A Press for the Planet: Journalism in the face of the Environmental Crisis
CSPD Staffing
1. PATROL ALLOCATION STUDY
Tim Freesmeyer - Etico Solutions, Inc.
Presented: April 11, 2019
College Station Police Department
2. Project Scope
What is an appropriate staffing level
for the Patrol Division?
Are the current patrol beat
configurations effective and/or
efficient?
Can the existing work schedule be
improved to increase operational
efficiency?
What is an appropriate staffing level
for the Criminal Investigations
Division?
What is an appropriate staffing level
for Training & Recruiting?
3. Patrol Staffing
Patrol staffing is based on:
Historical workload data (CAD)
Annual frequency of various call types
Average time spent per call
Ancillary requirements per call (report writing,
follow-ups, court, etc.)
Leave, exceptions, and overtime data.
Patrol staffing is NOT based on:
National averages,
Benchmarking practices with other agencies,
or
Officers per 1,000 population.
4. Total Patrol Staff
On Duty
Officers Per Day
Shift Relief
Factor
Average Time Off
Patrol
Shift
Lengt
h
Regularly
Scheduled Days Off
Benefit Days Off
Non-Patrol Days
Net Comp Time Use
Total Units
Per Day
Officers per
Unit
Minimum
Units per Day
Total Patrol
Workload
Shift
Length
Admin
Time Per
Shift
Performance
Factor
Reactive Minutes
per Hour (MR)
Total Reactive
Workload
Performance
Units per Day
Availability Workload
5. Reactive / Proactive Time
Reactive: MR
Calls for Service
Service Requests
On-View Criminal
activities
Directed Patrols
Determined from CAD
data
Proactive: MP
Extra Patrols
Area Checks
Non-Criminal Traffic Stops
Community Policing
Administrative Time
Reactive
30 Minutes
Proactive
30 Minutes
Average Patrol
Hour
7. Patrol Interval
Also referred to as “Officer Presence” or
“Visibility”
By definition: “The average time it takes
for all units on proactive time to randomly
patrol every street in the jurisdiction.”
A second definition: “The average time a
stranded motorist will have to wait for a
unit to come by while on random patrol on
proactive time.”
As MR increases, the patrol interval
increases exponentially.
8. Probability of Saturation
By definition: “The probability that when
the next call-for-service arrives, all patrol
units will be busy.”
Once saturation has occurred, incoming
calls will either be held in a queue
(stacked), or officers will be pre-empted
from lower priority calls.
Once saturated, performance only gets
worse. “You cannot dig yourself out of a
hole!”
As MR increases, the probability of
9. Cross-Beat Dispatching
By definition: “Dispatching a unit out of
their assigned beat to handle reactive
workload in another officer’s assigned
beat.”
Typically only used with high priority calls
Opens a domino-effect of performance
loss
Increases response times on high priority
calls
Decreases officer and citizen safety as officers
are driving longer distances with lights and
sirens.
Reduces the likelihood of timely follow-up by
10. Total Staff Size for Patrol
• To staff the 12 hour shifts with an MR of 30 mins:
• 25.29 units would need to be fielded per day
• 61.97 total officers would have to be on staff
• To staff the 10 hour shifts with an MR of 30 mins:
• 9.93 units would need to be fielded per day
• 21.35 total officers would have to be on staff
• Total staff for 30/30 split: 83.32 employees
• At the time of the report, patrol was staffed with 67
patrol officers and 8 sergeants.
12. Project Scope
Are the current patrol beat
configurations effective and/or
efficient?
Can the existing work schedule be
improved to increase operational
efficiency?
What is an appropriate staffing level
for the Criminal Investigations
Division?
What is an appropriate staffing level
for Training & Recruiting?
13. Beat Configuration
Are the current district configurations effective
and/or efficient?
Is the workload equitable among the existing
eight beats?
Is an 8 beat plan conducive to future
deployment options?
15. 12-Beat Design
Based on the % of reactive time occurring per
district.
Beat Configuration
Beat
Reactive
Hours
% reactive
hours
Area 1 6,070 8.51%
Area 2 5,991 8.40%
Area 3 5,890 8.25%
Area 4 5,986 8.39%
Area 5 6,037 8.46%
Area 6 6,168 8.64%
Area 7 5,788 8.11%
Area 8 5,830 8.17%
Area 9 5,899 8.27%
Area 10 5,837 8.18%
Area 11 5,950 8.34%
Area 12 5,906 8.28%
CSPD 6,877
Total 78,229 100.00%
17. Project Scope
Can the existing work schedule be
improved to increase operational
efficiency?
What is an appropriate staffing level
for the Criminal Investigations
Division?
What is an appropriate staffing level
for Training & Recruiting?
18. Resource Deployment
Can the existing work
schedule be improved
to increase
operational efficiency?
Are better alternatives
available to improve:
Service Delivery
Quality of Service
Workload Equity
Quality of Life
20. Benefits of Schedule
Efficiency
Reduce the need for overtime
Reduce Probability of Saturation
Reduce Cross-beat Dispatching
Improve response times
Improve officer/citizen safety
Reduce Patrol Intervals
Equalize workload for officers
Equalize opportunity for leave time
22. Schedule Options
Four alternative schedule recommendations
were offered to improve performance
Redistributing officers among shifts
Redistributing officers and modifying start times
Distributing 10-hour days off throughout the
week
Adopting a new schedule
These were offered as suggestions but their
benefits must be weighed against other
organizational circumstances. A theoretical
increase in efficiency may not be seen if the
change is not accepted by the patrol staff.
23. Project Scope
What is an appropriate staffing level
for the Criminal Investigations
Division?
What is an appropriate staffing level
for Training & Recruiting?
24. Benchmark Comparisons
Since investigators are not CAD driven,
only a fraction of their workload appears
in CAD.
In the absence of a workload database,
the next option is to benchmark with other
agencies.
A group of 29 agencies across the country
have already compiled annual
benchmarking reports that can be used
for this study
25. Section A - Demographics 2
Fremont, CA
Cary, NC
Edmond, OK
Coral Springs, FL
Olathe,
KS
Overland Park, KS
Norman, OK
Broken Arrow,
OK
FT Collins, CO
Boulder, CO
Boca Raton, FL
Bellevue, WA
Plano, TX
Irving,
TX
Garland,
TX
Cedar Rapids, IA
Richardson, TX
Lincoln, NE
Naperville,
IL
Benchmark Cities - 2017
A Coalition for Mutual Support
Chula Vista, CA
Chesapeake, VA
Springfield,
MO
Boise, ID
Lawrence,
KS
Henderson, NV
Columbia, MO
Grand Prairie,
TX
Peoria, AZ
Carlsbad, CA
26. Benchmark Comparisons
The most reliable metrics to use for
estimating CID staffing were:
Total authorized staff, and
Total first responders
Both metrics showed an correlation
coefficient of greater than .8 indicating the
results were reliable
29. Benchmark Comparisons
Both metrics indicated a need for 19
investigators for the College Station PD.
This result was based on the number of
first responders resulting from the patrol
study and the agency’s total authorized
staff at the time of this report
The need for additional staff based on
benchmarking is consistent with the
historical metric analysis and the time
tracking snapshot.
31. Training & Recruiting
At the time of the study report, the division
contained 6 sworn personnel and 3 civilians.
The division had previously set an internal
goal of accomplishing 70% of all
backgrounds and 70% of all instructor hours
from within the division.
The best the division has reached is 59%
and 65% respectively.
“Borrowed” employees are likely to carry a
switching costs which could be hurting
efficiency.
32. Training & Recruiting
Based on the need for outside assistance on
a continuous basis and the upcoming growth
of the organization, additional resources
appear to be warranted.
An additional police assistant and an
additional training officer would reduce the
reliance on other divisions within the
department and reduce potential switching
costs.
