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Missoula Police Department 435 Ryman Street, Missoula, MT 59802-4297 From the Desk of Mark Muir Phone : (406)-552-6316 Fax: (406) 728-6690 [EMAIL REDACTED] May 28, 2009 Police Chief's Open Letter / Statement about Eleanor Laws' Report There has been considerable interest recently in a workplace assessment conducted at the Missoula Police Department in late 2006 and early 2007. The assessment has been the subject of current litigation involving claims of a police employee, and the report, prepared by Ms. Eleanor Laws, is now under a District Court confidentiality order. The assessment was not conducted as a result of the current litigation, and the report was completed long before the lawsuit was filed. Media reports have indicated that I did not return calls for comment or declined to comment on the current litigation and the report prepared by Ms. Laws. It is true that I am unable to give details about pending litigation or disclose any of the confidential details of the report. But I have not declined to comment, and I can give the public some better understanding of how the report came about. I am happy to report that, in general terms, the Laws Report outlines a group of highly professional men and women who serve on the Police Department and care about the community and each other. I can assure the Missoula community that the report is not a black cloud over the police force or old-fashioned dirty laundry being hidden from view. Here are some basic facts about the report and the benefits that the City has gained from its creation: In November 2006, Chief Administrative Officer Bruce Bender at the direction of Mayor John Engen hired Ms. Laws, who was at the time the director of the Equal Opportunity Office at The University of Montana, to conduct an assessment of the workplace environment within the Police Department. The purpose was to gather opinions confidentially from employees about working conditions and employee relationships and to write a report of the findings to familiarize Mayor Engen with the challenges faced by police employees. The City agreed to hire Ms. Laws in her personal capacity, and when the report was completed in late March 2007, she was paid $1,817.00 for her services. All Police Department employees were invited to participate in an interview, which they were assured would remain confidential and anonymous. All ---PAGE BREAK--- employee concerns, past and present, were collected and examined for the possibility of recurring issues. While the report detailed certain issues of concern by the employees, neither former Chief Wickman nor I found any of the issues to be completely new or unknown to us when we were given an executive summary of the findings. Most, if not all, of the issues noted were already being addressed or had been taken care of. As an example, the major issue for every employee interviewed can be shared without breaching confidentiality of this report: Each identified the current police facility as inadequate, and even while they knew there was work being done to plan for a new police building, some employees were skeptical it would happen in the near future. The inadequacy of the facility is well known and a very valid concern for productivity, workplace relationships and employee/customer satisfaction. I hope this community will support a new building levy very soon to address this problem. We continue to work each day on addressing some of the more complex problems that develop in trying to build trust and cooperation between management and the workforce. The results of the report were valuable to me as an administrator and to this community; first, it confirmed areas where intervention might be needed, and second, it reaffirmed my own strong belief that the men and women of the Missoula Police Department make up an outstanding organization that I am proud to lead. I believe it has also allowed the mayor the opportunity to be better acquainted with the efforts and challenges of our police officers and civilian personnel. Both he and I recognize the importance of communicating with them and with the community to address a myriad of issues from labor contracts to bond levies for a new building. I hope that this information has provided answers to some of the questions I've heard arise about what hidden secrets might be contained within this workplace assessment and to reassure our community that we are here to protect the rights of everyone. Respectfully, Chief of Police