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GREENSBORO — City Council members are eager to charge ahead with some recommendations a consultant gave to the police department on Monday.

But police leaders are planning a more moderate short-term route, evaluating how the recommendations can fit within existing practices.

Consultant Carroll Buracker included in his recommendations that city officials, inside and outside of the police department, take a month or so to review the plan before launching into any changes.

Deputy City Manager Bob Morgan said the police department and the city administration will take the report seriously.

“The bottom line is the consultant said take 90 days,” Morgan said. “We want to absorb it and understand the impact, the pros and cons.”

“One reading isn’t going to allow you to digest it,” Morgan said.

Morgan said it was productive for the department and the city to have a professional opinion of the police. He said it could take a few years to implement if the city adopts some of the more extensive changes recommended.

“This is going to be a guide we use way beyond 90 days,” Morgan said. “This report will not sit on anybody’s shelf. This is a report that will really be studied.”

Police Chief Tim Bellamy has already postponed promotions scheduled for this week.

Buracker’s strongest recommendation advised immediately overhauling the promotions system to one that includes more objective measures than the department uses.

Bellamy defended the promotions system the department uses as being an improvement on the less-transparent method used by previous chiefs.

Second in Buracker’s list of recommendations was changing the patrol schedule to one in which officers work four days in a row, making more officers available for weekend and evening work.

The current schedule calls for patrol officers to work five days in a row and has an unusually high number of weekday shifts.

One of Bellamy’s first actions when he became acting chief in 2006 was to restore the patrol schedule that his predecessor, David Wray, had changed.

Assistant Chief Harold Scott, patrol commander, has said the current schedule is adequate for covering the police department’s needs.

Council members are eager to see some of the strategies implemented. They called for swift action by the police department and the city manager’s office.

“I want to see something well within 30 days,” said Councilman Zack Matheny, who proposed hiring a consultant to study the department. “I didn’t pay $249,000 to wait 90 days. Some of this stuff is pretty easy.”

Council members pointed at recommendations that have little or no costs — changing the promotional practices or changing schedules to have more officers on duty during peak crime hours — as items to consider first.

“There are a lot of solutions in that report that do not require additional money,” Councilman Mike Barber said.

“Let’s pick the low-hanging fruit.”

Contact Sonja Elmquist at 373-7090 or sonja. elmquist@news-record.com

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda. lehmert@news-record.com