Lower patrol staff, higher OT costs: Report from Montgomery Co. police details department trends

Montgomery County police are trying to get a clearer picture of how the population feels about the job the department is doing In its Police Statistical Material Document discussed before the county council s residents safety committee meeting Monday the department included the findings of a survey conducted through social media including NextDoor During Monday s meeting legislative analyst Susan Farag described the members of the inhabitants safety committee that the survey presented limitations including workable self-selection bias In this scenario the survey respondents skewed older with more than over the age of she reported White residents were overrepresented relative to the county s population while Latino Asian and Black residents were underrepresented In another attempt to get a broader response Assistant Police Chief Nicholas Augustine and Lt Cody Fields informed the committee that the police department has been working on a survey that could be sent via text after callers contact and the county s nonemergency number to contact police The purpose of this is not to revictimize individuals depending on the call type as well Fields declared It s to make sure that we indeed have the ability to assess our dispatch center and our officers performance and response Prospective questions Fields reported could include questions about whether call takers understood what the caller was asking and whether they processed the call hastily and provided clear direction Regarding police performance Fields commented questions could include If they were treated fairly if the individual felt that the officer and staff listened to them if their questions were answered and if the individual surveyed understood what the officer or staff was relaying The surveys are expected to begin by Aug according to Farag Police shortages and use of force The overview also highlighted a predicament that police leadership has been dealing with a shortage of patrol officers The facts manifested that the police department has approved budgeted positions while the number of sworn officers stood at in Farag noted that the summary established while MCPD s patrol staffing has declined by over the past three years patrol district-level overtime has surged Overall it has increased by In Wheaton Germantown and Gaithersburg Montgomery Village those overtime facts points have more than doubled The assessment also included information showing that despite seeing a slight rise in reports of use of force from to the number of complaints connected to use of force dropped from to from to The department advises that it has not identified a specific trend or verified factors that may have caused the reduction in complaints but declared it suggests that de-escalation training professionalism of officers and the use of body-worn cameras used to clarify complaints may have contributed to the decrease Farag noted At the same time Internal Affairs Division or IAD investigations increased from in to in The document from the county explained that the increase in investigations is connected to a change in state law that requires all complaints made by members of the residents regardless of severity be investigated by the IAD Source