What I found when we looked closer
Myrtle Creek is a city of 3,481 in southern Douglas County, where North and South Myrtle Creek meet before joining the South Umpqua River. Interstate 5 runs along the city, between Roseburg to the north and Canyonville to the south.
A few officers cover town calls and interstate-related incidents, and every one of those calls ends in a report written by the same small team.
In their words
Super happy we got turned on to Code Four.
Jonathan BrewsterMyrtle Creek Police DepartmentFollowing one report through the building
The first thing we do with a new department is trace where a report goes after the officer hits submit. Here, it passes through 3 hands:
- 1Officer
- 2Chief or sergeant review
- 3Douglas County court
Every one of those readers needs the same facts from the first draft. That is what shaped what we built.
What we built for them
In a department this size, every hour saved on writing goes straight back to coverage in town.
What we're watching
These are the signals that will tell us whether it's working here:
- Hours per week returned to patrol
- Reports finished before end of shift
Figures on this page come from the department's own published materials. We only publish Code Four results after the department reviews them.
