22 - POLICE DEPARTMENT STAFFING AND OPERATIONSItem No. 22
memorandum
TO: City Council
John Godwin, City Manager
FROM: Bob Hundley, Chief of Police
SUBJECT: POLICE DEPARTMENT STAFFING AND OPERATIONS
DATE: January 20, 2016
BACKGROUND: At the June 15th 2015 Council meeting, Council Member Plata and Mayor
Hashmi inquired about the morale of officers, retention of officers and procedures in place in the
operation of the police department. Suggestions for improvement in certain areas were made.
STATUS OF ISSUE: First and foremost, it is appreciated that the council has genuine interest
and concern about the public safety of the city and the police department. Law Enforcement in
general is in transition at this time, looking for better methods of not only providing safety for
our citizens but also providing service in more of a guardianship role. I think that the criticisms
of police officers around the country has had an effect on overall morale but at the same time,
local support of our officers has been overwhelming and appreciated.
So what have we done since the June meeting?
With the adoption of the 2015/2016 city budget, an increase in salary for officers was
appreciated and needed. This increase has helped the officer's morale. I think it is very important
for council to know two former officers have returned to the department. These officers left for
DFW area police agencies and the salary increase is one of the reasons we were able to attract
them back home. By hiring these officers, there was an immediate impact to staffing as there
was no lengthy training time needed.
As officers are being hired and completing training, some of the short-handed shifts are getting
some relief, but not all.
We are currently operating with seven officer positions not available for full duty. Our present
staffing is detailed below:
• 3 Recruits in the basic police academy expected to graduate in April.
• 2 Officers are in the Field Training Program with one completing training by mid -March
and the other by May.
• 2 Officers are still on light duty for work related injuries.
We continue to recruit minority candidates and women to be more reflective of our community.
In a force of 60 officers, we have 4 Hispanics, 3 African Americans and only 1 female. Our
outreach for minority recruitment involves local community leaders and churches. We have sent
recruiters to college campuses and job fairs in other cities. We do not do well as we are in direct
competition with agencies with higher salaries.
With probationary officers completing training recently, the staffing of our patrol division has
made the filling of positions in the department. One Lieutenant was moved to the vacant
Professional Standards office and 2 officers have been moved to the Criminal Investigation
Division with one of those being assigned to drug investigations only.
It is important to note that minimum staffing in uniform patrol has to be a priority. We staff for
historical call load and these minimums are needed for appropriate response and officer safety.
As more of these officers become available for full duty, officers will be rotated in one position
in the Criminal Investigation Division.
Over the last several months, we have experimented with a different method of officers
volunteering for off -duty work each month. As you remember our original procedure was
allowing officers to sign by department seniority and up to 4 jobs monthly.
What we tried:
Signing by seniority, but signing for only one job and after all present had an
opportunity to choose, repeating the process.
Drawing a lottery number for first, second, etc. position to sign, limited to four
jobs.
Signing by seniority, but signing for only two jobs and after all present had an
opportunity to choose, repeating the process.
The lottery method was probably the `fairest' of all the methods we experimented with. It
presented a problem in that several of the officers who would have had seniority under the old
method, complained about their seniority now not counting for anything. These were not staff
officers but those officers in the `middle' of the pack so to speak. Allowing to sign for only one
job and repeating the process took a long time.
At the end of the various signing processes used, off -duty jobs were still available and more
concerning were the details posted for OT needed by the department, were left unfilled if not for
some of the command staff officers. The January 2016 posting contained 56 opportunities for
off -duty jobs. Of the 56 positions, 8 were not signed for. 3 positions were signed for by two
command staff officers. 4 positions were signed for by officers with rank who were not
command staff.
The department operates under Civil Service laws. Civil service law is based on seniority and is
at the core of all personnel decisions in the department. It is my belief that seniority matters as
well in the selection of off -duty work. I have decided to change our method of signing for off -
duty jobs to the third process we tried, signing by seniority still, but only allowing 2 positions in
a month to be signed for and allowing the next officer to sign. This has resulted in more
opportunities for those officers with less rank.
Quarterly statistics and activity reports of the department are being shared with council. We are
closing out the year end stats and those final stats will be coming in February. Our call load
decreased for the third consecutive year and preliminary statistics include a modest 2.3%
decrease in overall crime.
To increase officer participation in the path of the department, we are opening training
opportunities for officers as instructors. Officers have been selected and attended certification
training for emergency and regular driving. We have shifted responsibilities in firearms training,
we are in the process of creating a new wellness program which will have a cadre of instructors.
We are trying to provide additional opportunities of interest for our officers and at the same time,
making them more proficient in their skills.
Other changes ongoing in the department is to move armed officers out of administrative
positions and task those duties to civilian personnel, freeing up those positions to be more
involved with our citizens.
There is no static position for the department. We will continue to evolve and provide the best
service to the community while taking the best care of our employees while we get there.
BUDGET: There is no impact to the budget.
RECOMMENDATION: Discussion Item