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<br /> sometimes people are pulled over because of appearance. Mr. Tapia said this policy will <br /> lead to an abuse of that discretion. <br /> Robert Hoffman, 3098 Harcross Road, said his background in engineering, measurements <br /> and control gave him a strong compulsion to speak in favor of numbers. He quoted Lord <br /> Kelvin who said "Until you can measure what you are talking about and express it in <br /> numbers your knowledge is meager and of limited value." Mr. Hoffman said we all have <br /> goals, standards, budgets expressed in numbers, and although no system is perfect, he <br /> strongly supported some system of objective measurement performance standards for the <br /> Redwood City Police Department. <br /> Mark Raffaelli, South San Francisco Chief of Police, representing the San Mateo County <br /> Chiefs Association as the President, said all agencies have some type of performance <br /> standards or expectations to guide officers' performances. He said, "Citations and arrests <br /> as Chief Bolanos said are only a small portion of that. Other areas are communications, <br /> investigative ability, problem solving as well as a number of other duties. The purpose of <br /> putting numerical guidelines on these duties that can be measured is to give the officers an <br /> idea of a range in which they should be performing. Not all officers will be able to <br /> perform in that range but there are other duties that compensate for that." Chief Raffaelli <br /> said the focus is always on quality of performance not quantity of citations, and there are a <br /> number of control methods in place to address the issue of possible abuse. He said <br /> officers' duties are all encompassing, and if an officer is not productive in one area the <br /> Supervisor will see this and talk to the officer, and that is part of the quality control that <br /> exists. Chief Raffaelli said the Chiefs Association believes "it is important for the <br /> community to understand what expectations of officers are." He said all jobs have <br /> pressure and it was up to the employer to understand that, and yet make everyone <br /> accountable. Chief Raffaelli said that traffic is one of the biggest problems in the County, <br /> and that it is reasonable to expect officers to be aggressive in writing citations that will <br /> have the effect of protecting the community. Chief Raffaelli said performance measures <br /> are not quotas and there are sufficient checks and balances to prevent abuse. He said the <br /> Police departments in San Mateo County are professional organizations, and none of the <br /> other Chiefs would have joined him tonight if they didn't believe in the appropriateness of <br /> performance measures. <br /> In response to Mayor Howard's request, the Police Chiefs ITom Belmont, Foster City and <br /> Hillsborough and San Mateo County Sheriff Horsley stood up and were recognized by the <br /> audience. <br /> Chuck Rible, 735 Lakeview, said there is no question that perfornlance standards have <br /> been used for a long time. He said, "One of the things that every police officer has is job <br /> expectations. The problem I have with what is being done now is that all of a sudden there <br /> is a minimum. People are supposed to meet something. The Chief and everyone else has <br /> said that's not really the case." Mr. Rible said officers might not meet the goal because of <br /> community involvement or being in court to testify, etc. and asked "why put minimums on <br /> this if it is supposed to be such a flexible standard." Mr. Rible said the policy might lead <br /> REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 56 FEBRUARY 2, 1998 <br /> MINUTES Page No. 228 PAGE 13 <br />