The other issue that popped out today, and I've had this discussion with all of you before, in the Daily News, I think the Daily News story today, was the cost of health care in the Prisons, and it seems -- and it doesn't seem to be the number-one highest number on the list of the costs of annual inmate costs. What drives it? I know what drives -- high health care costs are driven in every segment of the economy. What drives it specifically there and what can we do to get our arms around it? CHIEF HERDMAN: Well, there was a 1976 Supreme Court decision that the people in prison have to be delivered the same care that you or I would receive in the community. 274 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET
Right. CHIEF HERDMAN: So -- and they have access to primary care, chronic care, and so forth. So that's the baseline. Not more than what happens in the community, but we have to meet that standard.
And anecdotally, though, I've been told that it is more than what is in the community, that the number of times on average an inmate visits the sick bay, whatever you call it -- CHIEF HERDMAN: Oh, yes. In terms of the interventions that I mentioned to the Councilman that we did that had a substantial effect was, we are delivering more than 200,000 outpatient visits of care a year. And it turns out that the system was set up so that if an inmate, before 11 o'clock at night, put in a sick-call chit, "I want to see a physician," they would be seen the next day, seven days a 275 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET week, by a mid-level practitioner, a nurse practitioner, or a PA.
I mean, that situation was an easier one to get than a health-center appointment. CHIEF HERDMAN: Oh, it's much easier to get than a health-center appointment. And it turns out that nearly 40 percent of those requests were really not for medical care; they wanted to see their social worker, they wanted to make a phone call to their attorney. So they did not have to be seen by a clinician. So we introduced a triage system where, at night, we take all of those requests, and we do get those people to the services that they need, but they don't have to take up a clinician's time. And that's how we were able to, you know, reduce the escalation of costs from 15 percent to 2 percent.
Now, is that correlation also with the reduced cost in 276 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET pharmacy? CHIEF HERDMAN: No, that didn't because those --
Well, if they're not seeing a clinician, then -- CHIEF HERDMAN: Well, those unnecessary requests didn't need medical care, so no, it did not affect the pharmacy utilization. Where we've been able to affect pharmacy utilization is by -- is mostly on psychiatry. HIV is 60 percent of our pharmacy budget, and that's, you know, community standard of care. So it's very expensive, but that's what we provide.
Mm-hmm. CHIEF HERDMAN: And that cost had gone up because we are identifying more and more HIV inmates every year. Now, 20 percent is psychiatry, and what happens is, if an individual comes in the front door and says, "I want a-second generation psychotropic," $1200 a month, we used to do that; we used to 277 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET automatically continue on that medication. Now we check with the prescribing physician in the community, and if they haven't been tried on an earlier version, the first generation, we convert them to first-generation, $60 a month. (Timer bell rings.)
Are we pursuing generics too? CHIEF HERDMAN: Oh, yes. The compliance with generics is almost a hundred percent.
So the number that appears in the paper today, is that an old number, or is that a current number? It looked like 6,000-something per year per inmate. CHIEF HERDMAN: It's closer to $6,000 proper. And it's very difficult to get good comparative numbers; in fact, the agencies that do that say there are no 23 good comparative numbers. Our outside consultants say that we're about average, and that's just for 278 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET --
Average for a prison system, or average for -- CHIEF HERDMAN: Average for a prison system. And that's despite the fact that, you know, the Philadelphia region is the fifth most expensive medical-care region of all the Medicare regions, primarily because we have so many medical schools and that creates demand and the unit costs are so high. So even though we're in a very expensive market, we're about average.
So you're comfortable that what actions you've taken to reduce costs are being effective. CHIEF HERDMAN: They've been effective. There are more that we're working on; we're collaborating with the Department of Health, for example, to expand the service area of one of the health centers to cover the Prison, which would make us eligible for what's known as 340B, federal pricing, and that would save 279 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET us $2.5 million a year, and we're pretty optimistic about --
So you're actually trying to save money on your own. It's amazing. Thank you.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Please revisit with me that 60 percent of your inmates have HIV, are HIV-infected? CHIEF HERDMAN: No, no, no. 16 Sixty percent of our pharmacy expenditures are for HIV medications.
Oh, pharmacy expenditures. CHIEF HERDMAN: Last year, we treated about 750 individuals for HIV. This coming year, we expect to treat a thousand, because we are doing rapid HIV testing, which is all voluntary.
Is that 280 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET part of the assessment on the way -- CHIEF HERDMAN: That's part of the initial assessment. Yes, ma'am.
Oh, okay. All right. What is your involvement with CBH?
You said 750? CHIEF HERDMAN: Yeah, but we have 37,000 individuals that come into the prison in a year.
Okay, not in any one given day. CHIEF HERDMAN: Annually.
Thank you. CHIEF HERDMAN: CBH, the Department of Behavioral Health, gives us some of our funding for mental-health services, and we work closely with them in 281 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET terms -- for example, when an individual comes in and we want to identify whether they really have a serious mental illness or they're just withdrawing from medication, from drugs, we contact CBH and get them -- clinical information from them to see what their history has been in the community. So there's cooperation.
Okay. Any involvement with Mr. Cohen, PHMC, PH -- Philadelphia Health Management Corporation? CHIEF HERDMAN: We've had conversations with them about some potential collaborative arrangements. But at the moment, no. 19
Okay. To your request about Councilmembers having a role with regards to the community involvement, community understanding of the dilemma, have you ever considered engaging clergy? DEP.
Oh, 282 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET absolutely. One of the things that I've been able to do over the last year is to really work with not only the Mayor's Office for Faith-Based Initiatives, but also get out and go to the various clergy environments. One of the things that we did very well in order to help the Prisons avoid some costs was Fugitive Safe Surrender, where we actually allowed people to surrender in the house and use the 16th and Mifflin, Dr. Ernest McNair's church, where we ended up having over 1400 people surrender on warrants.
And over 2,000 warrants were taken off the street, resolved their cases. And those are persons who would have been put through the system and would have taken up some beds up at the Prison at some level; we avoided that.
So that worked. 283 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET DEP.
Are they going to institutionalize that on an annual basis or however the drive, the need dictates since it worked? DEP.
That's right. What we're doing is that we're taking that model of activating the clergy and having people understand that their clergy person can be trained. And we're actually taking them and working collaboratively with the court system through an effort that's known as Peaceful Surrender, where you can go to your clergy person, who now has a way in, understands the system, and can get you into the system and out, without having to go through the prison system. We're now working in a pilot in South Philadelphia, and we're going to try and go and expand that through the City.
Okay. Finally on this topic, Councilwoman Donna 284 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET Reed Miller spoke about the difficulty it is in engaging community members to have a stake in rehabilitation of prisoners. So potentially, there's a role for churches. Since so many of them are 501(c)(3)s, they're looking for ways to engage and make a difference in communities, and this may be an option, if you will, to have them speak to community members and help folk understand that, you know, at the end of the day, we really are all in this together. DEP.
Oh, absolutely. And I also want to, you know, give a thank-you to the Kingdom Care Network with Ernest McNair coming out. He's been working with it. And they've been working up -- I know that we've reached out to the Black Clergy Association. I know Reverend Washington and I have been sitting down and talking about different ways to collaborate on that as well. 285 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET
Mm-hmm. What's the (indiscernible) with those discussions? DEP.
We are trying to get them to open up their churches to not only engage the community, but actually engage in what are they doing at the Prison to help us in our reentry efforts.
Thank you very much. Commissioner, do you break down the cost for the -- how many facilities, first, do you operate, come under your jurisdiction? COMM. GIORLA: We have six facilities in our campus on State Road, in Northeast Philadelphia. And we have five our satellite facilities throughout the 286 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET area.
Do you have any idea about out how much each would cost to operate? Do you break them down in terms of sites and facilities; you know, one facility may cost one thing to operate, another facility may cost something else. COMM. GIORLA: Yes. We do look at the overtime expenditures, the supply expenditures, and the maintenance expenditures broken down by facility.
How about personnel? COMM. GIORLA: Personnel as well, yes.
And so you have an idea of how much east facility -- can you give us a breakdown of the cost of each facility, to operate these facilities? COMM. GIORLA: I don't have those figures here, but I could supply you with the costs. 287 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET
Supply them to the Chairwoman, please. (Timer bell rings.)
I noticed that in your third-party contracts, if I'm pro -- if someone is providing, say, insurance costs, do they provide the cost for all three facilities or the facilities the cost for insurance broken down by each facility? How do you contract out for your services; by facility or by -- is it overall cost? COMM. GIORLA: It depends on need and the population that has to be addressed. Medical is a good example. We provide a different level of services at each facility. At Curran Fromhold, which is our largest an dour male intake, we provide intake services in conjunction with general health care. 288 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET At our work-release facility, University Avenue, in West Philadelphia, we provide almost no medical services there onsite. Most of those are provided up at the prison complex. It depends on the needs of that particular facility or population.
But when you RFP the contract, is it for a certain facility or is it for overall medical service? CHIEF HERDMAN: It's --
Or any service; it could be maintenance, it could be whatever services you contract out. COMM. GIORLA: Any services -- again, it's -- it would with be overall -- it depends on the scope of services, because several of our services are blended. You mentioned maintenance. We have full-time Civil Service maintenance personnel to attend to most of our facilities on State Road. 289 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET We have two newer facilities -- Curran Fromhold and Riverside -- where maintenance is contracted with the U.S. Facilities Organization. When we issue or reissue an RFP or renew the contract for those facilities, that scope is limited to that facility or, you know, extended, depending on the need.
Okay. So we'll see all of that when you give us the information. COMM. GIORLA: Yes.
Okay. I noticed also that you contract out for vocational-skills training for inmates. What kind of vocational-skills training is that? COMM. GIORLA: We contract with the JEVS organization to provide building maintenance, customer service, environmental maintenance, and life skills.
Mm-hmm. 290 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET Are they -- do -- are these voluntary programs or are the inmates required to participate in those training programs? COMM. GIORLA: Well, again, sentenced inmates are required to comply with their sentencing stipulations and are required to work.
Mm-hmm. COMM. GIORLA: Many of them, because they know they'll be with us for a certain period of time, 'cause they know they have obligations to fulfill in order to make parole or to agree with the terms of their sentence, they will volunteer. Or, you know, we don't have to compel them to; they will volunteer. Among the detention population, it's -- the level of participation is entirely voluntary.
Mm-hmm. Okay. Where and how will the additional $3.7 million for additional beds be allocated? COMM. GIORLA: They may -- we 291 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET may seek expansion of the sites we're already contracted with. For instance --
You mean outside of the City? COMM. GIORLA: No. We -- housing inmates outside of the City was not a desirable alternative.
Mm-hmm. COMM. GIORLA: It was something we had to do because of our population fluctuation. While we are awaiting the construction of the CEC Center at D and Erie, if at all possible, we don't want to repeat that.
Mm-hmm. COMM. GIORLA: It all depends on where the population takes us. Right now, we have a contingency of a hundred additional beds at that D and Erie site. We do have some offers from other jurisdictions for available beds, but we want to stay away from those if at all possible.
Have you 292 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET ever thought about having a management company run the Prison and the City get out of the prison business? Was that question answered earlier? DEP.
It was not asked earlier, but I can tell you that that is one of the things that I have been able to take a look at, and we are still studying that issue.
Okay, all right. Thank you. Councilman O'Neill, you ready?
Thank you, Madam Chair. Some of my questions are still information requests. Even the information regarding dropout rate for prisoners, I would still like to see how we can get that information. I'm also requesting similar 293 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET information from the Police Department. Chief Ramsey did provide me with some excellent information regarding homicides, regarding both the victims and perpetrators. One of the things he was not able to provide was the dropout rate. And that information, I believe, was gathered by the previous administration through the School District by submitting information to the School District. But it caused me to wonder about another question and information request. Of those people who are murdered on an annual basis, do we track if they just got out of prison? And do we track whether they were killed by someone else who just got out of prison? COMM. GIORLA: The Prisons doesn't, Councilman.
Isn't that information that we should track? COMM. GIORLA: I believe we should.
Actually, 294 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET that was posed to the Deputy Mayor. DEP.
And I'm just writing down that I think that that is something -- and the answer to your question is yes, I think that we should.
So the request I have is that we look at how many of those people who are killed, how long they've been out of prison. How many of those people who perpetrate that crime have been out of prison. And whether both of them, one or both of them, were high school dropouts. DEP.
Okay. I will get on that. I can tell you that, probably anecdotally, my sense would be that because the numbers of people who are murdered in the City are people who compete against one another, for lack of a better word --
It's victim-specific. 295 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET DEP.
Victim-specific, yeah, it is very victim-specific. And, therefore, I think that they are all quite known to one another. So we should be able to get that information.
From the information that Chief Ramsey gave, I can tell you, just based upon last month, there were 117 people killed -- I'm sorry, 117 people shot. DEP.
89 were African-American, and 83 to 89 were African-American males. DEP.
-- for the 296 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET last five, six, seven years. And of those people who were shot, in terms of the murder rate: 5 people were killed last month, 20 were 6 African-American, and 17 of those 20 were 7 African-American males. 8 DEP.
When you talk 14 about the issue of crime, sometimes people 15 will relate that to the murder rate. Even 16 more recently, people have concerns over 17 crime by some Pew studies and other 18 studies that have been done, I think, not 19 just related to the murder rate of these 20 ex-offenders by ex-offenders, but even in 21 terms of the killing the police officers. 22 DEP.
And so 24 there's a misperception of how safe this city is or isn't because of the crime 297 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET rate. But this is a very targeted group of people within certain ages, race, sex, educational level across the board. Just along the same lines you're thinking, there has to be a better way than just sending them back to prison over and over again because the only -- the issue is not just whether they will go back to prison, but the issue is also whether they will live. DEP.
Absolutely. I concur. I know that the Police Department is working on a study of some of these issues, but I think I'll expand it. And so I thank you very much for that.
I just have one last question of the Commissioner. Is the Philadelphia Prison System accredited through the American 298 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET Correction Association? COMM. GIORLA: Our facilities are not. Our medical operations are accredited through the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. We looked at engaging the American Correctional Association to have our facilities accredited. The age and current state of some of our older facilities made that cost-prohibitive. However, we do have a Policy Development Unit that drafts all of our written policy and procedures based on the American Correctional Facility Association's standards for adult local detention facilities.
But you don't ask them to rate you. COMM. GIORLA: Well, there's a cost associated with it.
Associated with it, mm-hmm. COMM. GIORLA: With each facility. We're planning to begin with 299 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET our Policy and Audit Division to have our policies reviewed and audited first. And then we can extend that out to our different sites.
Okay, thank you. Are there any more questions? (No further questions.)
Thank you. COMM. GIORLA: Thank you. (Short break taken.) * * * (Proceedings resume.)
Council is now back in session. We will now hear from the Police Department. (Witnesses come forward.)
Good afternoon and welcome. COMM. RAMSEY: Good afternoon, Madam President Verna and all of the distinguished members of the City Council. 300 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET On behalf of the Philadelphia Police Department, thank you for this important opportunity to testify before you today to discuss the future of policing in Philadelphia. You already know on my right is Deputy Mayor Everett Gillison. On my left is Deputy Commissioner Jack Gaittens, and right behind him is Deputy Commissioner Richard Ross from Field Operations. The Philadelphia Police Department's Fiscal Year 2010 General Fund budget request is $522,478,250, with the below-listed allocations. Salary and overtime expenses, or Class 100, comprise approximately 97 percent of the Department's budget: $505,976 in Class 100 Funds. 4 million in Class 200. And slightly more than $8 million in Class and 400 Funds. 9 million less. 3 percent. For FY '09, $12,444,000 in contracts were awarded, of which 5 percent went to minority, women, disadvantaged, or disabled enterprises. And with my testimony, ma'am, I did submit a graph, a chart that outlines the breakdown from '09 and '08. Our rebalanced FY '09 budget was reduced by almost $13 million through not hiring an additional 200 police officers, leaving 30 select civilian positions unfilled and reducing overtime expenditures by $7 million. For Fiscal Year 2010, we will continue to implement all of the reductions from 2009, coupled with the following: A civilian hiring freeze, with 302 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET the exception of essential positions and radio communications and forensics. And another reduction in overtime expenditures by $17 million. In addition, we have returned 190 vehicles to Fleet Management, and reduced the number of take-home vehicles by 41. The Department's authorized sworn strength through Fiscal Year 2010 is 6,624. Our authorized civilian strength is 854. When I was sworn in January 7, 2008, the Mayor immediately charged me with developing and implementing a new crime-fighting strategy for this city. Our crime plan included a major restructuring of the Department, with visible uniform patrol at the core of our strategy. Guided by our principles of intelligence-led policing, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvements in operations and administration, we made 303 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET significant progress in reducing violent crime and moving toward making Philadelphia the safest large city in the country. During the calendar year of 2008, against a backdrop of far too many of our officers, five being killed in the line of duty, Philadelphia experienced a citywide percent reduction in homicides 11 and a 10 percent reduction in shooting 12 victims. 13 In those police districts in 14 which additional resources were given, the 15 results were even more pronounced, with a 26 percent reduction in homicides and a 15 percent reduction in shooting victims. 6 percent in 2007. Our first calendar year, 2008, and thus far in 2009, has been centered on lowering violent crime, targeting hot 304 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET spots with enhanced patrol efforts and aligning the Department with its crime- fighting mission. Technology provides the platform upon which we can build a more efficient and more streamlined department. To that end, we have upgraded, and will continue to prioritize upgrades, in information technology infrastructure. We've already provided an enhanced access to information and criminal intelligence to our patrol officers through databases now available in all our vehicles via mobile data computers. Earlier this month, we also recently launched two critical systems that will allow our patrol officers to return to service more quickly after the processing scenes and offenders.
The first provides both the Department and the District Attorney an integrated electronic discovery system whereby all paperwork for the discovery process is now submitted and received 305 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET electronically. The second provides an integrated and uniform forensics- and evidence-tracking system. An equally important component in reducing expenses over the past four months has been the formation of an Overtime Management Unit within the Department. This unit is responsible for oversight, developing coordinated policies and procedures, and establishing broad-ranging criminal justice partnerships that will promote systemic change in the use of overtime. We have been asked to reduce overtime by $7 million in FY '09 and an additional $17 million in FY '10. 8 million for the calendar year to date. S. Marshal Service and key community leaders, including members of 306 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET the clergy, to bring Fugitive Safe Surrender to Philadelphia. Over the course of four days 1,248 fugitives with outstanding warrants turned themselves into law enforcement officials, taking the first steps towards rectifying their past missteps. We have envisioned and aggressive and innovative crime-fighting and prevention strategy for the upcoming year. The Department will pilot its first Neighborhood Policing Model at the end of the month in eight police districts. Underscoring this policing model is a commitment to the community in terms of engagement and problem-solving. Each of these police service areas, or PSA pilots, will be structured on principles of geographic accountability and integrity, increased use of crime analysis, and intelligence to develop specific tactics and strategies. Collaboration will also be a centerpiece of our efforts moving forward. 307 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET The Department recently launched Operation Pressure Point in partnership with 4 local, state, and federal agencies. 5 Personnel from all of those agencies are 6 working side by side during the most 7 volatile weekend hours and are being 8 deployed to hot zones within the City with 9 the greatest proportion of violent crime. 10 Our law enforcement and crime- 11 fighting efforts are greatly enhanced by 12 initiatives that leverage the resources 13 and manpower of multiple agencies in 14 Philadelphia. This year, we will explore 15 and apply for every grant and hiring 16 opportunity offered. 17 We have applied already for 200 officers through the COPS Office totaling $43,173,000 in funding. This is a competitive grant, however open to all police agencies across the nation. In the event we have no 23 further -- we have to reduce further our Fiscal Year 2010 budget beyond what it is proposed, we'll do the following: 308 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET Lay off 256 sworn personnel and implement a sworn hiring freeze. Our corresponding authorized strength would be reduced from its current level to 6,624 to 6,368 early in Fiscal Year 2010. The Department will attrit an additional 190 persons. Layoffs combined with attrition would result in a total loss of 446 personnel in Fiscal Year 2010. With a sworn hiring freeze in effect, the Department would not be able to begin the recruitment and hiring process until FY '11. This process would take up to a year to complete before the Police Academy could graduate another class, resulting in yet another 190 officers lost to attrition. Our sworn strength could be reduced to 5,988 by the end of FY '11, for a total loss of 636 officers, which is near a 10 percent reduction in sworn strength. The Department would reduce 309 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET and/or eliminate certain specialized units in order to back-fill patrol units.
Layoffs would affect the most junior personnel in the Department, including the recently graduated '97 recruits and the 160 recruits slated to graduate on June 22, '09, all of whom have been, or will be, deployed to foot patrols in the City's most violent areas. Under the proposed conditions for the FY '10 budget, the Department must strive to meet our crime-fighting goals while living within the constraints of the budget. This is, by no means, an easy task. We will continue to focus resources and patrol and draw personnel from units when necessary. We'll closely monitor and examine all overtime usage and work with our criminal-justice partners to become more efficient and effective. We've had many challenges facing us, but we also have an ambitious goal of reducing homicides by an additional 35 percent in five years and helping to 310 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET create safe and sustainable communities for all who live, work, visit, innovate and play in Philadelphia. With your support and the support of all of our peer-city agencies, including the School District, we'll continue to drive down violent crime, reduce disorder, protect our youth, and partner with our diverse communities whom we serve in making Philadelphia the safest largest city in the country. If we must implement layoffs, combined with a hiring freeze, we will inevitably lose the positive gains we've made during FY '08. Everything we do in this police department should support uniform patrol; it's the backbone of our efforts to rebuild communities and our neighborhoods. Reducing our sworn strength by nearly 10 percent would undermine these efforts and halt our process toward achieving our public-safety goals. And that concludes my prepared 311 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET testimony, Madam President and members of Council. And now we're happy to answer any questions that any of you may have.
Thank you, Commissioner. Can you tell us how many police officers are funded by the State? And what is the amount we receive from them? COMM. RAMSEY: The amount funded by the State as new police recruits? Jack? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Good afternoon, Madam President and members of City Council. Deputy Commissioner Jack Gaittens. I assume you're referring to the PCCD Grant, and that was to fund 100 police officers. It's a $5 million grant, which was continued for three years in a row. That will expire this November. So we've had three years. So that's $14.9 million over the three years, and we have been informed that it will not be renewed. 312 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET
Thank you. Commissioner, can you tell us what the various reorganizations are that have taken place within your department? COMM. RAMSEY: The reorganization?
Mm-hmm. COMM. RAMSEY: Basically what we've done is, the Department is divided into field operations and support services primarily. The majority of the Department in field operations, under the leadership of Deputy Rich Ross, that includes not only district patrol but our specialized field units, and all of our detective units are a part of that. About 88 percent, 89 percent of our department is assigned in operations. Our support services, which is headed by Deputy Commissioner Jack Gaittens here, includes our training division and all of our support units, 313 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET whether it's Forensics, Radio, our IT Communications, all of those elements are under his command.
Thank you. You're requesting $26.5 million in the Grants Revenue Fund for FY '10. This is an increase of $14.3 million -- COMM. RAMSEY: Yes.
-- from your '09 estimated obligations. Who is the grant for and how can these funds be used? COMM. RAMSEY: Well, we're going after federal grants very aggressively in light of the budget issues that we now face. So we're looking at every possibility we can for enhanced revenue. Certainly the COPS grant is --
From the Stimulus? COMM. RAMSEY: The Stimulus, coming from the Stimulus. We just received word from the 314 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET Bureau of Justice Assistance yesterday, as a matter of fact, through an e-mail, that the money that was set aside for certain civilian hiring can only be used to bring back someone who's been laid off, not to create a new position. We were looking at bringing onboard some additional people in our Forensic Services; for example, DNA technicians, ballistics experts, a crime analyst, and the like. And we aren't going to be able to use the money for that, but we're going to go after every grant possible.
That's wonderful. And so we should. Commissioner, you're requesting $14.6 million in personnel services, and that is for employees to be hired. Are they a combination of uniform and civilian, or are they mainly uniform? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: That would be uniform, ma'am. We are looking at a civilian hiring freeze, with the 315 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET exception, as the Commissioner said, Communications, Forensics, and in the Prisoner Processing, people who are involved with the photographs, the fingerprints, or downstairs in the PDU with prisoner handling.
So how many uniformed officers would we be able to hire for $14.6 million? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: For the fiscal year, we are looking to put in two classes, 190 recruits total.
Commissioner, you are only requesting $308,225 for employee benefits. Who pays the balance? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: That comes from the Budget Office, ma'am.
I beg your pardon? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: The Budget Office. We don't pay benefits through our general operating.
This 316 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET is from the Grants. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Oh, from the Grants. That would depend on the particular grant. We have -- just to give you a summary of the grants, we actually have 45 actual grants, totaling $19.5 million. And we expend or obligate 6.9 million of that. The balance is expected to be expended prior to the end of the grants. We are looking for extensions in the Burn Gun Violence Initiative. We wanted to get an extension on the Joint Patrol with the Pennsylvania Police and the Cold Case DNA.
The question really is: If the grant doesn't cover the full cost of the benefits, who pays it? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: That would be the City.
The City? 317 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Yes, ma'am.
So is that why we're requesting the $308,000? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Which are you on, please?
Where is it. Section 43, . DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: All right. I've been informed that that's with the Auto Theft Prevention Grant. That also includes the benefits in there. Very few of our grants include benefits and --
But don't benefits cost a lot more? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Yes, they do. Benefits are very expensive.
So the City pays the difference? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: That is correct. Generally speaking, historically, the grants that we've gotten 318 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET have not covered benefits. It would cover salary, it would cover equipment, cover overtime, but benefits have not been included. More recently, we have been looking for benefits to be covered. The same way with a vehicle. When we get a grant now for a vehicle, we're also looking for maintenance and for fuel usage, which we've never looked for before. So we're looking to be more fiscally responsible when it comes to grants to cover the associated costs which the City incurs. If you look at , you could see the blueprint. The YVRP actually has it broken down to Class 100 and has the categories for the fringe benefits broken out.
But it doesn't cover the whole cost? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: No. 23
Thank you, 319 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET Madam President. Good afternoon again. And thank you, Commissioner and all of the folks in your department for all you do for the City. You talk about the success you've had in reduction of homicides and shooting victims particularly in those districts that have gotten the additional resources. I know there was concern when that was first announced, and it certainly made sense to me, what you were doing, but there was some concern in some of the other districts in the City that there would be a shift in the crime. COMM. RAMSEY: Right.
And the word would get around that there's less personnel in certain districts. Have you seen much of that? Have you seen an uptick at all in some of the other districts, if you will? And if so, has there been any shifting on your part as far as personnel? 320 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET COMM. RAMSEY: We do track displacement sir, to make sure that it doesn't affect another unit. First of all, let me say that at the time that we came up with the nine police districts, we did not take people from other districts. We made it by cutting back on some of the specialized units, if you recall.
Okay. COMM. RAMSEY: There was a specialized unit that I totally dissolved and put back into the district as well as trimming some other units as well. Our goal is to put more people in patrol and not take 'em out. As a result of looking at our crime present last year, for this year, we did add three districts --
Okay. COMM. RAMSEY: -- that were borderline last year: The 16th, 23rd, and 25th police districts were added to the nine that we originally had. 321 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET I can't say that was due to displacements as much as it was just due to the overall criminal activity that took place during the course of that year. But we have been following very closely. In fact, we have crime briefings every day. With Pressure Point, now once a week, we meet to go over that. And we are looking for those kinds of things to happen. It's -- you know, so far, we've not seen any real significant displacement outside of the district that's already impacted.
But it's always a fluid process, I guess, in a sense. COMM. RAMSEY: It is.
Yeah. Okay. I know when it comes to saving costs, one of the things you hear a lot about is court time, how much officers have to spend in court oftentimes just sitting around and waiting to testify. 322 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET COMM. RAMSEY: Mm-hmm.
And I know this isn't just the Police Department; you know, it's the D.A., the Courts, whatever, so maybe Mr. Gillison can answer this better, I'm not sure. Has there been any improvement in that? What has been done to try to cut down on some of that cost? which I think we all probably would like to cut down. COMM. RAMSEY: Well, there's been a lot done in that area, and I'll certainly let Deputy Gaittens give you the exact figures.
Okay. COMM. RAMSEY: But let me just say that one of the things that we did was create the Overtime Management Unit headed by Inspector Flacco, who spends full time and attention, along with a small staff, looking at various areas where we've had overtime expenditures, looking for reductions. Court overtime, of course, is 323 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET one of the largest areas; about 34 percent of our overtime budget is spent just in court alone. So one of the things we look for is unnecessary scheduling of officers on days off, having too many officers assigned on a particular case, where it's not needed, you know, that many aren't needed to actually provide testimony in court, making sure officers sign in and out on time. I mean those kinds of things we've been looking at very, very closely. Through our Criminal Justice Advisory Board, CJAB, we've actually made a lot of progress with both the D.A. and the Courts, getting cooperation in terms of scheduling and looking at these cases, looking at -- we started with a threshold of six. Any case that had more than six officers, we actually took -- pulled the file and actually took a look to see whether or not it required that many officers. And in many instances, many officers had a very minor role in that particular case. And with the 324 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET conversations with the District Attorney's Office, it was felt perhaps they weren't needed in court. So we've already seen some savings in terms of our court overtime. We're also looking at our investigative overtime, arrest overtime, the amount of money that we're spending on all of those things, to see where we can cut. Seventeen million in overtime is a lot of money --
Mm-hmm. COMM. RAMSEY: -- but we do have it broken out into different categories. And, Jack, do you want to give some figures? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: As the Commissioner, said we're looking for all of those efficiencies. In addition, just to give you one example of how we came up with a decent-sized savings: The primary narcotics court used 325 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET to be closed on Wednesdays, our officers primarily in Narcotics were off on Mondays. So on the days that the officers were off, they were being subpoenaed go to court, which is a guaranteed minimum of four hours' overtime for a court appearance even if they only punch in, the case is continued, and they leave. So we -- working together with the court, we said, Well why don't we close court on Monday when the officers are off and have it open on Wednesday when they're already scheduled to work. So we saw a decent savings from there. And as the Commissioner stated, in Calendar Year '09, since the unit had been created and since we are doing these efficiencies, we have saved over a million dollars in court alone. (Timer bell rings.)
Okay, thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam President.
You're 326 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET welcome. The Chair recognizes Councilwoman Brown.
Thank you, Madam President. Good afternoon, gentlemen. PANEL MEMBERS: Good afternoon.
I too have a question here regarding the $17 million in overtime for the hiring of new officers so why don't you finish that explanation, because it's very much tied to my same question. COMM. RAMSEY: In terms of how we --
Yes, mm-hmm. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: All right. We are looking at a target of $17 million and, to be honest, that's going to be a very difficult target to hit, but that is 327 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET our goal, and we are going to do our best we can to hit that. And the way we've laid that out is, we are anticipating savings of $6.5 million in court reductions, 4.2 million in either a reduction or payment for special events.
Okay. What does that mean, 6.5 million in court reduction? What does that mean specifically? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: All right. For Fiscal Year '08, we spent almost $25 million in court overtime. So we intend to reduce the spending for officers appearing in court by 6.5 million in Fiscal 2010. And as I said, special events: either reimbursement for or a reduction in the spending of $4.2 million. Investigative overtime to be cut back by $3 million. Arrests overtime, $1.5 million. Administrative, $500,000. 328 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET And the Crime Plan, $1.3 million. That comes out to a total of $17 million. Now, one of the areas that we will be supplementing the Investigative, the Arrest, and the Crime Plan, because even though we are trying to reach these fiscal goals, our primary goal is safety out on the streets and fighting and reducing crime. And so, we will be supplementing some of our budget with the use of Forfeiture Funds. On , under the use of Federal Forfeiture Funds, we have increased that, as I'm sure Charlie's already noticed. We will have a level of $10 million for the Federal Forfeiture Funds. So where we are coming up short, where we need to do these initiatives with the Narcotics Units and with the Warrant Units, we will be supplementing with the use of Forfeiture Funds to offset some of 329 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET that.
Okay. Let me move to another question before the time is up. All of the departments have been asked to share with us MBE/WBE participation, and we thank you for yours as well. However, you are currently at 5 percent MBE/WBE participation, which is one of the lowest that we've seen from any department to date. And, according to your testimony, you did increase MBE/WBE participation from 12 to percent? 16 DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: That was 17 the number of contracts.
So if you could just speak to -- to put this in the backdrop of this fact: Philadelphia is 56 percent minority and 54 percent female. Help us understand why there is not a 330 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET greater reflection of what the City looks like when it comes to contracts. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Okay. If you bear with me, I'm going to be a little bit wordy, but I think we need to lay out the process here, 'cause there's been some confusion over it. For this fiscal year, we have $12.4 million in contracts in the following categories: Petty cash, personal and professional services, small-order purchases, citywide, departmental, firm limit, and state. Now, of that list, we have no 16 control over the vendor selection for citywide, departmental, and firm limit. And looking at our 12.4 million, 8.7 million of that falls into those categories for which we have no control over the vendor selection.
Okay. You've given us a lot of information and I -- I -- what do they say, you have to put the brain in gear before you put the 331 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET mouth in? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Yes, ma'am.
Digesting that quickly. I need you to actually slow down a little bit. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Yes, ma'am.
Who's responsible, then, for those vendors; is that OEO? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: They do some participation in that, but those contracts are awarded by Procurement. The citywide, the departmental, and the firm limit are awarded by the Procurement Department. So that is 70 percent of what we contract.
So the Police Department has no say in that process. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: No say in the selection of the vendor.
Okay. 332 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: We give input as far as what are specs are, what our requirements are, service needs.
All right. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: So that leaves us basically 3.7 million over which we have some control. The majority on our part of that 3.7 is the personal and professional services category; that's for contracts which are over $30,000. We spent 2.7 million on that, and that's where we pick up 6.17 percent for participation rate.
I see. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: The way that works is, whatever particular unit within the Police Department requests that work, they write up the scope of work. Our Procurement Unit inside of the Police Department writes up the RFP, 333 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET the request for proposal. Then we send it over to OEO for their participation ranges.
Mm-hmm. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Frequently what we will get is best effort, without a specific number on that. (Timer bell rings.) DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: We post that request on e-contracts for days as 12 a minimum. 13
Okay. 14 DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: And we 15 will get responses back through the e-contract system. And then we check with OEO and ADPICS, which is the --
ADPICS? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: ADPICS. It's the Advanced Purchasing Inventory Control System.
I see. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: And that is a system in Procurement. We check those databases to see 334 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET if any of these responding vendors are OEO-certified, whether its MBE, WBE (indiscernible). And at that point, we have leeway to assign to the vendor who best fits our needs, even if they're not the lowest bidder. And, frequently, there are no certified vendors.
Mm-hmm. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: My Procurement people tell me that we have certified vendors responding. And our next highest category is the small-order purchases; that's for $30,000 and under. And we have a very, very small percentage right there. It's 0.87 percent. It's ridiculous. It's very small. And that's out of $530,000 awarded. The way that that works is, the requesting unit gives our procurement, Police Procurement, the specs that they need. Then we identify the commodity group, which is basically a five-digit 335 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET number in the procurement system, and then that's in ADPICS; or it's in SPEED, and SPEED is the Special Procurement Enhancement and Edification Database. (Laughter.)
Okay. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: I don't make up these names. All right. Then we'll search that commodity group for an OEO-certified vendor, but frequently, there are no certified vendors. Now, the Police Department has to --
Wait, wait, wait. There are no certified vendors as determined by OEO or the Police Department? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: As determined by OEO. They're not certified.
I see. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: We do have minority vendors that we utilize, but they are not certified so they can't officially 336 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET count against that.
I see. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: So then we will go into the MBEC database. Even though it's called "OEO," the label on the database still says "MBEC." We'll go into that and we'll look for vendors in those categories too. And, again, frequently, there's no 11 certified vendors there. So what we'll do is, we'll --
Well, I don't want to violate my time much more. I appreciate your thoroughness and your ex -- is there any way you can forward that information to Madam President? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Yes, ma'am. COMM. RAMSEY: Yes, ma'am.
Because OEO is scheduled to come before us. And we're trying to get our arms around ultimately where does the check stop. 337 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Yes, ma'am.
And we need that information to prepare for those. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: And the bottom-line recommendation from the Police Department is, I think we need to simplify the certification process. I think we ought to look outside of just the City for certification. If somebody else has already certified the vendors, why don't we just accept that. We've had -- my personal experience with a couple of our vendors who were eligible but did not through it, they said it's a very lengthy, cumbersome process, and you got to disclose a lot of your personal financial information. And they basically said that for a 30 or $40,000 contracts, it's just not worth the aggravation.
Thank 338 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Jones.
Thank you, Madam President. Commissioner, Deputy Mayor once again, Deputy Commissioner, I have to say that you guys do an incredible job in a -- and I don't want to say "thankless situation," but difficult to find thanks often for what you do and how you do it. And I guess one of the things that I'm -- I'm looking over some of the stats here is that I heard in your testimony, you said the murder rate went down. COMM. RAMSEY: Yes.
By what percent was that? COMM. RAMSEY: By 15 percent last year. To date -- 10 percent so far this year.
What was the shooting-incident rate? 339 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET COMM. RAMSEY: The shootings went down last year percent. 4
10 percent. 5 COMM. RAMSEY: So far this year, 6 we're up slightly in shootings, 30 more 7 shootings this year than the same period 8 last year. 9
We are year 10 to date at over 1500 shootings in the City of Philadelphia. And, but for bad aim or poor munitions or just the luck of the draw, we would be at a lot higher incident rate. And I -- I don't point this at you because you're not pulling the triggers in these situations, but it was incredible to me to hear the head of the NRA, Councilman Clarke, argue our governor about why we needed to have local gun control laws. In the month of July, there were 157 shooting victims in the City of Philadelphia. In the following month of 340 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET August, 129. In September, 166. In October, 154. In November, 121 shooting victims in the City of Philadelphia. In December, the Christmas holiday season, 130 people were shot. The first of the year, 114. In February, 101. And 117 in March. We're on pace to break records, and I really don't know what we -- what can you recommend that we do to kind of stave this off? And I'm glad that homicides are down, but there are parts of my district, in the 19th Police District, where every 28 days, guarantee you, as the sun rises, someone will be shot. And we need to brace ourselves for the summer coming up. And what can you tell us, what can you help us to get ready for that we can do with you, with you? And give us some kind of guidance. 341 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET COMM. RAMSEY: Well, again -- and thank you very much, Councilman -- you really point out a major problem that we're confronted with here in the City of Philadelphia. Another saving grace for us is the excellent trauma centers that we happen to have here in our city that do a remarkable job in repairing a lot of the damage that's done as a result of gun violence, at least the physical damage, not so much the psychological damage that is caused by it. So far this year, as you mentioned, as of yesterday, there were 407 shooting victims in our city compared to 377 last year. That's the 30 more that I had alluded to. And I too have listened to the debate with the NRA and our governor, and I side with the Governor. I mean, I think that the Governor, the Mayor, this Council, all of those people that have pushed for better legislation regarding 342 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET guns are really on the right track. I think we need to really take a look at the enhanced penalties that we have for those people who use guns to commit crimes, whether it's a robbery, whether it's a shooting, or what have you, the fact that they put somebody else's life in danger by using a handgun to commit a crime, to me, should result in a much different penalty than the times they receive. We've got a terrible problem here with gun violence in our city, and it's not getting better anytime soon. So we can't continue to, you know, just rely on someone's aim or lack thereof to drive our numbers. We have to really take a serious position where people understand that it is not in their best interest to carry a gun. And right now, I can't honestly say that there's a disincentive to carrying one.
We -- I don't know -- and I applaud my colleagues Clarke 343 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET and Miller for leading the way on -- or at least symbolically trying to stem the tide of the shootouts that we have in Philadelphia. Statistically, you know, it's getting better in Beirut by way of gunfire. We have to make sure that that translates to homeland security in a truer sense. And I'm not going to belabor that because I know you worry about it every day. And a couple of other management details. The 192nd Unit was closed, which represents parks in the City of Philadelphia; the 4th District happens to have the largest acreage of parks in the City of Philadelphia. So, therefore, and because I'm concerned -- (Timer bell rings.)
-- about how the redeployment is going -- COMM. RAMSEY: Mm-hmm.
-- you sent 344 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET some of your officers to the 5th and 39th Districts respectively, and I wanted to know, are there any spikes in crime? I mean what has been the result of that? COMM. RAMSEY: Well, I mean, it's still early, but so far, we've not seen it. I sent quite a few to Traffic, to deal with traffic issues. Many went to the 16th District because a lot of what takes place in the 92nd District was responsible for actually occurs in the redrawn boundaries of the 16th. I happened to drive down Kelly Drive yesterday, and they had it, you know, blocked off for a regatta. And, you know, the same number of people I saw last year out there handling it again this year. And we actually encourage the captains to use those people from the 92nd who know how to handle this stuff. So I've not seen anything, but we're going to monitor it very, very closely to make sure we don't have a problem, but we did send the resources to 345 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET those districts that now cover the park and will monitor it.
I'll make this my last point. You made certain deployment changes last year at this time to kind of address some of the high instances of crime in particular districts. COMM. RAMSEY: Right.
Are you reevaluating that as we go along to adjust to where crime is mobile or moving? COMM. RAMSEY: Yes, sir, we're constantly reevaluating. The nine police districts that we had last year that we identified as being the most violent, we added another three districts to that. The 16th, the 23rd, and the 25th Police Districts were added to that number. So that we did expand it based on what we saw in 2008. We will continue to monitor very closely as we continue to break down and analyze all of our crime, but we did add 346 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET some districts to that mix.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'll wait for the next go-around.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilman Kelly.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, Commissioners. COMM. RAMSEY: Good afternoon.
First of all, I want to commend you for your efforts, you and your command staff, for trying to make this city a much safer one to work, to live, and to visit. I think it's very important and I think it is a thankless job sometimes. I want to also personally thank you, Commissioner. I want to thank Commissioner Gaittens, Commissioner Ross, and Lieutenant Healy for working with us, for your leadership and foresight in 347 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET working with the Project Lifesaver Program. That is a program that is going to make it much safer for children with autism and also with senior citizens with Alzheimer's and dementia. So with that, I want to thank you for your leadership. COMM. RAMSEY: Well, thank you for bringing that program to our attention. I mean, had you not done that, I don't know if I would have been aware of it. But the first class goes into school, I believe, the 29th or 30th of April.
Yes. We'll be making announcements about that. But I wanted to get back to something you mentioned about overtime. Do you think it's realistic that you're going to be saving $17 million in overtime for 2010? And the reason I bring it up is because this Council -- I know from -- probably a lot of councils from the days of Mayor Bernard Samuel; he was the last 348 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET Republican Mayor in this city. But it seems to me that every time we're turning around, we're always pointing to overtime reduction in the Police Department, and that has been going on and on and on. And I don't know how you propose to do that. I know you mentioned it before, but do you think it's really realistic, that it's a realistic number to go by? COMM. RAMSEY: Well, it's going to be difficult, but I think it's realistic, provided we don't have something unusual occur during the fiscal year that would cause us to then bump up our coverage and cause us to incur more overtime. One thing I did do -- and I don't know if this was done previously or not, but it certainly has been done now and will continue, not because of the budget crisis. I think responsible management of overtime has to take place 349 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET in good times as well as bad. We created the Management Overtime Unit. These are people who have been full-time monitoring and looking and challenging and making sure that there's no waste. Now, many cases are still in the system, so we're still seeing a lot of cases where a lot of police officers are being subpoenaed to court and are sitting, waiting around, and not being called to testify and the like. What we're hoping is, with the new tools that we've put in place, that less and less of that will take place, and you'll start to realize that savings in Fiscal 10 and 11. So that's one of the areas that we're looking at. Now that we are actual getting reimbursed or charging for some of the events and so forth that were all coming pretty much out of our own budget that we had to take care of, that too is going to bring some relief to us. 350 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET With the rest, we're monitoring that. If there's, you know, three people that were a part of an arrest, there's no 5 need for all three to stay overtime to process the arrest. So, again, you know, another savings. Technology was mentioned early on. There are ways in which technology can save man hours, which can translate into a savings of overtime. So if it takes you four hours to process something, with the right application of technology, maybe it takes two; well, that's a savings of two hours that might have been resulted in an extended tour. So I believe it's doable. We certainly have to work hard and monitor it very carefully, but we are going to do everything possible to make sure that we make that happen.
Okay. And you mentioned -- this is, I guess, the gloom-and-doom Plan B. It's the laying off of 256 personnel. That would be in 351 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET addition to the $17 million savings in reduced overtime? COMM. RAMSEY: Yes. In fact, the Plan B calls for an additional 1.3, I think, on top of that in terms of overtime. But it's the 256 recruits that currently we have, 97 of which are on the street now. We did start something new with foot patrols. All recruits, beginning last year, who come out of the Academy, go on foot patrol, and these are on foot patrol now. We've got another 160 going to hit the street in June who will be all on foot patrol as part of a project working with Temple University, Dr. Jerry Radcliffe, and that would be part of that group. But we do attrit at a rate of about 190 a year. We add that on there. By the end of FY '10, we could be down as much as 446.
Wow. Okay. One of things that bothers me: 352 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET Recently, we lost at least two police officers in automobile accidents, and I just want to know how safe are we making those vehicles for police officers? For instance, are there side airbags as well as front airbags? It's almost like we have to put 'em in tanks anymore to protect 'em. COMM. RAMSEY: Well, I mean, they have the safety features, but it's not so much the safety of the cars; it's the way in which we drive the cars.
That's true. COMM. RAMSEY: And that's what we're addressing. I mean, we've got too many preventable accidents, and we've got to take actual -- I mean real action against individuals who drive these cars in a reckless fashion. (Timer bell rings.) COMM. RAMSEY: Not only are they risking their own lives, but they're risking the lives of the public at large, and we can ill afford to lose cars. 353 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET So we are reviewing, our Accident Review Board, looking at all of these different vehicle accidents that are taking place and the officers that are involved in those accidents, because in many instances, it's due to their driving in a fashion that's not consistent with high levels of safety.
And you're doing that through the Police Academy? COMM. RAMSEY: Yes.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Commissioner, I want to echo the comments of some of my colleagues and just say we all appreciate the hard work that the Philadelphia police force does. I'm a political science major; I know, as a matter of fact, that there is very little the Police Department, whether it has a 354 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET thousand more people are not, can do about the crime rate in the City. Much of it has to do with demographics, how many teenagers are out at any particular time, the level of poverty in the City, education in the City. So many factors where the City is failing in other regards lead to the crime and recidivism and other things that you have to deal with on the streets on a daily basis. So I want to thank you and all of the members of the Philadelphia Police for what you do every year for you. I wanted to specifically talk about just some of the changes that happen in the budget, and maybe you could explain to me where things are moving around. It was somewhat hard to follow this year because of the reorganization. COMM. RAMSEY: Yes.
And like, for example, if you look at the Commissioner's Office, there used to be something called 355 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET the Commissioner's Office; now there's something called the Office of the Commissioner. The funding has gone from 7-million-2 from the General Fund to about million from the General Fund. And can 8 you explain the differences in terms of 9 what the additional resources are required 10 for? 11 COMM. RAMSEY: Yes, sir. I'll 12 give you a general overview and let Deputy 13 Commissioner Gaittens get into more specifics with you. But part of the reorganization took Internal Affairs, which we now call the Office of Professional Responsibility. That is now under the direct report to the Commissioner. I also -- we also, as part of the reorganization, created a Office of Violence Prevention and Youth Services; that is again a part of the Commissioner's Office. My sense and feeling was that we could do a better job of really providing 356 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET service to the crime victims as well as paying real attention to prevention programs that specifically target young people. So those two accounted for some of that, and I will let Commissioner Gaittens talk to the rest. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Yes, sir. Just looking at the Office of Professional Responsibility, what we've previously known as IAD --
Can you -- if you're on a page, could you point it to me, 'cause you're more familiar with the Police Budget than I am, probably. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: I'm on , sir.
On 116, okay. Thank you. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Right. And if you look at the second grouping down, it's Office of Professional Responsibility. That is Impact, Internal Affairs, EEO, and the administrative 357 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET people. Altogether, we're looking at 127: 124 sworn, plus 3 civilian, for a total of 127. So that makes up a significant increase in the Commissioner's Office. And it was Commissioner Ramsey's feeling that Internal Affairs should report directly to him obviously because of the nature.
Okay. And that's most of the increase. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Yes, sir.
So with respect to Patrol, I guess if I look at -- can you point me to where old Patrol is, and then -- DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Right. Field Operations is on . And you're absolutely right; it was difficult for myself to try and figure this out as to the way that it was reorganized. I'll try and give you a thumbnail sketch of how it actually shook out. You won't find this on any of 358 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET the pages because I did some calculating on my own, but Field Operations, what we used to call Patrol, in June 30th of '08, their number was about 5677. In the increment run, January 1, 2009, 5761. Looking at the Fiscal 2010 budgeted positions, we are looking to have 5836. So that is an increase of 159 over June 30th of '08 and an increase of 75 over January 1st of '09. As the Commissioner said, a lot more focus is now going into Field Ops, specifically what we consider Uniformed Patrol in the past. The other thing that was added to that was the Forensic Science Bureau, and there are 73 people assigned to that, so that made up a large percentage of that. That includes the Crime Scene Unit and the officers who do the ballistic investigations. So that way, they are working more closely with the detectives assigned; now they all come under the same umbrella 359 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET as opposed to being in my shop. And now they're all together under Rich Ross. COMM. RAMSEY: And, Councilman, if I could just add one thing. The whole thought and theory was that those -- when you look at how work actually gets done and the support functions, that having 'em under a central leadership made it a lot easier to hold people accountable for getting stuff done. And it's not too different deputies with two different functions and that sort of thing.
Okay. So just trying to further understand this. If I look at , you've got it broken down in different sections of the City: Regional Operations South. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Yes.
And then Regional Operations Command North. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: Yes.
How do you divide those? COMM. RAMSEY: Well, what we did 360 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET was, we created two regional operation commands, which, it is my understanding that many, many years ago -- (Timer bell rings.) COMM. RAMSEY: -- it was a structure similar to that in place. It was my sense that the size of this department, being the fourth largest in the U.S., a very large department, it's just so much for one person. Having it broken into half gave me greater concentration and greater accountability in terms -- it's almost equally divided, quite frankly, from north and south. Kevin Bethel has the south and Tom Wright has north, as deputy commissioners. We also moved detectives -- at least divisional detectives under the divisional inspectors, so they now have the districts as well as the detectives for follow-up. So what we tried to do was put things under the same leadership that 361 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET relied on one another to a point where it made it a little smoother in operation, in more manageable chunks to deal with.
Okay. That's my time, Madam Chair. So if I could give you some -- are you aware of any technology that can increase policeman presence on the street by one hour per shift? COMM. RAMSEY: Any specific -- well, I mean, we've got a long way to go to get our technology up to speed. I was listening to earlier testimony by other agencies, and we're pretty much in the same condition. But there's two things. One, we do work very, very closely with Allan Frank and DOT, and he's doing a lot to try to get us up to speed, but one of the first things he has to do is fix the infrastructure that our systems run on because they're just too slow, too old, and so forth. But once we get all of that 362 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET done -- and for an example, our records management system, where field case reporting can be done in an automated fashion, arrest reports, and the like. That will save an enormous amount of time and will allow a person then to spend more time on patrol, more time problem-solving, more time working with community, more time doing the kinds of things we'd like to see 'em do as opposed to being inside, filling out paperwork, you know, manually or even in an automated way, but you got to do it three times, you got to put the same stuff in three different reports, you know, which is a waste of time. So that's where we can start to save not so much money as it is people hours or person hours, so that we can start to use those people to heighten our visibility, heighten our effectiveness on the street. DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: And in addition to that, if we had -- suppose we had handheld devices. We get the 363 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET information out there live time, it's available to everybody who can go into the system, whether it's a detective or a Special Investigations Unit. Following it further down the road even beyond the Police Department, the Department of Records, instead of scanning everything that we do now and hand-delivering hard copies, they could be electronically transmitted and they could be there in live time.
Do you need changes in law either at the City or State level in order to go paperless with respect to police reports, arrest records? DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: I believe there will have to be some changes depending on the nature of the report, yes, but --
Is there someone in the Police Department or in the Legal Department looking at what legal changes have to be made in order to -- DEP. COMM. GAITTENS: At this 364 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET time, no, but we do have people working there.
Can I ask you to please report back to the Chair with what legal changes have to be made in order for you to go paperless, as the Commissioner was discussing? Commissioner, I point you to your -- I think you mentioned to me one time that your friend is a police chief in Tulsa, Oklahoma? COMM. RAMSEY: Mm-hmm.
They have increased manpower by one hour per shift by doing exactly what you're saying, which is allowing reports to be filed from the car. COMM. RAMSEY: That's -- Ron Palmer is in Tulsa, yes, in his second tour as chief there. But, yeah, Ron is one of the more innovative chiefs. We've taken a look also at what NYPD is doing, LAPD. I mean, there are a lot of departments -- 365 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET Charlotte, Mecklenburg -- that have made a lot of progress in terms of their technology. And we're certainly looking to try to do that.
But you have no savings in the Five-year Plan as a result of --
Councilman, I know you're not feeling well, but -- (Laughter.)
-- your time was up a long time ago. Councilman Clarke.
Taking too much of an advantage of the Council President.
Thank you, Madam President, and I'll be brief so Councilman Green can get back on his train 366 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET of thought. First of all, gentlemen, good afternoon. And I just want to say, like my colleagues, that we really appreciate your laser focus on reducing violent crime, 'cause at the end of the day, a safe city is a city that people will want to live in. And that's our goal. And I want to preface my question by some comments. And, Chief Gaittens, you've known me for a long time. I like to consider myself a law-and-order Councilman, you know, be it from gun violence issues, going to the Supreme Count along with Councilwoman Miller, and doing the drug march thing, you know, out on the streets, you know, being out there with the officers, the Police Advisory Council, whatever we need to do. As a matter of fact, my first year here, I actually -- I think it was my second year when I actually got into a thing with then-Police Commissioner Timoney 'cause I was upset with him 367 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET because he did not agree with me about bringing the National Guard to the City of Philadelphia to put on the drug corners. And they did a little funny cartoon about me in the City Paper and had me sitting on a tank. And, you know, it was quite funny. But I mean I was -- I looked better than Dukakis, absolutely, because I didn't have that funny little helmet on. But I understand the frustration levels on some of these issues gets you to the point where you want to do some extraordinary things. I happen to represent the most diverse district in the City -- probably even in the State, 'cause I represent Rittenhouse Square, but I do represent parts of those areas that you have designated as some of the most violent. And I pride myself in being able to have the flexibility to go to Rittenhouse Square and kind of hang out, you know, and up to North Philly. 368 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET And I feel good about the fact that I can go to pretty much every tough corner in North Philadelphia and get out of my car. You know, once they see the black car, first they think I'm the police, then no, it's Darrell. I can get out and I can talk to these guys on the corner. And what happens in a significant amount of times is that I enter into these conversations with about how they feel they're being treated out on the street. And, you know, this -- we got to say it 'cause it's a sensitive issue but we need to talk about it. And I guess I'm looking for help 'cause I can't resolve it. I mean, I talk to the guys and I know 'em. I mean, most of your officers don't know these guys as individuals, but I've seen 'em grow up 'cause I've lived in North Philly all my life. And most of these kids out here, they're decent guys; they just may not have a job or whatever (indiscernible) 369 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET having challenges. And I don't know what to tell 'em about what recourse they have or what they can do to have conversations, you know, 'cause I think that they genuinely want to be in a position where they have a relationship with our fine police officers. And I need your help to tell me what do we -- well, how do we deal with this, this issue. And it's not -- it may not be as widely known because these people will never come to a community meeting to talk about it. They're never going to go to the press. You know, but if you're out there -- and I know you all are out there in the neighborhood. I just need to know what can I do or how can you help me deal with this little situation that's continuing to brew. COMM. RAMSEY: Well, first of all, Councilman, thank you for raising the issue because it is a very important 370 4/20/09 - COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE - FY '10 BUDGET issue, especially in light of a couple of very high-profile cases that we've got going on now that hopefully will come to a resolution soon.