11 March 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The City of Wichita released a 123-page independent assessment of the operations of the Wichita Police Department (WPD) Friday afternoon, and it calls for changing the culture within the department and developing a policing strategy.
The City requested the assessment in 2022, partially in response to a text message scandal involving WPD officers. The City selected Jensen Hughes to provide a “professional assessment of the WPD’s culture, administrative policies and practices, standards of conduct and efforts to ensure bias-free policing,” in addition to an evaluation of how the Citizen’s Review Board operates, the City says on its website.
The report lists 13 key findings
The report found that there is a “high level of commitment to the community and a perception that, in general, the community is supportive of the police department,” but due to concerns over the number of staff assigned to patrol, “officers are concerned with their inability to respond effectively to calls for service.”
It recommends taking a strategic approach to how the department operates, saying, “policing strategy is not guided by a written strategic plan that outlines each member of the department’s role and responsibility for crime prevention, crime impression, law enforcement and community engagement activities.” The strategy of community policing does not have a consensus for what it is or how it should be implemented.
Department communication was a concern in multiple portions of the report. It suggests more consistent discussions between the WPD, City Manager’s Office, the Law Department and Human Resources, saying “the lack of consultation on matters of discipline, strategy and policy has created an atmosphere of mistrust and lack of coordination” which “erodes the public trust not only in the police department but in City governance in general.”
Of the 13 key findings, four focus on the promotion process within the department. Currently, officers must have detective experience before they can take an exam to become promoted to sergeant, which “limits the personal and professional growth of seasoned officers who are not interested in being a detective, but otherwise would be good candidates for the role of a patrol supervisor.”
The report was supportive of the WPD’s promotional process that allows “participation of community members as assessors for candidate interviews, which promotes transparency and community trust” but said there’s no incentive to prepare for the exam because “not enough people apply for promotions to make the process competitive.”
It suggests there need to be specific criteria for why an employee was bypassed for promotion, saying there are no objective criteria “except for candidates currently serving a reckoning period for a sustained complaint of serious misconduct,” according to the report. It also found newly- promoted supervisors have “minimal if any leadership or supervisory training,” which is needed to have a consistent culture and maintain morale.
The report suggests the Chief of Police needs to be able to choose executive staff, so there is consistent organizational leadership. “The police chief needs to surround himself with members of his executive team who share similar values, philosophies and vision for the police department.” Surveys and interviews of department members show “the current organizational environment has diminished the level of trust between rank-and-file officers and command staff.”
Changes to the Citizens Review Board (CRB) in recent years were seen to have “improved its ability to review the operations of the WPD” and complaints investigations but said it needs to be more transparent, meeting at times other than 4-6 p.m. on a weekday, when most community members are working and unable to attend.
The report pointed out that the meetings are held in the same building where many officers work, which “may have a chilling effect on attendance by some residents.” The city’s ordinance does not require members to disclose any potential conflicts of interest and does not have a written strategy that outlines goals and objectives.
The report also found internal investigations and discipline processes are “perceived by officers as being highly punitive rather than corrective,” and that different employees were held to different standards, creating “a culture of fear, which decreases organizational commitment and trust.” Many officers feel that discipline was not “equally distributed and depended upon who you knew well and have you done anything to rock the boat or anger them as of late.”
The current WPD culture is making it difficult to recruit and retain officers, and “WPD leadership must address this issue to stay competitive and attract talent from a shrinking candidate pool.” It acknowledges recruitment and retention concerns are impacting departments across the country.
Some members of the department believe diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices have “resulted in under-qualified people in certain positions.” The report suggests continuing to “affirm and advance its DEI efforts” but should publish “minimum standards to ensure all persons hired, assigned or promoted are viewed as capable” in their position.
Survey and interview responses
Jensen Hughes conducted 90 interviews and analyzed a departmentwide survey. Of the 628 emails delivered, 430 sworn personnel answered at least a portion of the survey. Another 198 professional staff members received the survey, with 99 responses and two partial responses.
The report says that the general theme was that while individuals enjoyed being police officers, “they do not like working in this organization” and “would leave if they could.” Only 19.3% of respondents said they agree or strongly agree that they support the current direction of the department. In the report, 59.6% of respondents say they “hear others tell those outside WPD what a ‘lousy place’ WPD is to work.”
The survey found some concern over bias in the department. It found 9.3% percent reported sometimes or regularly seeing bias toward racial, ethnic, gender, gender identities, sexual orientation, and political affiliations within the department. Around 25% reported seeing it rarely, while 65.5% said they have never seen bias in the workplace. The report said bias “needs to be addressed but is not as ubiquitous as other problematic attitudes and behaviors described throughout this report.”
The survey found 11.9% of respondents feel upper management and the union have a good working relationship, and 4% feel the WPD has a good working relationship with the City Manager’s office.
Professional staff received surveys that were somewhat changed from what sworn personnel received. The report found differences between the types of respondents when given the same question. “Professional staff feels they are not seen quite as positively by the community as the sworn personnel. For instance, 68.3% of sworn personnel agree or strongly agree the relationship between the WPD and the community is very good, compared to only 32% of the professional staff.”
Recommendations
The report recognized the appointment of Chief Joe Sullivan provides an “opportunity to make changes to WPD’s command structure,” and surveys of WPD employees found there is hope for “positive organizational change” with his hiring.
The report recommends the creation of an assistant chief who can “assume operational and administrative command of the police department in the chief’s absence, as well as represent the department for engagements his schedule can’t accommodate.”
Operationally, the report recommends that the department restore the night detective unit and suggests the department make sure a high-ranking officer, lieutenant or higher, is made available overnights and weekends to provide guidance to sergeants and respond to high-profile situations.
It also suggests standing operating procedures (SOPs) need to be reviewed and updated annually. Although that is in the current policy, “we found no evidence SOPs have been updated annually, with some showing review dates as far back as 2009.”
The report recommends an overhaul of promotional practices, including setting minimum standards, mandating training, and creating a career development program. It also says the makeup of staff from detective up to command staff should be more diverse given the current makeup of the department. The report recommends developing supervisory and leadership training related to performance management and accountability to improve fairness and equitability.
When looking at the department culture, the report said WPD leadership should “take immediate steps to develop a clear set of organizational values as the basis for much-needed organizational change” and create an overall policing strategy “that illustrates individual and unit roles in its implementation.”
The report says the department should create a Code of Conduct to replace current regulations on professional conduct and that it must be understood and followed by every member of the organization. It says it should be based on the WPD’s organizational vision, mission and values and that those should be consistent with those of the city.
The report did not include a review of the use of force within the WPD. But it noted that current regulations focus on Kansas statute and did not include expressed guidance that the use of force. “What is missing is guidance informing officers that sometimes retreat or de-escalation is an appropriate action to take in certain situations and that the force applied must also be necessary.”
It suggested the WPD and Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) have policies that are “generally in line with best practices as recommended by the IACP and the COPS office guidance on internal investigations.” But it suggested that a “climate of mistrust and fear” should prompt WPD leadership to change perceptions and consider nonpunitive measures for disciplinary issues.
The report recommends reviewing the investigative process by the Professional Standards Bureau (PSB), including taking steps to protect the integrity of the investigations and who has access to investigative documents. In addition, it suggests making changes to the discipline process, making it more transparent and allowing for coaching and mentoring as part of the process for more minor infractions.
With regard to the Citizen’s Review Board, the report suggests having monthly meetings during nonbusiness hours in a community-centric area, providing guidance to ensure members don’t have conflicts of interest, reviewing policies, and developing a strategic plan.
The report identified seven ways the WPD, City Manager, Human Resources and Law departments should change their working relationship. That includes establishing guidelines for the disciplinary process, having a formal process to have the Chief of Police discuss their intentions with the other departments, and having regular briefings between the Police Chief and City Manager.
The report said the public information department is “not guided by a formal communications strategy” and should provide “advanced training” for public information officers or consider “replacing or mixing those officers with professional media specialists managed by a sworn supervisor.”
What’s next?
The City plans to hold a formal press conference on the report Monday with City leaders and a Jensen Hughes representative. KSN reached out to all Wichita City Council members, Mayor Brandon Whipple, Chief Sullivan, and others within the WPD for comment. We were repeatedly told they were reviewing the report before commenting.
The Fraternal Order of Police issued the following statement: “The Jensen Hughes, Operational assessment of the Wichita Police Department report is an extensive document that requires careful study before comment.”