Harvard’s Police Department has many strengths, including a positive culture, a training process that emphasizes serving the community, and a strong record of retaining its officers and administrative staff. But its financial record keeping could be more efficient, it needs to solve some recruitment problems, and the station could use a deep cleaning now and then.
Those were among the findings in a departmental analysis presented to the Select Board this week by Sarah Concannon of the Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management of UMass Boston. This is the Collins Center’s third such study of Harvard’s town departments. Two earlier studies, both in 2016, dealt with the Department of Public Works and jointly with the Fire Department and Ambulance Service.
The police study found that, in general, the officers attributed the department’s positive culture to Chief Ed Denmark’s management and leadership style. “Several officers stated that if not for the Chief they would have left the department, seeking higher wages elsewhere,” the report noted. “Chief Denmark … is seen by staff and municipal officials as an exceptional leader,” the report said in another passage. He has served in Harvard since 2003 and will be eligible for retirement in 2023, making succession planning one of several important issues highlighted by the report.
Making financial records more efficient
Among the management changes that Concannon recommended was for the department to look into using electronic time sheets. The report described the current payroll system as “paper-based and inefficient,” with time and hours being entered manually first on paper time sheets, then typed into Excel, and then re-keyed into the Town Hall payroll system. Each recopying increases the chance for errors.
The report also recommended that collecting the bills for police details be moved to the Finance Department in Town Hall for the sake of efficiency. Concannon noted that a number of detail bills were outstanding, some for longer than a year. The current deficit, she said, was about $30,000, some of which might be due just to a normal billing cycle lag. Denmark agreed, saying the deficit had been reduced in recent years.
Recruitment challenges
The Police Department has also had difficulty recruiting new patrol officers, having recently made two unsuccessful searches for a new hire before succeeding on the third try. According to the report, Harvard’s salaries are not competitive with nearby towns or even with campus security forces, which are often considered a “launch pad onto a municipal force.”
Concannon’s report suggested that the department make addressing vacancies a top priority. It also suggested the town undertake a compensation study and perhaps drop the requirement for officers to have a bachelor’s degree.
Staffing shortages and hiring delays have led to a decline in morale over the past several years, according to the report. Among the problems that staff shortages have created are solo shifts and being required to work unscheduled shifts.
Charts in the report show the crime rate in town remained at a consistently low level over the past three years. Harvard’s crime rate stands about in the middle for towns of comparable size and demographics in Massachusetts.
Both officers and town officials cited speeding as a top concern for town residents. While residents want officers to reduce speeding, officers may “be perceived as too heavy-handed when pulling people over and issuing citations,” the report noted.
Both town and school officials have praised the Police Department’s close ties to the community. Visits to the schools and casual interactions between officers and community members “are vitally important to the department’s work,” the report concluded, calling community policing “a foundational philosophy of the Harvard Police Department.”
The full report will be available soon on the town administrator’s page of the town website, under “Reports.”
