Markell crime report: Revamp Wilmington police force

Describing Wilmington's police force as one with ample resources but antiquated practices and structural deficiencies, a team of consultants told a gubernatorial panel Tuesday the city should make sweeping changes to combat its debilitating plague of gun violence.

Among the findings released Tuesday:

•Police in Delaware's largest city don't have enough officers patrolling streets and investigating crimes and spend too much money on overtime just to fill shifts.

•Officers "respond and react" to 911 calls rather than execute a proactive crime-cutting strategy. And, they fail to use technology to effectively analyze and predict crime, or even track officers "whereabouts and activities."

•The force doesn't have set procedures for investigating and solving homicides and shootings, which have reached record levels in recent years.

•Relations with residents of Wilmington's roughest neighborhoods have deteriorated so badly that few want to help police solve crimes that are destroying their streets.

Those problems and dozens of other shortcomings can be fixed, however, to help make Wilmington safer, according to the final report to the Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission.

The report was shared with The News Journal early Tuesday and approved unanimously by Gov. Jack Markell's panel during its evening meeting Bayard Elementary School, a few blocks from the city's hard-hit Hilltop area. Markell's panel includes law-enforcement leaders in Delaware, including city police Chief Bobby Cummings.

To become an effective, modern police force, Wilmington needs to reshape and restructure itself, embrace high-tech analysis and "follow some best practices," said Howard Safir, the former New York City police and fire commissioner. "I think you will see a trend of reduction in violence and crime if they follow this."

Currently, Safir said, the force "is not very well put together."

Safir's Vigilant Resources International, along with The Police Foundation, were paid a total of $200,000 to conduct a two-month study of the city force and make nonbinding recommendations.

Safir and other consultants lauded Cummings for embracing their ideas but expressed disappointment that Mayor Dennis Williams, a former city police detective, was a no-show for two scheduled meetings with the consultants. Williams didn't attend the panel's meetings, including the one Tuesday.

"We certainly would have hoped that the mayor would have been interested enough to sit down with us,'' Safir said. "We believe this is a serious report and if the city follows it, the city will be safer."

Williams could not be reached Tuesday, but spokeswoman Alexandra Coppadge said the mayor "experienced scheduling conflicts" that forced him to cancel meetings with consultants. Coppadge said the consultants briefed senior administration staffers Tuesday and said Williams "is open to considering the recommendations as to how we can effectively implement public safety strategies."

Williams took office in January 2013 after a campaign in which he promised he would not be "hugging thugs" and would cut crime drastically. Instead, the city continues to rank among America's most violent – sixth highest in 2013 of about 750 municipalities with populations greater than 50,000, FBI statistics show. Markell announced his commission in January, on the heels of a December Newsweek magazine article that called Wilmington "Murder Town USA."

Cummings, who has been chief for a year, said Tuesday he read some of the report and added that police brass would be holding a retreat soon to discuss restructuring. "I don't think there's anything in there that surprised us," Cummings said.

Though the mayor wasn't among the about 100 people in the audience Tuesday, City Councilman Michael Brown Sr. addressed Williams anyway. "Chief, you're not going to be able to implement this unless the mayor gets on board,'' Brown said. "Now I'm saying it, I'm calling it out. Mr. Mayor, get on board."

Laura MacKelcan, a resident of Trolley Square, one of the city's safest areas, said she was surprised the mayor wasn't present Tuesday night. "Is he going to stand in the way on this?" she asked.

Paul Calistro, executive director of the West End Neighborhood House, called the report "overwhelming. I'm surprised by how many recommendations they really have. Much of it is common sense. I'm surprised they didn't have them in place already."

'Data, discipline, accountability'

The 200-page report, aimed at identifying ways to "mitigate Wilmington's unacceptably high rate of violent crime," emphasized one point: Wilmington has enough cops.

The city of 71,000 people has an authorized force of 320, but currently has about 286. A cadet class of 34, set to graduate in May, would bring the city up to full staffing, which is "large enough to effectively patrol and fight crime in Wilmington," the report said.

Keeping that force staffed is another matter, with about 12 leaving each year, often for better-paid jobs with the state police or other area forces, and 51 who are eligible for retirement, the report said. The police budget for fiscal 2015 is $54.2 million.

The starting salary for an officer in Wilmington is $42,000 – about $7,000 less than New Castle County and $12,000 less than state police, the report said. Fringe benefits are not as good as several other agencies, some of which offer take-home cars, and the officers have been working without a contract since 2010. The report urged the city to work with its police union to makes compensation "more competitive."

Despite the challenges of recruiting and retaining officers, the report stressed that the main issues are ineffective deployment, leadership, training, computer analysis and a coherent vision that is communicated from the chief through the ranks.

"Data, discipline, accountability and strategy can make a world of difference here," said Jim Burch, the lead consultant for The Police Foundation and a former top official with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Analysis done by Temple University also noted what The News Journal has chronicled for two decades – that "small areas of the city account for a large proportion of the crime and community harm." The hot spots cited by the consultants were the North Market Street corridor, West Center City and the Hilltop area.

"As a result," the report said, "if appropriate strategies are brought to bear on those small areas, significant reductions in crime can be obtained." But to make those major "cultural and organizational changes," police leaders must embrace them.

Operationally, city police have a "high number of excused absences, caused in part by use of accrued vacation or compensatory time." That often leaves shifts short-staffed and leads to excessive overtime.

The report urges the city to beef up its patrol teams to have at least 24 on shift at all times and to fine-tune a new initiative called Operation Disrupt, which pulled 22 officers from other specialized units to create zero-tolerance patrols in high-crime areas. The consultants urged that it be replaced by a nine-officer Community Stabilization Unit that could be deployed where the high-tech analysts and supervisors tell them where to report.

The other officers now on Disrupt could return to community policing, vice or other special units, the report said. The consultants also urged the city to empower community policing officers, whose mission is to foster friendly relations with residents, to make calls directly to public works or other city departments.

The consultants also urged the city to put a light-duty officer in the office where they monitor street-mounted cameras, with the ability to radio to patrols on the street that a crime might be in progress, rather than make a call to the 911 dispatch center, which wastes valuable time.

Making those changes and others would go a long way toward "ensuring that WPD has a large enough and visible enough presence."

The consultants, who attended some community meetings, acknowledged what residents have complained about for years – a disconnect with the men and women charged with protecting them.

"Many report that some in the WPD can be at times disrespectful, insensitive to the needs of crime victims, and apathetic to community problems, which serves as a disincentive for the community to offer its support and assistance," the report said. Though police leaders have worked to mend fences, "more can be done."

For example, to file a complaint against an officer – of which 32 of 49 were substantiated in 2013 – citizens must appear at police headquarters during working hours, and often don't get any official word about the status of the internal affairs probe.

The force should let residents file a complaint online, and take steps to make sure that during an interview, they don't end up "feeling intimidated or "talked out of" filing a complaint, the report said.

78 unsolved homicides

If shootings can't be prevented, the city needs a better system for solving them. Last year, the city's homicide clearance rate was 14 percent, more than four times below the national rate of 64 percent, the report said.

In addition, the six-detective Homicide Unit the police formed last year is too small and needs more expertise, the report said. Some members don't "have the extensive investigative experience or recent training that may be necessary to ensure optimal functioning of the unit."

The unit currently has 78 open homicides dating back several years, including 41 that are considered cold cases more than a year old.

Instead, the consultants urge a 20-person Homicide and Violent Crime Unit that would also probe non-fatal shootings, aggravated assaults and armed robberies.

The consultants also urged the creation of three new leadership posts – a deputy chief of operations who would serve directly under the chief; a chief information officer to oversee technology; and a third inspector, currently the second-highest post. The city also should hire more civilian analysts, and move officers out of media relations and other non-policing roles, the report said.

Cassandra Marshall, Quaker Hill Neighborhood Association president and a member of Markell's panel, applauded many of the suggestions, especially those that get more officers on patrol and conducting cohesive investigations.

"It seems like a really good blueprint for getting the Wilmington police department to doing the kind of policing that has been successful in other areas," Marshall said.

"The bottom line is that the city of Wilmington really does have more than its fair share of police resources and this report should help them make use of those resources so much better."

Markell wasn't on hand Tuesday either but thanked the consultants and panel members for their efforts to draw up a road map to peace on Wilmington streets. Singling out Cummings, he said all "displayed an extraordinary commitment to developing solutions."

Contact senior investigative reporter Cris Barrish at (302) 324-2785, cbarrish@delawareonline.com, on Facebook or Twitter @crisbarrish. Contact Adam Wagner at (302) 324-2837, awagner@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @AdamWagner1990.