On November 6, 2025, UPE met with the County about expanding online reporting to now include the general public, in addition to mandated reporters. The department has stated they expect this to reduce the number of phone calls, but they do not expect this to change the overall workload.
UPE asked if there is another County that has adopted this model and what their stats are, phone calls vs. online reports. This information was not readily available, and they wanted to know why we asked. We responded that we want to have an idea of how the workload will be affected.
UPE wanted to know how many phone calls are received from the general public on average. At first, the department stated about a couple of thousand per year. Then, backpedaled and stated it is more than that. We also asked management if the intake staff will receive time off the hotline to process the reports. The response provided was no, they can process in between calls. The goal is to have them worked on first thing in the morning before the hotline gets busy, but if the employee is working on an online report, they can go into a not ready status to complete it. UPE asked what happens to online reports that cannot be completed within the shift, will there be overtime available? No, was the short answer. If the report is coming in online, most likely it will not be a P1 or P2 and can wait until the next day for processing.
This process began on Monday, November 10, and UPE will meet again with the department in mid-February for an update and be provided with data on how the intake unit has been affected.
Thank you for your advocacy, Deanna Green, Sarah Singleton, and Eric Booker
