Ray Rael was back at City Hall on Wednesday.

About a month after the former Equal Employment Opportunity Commission compliance administrator for the city was appointed interim police chief and moved his office to the south side, he was back downtown to give his first report on the department — and face tough questioning from the City Council.

Rael told the council how he is handling staff shortages — there are 21 open positions in the officer ranks — and introduced some of the new programs and policies he hopes to implement, including the recent decision to assign a staff sergeant to be in charge of "getting the positive news about the department" out to the public.

When his report was finished, the reality of the job started to set in.

"The best public relations you're going to get is when your property crime numbers go down," Councilor Patti Bushee said.

While acknowledging Rael had only been on the job a month, she was still harsh in her criticism of the department. "I am going to be someone who is not going to accept the status quo," she said, adding the department's problems in recent years have not been about staffing issues or cuts in resources, but rather "a deficit in leadership in that department."

Rael was accompanied by deputy chiefs Gillian Alessio and William Johnson, both of whom have been in their positions for less than two months.

After speaking to the council, Rael said the staffing shortages at the department are "not a crisis, but are a concern we are addressing."

Of the 166 budgeted positions for certified officers, there are 21 openings — 20 in patrol and one in the command staff. There also are two animal-services openings, three public-safety-aide positions open and "a couple more retirements" from the command staff coming in the next two months, Rael said.

Alessio pointed out that while there is a high number of openings right now, there are 20 people "currently in the background-check phase" of the hiring process, indicating the issue of vacancies might not be around much longer.

Meanwhile, Rael said he has moved some shifts around in an attempt to make sure the city is still adequately patrolled during peak hours.

Mayor David Coss commended the interim chief on the decline in property-crime rates since he succeeded former chief Aric Wheeler, who stepped down March 23 and assumed the rank of captain.

Coss suggested burglary numbers are down 17 percent since Rael took over the department. But, according to Rael and his deputy chiefs, that number is based on a very small sample of property crimes committed between April 1 and April 25, compared to the number of reported burglaries between March 1 and March 25.

Contact Geoff Grammer at 986-3076 or ggrammer@sfnewmexican.com. Read his blog at SantaFeCrime.com.

OTHER ISSUES ADDRESSED AT WEDNESDAY'S MEETING

• Councilor Ronald Trujillo said he'd like to take another look at the use of red-light cameras in the city. In part because of former Gov. Bill Richardson's opposition, the program was never implemented in Santa Fe. Trujillo asked that the department seek the opinion of Gov. Susana Martinez on the use of red-light cameras.

• Police Chief Ray Rael said his department is exploring a program that could require the cooperation of local body shops and scrap yards in fighting the city's recent rash of catalytic-converter thefts. Rael said a program giving car owners the opportunity to have vehicle-identification numbers etched into the converters could help deter would-be thieves from stealing them.

• Councilor Patti Bushee said because of the many new officers about to join the force, now would be a good time for the department to consider ending its vehicle take-home policy. The councilor acknowledged there are issues with taking the existing benefit away from current officers, but she asked City Manager Robert Romero to work with police about addressing this policy for the near future. As Bushee put it, the policy was adopted, in part, to have the presence of patrol cars in Santa Fe communities, but now it seems as though half of the take-home cars belong to officers living in Rio Rancho.

• Councilors Rebecca Wurzburger and Chris Calvert each mentioned recent letters from downtown merchants regarding a general lack of policing in the Plaza area. Rael said he will look into the matter.

• Rael also said the department's Internal Affairs Unit now reports directly to him. Officer investigations have been a touchy subject with the police union in the past. Rael said this is an effort to expedite internal investigations and help the city face "minimal liability."