NCJ Number
214543
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 33 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2006 Pages: 94,96-98,100,103
Date Published
April 2006
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article describes how to conduct a comparative staffing analysis to determine the staffing requirements of law enforcement agencies.
Abstract
Police staffing has historically been a touchy subject involving tension between citizens who want more police on the street and policy makers who determine police budgets. In order to arrive at the minimum number of patrol officers needed for each police shift, it is important to conduct a detailed analysis based on historical calls for service data. This article describes the comparative staffing analysis, which is designed to calculate the best use of existing resources. A comparative staffing analysis begins with data collection, which involves the number of calls for service received during the study period or within the geographic region, depending on the scope of the analysis. The call data should be categorized as emergency, urgent, or routine/non-urgent and should be sorted by day of the week and by time of the call. Next, the analysis requires determining the average time spent by officers on each of the call types, which is regarded as one of the most difficult aspects of a staffing analysis. Three methods of calculating the average time spent per call are described, followed by a discussion of how to calculate the impact of the workload on staffing needs. Once the workload levels have been calculated and current staffing levels have been identified, police managers can compare staffing plans with the goal of finding the scheduling arrangement that best levels out the workload. Although time consuming, the comparative staffing analysis method offers a wealth of information that can be used to provide the best service possible to the community. Tables, chart