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What does a David Bowie song have to do with public safety in the Triad? Nothing really. But the Greensboro Police Department has made a few changes after a consultant's report pointed out inefficiencies.

Ryan's story today details initial actions taken by the police to improve on more than 200 recommendations made un Carroll Buracker's 2008 report. The police will make more improvements as money becomes available.

PROBLEM 1: Poor promotion process. Many ranks didn’t have a process for promotion. That could leave a perception of favoritism.

SOLUTION 1: The new promotion process evaluates candidates on written tests and multipart tests conducted by an agency that specializes in law enforcement assessment.

The process eliminated preferences made by superiors in promoting candidates, a flaw cited in the report.

PROBLEM 2: Inefficient patrol schedule. Schedules — patrol officers, detectives, and community resource officers’ schedules leave inadequate coverage during peak crime times and overstaff lower-crime weekday hours.

SOLUTION 2: The new patrol schedule, which is supposed to increase morale, moved officers to four days on, followed by four days off.

Previously, officers worked five days, with four days off. The number of hours didn’t change — but the length of the shifts did.

Future improvements Greensboro police will attempt to make:

• The addition 31 new positions to the department to raise it's overall effectiveness
• The construction of a new police headquarters and a new office to house all detectives
• The provision of take-home patrol cars