ppd at a glance
Mission Statement
Initiatives
Authorized Strengths
Community Policing Center locations
Mission Statement
The mission of the Portland Police Department is to enhance the quality of life throughout the
City of Portland by working cooperatively with all of our
community members to preserve the peace,
enforce the law, reduce fear, and promote a safe and caring environment.
Initiatives
Regional Forensics Laboratory
The Metro Regional Coalition was formed to pursue collaborative
opportunities for Greater Portland area municipalities, and the Regional
Forensics Laboratory is the first completed project of the coalition. A
workgroup of evidence technicians from the Metro Coalition participants
identified significant forensic equipment which would increase their
efficiency, capabilities and environment for processing or collecting evidence.
The lab project was paid for proportionately based on the population of
the eight communities: Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Falmouth, Scarborough,
South Portland, Westbrook, Windham, Yarmouth and Cumberland County.
Construction started in October 2008 and was completed in August 2009.
Schedule Change
Police work requires a 24/7 presence on the street
and officers must be assigned to day, evening, night,
weekend, and holiday shifts. For more than 20 years,
Portland Police officers worked eight-hour shifts, five
days per week. With shifts filled on a seniority basis,
only a small number of officers were able to work a
Monday-through-Friday schedule. The vast majority
of officers worked at least part of the weekend and
approximately half worked three weekend shifts. For
officers with children or working spouses, the impact on
family life was significant. Moreover, approximately 20%
of the officers were assigned to a rotating shift which
required them to switch from evening to day to night
shifts all in the course of a single
week. This type of shift work is
recognized as being particularly
harmful to the health and wellbeing
of employees.
In August 2009, Chief Craig
convened a committee of officers
to research schedule alternatives
which would better meet the
needs of officers while still
providing the necessary coverage.
This committee selected a
schedule featuring four 10-hour
shifts with fixed days off, augmented by a small
contingent of officers scheduled to work five 8-hour
shifts. The new schedule provides variable coverage
dependent on call volume, enables more officers
to have at least part of the weekend off, and spares
officers from having to work rotating shifts. The police
unions and the Chief agreed to adopt the schedule on
a six-month trial basis which began in October 2009.
Uniform Change
Uniformed Portland Police Officers wore the same
wool blend pant sported by U.S. Postal workers
for many years. The blue gray pant featured a dark
blue stripe down the leg and was considered to
be lacking in pockets and difficult to maintain
in a wash and wear manner. With the emergence
of more wearable fabrics and the quality of the
existing pant deteriorating, the officers took on
an extensive search to find a more suitable pant.
During the summer of 2009, the Department
shifted to the new pant which includes ample
pockets for storage and is more suited to varying
body types. Rather than work through a period of
transition in which officers working side by side
could be wearing noticeably different uniforms,
the Department sought and received grant funds
to purchase new pants for all officers so that the
transition would be done all at once.
Establishment of the Southern Maine Violent Crimes Task Force
The Task Force was put into place at the Portland Police Department in
service to all of Southern Maine. Our partners are Biddeford, Scarborough, South
Portland, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshal’s Service.
The mission
of the Task Force is to investigate violent crimes and apprehend those persons
who have committed crimes of violence.
CompStat
A key component of community policing is problem solving
and CompStat is an important management
and accountability tool for identifying and solving
problems. Having worked under William Bratton,
the former LAPD Police Chief who perfected the
CompStat process in New York City, Chief Craig was
well aware of the potential public safety benefits
of CompStat, short for Comparative or Computer
Statistics. He implemented a version of CompStat in
Portland during the summer of 2009.
The Portland Police Crime Analyst runs queries on
crime data and generates a weekly CompStat report.
The report presents crime and arrest data on week-to-date, prior 30 days, and year-to-date basis. The
Chief, uniformed command staff, and detectives
from the Criminal Investigations Division review
the CompStat data during a weekly meeting, discuss
emerging and established crime trends, and develop
strategies for reducing crime. This weekly meeting
also provides an opportunity to share information
between the Detective Bureau and Patrol Division,
and enables department leaders to keep abreast of
the situation on the street so that they can properly
allocate resources to most effectively reduce crime and
improve police performance.
Community
Police Advisory Board (CPAB)
Noting that the Department’s relationship with the
community is critical in realizing the continued success
of the Portland Police Department, one of Chief
Craig’s first initiatives was the Chief’s new Community
Police Advisory Board (CPAB). The
Board is comprised of a diverse mix
of local residents and community
stakeholders including members
of the business community, the
religious community, the media,
the local youth community, and
educators. Chief Craig regards direct
input from the community as an
integral part of his neighborhood
policing efforts, and the CPAB
provides the means to receive direct
communication on city-wide issues.
The CPAB meets monthly to
inform the Chief of community
concerns and activities, and he, in turn, provides
information about pertinent resources as well
as information on department efforts. As the
group matures, it will disseminate information
to the community regarding police strategies and
operations and help with prioritizing areas of
concern for future efforts. The first three topics that
this group chose to tackle were youth connections,
graffiti, and absentee landlord related issues.
Subcommittees were formed and the Chief looks
forward to receiving their reports with
recommendations for next steps. There is
broad optimism that this new approach
to age-old problems will be just what the
city needs.
Authorized Strengths
1 Chief
1 Assistant Chief
1 Commander
1 Captain
9 Lieutenants
22 Sergeants
125 patrol officers
Authorized strength is 160
The Department also employs 50 civilian employees that provide various
administrative and support functions.
Community Policing CentersThere are community policing centers in the Parkside, West End, Midtown and
Munjoy Hill neighborhoods as well as our Portland Housing properties. You
can get more information on these centers at
http://police.portlandmaine.gov/communitypolicingcenters.asp
