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VPD's Strategic Plan: A Crime Fighting Blueprint for Our Community

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A Message From Chief Ken Corney

On behalf of the Ventura Police Department Crime Fighting Team, I am pleased to present our three-year strategic plan:  A Crime Fighting Blueprint for Our Community 2011-2014. 

This document outlines the major goals our department will pursue over the next three years.  We will use identified  measures to track our progress towards accomplishing our goals and implement a wide range of strategies to use as operational tools to get the work done.  These crime fighting strategies not only include the work of sworn police officers, but just as importantly, the work of civilian employees and community volunteers.

Like many other law enforcement agencies, the extent of the current economic crisis has  challenged us to achieve our mission to the community with significantly limited resources.   However challenging the future may become, the core formula for success remains constant:

  • Develop and retain a winning team
  • Communicate and execute a shared mission with clear goals, measures, and strategies
  • Relentlessly pursue success

The goals of this plan serve as the foundation of how we will pursue our crime fighting efforts and respond to the challenges and dynamic changes that lie ahead.  I am inspired each day  by the Crime Fighting Spirit shared by our Crime Fighting Team, and I am honored to serve the  Ventura community as Police Chief and remain committed to the success of the Ventura  Police Department.

Sincerely,

Ken Corney, Police Chief

The Spirit of a Crime Fighter

The  Mission and Values of the Ventura Police Department are encompassed within the Crime Fighter Spirit that serves to guide us in providing the highest quality service to our community.

  • Integrity
  • Fairness
  • Courage
  • Compassion
  • Service before self
  • Desire to protect and serve our community

Goals:

  1. Crime Control
  2. Team Development
  3. Achieve Active Partnerships
  4. Maintain Safe Neighborhoods
  5. Efficiency and Accountability

GOAL 1: Crime Control: Effective Responses to Crime in our Community

Measures

-- Respond to in-progress crimes in five minutes or less 90% of the time

-- Achieve a clearance rate (crimes solved) 2% above the national average for Part I Crimes

-- Achieve a per capita crime rate of Part I Crimes below the average of Ventura County cities with a population of 100,000

Strategies

---- Utilize the Dispatch Center as a citywide public safety Command Center

---- Conduct weekly crime briefings with key department divisions

---- The Crime Analysis Unit to provide daily crime updates

---- Create a patrol case management plan

---- Create an online suspect surveillance photo identification system

---- Expand the use of electronic media to better engage citizens in solving crime

---- Disseminate an internal list of the top ten property crime and gang offenders

---- Develop and implement strategies to address the impacts of the State’s prison realignment program

GOAL 2: Team Development: A Focus on Our Most Important Resource

Measures

-- Attain a 100% compliance with California Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) requirements for department members

-- Reduce non-service related attrition by 10% when compared to the prior five year average

-- Achieve a 90% or better rating on the annual employee satisfaction survey

Strategies

  • Develop and implement wellness program initiatives
  • Align department evaluations to include promotional criteria
  • Update the department’s Training Needs plan 
  • Update the annual employee satisfaction survey
  • Update employee recognition programs
  • Develop an employee technology training plan
  • Develop scenario based training for all civilian and volunteer personnel
  • Establish employee career and leadership development opportunities
  • Provide civilians with multi-disciplinary training across all divisions
  • Complete Action Items from the May 2011 POST Team Building Workshop

GOAL 3: Achieve Active Partnerships: Shared Community Problem Solving Efforts

  Measures

    -- Reduce the number of Calls For Service (CFS) related to chronic      offender/vagrant activity by 5%

   -- Increase the number of CFS and related activities handled by  department     volunteers by 10%

   -- Increase the number of citywide staff trained in Emergency Operations Center operations by 25%. (In coordination  with Ventura City Fire)

-- Reduce crime on high school campuses by 5%

Strategies

  • In conjunction with social services agencies, create a shared strategy to respond to vagrant issues with an emphasis on chronic offenders
  • Create a Community Crime Council in order to assist in crime prevention efforts
  • Establish Emergency Action Plans at all Ventura schools
  • Integrate school security camera systems into the VPD Command Center 
  • Beat Coordinators to attend Community Council and other key community meetings on a regular basis
  • Establish a Community Leadership Ride Along program 
  • Engage community service organizations regarding department equipment needs
  • Provide opportunities for employee participation in the  department’s non-profit Ventura Police Activities League (PAL) Foundation, and the City’s Program Enrichment for After-school Kids (PEAK) programIncrease the use of VIP members for crime follow up
  • Increase the use of VIP members for crime follow up

GOAL 4: Maintain Safe Neighborhoods: Sustain the Quality of Life in Our Neighborhoods

    Measures

    -- Reduce gang related CFS in identified Reporting Districts  by 5%

     -- Reduce fatal and injury traffic collisions by 3%

     -- Reduce CFS in identified high density residential neighborhoods by 3%

     -- Reduce identified property crimes that impact neighborhoods by 3%, (i.e., residential burglary, auto burglary and theft from vehicles)

 

Strategies

  • Develop a web-based “Virtual Neighborhood Watch”  program
  • Patrol teams to provide focused patrol in high CFS/high  density residential neighborhoods
  • Implement a Community Crime Alert program in an effort  to keep neighborhoods aware of crime trends
  • Promote safe driving practices through media sources
  • Analyze citywide Primary Collision Factor data and focus on high risk collision locations
  • Provide targeted Driving Under the Influence (DUI) enforcement efforts
  • Use Facebook and other electronic and social media for neighborhood and business outreach

GOAL 5: Efficiency and Accountability: Dedication to Continuous Improvement

Measures

-- Maintain a community service satisfaction rating above 85%

-- Attain a 100% “within department policy” for all Use of Force incidents

-- Reduce lost work time resulting from line of duty injuries by 5%

Strategies

  • Provide Use of Force skills testing two times a year
  • Increase fuel efficiency within the department’s fleet of  vehicles
  • Develop a police Capital Equipment Ordinance to help fund future capital equipment needs
  • Develop a plan for future staffing needs
  • Create a Tactical Review Committee to review force and tactics practices 
  • Create an “Injured Worker Treatment” journal for work related injuries to help ensure timely medical treatment and return to work
  • Establish departmental Annual Performance Review 
  • Establish a procedure to continuously update and review the department manual