EPD Chief Chris Skinner examines a map of Eugene’s different districts. (Sarah Northrop/Emerald)
With post-pandemic staffing shortages continuing to soar in police departments nationwide, the Eugene Police Department has been no exception. There are an estimated 25 police officer positions, 14 dispatcher positions and 6 other administrative positions unfilled within EPD. Current officers and dispatchers are working extensive overtime hours, up to six days a week to help fill the void during the staffing crisis.
EPD has suggested there is an extensive combination of factors that are playing into the shortage. In 2019, the department implemented a hiring freeze in an effort to curtail their budget deficit. As a result of the freeze, EPD fell behind in the hiring process. When EPD attempted to restart the hiring process after the freeze, the COVID-19 pandemic struck, throwing the hiring process into a nosedive.
According to EPD Police Chief Chris Skinner, the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police officers in 2020 and the ensuing social unrest created a more hostile atmosphere towards police. This atmosphere was a major factor in many Eugene officers leaving the force during the pandemic, while also serving as a deterrent for new potential officers, Skinner said.
In recent months, EPD has reportedly been overflowed with job applications from unqualified or ineligible applicants, further complicating the hiring process.
“There’s an awful lot of candidates right now that are applying to be police officers that are struggling to pass the background [check],” Skinner said,“our standards are very high and the [hiring] process is very rigorous, but we are certainly not going to lower our standards in the interest of trying to gain staff numbers.”
With extreme overtime hours being put in by employees, Chief Skinner has implemented breaks into the workday to allow time for physical fitness in an effort to raise morale and prevent burnout.
“It’s not uncommon to see a dispatcher on the treadmill while they’re working at their desk dispatching calls,” Skinner explained. “Wellness is important to us, and I’m concerned about [employees’] wellness and our welfare.”
Simultaneous to the staffing shortage, the Eugene Police Commission announced they had identified the expansion of “virtual policing,” also known as “online policing,” as their number one priority in their proposed 2024-2025 Fiscal Year work plan.
Eugene adopted their first form of “virtual policing” in 2010 via the software company LexisNexis’s “Coplogic” software. At its inception, the Coplogic platform allowed Eugene residents to report crimes and submit tips. It also allowed victims of property crimes and theft to receive police reports for insurance purposes without having to wait hours or days for an officer to physically arrive and take a report.
Initially the software was a huge success; according to EPD, the usage of the program jumped nearly 234% in the two years after the implementation of the platform. However in recent years, residents began complaining that the site was only accessible via computer and that the platform would often crash or time out and delete reports in progress. Others complained that the website was glitchy and overall extremely un-user friendly.
The frustration felt among residents inspired EPD to begin exploring new methods of online reporting.
“I was at my wit’s end with how archaic and problematic [Coplogic] was for our community; [the] complaints were coming in and I knew that we needed to do something different,” Skinner said at the Oct. 12 Police Commission Meeting, “I knew that the community wanted online reporting [but] they wanted something different that was more user-friendly and customer-focused or victim-focused.”
In the spring, EPD officially launched its new program for online reporting called MyPDConnect. The platform was designed by local Eugene software developer Nick Skrepetos to help provide a better alternative to Coplogic.
The new system for online reporting is expected to help relieve some of the burden being placed on officers and dispatchers during the current staffing crisis by reducing the number of 911 calls received and helping EPD to focus their limited resources.
The new platform aims to provide the same services as Coplogic in addition to new features including, mobile first reporting, scheduled phone and zoom meetings with community service officers (CSO), built in crime heatmaps, language translation and more.
When a report is submitted through MyPDConnect, it is reviewed by a trained community service officer who investigates the complaint. The victim can then schedule a phone call or zoom meeting with the CSO to address further steps in the investigation, receive information on the case or to receive mere moral support from the CSO. Since the beta program launched in the spring, feedback from users has shown satisfaction.
“The vast majority of feedback I get when I’m talking to the public is very positive. The conversations that I get to have with people during these meetings [are] wonderful [for being] able to give a personal touch to the community instead of that cold and dry take the report and move on,” Eugene Community Service officer Colin Watson said at the Oct. 12 Commission meeting. “That just a five [to] 10 minute conversation with them [to] help them feel a little bit better about the experience has been rewarding I think for pretty much everybody,” Watson said.
The city of Eugene participated as the beta testing location for the new company and thus was the first city in the country to begin using the new platform. According to Skinner, by participating in the majority of the research and development for the new platform, EPD was granted a one-year free subscription to the service. EPD has not clarified the cost of a subscription for subsequent years, but the program is expected to cost less than the original Coplogic software.
In an effort to combat the staffing crisis, EPD has cut the time of their hiring process from a typical police department’s 180 days down to around 90. Expediting the hiring process by nearly 50% has allowed new hires and police academy graduates to get working faster while also allowing EPD to process nearly double the number of applicants through the hiring process. EPD also utilizes a recruitment team that recruits candidates via phone banking, emails, job fairs, etc.
