Laserfiche WebLink
Current Patroi Staffing <br />As indicated earlier, the Patrol Division is staffed with seven police <br />officers, one Corporal and one Sergeant on each of the four shifts. It is <br />conventional thought in law enforcement operations that when a supervisor has <br />more than five officers assigned, they are unable to continue to work in the field <br />as a responding officer and supervise other officers as well. This stems from the <br />volume of administrative work that is created on a patrol shift. There is training to <br />plan and supervise, complaints that must be investigated, inspections that must <br />be completed, and staffing plans for the following week to establish, not to <br />mention having to respond to major field incidents to provide critical on-scene <br />supervision. As a result, the Sergeants assigned to each shift cannot be counted <br />in the required staffing. Corporals must fill in for Sergeants when they are on <br />leave and are often assigned many additional administrative duties. A Corporal <br />therefore, is usually counted as half of an officer for purposes of field patrol <br />response and operations. In Paris, because of the high level of officer self- <br />initiated activity, both the Corporal and Sergeant must often work the field while <br />other officers are booking in prisoners or handling extended follow-up <br />investigations. <br />Paris also assigns patrol officers follow-up investigations for lower level <br />offenses such as Class B misdemeanors. In many agencies these are assigned <br />to the Criminal Investigations Division where, due to workload and assignment of <br />more important crimes, they often are ignored. Patrol officers are required to <br />conduct follow-up investigations to the extent that they have the time and <br />expertise. This includes attempting to identify the suspect, get them positively <br />identified, collect and analyze and physical evidence or submit it for appropriate <br />testing, and prepare a case for filing as well as obtaining a warrant. These <br />activities are conducted in between calls for service and other self initiated <br />activities. Personal observation of patrol activities indicates this is a significant <br />function of patrol and is not taken lightly. <br />Page 29 <br />