The Merger Integration Challenge

1
ALLOCATING POLICE RESOURCES FOR RESULTS
2
As fiscal pressures on local governments
increase, cuts to core services are being made
without an adequate understanding of the
consequences

• The fiscal conditions facing many local
  governments are dire
• Many local governments have had to resort to
  hiring freezes and across the board cuts to
  balance their budgets
• In some cases, public safety services - which may
  historically have been exempted from significant
  budget scrutiny - have been subjected to the
  budget axe
• Even local governments that have been able to
  avoid significant budget reductions until now
  face an uncertain future
• When making decisions about how to reduce
  expenditures it is important that decision-makers
  clearly understand the implications of potential
  budget cuts on the services citizens receive
• Cuts in some areas may result in modest
  reductions in the level and quality of services
  that citizens receive and may be deemed
  acceptable by decision makers
• Cuts in other areas, by contrast, may result in
  an unacceptable reduction in service levels
• Without a clear understanding of how budget
  reductions will affect service quality, decision
  makers may unwittingly make decisions that
  adversely affect citizen service in ways that are
  neither desired nor intended

3
Police departments, in particular, often lack the
ability to articulate the impact potential budget
reductions will have on the law enforcement
services citizens receive

• Despite the fact that police departments comprise
  the largest part of most local government
  budgets, most departments lack the ability to
  link expenditures with service levels
• On one level this cannot be avoided because the
  overall level of crime and incidents requiring
  police intervention in a community are affected
  by a broad range of factors of which expenditures
  on law enforcement services is but one
• However, even for dimensions of police services
  for which expenditures and service levels can
  reasonably be linked (for example, the time
  required to respond to an incident requiring
  police intervention) most police departments are
  unable to articulate the relationship between
  resource allocation and service levels
• For some departments, this results because
  resource assignments have evolved incrementally
  over time and no systematic resource deployment
  strategy has been developed
• Even departments that have undertaken resource
  allocation studies, however, are typically not
  able to articulate the relationship between
  resource expenditures and the level of service
  provided

4
Resource allocation methodologies that are
employed by most police departments do not link
service levels and expenditures

• Most patrol resource allocation methodologies
  establish an expectation for the percentage of a
  patrol officers shift that should be devoted to
  responding to calls-for-service and the
  percentage of time that should be available for
  proactive activities
• For example, a typical patrol staffing
  methodology might assume that patrol officers
  should spend 65 percent of their shift responding
  to calls-for-service and the remaining 35 percent
  on proactive activities
• Another methodology might assume that 55 percent
  of patrol officers time should be devoted to
  responding to calls-for-service with 45 percent
  devoted to proactive activities
• Such an approach does not consider what community
  expectations are with regard to how quickly
  patrol officers should respond to incidents
  requiring police intervention
• Allocation of resources to investigative
  activities tends to be even less results oriented
  and is typically based on comparisons with other
  jurisdictions or the experience of the
  consultant performing the analysis
• For proactive and specialized activities (e.g.,
  narcotics, vice, horse, park and bike units)
  analysis of staffing needs is typically
  subjective

5
In addition to not linking resource allocation
with results some of these resource allocation
methodologies are flawed for other reasons as
well

• Patrol staffing methodologies that base staffing
  needs on the percent of time officers should
  spend responding to calls-for service assume that
  the level of proactive patrol activity in a
  community should be directly related to the level
  of reactive patrol activity
• Moreover, these methodologies typically assume
  that the same percentage of time should be spent
  on proactive activities on all patrol shifts
  despite the fact that during the night shift less
  proactive policing which involves interacting
  with the community can be performed
• In addition, these patrol staffing methodologies
  typically assume that the same amount of time is
  devoted to each call for service on all shifts
  when, in fact, the distribution of calls by type
  (and consequently the time required to respond)
  can vary significantly over the course of a day
• Furthermore, while most patrol staffing
  methodologies consider what types of calls can be
  handled over the phone or by sending a civilian
  rather than a sworn officer to the incident
  scene, all too often these methodologies do not
  systematically compare the costs of these
  alternative response approaches with the cost of
  patrol officer response

6
A more effective way to allocate police resources
is to link staffing requirements with service
expectations

• The number of patrol officers that are deployed
  on each shift should be based, in part, on the
  desired response time to citizen initiated
  calls-for-service
• The number of patrol officers that are needed to
  perform proactive activities should be based on
  explicit expectations with regard to the
  proactive activities officers are expected to
  perform on each shift and the specific results
  the department expects to achieve from performing
  these activities
• In many cases, the number of officers needed to
  ensure response time expectations are met will be
  sufficient to handle these proactive requirements
  but this will not always be the case
• Moreover, if the proactive activities expected of
  patrol officers require them to perform duties
  that cannot be interrupted additional officers
  will need to be deployed to ensure sufficient
  capacity exists to perform these activities
• While it is more difficult to precisely link
  resource allocation with service expectations for
  investigative activities. a productivity
  expectation for detectives conducting follow-up
  investigations should be established
• Defining expected results for proactive and
  specialized units (e.g., narcotics, vice, horse,
  park and bike units) while sometimes difficult is
  important to ensuring resources are allocated
  appropriately

7
In addition to considering how resources should
be allocated to achieve desired results, a number
of other factors should be considered when
allocating police resources

• Policing strategies. The policing strategies
  employed by a department will significantly
  affect a departments success in achieving its
  objectives
• Management and supervision. Effective management
  practices must be in place if police resources
  are to be effectively deployed
• Scheduling and deployment. Police resources must
  be scheduled and deployed where they are most
  needed if they are to be effective
• Mix of skills. Police departments should
  generally not employ sworn officers to perform
  jobs that could be assumed by less costly
  civilians
• Dispatch strategies. Cost-effective operations
  also require dispatching the correct number of
  patrol officers to each call-for-service
• Flexible use of resources. Unnecessary
  specialization can also reduce a police
  departments operational effectiveness

8
A number of benefits can be achieved from taking
a results based approach to allocating police
resources

• Decision-makers are able to make informed
  decisions about the level of service that can be
  provided for a given level of resources
• Decision makers will also understand the impact
  budget cuts will have on the quality of services
  citizens receive
• The methodology can be used to articulate for
  taxpayers the relationship between resources and
  service levels
• Establishing expectations for results achieved
  and for employee productivity strengthens
  management and accountability
• The resource allocation methodology can be used
  to develop a framework for systematically
  assessing the impact alternative policing
  strategies have on achieving desired results