Police, Fire Shoot for Efficiency

Published: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 1:34 PM PDT

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Things went a little crazy yesterday after the Attorney General's Office released its report into Mayor Jerry Sanders' handling of the Sunroad building, and I never got time to type up the other news that was announced at the mayor's press conference yesterday morning.

The original purpose of the press conference was to announce that the City Council has approved Sanders' business process reengineering plans for the San Diego Police Department and the Fire-Rescue Department.

The business process reengineering effort has been a hallmark of Sanders' mayoral strategy. It's essentially an attempt to streamline city services and management by identifying and then cutting out waste to produce a more lean city government with more efficient processes.

The mayor said his BPR efforts will free up more that 117,000 staff hours at the SDPD, which he said will allow police officers to conduct more "proactive" police work.

The time savings have come from a host of measures aimed at streamlining the department's processes, Sanders said. The Mayor's Office outlined some of those changes, including providing police officers access to computer software programs like Outlook Express and web-based applications in their patrol cars, which the Mayor's Office said will save 64,449 hours of police time a year.

For the Fire-Rescue Department, the mayor said his BPR process will save the city approximately $100,000 a year starting next year.

"Both BPR efforts have given us the opportunity for a very substantial investigation into our business practices," Sanders said.

"They have shown us how to better serve the city of San Diego," he added.

Joining the mayor at the press conference were Fire-Rescue Department Chief Tracy Jarman and SDPD Chief Bill Lansdowne, who lauded the mayor's efforts.

"I'm very pleased with the results. There has been a lot of hard work and we think it's going to show great improvements," Lansdowne said.

-- WILL CARLESS