Monica Schoch-Spana, Sanjana Ravi, AIshwarya Nagar, Christina Potter, and Tyrone Peterson

The Pandemic Recovery Metrics to Drive Equity – PanREMEDY project sought to give form to the least considered phase of a catastrophic outbreak of infectious disease, while applying an equity lens. The project inquired, “By what measures could local and state decision-makers know that efforts at holistic recovery were working, especially for the socially vulnerable individuals and communities hit hardest by COVID-19?”

To answer this question, the project team gathered and analyzed a wide range of evidence. They consulted disaster recovery and resilience experts, convened a scoping symposium, reviewed academic and gray literature on epidemic/pandemic recovery, and elicited input from diverse participants via listening sessions. Based upon thematic analyses of these inputs, the team generated an initial set of 44 indicators and distilled ethical and practical considerations concerning their implementation.

The PanREMEDY indicators were ordered into 2 categories—recovery system organization and operations and system outcomes, the latter of which could be thought of as community status:

Organization and Operations

• Governance and Leadership: political authority, collective action, financing structures, public face

• Planning: guiding framework, time horizons, technical expertise, aligned futures

• Data Management: actionable data, disaggregated data, extant data, community contextualization

• Public Involvement: representative bodies, feedback loops, community dashboards

Outcomes

• Human Health: epidemiological curve, disrupted care, disease sequelae, healthcare infrastructure, health insurance

• Human Development: healthy housing, adequate nutrition, safety/security, educational attainment, connectivity/mobility

• Economic Vitality: earning power, entrepreneurship, work protections, neighborhood pulse, thriving grassroots

• Political Integrity: power-sharing, equity structures, safety net, public trust, inventive policy

• Social Fabric: connectedness, collective impact, stigma repair, caretaking

• Emotional Wellbeing: truth-telling, public memorialization, psychological supports, self-medication, relief/resolution

Subsequently, a panel of practitioners, community advocates, subject matter experts, and local government leaders rated the indicators according to importance (ie, salience to holistic recovery) and feasibility (ie, ease of application).

Developed in the COVID-19 context, the PanREMEDY project’s findings can prompt further learning and actions specific to that pandemic. At the same time, the findings offer a more general framework with which to prepare communities for future pandemics. End-users are encouraged to tailor the indicators to their context, including local values, programmatic priorities, and political environments.

With the PanREMEDY indicators in hand, state and local leaders and other community members can better assess how well their jurisdictions are:

• Rebounding from the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

• Targeting support to COVID-19 survivors who still need help

• Engaging in pre-event planning for future post-pandemic recovery

• Strengthening resilience to the increasing likelihood of future pandemics

• Motivating non-traditional partners to join in pandemic preparedness efforts.

Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security; 2024.

By The National Policing Institute

The Brooklyn Center Police Department (BCPD) partnered with the National Policing Institute (the Institute) to conduct a workload study and organizational assessment in 2022. Police and City leaders wanted an independent assessment of the number of officers necessary to respond to service demand from the community in conjunction with an examination of the overall operations of the department. As talks were progressing, the City of Brooklyn Center became the focus of national attention after BCPD Officer Kim Potter shot and killed an unarmed African-American man, Daunte Wright, during a traffic stop. In the following months, numerous officers and non-sworn employees resigned, and the ones that remained felt they were under increased scrutiny. The resignations and resulting increased workload made the study even more important for the department as they sought to renew themselves and provide safety for the community.

The report presents the key findings from the following groups: surveys of department employees: key findings from the interviews and the focus group with the community: key findings from the quantitative analyses:

The following are selected key recommendations based on the findings: • The department should authorize a total of 36 officers for patrol to ensure officers have adequate time for problem-solving, training, and vacation time. • The department should authorize two additional sergeants in the Patrol Division to ensure sergeants are able to attend training and proactively supervise officers. • The department should add an additional detective to lower the workload of detectives. • The department should immediately hire individuals to fill the authorized records technician positions and add an additional position to compensate for the recommended officer increase. • The department should champion and expand the department employee wellness program and seek grants to provide additional resources. • The department should create a comprehensive crime reduction strategy in collaboration with the community and communicate it internally and externally. • The department and City should initiate programs with the community to foster positive interactions between community members and department employees.

Arlington, VA: The National Policing Institute, 2023. 90p.

By The City of Minneapolis

The City of Minneapolis is reexamining what being just looks like and acts like. In today’s world, the concept of justice is by most accounts expanding. In the United States, for example, courts have broadened the scope of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which reads in part, “nor shall any state deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Thus, we’re in an environment with a larger and more complex set of issues and challenges requiring “equal protection” by public institutions – particularly law enforcement and public safety organizations. Compounding the challenge of achieving justice is the degree to which changing societal conditions impact what community members and stakeholders view as “just” and “valuable.” As crime and safety trends shift, as public sentiment changes, and as society expands the scope of equal protection, the nature and definition of “value” shifts accordingly. For public safety leaders, this means that achieving justice, and the resulting value and legitimacy of policing and public safety institutions, is based on three interdependent demands: One, equally protecting people from increasingly complex crime. Two, equally protecting access to ever more robust rights, freedoms, and liberties. And three, engaging with communities to continually define value and co-create solutions that build trust. The resulting imperative is that public safety leaders and stakeholders must continually adapt their policing organizations to new value propositions and methods of producing that value. To accomplish this, Minneapolis public safety organizations must increase organizational capacity – the structures, systems, processes, and people that enable an organization to meet goals effectively and efficiently. And this capacity needs to not only be activated in real-time, but also dynamic – able to grow and adapt over time. The Safe and Thriving Communities report provides a pathway to this future of enhanced justice, value, and legitimacy

Minneapolis: City of Minneapolis, 2023. 143p.