The UC Davis Police Department has developed a management plan and is now moving forward to enact improvements after an independent investigation reported communications problems and low morale within the department.
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Robert Grey has accepted the police department's plan, which is largely focused on improving internal communication.
"I'm very pleased to see the careful attention that is being given to the issues that needed to be addressed in the UC Davis Police Department." Grey said. "The management plan is quite thorough and I'm confident that, with good will and participation by everyone who needs to be involved, the plan will be successful."
The UC Davis Office of Administration and the Police Department are committed to fully implementing all the measures identified in the report, according to Janet C. Hamilton, vice chancellor for administration.
A management plan was developed with broad input from department staff this spring. Most of the plan's actions are already underway, with expected completion in November of this year.
"We're really working hard to try to turn this into an opportunity to make improvements. It's what everyone here wants to do," said UC Davis Police Chief Calvin Handy. "We have always been looking for ways to improve what we do. This is even more of a motivation for us to move forward. We are all committed to having a more balanced and effective team to serve the campus community."
To help ensure that changes are effective, the department in June will hold team building workshops approved by the Commission on Peace Officer's Standards, and a team building consultant will work with all managers and supervisors within the department.
In addition, in July the Police Executive Research Forum based in Washington D.C., an independent organization that provides assistance to law enforcement agencies, will conduct a six-day study of the department's internal communications, organizational management style and work process. The final report will be used as a blueprint for further improvements.
Communication between senior supervisors and managers will improve, as well as the workload among the department's employees. A lack of timely decision-making appeared in the report to be a major source of frustration. A computerized project board has been established to track the progress and assign deadlines for major department projects.
Last October several anonymous letters containing wide-ranging allegations of misconduct and mismanagement by the UC Davis Police department's command staff were received by the chancellor. As a result, an audit was conducted and an independent investigator hired by the UC Office of the President analyzed the allegations and issued a report of his findings in March.
The 36-page report concluded that there was no evidence that the department's administrators violated state of federal law or willfully failed to perform their duties. It also found no support for allegations of intentional violation of the Clery Crime Reporting Act or for violations of state or federal employee harassment or discrimination laws. It did, however, find significant morale problems in the department.
"We have taken these findings very seriously, and I am confident that the plan we have developed, with input from the entire department, will address these issues," Handy said. "The concerns have been voiced, and have been heard."