. We talked about this in the PCAC. Um, we just cannot afford for any department, especially a relatively in my opinion, short staff department like BPD. We can't afford to send resources that aren't necessary or aren't appropriate. Sometimes only a uniform will work. That's a fact. And sometimes the uniform is may exacerbate a situation. So I think that we should consider making a bit of a an effort to message and educate our community on how to get the right resource. And that goes beyond just BPD. I mean, sometimes it's hard as trying to figure out I want to get a permit, who do I talk to? But but we're talking about BPD tonight. Um staffing strategy, we all know it's everyone wants to feel welcome and safe. One of the things that that came out of the survey, as I read responses was for some people, safe means being more aware of police presence, seeing cops more often in their daily routine. And uh that just that comes down to staffing. Um technology to not technology is great. I mean, we have great technology, uh, but drones can't go to a domestic violence call. I mean, there's just certain limitations for technology. That's a reality. Um I think statistically, I don't like average, that's a not a very good tool statistically. But if we're gonna talk averages nationally, FBI data shows that police departments have 2.4 sworn per thousand. 3.4 in total, meaning about 30% of a department is typically non-sworn. Um that's the national average.