Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Public Safety Committee work session of Monday, March 16th, 2026.

Today we have two topics on the agenda.

The first one is an update on police staffing.

The second is a the uh police accountability board annual report for 2025.

As we begin, I'd like to thank Ms.

Farog for preparing the staff reports for the day for the topics today, and for once again and always assembling most informative packets for us.

And unless the other committee members have any uh opening comments, I'm gonna ask the panel to please introduce themselves and ask if they have any opening comments, and then ask Ms.

Verog to walk us through the discussions.

Because of all the weather, it's certainly, I guess, all of our desire, though there's committee meetings this afternoon as well, uh, to be finished this one by around before noon, so that uh people can be off the roads if it's necessary uh if possible.

And with that, do any of you, either of you.

No.

Uh with the panel please introduce themselves.

Willie Parker Lone, Assistant Chief of Police, Chief of the Investigative Services Bureau.

Assistant Chief Nicholas Ogson, Chief of Management Services Bureau.

And Mark Yamada, Chief of Montgomery County Police Department.

Did you have any opening?

I did.

Thank you.

Good morning, Chief Committee.

Uh the committee received the patrol staffing analysis that was uh provided by Corona Solutions, who uh worked with us as an independent consultant.

Um the report was recently provided uh to us after it was finalized, and yes, I understand it's 350 pages, so I apologize in advance.

Uh the report reflects a detailed analysis over a one-year period that is based exclusively on our CAD data or computed computer aided dispatch uh data.

Ordinarily, the final version would undergo a full um internal review by MCPD commanders, their staff, the executives team, and the FOP before being shared with council and subsequently included in any public-facing uh council packet.

However, that internal review has not been completed yet.

We just got this uh late last week.

Um that said, it remains likely that the reviewers, when we do take a look at this more closely, will identify areas that require clarification, uh refinement, and even further examination.

Um it is important, as I said, to recognize this report was the work work product of an independent consultant, uh similar to the PFM analysis on the investigative workload.

Um it may not employ MCPD's internal technology uh internal terminology or fully reflect the perspectives of our uh experienced leadership team.

It's an analytical tool that we intend to use to support my team and I in evaluating operations, identifying areas for improvement, um, and making that informed data-driven decisions uh that we all um desire.

Um this entire process has already highlighted several subjects that matter uh uh that merit additional analysis attention and procedural adjustment as we continue to move forward in this process.

Uh the report therefore should not be viewed as the conclusion.

I know it's been a long time, uh, but rather this is definitely first steps and a big step for us.

Um district commanders um have been asked to review the data uh in order to identify follow-up questions, uh priority focus areas and potential operational adjustments.

Um, the level of detail included in this report was needed.

Uh we recognize that, but we're all actively working through how to fully digest what's inside.

Um as you can see, the report includes a countywide analysis followed by detailed sections for each of our six patrol districts.

Um a few things were noted during our initial review.

Uh those are that emergency response times remain strong overall, uh, though some districts experience fluctuations during certain days and times, just like we expected.

Um geography and time of day also influence our performance in those areas.

And non-emergency response times uh reveal predictable increases during certain days and times that we will continue to evaluate.

Um there are also several uh call types and specific locations with within each district that consume a disproportionate amount of patrol time and resources.

Uh those areas in the first district are Picard Drive, which is the crisis center, um, Green Tree Road, which is the juvenile placement home in 2D, uh Progress Place downtown Silver Spring in 3D, um, uh Westfield Montgomery Mall in 4D, Milestone Shopping Center, specifically Walmart up in uh 5D, and RICA in our 6th district.

Um I don't think those areas come as any surprise to anyone.

Um each commander will use this information to make better informed decisions and implement implement more effective planning and deployment as we move forward.

Uh Corona Solutions will now begin to focus on recommendations to enhance patrol response.

We've also asked them to identify potential adjustments to our district boundaries, as we discussed before, uh, to better balance workload as well as an analysis of how additional staffing, both sworn and professional could help reduce our response times and our effectiveness.

We also have uh preliminary plan for implementing a civilian response services team.

Uh that name is in flux right now.

Uh and we'll share those plans as we begin to get closer to finalizing them.

Uh we can also uh emphasize uh can't emphasize strongly enough that this is an ongoing flexible process and that this report reflects a single single snapshot within a much broader comprehensive operational overview.

And eventually you'll hear from uh both Assistant Chief Augustine and Assistant Chief Parker Lone who will address um each of the individual reports.

Very good.

Thank you very much.

Ms.

Ferrone.

Sure, the chief hit on a lot of points on the patrol uh analysis.

This staffing is a follow-up from the committee's November third work session where the department shared a preliminary look at the investigative services bureau workload analysis and staffing study as well as a patrol analysis.

The ISB study was not finalized at that time, and the consultant went through some of the data gathering steps that it had taken and noted, among other things that data was fragmented, often on individually maintained Excel spreadsheets, and that ISB would benefit from a case management system, which is included in the FY27 recommended budget.

The report advised the need for 91 people, which includes filling currently vacant positions where I should say they were vacant as of April 2025, I believe, to manage the current workload.

And as the chief mentioned, uh they tasked corona solutions with preparing workload analysis of the Patrol Services Bureau.