Raleigh PD nixes controversial performance reviews

Interim Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown said in a memo to employees Wednesday that she is discontinuing, effective Feb. 1, a controversial employee performance evaluation put into place in July by former Chief Harry Dolan.

Posted 6:47 p.m. Jan 16, 2013 — Updated 7:50 p.m. Jan 16, 2013

RALEIGH, N.C. — Interim Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown said in a memo to employees Wednesday that she is discontinuing, effective Feb. 1, a controversial employee performance evaluation put into place in July by former Chief Harry Dolan.

Hundreds of police officers filed grievances last year with the city over the Priority Performance Measure system, claiming it is a "quasi-quota system" that judges police officers on the quantity of the work they do and not the quality.

Dolan, who retired last year, defended the system, saying it has nothing to do with quotas but serves to accurately measure officers' work, especially as it relates to community policing and officers interacting with the public.

Deck-Brown did not say specifically why she is discontinuing the program, only saying that it "did not prove to meet our needs."

"It is important to recognize that a performance-based evaluation system is still needed," she said in the memo.

Starting next month, all employees will be evaluated under an existing evaluation system that the City of Raleigh uses.

Deck-Brown did say that the city supports a citywide performance evaluation review the police department is proposing that would "provide a comprehensive evaluation of the diverse missions within the city" and "addresses the needs of individual departments."

A police department spokesman declined to comment further Wednesday, saying only that memo speaks for itself in terms of conveying the department's position.

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