In a beautifully formatted 188 page report, Brown Group International presented the fruits of their study to Warren Riley in July 2007. Marked Confidential and copyrighted this report was immediately leaked.

James Gill had a field day with the findings in his editorial page column printed Friday July 20. The photo shows Brown gesturing, apparently describing the size of the "big fish" he had recently caught while Riley frowns along with the rest of the NOPD brass most of whom look like they are being kept up well past their nap times. If any of these guys had a gun, I bet Brown would be in big trouble.

If Riley and his band of not-so-merry men follow Brown's blueprint and introduce Community Policing, Gill believes the criminals will be very glum indeed. Highlights include:

• Mission statement
• Traffic cones
• Performance measurement variables
• VCR's
• Rape kits
• Global public relations
• Citizen satisfaction survey
• Work demand analysis
• Alliance with the DA's office

I'll have to leave it with Gill until I get a chance to peruse the report for myself.

All fun aside, reports like this are necessary to get things going. If attentively and innovatively implemented by management they can provide a rallying point  around which progress can be made. 

Calling for a mission statement is not all bad.  As described elsewhere on this site, nothing really improves until The Goal is discovered. Measuring performance, training and equipping the officers is good too. However Gill believes and I believe we all concur, this will not be enough. The police alone cannot solve the root problems that make Crime and our dysfunctional CJS what it is today.