National COPS Evaluation of St. Paul: 2000
Management for Community-Oriented Policing: Opening Up the Organization
Among his most significant contributions to the Department's community-oriented policing efforts, Chief Finney cites his recruitment and advancement of greater numbers of minorities, women, and civilians, and increasing communication and participation among all these groups within SPPD. As Finney says, "From the smallest to the biggest things, from the lowest levels, even civilians need to know what is going on in the Department." The Chief makes clear that he is talking not only about situational communication—he consults directly with district commanders when some type of planned action is required, soliciting their views; he then makes the decision and action is taken through them. Beyond this, however, in terms of communication and participation, Finney wants to increase the flow of information and access to job opportunities throughout the Department. Job openings are posted for sworn and non-sworn positions. Chief Finney has tried to break down walls between sections—such as among detectives (Capers and Caprop), and across districts. Finney came up as uniformed officer, out on the streets, and he recalls that detectives didn't talk to street officers much. He wants them out there together, talking as partners, to citizens.
Chief Finney also sees a contribution that non-sworn employees can make to the Department, and to management. His Management Team consists of 46 individuals, and includes both sworn and non-sworn managers from various levels within the Department. The Chief's Administrative Team of six includes the two deputy chiefs, his civilian aides, and the Public Information Coordinator. Ensuring diverse composition is deliberate on his part, for it affords him the opportunity to hear views from both sworn and civilian sources. Because he values the input of civilians, Chief Finney has sought to increase civilian career choices in the Department. He civilianized the position of head of the Research and Development Unit, added the responsibility of grant writer to the position, and hired two females in succession to run it. His administrative assistant, Amy Brown, who held the same position under Chief McCutcheon, has recently become the third civilian female head of Research and Development, adding the responsibility of overseeing Fiscal Affairs as well. Finney views her as a key staff member, and has succeeded in changing her post to a civil service position.
Other changes in management that Chief Finney has made have been more directly related to his need to consolidate authority after taking office, bring together a management group that would help plan and implement his own vision of policing, and then move the Department more formally into community policing. Finney has made more than one round of changes in deputy chiefs and commanders of the districts. As Deputy Chief for Support Services, Ross Lundstrom played a central role in the strategic planning process that Chief Finney initiated soon after taking office; once the initial planning was completed, Finney moved Lundstrom to the position of Deputy Chief of Operations, where he implemented several of the community policing tactics that had been planned—in particular, development of the NSAs and several storefronts.
In line with his goal of decentralizing SPPD, Finney collapsed the departmental rank structure from the top down: between 1992 and 1997, he reduced the number of deputy chiefs from three to two, commanders from sixteen to eleven, and lieutenants from 26 to 22. Sergeants remained at a consistent level of 140 (with half supervisors and half sergeant/investigators). Additionally, the Chief placed a number of new supervisors in key positions, selecting those who had, in the words of one, "deep roots in the community," and giving them orders to "breathe fresh air" into pre-existing programs that Finney thought could be more effective in responding to and working with citizens.
A central element of Chief Finney's management style has been to emphasize the patrol officer: as one staff member comments, "if we get new cars, they go to patrol. Any of the latest equipment goes to patrol." As some supervisory staff have noted, it is possible in SPPD to remain "in uniform and get to the top"—that is by working primarily in patrol—although most supervisors have moved throughout the organization, gaining experience as investigators and in Support Services as well as patrol while they moved up in rank. Finally, unsolicited comments from several officers suggest that the Chief displays sensitivity to and concern for the well-being of his line officers off the job as well as on, in matters that affect their families and health as well as productivity as police officers.
SAINT PAUL POLICE FEDERATION: The Saint Paul Police Federation began during the 1960s. Members include officers at all ranks in SPPD, from commander (equivalent to captain) on down, and most officers are in the Federation. During Chief Finney's first five years in office, there were four police union presidents. While there has been no real hostility between the Chief and the Federation, he has taken some controversial moves. For example, Finney proposed ten-hour shifts—a move originally opposed by the Federation, although now all officers have them. He won a dispute with the Federation over whether the job of a FORCE officer was more appropriately that of patrol officer or investigator (sergeant)—the Federation wanted FORCE officers paid as sergeants. The issue was decided in arbitration, and Finney prevailed. He lost, however, on the issue of whether officers should be able to serve as investigators without being promoted to sergeant (currently, investigators must be sergeants).
In fact, most issues taken up by the Federation are managerial, involving labor-management conflicts. The Federation, in the words of one officer, has a "strong history of doing a lot of negotiations with our Chief and [we] haven't had a lot of conflict over many issues." There are no substantive issues currently under dispute other than the current contract: during 1997, federation members were still working under the 1996 contract because of disagreement over finance issues.
