Police captain outlines strategic plan emphasizing recruitment, transparency and technology

Captain Barton presented the Oak Harbor Police Committee Advisory Board with a five-year strategic plan at the board’s May 7 meeting, describing priorities that include recruitment and retention, organizational efficiencies, accountability and transparency, and growth management.

The plan follows a successful reaccreditation process. "We passed our accreditation. And so we've now been recertified, for the next 4 years or 5 years," Captain Barton said, and the department created a new five-year strategic plan to guide staffing, training and systems work.

Why it matters: the department described short-term operational steps — hiring, digital records, improved reporting — intended to affect officer staffing and public access to complaint and use-of-force records. Those changes could alter how residents obtain information about police conduct and how the department recruits and retains staff.

Barton told the board the department purchased a series of laptops for roughly $100,000 during the last fiscal year and has created new positions to strengthen training and professional development. The department reported it is currently carrying several vacancies; Barton said "we are currently down 7." He added that some positions carry funding already approved by the city council through a COPS grant that provides partial funding for five of those roles.

On recruiting and hiring standards, Barton said the department is reviewing job descriptions, marketing and hiring practices and noted changes in how agencies treat past marijuana use in background checks: "What used to be 5 years ... it was the use of marijuana. So if you utilize marijuana ... it used to be that just use alone would prohibit you from becoming ... if you used it within 5 years. Now agencies, it's typically 12 months." He said federal and partner task-force requirements can still impose stricter limits in particular roles.

Barton described work to digitize applicant background records and internal investigations. He said the department has begun using what he referred to as an "I 8, or blue cam" system to collect complaints and internal affairs information and to publish a public portal that will allow members of the public to file complaints and track them through completion.

"One of the big things that we have not done well is not sharing our use of force data, our complaint data," Barton said, adding that the new systems will allow the department to report that information "which will be accessible to anybody in the public." When asked whether those reports previously required a Freedom of Information Act request, Barton said the limitation had been the department's paper-based processes and data gaps, not a policy that withheld records.

Barton also described department investments in officer wellness and staff development, a move to a software-based records-management approach for backgrounds and training, and plans to purchase a field training and records management product he referred to as a "track wire." He said interoperability remains a priority: "When I'm talking about systems that talk to each other, I'm more referring to things like dispatch, CAD, our RMS, our recommended system for reporting, and then systems making sure that all of us have good connectivity."

Board members asked several operational questions during the presentation. When asked whether the planned new training facility is already purchased, Barton replied, "It is not a done deal. We are still, working to secure funding." On retention metrics, Barton said the department is examining retention timing and expected retirements to inform succession planning.

Discussion versus action: the board received the update and asked questions; no formal vote or directive to adopt the strategic plan was recorded during the meeting.

The department said many items in the plan will require additional staffing and funding decisions by the city council and coordination with legal and insurance advisers for any changes to hiring standards.

Looking ahead, Barton said the department will continue to develop its public reporting portal and finalize systems integration and staffing plans for 2025 as part of the five-year implementation effort.