HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/26/2005, 2 - PRELIMINARY 2005-07 FINANCIAL PLAN Mating Date
Aicouncil 5-26&5-3t-05
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CITY OF S-AN LUIS OBISPO
FROM: Ken Hampian, City Administrative Officer
Bill Statler, Director of Finance & Information Technology
SUBJECT: PRELIMINARY 2005-07 FINANCIAL PLAN
CAO RECOMMENDATION
Review and consider the Preliminary Financial Plan for 2005-07 at the budget workshops
scheduled for May 26 and 31, 2005.
DISCUSSION
Enclosed for your review and information in preparing for the May 26 and 31 budget workshops
are the following three documents:
1. Preliminary Financial Plan. This includes:
a. The budget message from the CAO highlighting key issues facing us (Section A)
b. Policies and objectives, including work programs for major City goals (Section B)
c. Simple graphics and charts summarizing the City's budget (Section C)
d. Operating programs (Section D)
e. Summary of capital improvement plan (CIP) projects and funding sources (Section E)
f. Debt service requirements (Section F)
g. Changes in financial position for.each of the City's operating.funds (Section G)
h. Financial and statistical tables (Section H)
i. Budget reference materials(Section I)
2. Appendix A: Significant Operating Program These are intended to be used as
Changes. This Appendix provides additional supplemental resources in the
supporting documentation for each of the event that Council members have
significant operating program changes proposed in questions on a program or project
the Preliminary Financial Plan. An overview is as they review the Preliminary
included in the Appendix that further describes its Financial Plan. In short, while the
purpose, organization and content. Council may to choose to read
the Appendices from "cover-to-
3. Appendix B• Capital Improvement Plan cover," this same information is
Projects. This Appendix provides supporting summarized in the Preliminary
documentation for each of the CIP projects Financial Plan.
proposed in the Preliminary Financial Plan. An - - -
overview is included in the Appendix that further describes its purpose, organization and
content.
The May 26 and 31 workshops are the first of .several study sessions and public hearings
scheduled to review the Preliminary Financial Plan. One of the fundamental purposes of these
i
Preliminary 2005-07 Financial Plan Page 2.
workshops is to review these documents with the Council in some depth. Accordingly, we do
not anticipate that the Council will have reviewed all of this material in detail by the May 26
workshop.
Best Place to Start. The Budget Message and Financial Highlights (starting on page A-1) are
recommended as a good starting point in reviewing the Preliminary Financial Plan and in
preparing for the May 26 workshop. It has been written with the goal in-mind of discussing all
of the key issues reflected in the Preliminary Financial Plan in a concise but comprehensive
manner.
Focus of the May 26 and 31 Workshops. As summarized below, the primary focus of these
two workshops will be on General Fund programs and projects; a separate public hearing has
been scheduled for June 2, 2005, to review enterprise fund programs, projects, revenues and
rates.
May 26 Budget Workshop
1. Overview of key budget issues, strategies and fiscal outlook.
2. Fiscal policies and major City goals..
3. General Fund revenues: key assumptions and recommended new revenues.
4. General Fund operating programs.
May 31 Budget Workshop
5. Continued review of General Fund operating programs, if needed.
6. General Fund CIP projects (and other non-enterprise fund projects)..
7. Follow-up direction from the Council for subsequent workshops and hearings.
Remaining Budget Review Schedule
The following dates have been scheduled for review and adoption of the 2003-05 Financial Plan:
Council Budget Review Schedule: Remaining Steps
May 26 Preliminary Financial Plan review; General fund operating programs
May 31 Continued review; General Fund CIP and other non-enterprise fund projects
June 2 Enterprise fund programs,projects,revenues and rates
June 7 Continued Preliminary Financial Plan review
June 21 Continued review and adoption of the Financial Plan
Major City Goals and Other Council Objectives
Consistent with Council priorities and direction, all efforts have been made to integrate the
results of the Council's goal-setting process into the Preliminary Financial Plan. The way this
has been accomplished is discussed at some length in the Budget Message (beginning on page A-
1) and in the Policies and Objectives section (in the "Overview" beginning on page B-3).
a -�
t
Preliminary 2005-07 Financial Plan Page 3
As discussed in the Budget Message, all eight of the Major City Goals set by the Council are
reflected in the Preliminary Financial Plan based on the work programs approved by the Council
on April 19, 2005. The Budget Message also discusses how the "Other Council Objectives" are
reflected in the Preliminary Financial Plan (in short, all of these are reflected in some fashion as
well).
ENCLOSURES
1. Preliminary Financial Plan
2. Appendix A: Significant Operating Program Changes
3. Appendix B Capital Improvement Plan Projects
G:Budget Folders/Financial Plans/2005-07 Financial Plan//Preliminary Financial Plan/Agenda ReportYPreliminary Financial Plan
�2-3
RED FILE
MEETING AGENDA
DATE 0-2 ITEM #_02_
council memoRAnoum -
May 23, 2005
TO: City Council
FROM: Ken Hampian, City Administrative Officer
Bill Statler,Director of Finance & Information Technology
SUBJECT: CORRECTED PAGE: PRELIMINARY 2005-07 FINANCIAL PLAN
Attached is a corrected page (A-7) of the Budget Message in the Preliminary 2005-07 Financial
Plan. While the page in the printed document correctly shows that there will be 10 regular
position reductions in the General Fund, and that four of these will be in the Police Department,
the type of positions reduced within the Police Department is incorrectly shown. Instead of three
police officers, it should show two police officers and one maintenance worker, as reflected in
the corrected page.
All other regular position reductions are correctly shown on page A-7. Please call us if you have
any questions concerning this correction.
Co
COUN IL CDD DIR
( :1 CAO L] FIN DIR
ACAO C FIRE CHIEF
I 1 ATTORNEY ❑ RW DIR
I i CLERK/ORIG ❑ POLICE CHF
[ SPT ' EADS ❑ REC DIR
_7 J/• `D a UTIL DIR
L 1 _�i13 ❑ HR DIR
O
eraling Budget Reduction Summa 3. "Freezing" the Biologist position and partially
backfilling this position with part-time staffing.
FTE's' Costs
Council&City Admin 86,600 This means that we will be eliminating 10 General
City Attorney 0.2 10,000 Fund regular positions,summarized as follows:
City Clerk 29,400
Human Resources 42,500
ReductionsGeneral Fund Regular Position
Finance& IT 1.5 143,500 Department Position FTE's
Community Dev 1.0 56.700 Finance&IT Accounting Asst 1.0
Parks&Recreation 1.2 66,800 Community Dev Administrative Asst 1.0
Public Works 1.0 132,700 Public Works Project Coordinator 1.0
Police 2.0 163,800 Police Police Officer 2.0
Fire 0.3 9,400 Police Lieutenant 1.0
Total 7.2 741,400 Maintenance Worker 1.0
• Full-time equivalent employees. Fire Firefighter 3.0_.
Total 10.0
Percentage Reductions
— — However, none of these reductions will result in
City Clerk regular staff lay-offs, based on current vacancies
Finance&IT
and anticipated retirements.
I �
Council&Admin Operating Program Increases
I I
Human Resources
Given our cost reductions, we obviously tried to
City Attorney hold the line on any operating cost increases (which
Community Dev only compound our cost reduction needs). However,
in some areas this simply could not be avoided.
Parks&Recreation These are detailed in Appendix A. The following
Public.Works highlights the most significant of these:
Police 1. Maintaining the newly-constructed Damon-
Fire Garcia sports fields will cost $273,400 in 2005-
06 and$260,900 in 2006-07.
0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7%
2. Updating the cost of services study to ensure
that our service charges continue to be consistent
As reflected above, our "core" line operating with adopted recovery policies and goals since
departments– Public Works, Police and Fire – will we last took a comprehensive look at these six
see the lowest cuts on a percentage basis. years ago,will cost$47,500 in 2005-06.
3. Maintaining the new offices at 919 Palm will
The underlying detail for these reductions, including cost $41,900 in 2005-06 (partial year) and
their service impacts, is provided in a supplemental $83,900 in 2006-07(full year of operations).
supporting document to the Financial Plan:
Appendix A: Significant Operating Program 4. Fleet fuel costs are projected to increase by
$47,000 annually.
5. Offsetting increased workers' compensation
In addition to these reductions, we are also costs in our janitorial service contracts will cost
recommending: $21,900 annually.
1. Eliminating the two sworn police positions Enterprise Fund Participation in this Process
"frozen"in 2003-05.
2. Eliminating three frozen firefighter positions. The enterprise funds—water, sewer, parking, transit
and golf—account for almost 50% of the City's
A-7
A-&
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' SAN LUIS OBISPO POLICE OFFICERS' ASSOCIATION
'., Post Office Bos 1251 • San Luis Obispo, Ca 93406
(805) 441-3256* Fax(805)461-5773
May 26, 2005
M�MOI��#N®1JM _
To: Honorable Mayor Romero and City Council
1V`-.,.AY 100
From: Dale E. Strobridge, President
SLLO CITY COUNCIL
Subject. Preliminary 2005-07 Financial Plan
CC: Ken Hampian, CAO, Deborah Linden, Chief of Police
The Association wishes to present to you alternatives to the CAO's budget reduction
recommendations contained in the referenced financial plan.
Association representatives met during a number of occasions these past months with police
management officials on an ad hoc budget reduction committee. The purpose of such was
to produce a list of budget reduction items that would meet a proposed goal of
approximately 4.9%of the police department-operating budget.
There remains significant disagreement between management and the Association's point of
view on preserving essential public safety services. Essential public safety services are
defined in this instance as the ability to deliver emergency first responder police officers to
the scenes of critical incidents.
The Association proposed the following recommendations to the CAD's 4.9%budget
reduction request:
Convert Building Maintenance and Janitorial to contract services
Fleet reduction,defer one police motorcycle purchase
➢ Narcotic Task Force Administrative Assistant position funded with asset
forfeiture monies.
➢ Administrative Sergeant converted to civilian position
➢ Administrative Captain converted to civilian manager position
D.A.R.E. officer position to 'h time w/o benefits
➢ Neighborhood Services Manager position eliminated
Since that recommendation was submitted on May, 4,2005;the CAO announced that the
budget reduction for the police department would be 1:5%of the operating budget. The
recommended impact, one "frozen"and one vacant police officer position would be
eliminated.
Memorandum
May 26,2005 —
Mayor and City Council
Page 2
The Association respectfully disagrees with the CAD's recommendation. Elimination of
police officer positions and the resulting safety impacts for our police officers sets a
dangerous precedent. There are other alternatives that should first be considered.
During the post 1992-93 budget reductions, then Chief of Police Gardiner requested an
audit and management study of the police department. A representative of the Commission
on Peace Officer Standards and Training performed an analysis, which was completed
March 10, 1995. The Association also analyzed the study and responded to the findings. I
have included relevant portions of the POST report and the Association recommendations
for your review.
Pages 5—6 of the POST report refer to "Alternatives to the Organization Design." The
organization structure in 1995 then as now provided for two Captains. One in operations,
the second in administration. The POST evaluator strained to justify the administrative
captain and did so only by re-structuring the organization:
We find it difficult to juste the under-utilization of a peace offz cer executive
position to manage 19 employees in the Administrative Services Bureau, only one.
of whom—the training sergeant—is a peace officer."
The department did eventually re-organize and realigned the investigations bureau to the
purview of the administrative captain.
The current incumbent administrative captain will retire effective July 2005. The
incumbent has for the most part, been restricted to non-uniform duties as the result of
sustaining severe injuries from an off duty traffic accident. The City has been privileged to
have the benefit of his continued service. Since the incumbent is to retire, we believe the
City would be remiss in not re-evaluating the position to that of civilian status.
It is difficult in the Association's analysis to justify a sworn peace officer position in an
administrative role, particularly with the increase safety retirement costs from that of a
civilian.
There are many retired law enforcement professionals as well as business professionals
who are well qualified to recruit for this position at a substantially lower total
compensation.
Converting this position to civilian status will immediately realize a 17.60% savings from
the safety retirement rate. The current total compensation for the position is $166, 580.
The Association proposed civilian replacement would realize an annual savings of$34,000
for fiscal 2005-06 and nearly$36,000 for 2006-07.
Pages 13 - 15 of the POST report refer to the"Training Unit." A police sergeant occupies
the position then as now. The recommendation in 1995 that we believe is as prudent as in
2005 was:
Memorandum
May 26,2005
Mayor and Cay CoimcH
Page 3
"Although, as we have noted there are few opportunities in a small department for
peace officers to develop special skills, the cost differential between assigning a
supervisory peace officer and a non peace officer to this function is great and
therefore must also be given consideration. "
"We recommend the Training Sergeant position be eliminated and replaced by a
non peace officer Training Coordinator position. We recommend this position be
eliminated through attrition (i.e., when a sergeant's position becomes vacant).
Converting this position to civilian non-sworn status will also immediately realize a
17.60% savings from the safety retirement rate. The current total compensation for the
position is $132,740. The Association proposed civilian replacement would realize an
annual savings of$44,000 for fiscal 2005-06 and nearly$47,000 for 2006-07..
Currently,the City provides one police officer and an administrative assistant to the
County Narcotics Task Force(NTF). The positions total compensation of$58,743 is
funded entirely by the City. A budget committee recommendation was made to recoup the
positions allocated funding from asset forfeitures that NTF produces. The Cities of San
Luis Obispo, Arroyo Grande, Paso Robles,Atascadero and Morro Bay currently provide
one officer each to the NTF. The City of Morro Bay has reduced their officer to %-time
participation and will eliminate the position July 2005. CHP provides one officer and the
District Attorney provides two Investigators and one support clerk.
During the budget crisis of 1922-93, the equivalent of the Neighborhood Services Manager
was eliminated. The only FTE eliminated in the police department during that time period.
While the Association recognizes the potential objections from neighborhood groups, we
believe that a current Master Police Officer or Police Sergeant could perform those duties
as ancillary duties to their current position. The elimination of first responder police
officer positions should not be subordinated to non-emergency civilian positions in our
view, particularly if provisions are provided to continue community outreach. The net
savings for 2005-06 would realize $98,000 and$103,000 in 2006-07.
The Association's revised budget reduction recommendations are as follows:
FY 2005-06 FY2006-07
➢ Vehicle Tow Release Fee $ 34,300 $42,500
➢ False Alarm Fees $45,800 $ 45,800
➢ Cost Recovery Collision Investigations $ 82,300 $ 82,300
➢ Cost Recovery for Parking Enforcement $ 30,000 $ 30,300
➢ Building Maintenance/Janitorial $ 25,000 $ 25,000
➢ Fleet Reduction—Motorcycle $ 12,000 $ 12,000
➢ NTF position cost recovery $ 58,743 $ 62,268
➢ Admin. Sgt. converted to civilian $ 43,718 $ 46,665
➢ Admin Capt. converted to Civilian $ 33,749 $ 35,605
➢ Neighborhood Servs. Manager eliminated $ 97,957 $103,345
$4639567 $485,783
Memorandum
May 26,2005
Mayor and City Council
Page 4
The Association recommendations of converting the Administrative Sergeant and Captain
to civilian status,position reimbursement for the NTF position and elimination of the
Neighborhood Services Manager and reassignment of duties to a sworn officer,would
realize a savings of$234,167 and save both police officer positions that are recommended
to be eliminated. These recommendations are made possible by retirements and would
result in only one civilian FTE being eliminated.
These recommendations if implemented would require a realignment of the Investigations,
Narcotic Task Force, and SORT divisions to the Operations Bureau. Similar command
structure exists to allow effective assimilation by the Operations Captain. The Operations
Captain chain of command would then flow to four lieutenants, which is the industry
standard minimum number of subordinates. SNAP personnel could be assigned to either
the Downtown unit or Traffic unit, each staffed by a police sergeant and three officers.
Each sergeant is under utilized to the ratio of assigned subordinates. Neighborhood
services duties could be assigned to the remaining police sergeant as ancillary duties.
If as Mr. Statler suggests our budget situation becomes more serious in 2006107,the
Associations recommendations are prudent considering the growing concern on revenue
downturns.These recommendations are imaginative,creative and mitigate the loss of
emergency first responder police officers. Given the extra duties officers are now expected
to assume with noise abatement, alcohol enforcement, DUI checkpoints and accident
investigations, fewer available police officers translates into slower emergency response,
long time delays on public service calls and officer safety issues.
Our officers now are burdened with excessive overtime requirements and two events per
year requiring maximum deployment, cancelled vacations and holidays with twelve hour
on and twelve hour off schedules during Mardi Gras and Cal Poly open house.
Administrations reciprocal agreements with allied agencies who supplied officers during
the Mardi Gras event will further require additional overtime requirements to provide
officers to the Cities of Santa Maria, Pismo Beach, Morro Bay,Arroyo Grande and County
during their respective special events.
In closing, on behalf of the men and women of the Police Officers' Association, I
respectfully ask that you fully consider these recommendations during your deliberations
on the proposed budget cuts. Thank you.
Very y yob,
Dale E. Strobridge
Enclosures: 1995 Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training
1995 SLOPOA Recommendations to the POST report
May 4, 2005 POA 4.9%budget reduction recommendation/email
Page 1 of 1
Subj: SLOPOA 05-07 Operating Cost Reduction Recommendations
Date: 5/4/2005 3:51:47 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: SLOPOA
To: khampian@slocity.org
CC: DLinden slocity.org, SLICHTYA-slocity.org, BSIMSCcD-slocity.org, criedel(ftlocity.org,VNUNEZ@slocity.oro
Ken:
The attached spreadsheet of reduction options is the POA recommendations to the overall cut reduction requested by you.
While the POA shares some of the Chiefs views on her recommendations, we believe there are other altematives available to
"skin this cat"while protecting essential public safety services by minimizing reductions of first responders for our community.
In summary,.the following are the recommended options:
• Convert Building Maintenance and Janitorial to contract services.
• Fleet reduction, defer one police motorcycle purchase.
• Fund NTF Administrative Assistant with asset forfeiture monies.
• Convert Administrative Sergeant to equivalent civilian position
• Convert Administrative Captain to equivalent civilian manager position
• Convert D.A.R.E officer position to 1/2 time w/o benefits.
• Eliminate Neighborhood Services Manager
As you will note,the POA cut recommendations area few dollars less for 2005-06 by approximately$7,000 and for 2006-07
$1,800, however they exceed the 4.9%target level of$521,100.
Only 2.5 full time positions would be lost as opposed to the Chiefs 4.0. One vacant police officer position would be filled by the
reduction in rank of one police sergeant, the second remaining position would be filled by the former full time D.A.R.E. officer.
The loss of a full time D.A.R.E. police officer would be funded 1/2 time from the indicated savings. The advantage to this
proposal is no loss of first responder police officer positions while the administrative positions are filled with a civilian
counterpart and extra duties of the Neighborhood Services Manager are assumed by staff. The equivalent of the NSM was the
only position eliminated during the 1992-93 fiscal crisis.
It was unfortunate that I misunderstood your timeline for POA input. Prior to your final recommendations to Council, POA
representatives would like an opportunity to meet and discuss these issues and recommendations with you. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Dale
San Luis Obispo Police Officers'Association
Dale E. Strobridge, President
P.O. Box 1251
San Luis Obispo, CA 93406-1251
Telephone (805) 441-3256
FAX (805) 461-773
Thursday, May 26, 2005 America Online: SLOPOA
6LOPOA 2005-07 Operating Cost Reduction Options Recono..tendations
May 41 2005
Regular
Description Service bripact Staffing 2005-06 1 2006-07
POLICE REVENUES
Vehicle Tow Release Fee. Cost recovery Will increase police staff time dedicated to N/A 34,300 42,500
for police initiated vehicle tows. Gross cost accepting and processing the release fee.
recovery is$54,300 in 2005-06 and$62,500
in 2006-07 of this$20,000 annually has
already been figured into Bill's projections
prior to determining the gap. The net
revenue is reflected,which shows a 20%
increase in 2006-07 which will be
sustainable.
False Alarm Fees. Adding a fee for the 3`s None. N/A 45,800 45,800
false alarm in a 12-month period and
increasing the false alarm fee for the 71°and
subsequent false alarm in a 12-month period
to partially off-set the cost of police
resources responding to the false alarms.
The annual revenue is net of the 20%that
will go to the third party alarm-billing
agency,Municipal Alarm
Cost Recovery for Property Damage Only We are currently providing this service for N/A 82,300 82,300
Collision Investigations. Adding a fee for no fee. Failure to implement this cost
cost recovery of officer time for property recovery fee could result in the PD having to
damage only collision investigations. We discontinue this service,which has a greater
currently conduct these investigations as a adverse impact on parties involved in
courtesy to the parties involved. We are not collisions.
mandated by law to do so. Most of the time
this fee will be paid by insurance
companies.
Cost Recovery for Parking Enforcement. None. N/A 30,000 30,700
This would transfer monies from the
Parking Fund to the Police Budget to
reimburse police time for parking
enforcement activities.
SUPPORT SERVICES
Building Maintenance and Janitorial. Reduction in the overall level of facility care 1.0 FTE 25,000 25,000
Converting the Building Maintenance and maintenance. Based on discussions
Worker salary and benefits to full-service with Public Works facility maintenance staff
contract janitorial services will results in a and Excel janitorial services impacts will be
net savings of$25,000 annually. The reasonably mitigated.
current position will become vacant prior to
July 2005 as a result of retirement.
TRAFFIC SAFETY
Fleet Reduction—Motorcycle. None. N/A 12,000 12,000
Eliminating one police motorcycle
scheduled for replacement in 06-07 at a cost
of$24,000. Continue agreement with POA
to"freeze"position until FY07.
ADMINISTRATION
Narcotics Task Force Administrative None. Adequate annual narcotic asset 58,743 62,268
Assistaut. Require NTF funding of position forfeitures are generated by NTF to fund this
from narcotic asset forfeitures, position. NTF sworn staffing will be
reduced by proposed elimination of Morro
Bay Police Officer.
SLOPOA 2005-07 Operating Cost Reduction Options Recornuiendations
May 4, 2005
Regular
Description Service Impact staffing 2005-06 2006-07
Administrative Sergeant. Converting this Minimal. Converting the position to civilian 43,718 46,665
position to civilian status will immediately status maintains the operational needs of the
realize a 17.601/o savings from the Safety Department in coordinating training,
Retirement rate. Converting to civilian permits,lodging coordination,recruitment
status is consistent with industry standards and background investigation coordination.
and the March 10,1995 POST report. Minimal background investigations are
Proposed total compensation salary and anticipated due to continuing budget freeze.
benefit benchmark of$89,022,reduced from Downside,loss of administrative career
current$132,740. opportunities for police sergeants.
Police Administrative Captain. Position Reorganization and restructuring of the 33,749 35,605
will become vacant due to retirement. department would be necessary.
Converting this position to civilian status Investigation Bureau would be moved from
will immediately realize a 17.60%savings Administration to Operations Bureau.
from the Safety Retirement rate. The March Command structure is in place with one
10, 1995 POST report strained to justify lieutenant and sergeant consistent with
peace officer status for this position. patrol division command organization. A
Proposed total compensation salary and civilian manager would supervise all civilian
benefit benchmark of$132,831,reduced employees.
from$166,580.
JUVENILE SERVICES
1/2 Time Police Officer Position(DARE Maintains essential functions of DARE 0.50 PTE 70,957 75,507
and Junior High School Resource Officer program. The Police Department
SRO). This position is responsible for continually receives extremely positive
conducting both the DARE program and for feedback about the DARE program from
providing school resource officer services at students,parents,school administrators and
the Junior High School as part of our focus community members. Continues a program
on at-risk youth. This position is currently with significant opportunity for positive
filled as a special assignment.Reduction to police contact with our young people
1/2 time position would be filled with including valuable substance abuse
reserve police officer w/o benefits. education. Continuing SRO services at the
Junior High School will continue our ability
to work with our most at-risk youth
population.
NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICES
Eliminate Neighborhood Services Eliminating the position would reduce some 1.0 FTE 97,957 103,345
Manager Position. Position will become opportunities for the City to be responsive to
vacant due to retirement.This option would neighborhood groups and issues.
completely eliminate the Neighborhood
Services Manager position. Redistribution of duties could be
accomplished.Increased workload of
remaining staff would be realized.
Neighborhood groups and associations
would likely significantly oppose total
elimination of this position.
TOTAL 2.50 FTE 534,524 561,690
G
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sF ` REPORT OF THE POST
MANAGEMENT STUDY OF THE
SAN LUIS OBISPO
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POLICE DEPARTMENT
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` ' " ' ON�PEACE OFFICER�STANtDARDS AND`TRAINIPIGf � s' � , �
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i ESTATE OF CALIFORNIA„
REPORT OF THE POST MANAGE' M=Y'QF THE
SAN LUIS OBISPO POLICE.D iAcR
TABLL. OF CONTENTS
I. METHODOLp6Y . . . . . . . . . . . .
II. OVERVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
III. ANALYSIS . . . . . . . . . : .. 5
ORGANISATION DESIGN r . 5
ALTERNATIVES TO THE ORGANIZATION-DESIGN . . . . . 5
Organizational Placeme t- of 600ponentUnits . 5
organization of the ' 'wa Bureaus : 5
Traffic Safety Unit - 7
Evidence/Property Unit . . . . • . 9
Records Division and 000makWations Division io
Rank Classifications and AsSAJ ULZ i . . . . . . 10
Captains . . . . . . . . . . . : . 10
Lieutenants . . 11
Patrol Division 11
Investigations Division .. •. 12
Sergeants and Non-Peace O€fidsr Supervisors 12
Patrol Division. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Training Unit . . . . . . t , 13
Support Services Manager , 15
WORKLOAD DISTRIBUTION, STAFFING AND PERSONNEL SING •M
Workload Distribution . . . . . . . . . c 1.7
Patrol Dispatching . . . . . . . . . 17
Data Elements that were Analyzed r 17
Response Performance . . . . . . . . , 19
Sector and Reporting District Analysis , 21
Staffing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Size of Patrol Force . . . . . . . . . . 22
Patrol Schedule . . . . . . . . 22
Personnel whose Activity was Analyzed . . . 23
Consumed Time, Administrative/Personal Time and
Unobligated Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
CFS Consumed Time vs. Actual Staff Time . . . . 25
Absentee Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Personnel Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
12-Plan Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Existing 12-Plan with Augmented Staffing Level 32
8-Plan Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
10-Plan Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
COMMUNITY EXPECTATIONS & THE SERVICE LEVEL . . . . 35
The Service Level . . . . . . . . 35
i
community Expectations
EVALUATING THE PERFORMANCE OF THE DEPARTMM-' Of 19.%
Evaluation of the Department's ManagpOpp'�*, 3
Evaluation of Department Operations- 38
Evaluation of Internal Issue 39
Evaluation of the Department's Interactfqn� ,g&,.M- the
Community . . . . . . . . . . . ... . 39-.
USE OF TECHNOLOGY . 3.9.-
The CAD/RMS System . . . . . . . . . . 39
Use of Tape Recorders for Dictated Reports 40
IV. SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS . . . . . . . .. . . . . 4.5
APPENDICES
Proposed 12-Plan Day Off Schedule . . . . . �pp end W- .. A
Priorities of Police Services . . . . . . .. . ..
San Luis Obispo P.D. opinion Survey . . . . . . . .. . k6pe*ndix d
Survey of Public Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . Appendik- D
"One-Write" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . Append :
REPORT OF THE POST MANAGE MT STUDY OF THE
SAN LUIS OBISPO POLICE DF.PARTMOd
This report summarizes the POST management study of 8& §an Luis
Obispo Police Department. The study focused on Organic-ation
Design, Workload Distribution, Staffing and Personnel Scheduling
in Patrol, Community Expectations, Performance Measurdf for
Patrol Personnel, and Use of Technology.
METHODOLOGY
We interviewed the chief, command officers, and indepefident unit
supervisors.
We conducted a patrol workload analysis, using a compi��dr-
generated database, and reviewed the capabilities of •the
Department's computer-aided-dispatch system.
We reviewed the Department's survey questionnaire, last used in
1989 to sample public opinion on the department's performance.
OVERVIEW OF THE DEPARTMENT
The Department is organized into two major organizational
components: Operations Services Bureau and Administrative
Services Bureau.
The bureaus and their sub-units are described below:
Operations services Bureau is commanded by a captain. This
bureau contains:
1. Patrol Division. This division is organized into two major
functions: the Patrol Day and Night Watches, and' the
Situation Oriented Response Team (SORT) .
The Patrol Day and Night Watches are staffed by four
lieutenants, four sergeants, 23 police officers and two
field service technicians.'
The SORT unit is staffed by one sergeant and three police
officers. it
of the SORT unit work ten hour`e per day,
four days per week. The unit is responsible for proactive
enforcement of special crime problems (e.g. , auto
The "authorized" complement of peace officers in patrol is 27; only 23
positions were filled during our survey.
1
burglaries, vandalism) . According to the SORT sergeant, the
unit also provides assistance to patrol units.
2. Traffic Safety Unit. This unit is staffed by one sergeant
and three police officers. Only two of the police officer
positions were filled at the time of our visits. The
officers are assigned motorcycles and are responsible for
traffic enforcement and investigation of traffic . collisions.
Generally, members of the unit work the same shift hours as
patrol day shift officers. Presently, days off of traffic
officers are arranged so that both officers work on
Wednesdays.
3. Investigations Division. This division, commanded by a
lieutenant, consists of five police officers assigned as
investigators. The division is organized in four sections:
A. One officer is assigned to the Crimes vs. Persons
Section.
B. Two officers are assigned to the Crimes vs. Property
section. One officer specializes in burglary
.investigations and one officer specializes in economic
crime investigations.
C. One officer is assigned to the Juvenile Section.
D. one officer is assigned to the Sexual Assault Section.
In addition, the Investigations Division contains:
A. One officer who handles the Department's Drug Awareness
Resistance Education (D.A.R.E. ) program.
B. One officer and one administrative secretary who are
assigned to the county-wide Narcotics Task Force (NTF) .
The NTF is supervised by the State Department of Justice
and is comprised of police officers from all cities
within San Luis Obispo County.
C. One non-peace officer evidence technician, who manages
the evidence and property function, and collects
evidence at some crime scenes.
Administrative Services Bureau is commanded by a captain.. This
bureau includes:
1. Records Division. The Records Division is staffed .by one
supervising clerk position and four records clerk positions.
2
The division processes records eight hours per day, seven
days per week.
2. Communications Division. The division is staffed with one
Communications Technician II position and ten dispatcher
positions. The division is responsible for police and fire
radio dispatching.
3. Support Services Unit. This unit is staffed by one non-
peace officer Support Services Manager position. The
support services manager is responsible for maintaining the
automated Computer-Aided-Dispatch system (CAD) and the
Records Management System (RMS) .
A. Custodian. The custodian performs janitorial work in
the facility, under the general supervision of the
Support Services Manager.
4. Training Unit. This unit is staffed by one sergeant
position. The unit coordinates all in-service training_
(except first aid) and manages the training records of all
employees.
A chart of the present organizational design is shown in Figure
1, on the next page.
3
ANALYSIS
ORGANIZATION DESIGN.
In general, the two-bureau organization structure is consistent
with principles of law enforcement organization and is comparable .
to other departments of the size of San Luis Obispo Police
Department.
Law enforcement agencies are usually organized by grouping
similar tasks and functions. Other elements that influence the
organization include time of service need, processes, methods and
clientele served. The basic structure is usually developed by
grouping similar tasks and functions, and arranging them in a
logical and consistent order.
Law enforcement agencies in general perform many of the same
tasks; however, there are many valid reasons for variations in
organizational structure. Such variations may be due, for
example, to size, complexity of tasks, and the need for
specialization. We know of no single organizational structure
which is suitable for all aggncies, nor a structure which will
forever remain suitable.
The "classic" organization by function result in a great
disparity between the number of personnel and functions presently
assigned to the operations Bureau (line functions) and those
assigned to the Administrative Services Bureau (staff function) .
We believe the responsibilities and workload of the two captains
are unbalanced. The Operations Bureau Captain manages the
activities of 51 employees -- five lieutenants, six sergeants, 36
police officers, two field service technicians, one
identification technician, and one administrative secretary. The
Administrative services Bureau captain manages the activity of 19
employees -- one sergeant (the training sergeant) , three non-
peace officer supervisors (the Records Supervisor, the
Communications Technician II and the Support Services Manager) ,
four records clerks, ten dispatchers and one custodian.
ALTERNATIVES TO THE ORGANIZATION DESIGN.
1. Organizational Placement of Component Units.
Organization of the two bureaus. We believe a better
balance of responsibilities and workload is achieved when
some responsibilities and organizational units now assigned
to the Operations Bureau are reassigned to the
Administrative Services Bureau. In some agencies in which
we have conducted studies, the imbalance has been corrected
5
by assigning the detective function to a bureau other than
Operations.
Balancing the responsibilities and workload of the two
captains is not the only issue to be considered, however.
Other issues include the desirability of both bureau
commanders having the same rank, to provide the flexibility
to periodically rotate the assignment of these managers.
The purpose of the rotation, of course., is to enhance and
increase the experience and capabilities of the managers and
provide the organization the benefit of varied perspectives
and experience.
In addition, the issue of maintaining career path opportuni-
ties in the department deserves serious consideration.
We learned that the incumbent captain of Administrative
Services Bureau is presently involved heavily in the
Department's defense against a federal lawsuit. For that
reason, additional management responsibilities imposed at
this time may constitute a significant burden. However, we
understand this situation is temporary.
We find it difficult to justify the under-utilization of a
peace officer executive position to manage 19 employees in
the Administrative Services Bureau, only one of whom -- the
training sergeant -- is a peace officers
However, simply eliminating the Administrative Services
Bureau captain position, and assigning the present duties to
the Operations Bureau captain presents other problems. (See
Rank Classifications and Assignments, page 10. )
In general, principles of organization suggest that
organizations be structured so that managers and supervisors
are responsible for several functions or persons. In this
way, the organization avoids "one-on-one" supervisory
relationships.
Eliminating the position would create just this structure
and, therefore, is not a satisfactory alternative.
We recommend the Investigations Division (including all the
component units) be assigned to the Administrative services
Bureau.
2 We recommend in this report that the training sergeant position be
civilianized.
6
Traffic Safety nit. The specialized traffic (motorcycle)
unit helps the Department achieve it'sgoals
ntovraffici
luirprdes bike
enforcement and safety. In addition,
trail patrol, special event coordination and support (e.g. ,
"COPELAND'S RUN," "MARDI GRAS") , makes presentations about
traffic safety, manages the bicycle safety program and
investigates traffic collisions. Within the Department, the
unit provides opportunities and incentives for career
enhancement, and improves recruitment and retention. .
The Chief of Police has expressed his commitment to a
specialized Traffic Unit as an appropriate use of resources,
based on the City's service population and activity, the
Department's authorized strength and the strongly expressed
desires of the community.
We examined records that describe the activities of the
Traffic Safety Unit. A memo indicates that 85% of the 11361
traffic collision investigations in 1993 were completed by
Traffic Unit officers..
We found that 828 citations for moving violations were
issued by uniformed officers during the period of our
analysis of the Department's patrol workload (September 1,
1993 through November 301 1993) .' Of this number, 214 (26%)
were issued by the two traffic officers. The other 614
citations were written by patrol officers. In the WORKLOAD
DISTRIBUTION, STAFFING AND PERSONNEL SCHEDULING portion of
rporomatethis report (see page 17) , we calculated that
d xius1Y
21 patrol officers worked during the survey pe
each patrol officer wrote 39.42 moving violation citations,
and each traffic officer wrote 107 moving violation
citations during the 91-day survey period. The average
number of moving violation citations written daily is: .42
citations per day for patrol officers and 2.74 citations per
day for traffic officers who worked during the survey
period.
We understand that in a relatively small agency there are
few opportunities for employees to develop special skills.
Nonetheless, we find little justification for maintaining
the Traf-fic Safety Unit as a separate organizational unit
when: (1) the patrol workload is high, as is the case in San
Luis Obispo;' and (2) the unit contains only two filled
positions. In any event, in an agency of this size it is
desirable, as a general rule, to have all field officers
3 (See WORKLOAD DISTRIBUTION, STAFFING AND PERSONNEL SCHEDULING, page 17. )
4 Ibid.
7
participate in traffic enforcement and traffic collision
investigation.
Unless the Department can augment the patrol force (by
filling its vacant police officer positions) , we recommend
the three traffic officer positions be reassigned (with
their motorcycles, if desired) to patrol shifts.
The following observations apply whether or not the traffic
officer positions are reassigned to patrol shifts:
a. Department policy is to assign Traffic Safety motorcycle
units to patrol calls for service "when necessary. " In
practice, motorcycle units are assigned to patrol calls
for service when patrol officers are unavailable.
b. Traffic officers should be assigned to respond to patrol
calls for service. During the time they-are not
answering calls, it may be appropriate, because of their
training and equipment, to direct their- activities to
traffic enforcement and collision investigation duties.
c. Any decision to assign patrol duties to an officer
equipped with a motorcycle should take into account the
limitations on patrol performance inherent in the use of
motorcycles (e.g. , transporting prisoners, carrying
equipment or evidence, and officer protection) .
d. We were advised that reported traffic collision
assignments are usually held for the traffic units. To
the degree that this practice exists, the response time
to collisions is increased. All police officers have
received basic training in traffic accident
investigation. Except for serious or complicated
collision investigations, dispatchers should make no
distinction between patrol officers and motorcycle
officers when assigning traffic collision
investigations.
If the Traffic Safety Unit is permanently assimilated in the
patrol force because the Department is unable to fill its
vacant patrol positions, there is no need for a fulltime
traffic unit supervisor.
We were advised that the Traffic Sergeant serves on a number
of committees (for example, Bicycle committee, Accident
Review Board, Special Events Committee) , attends meetings
5 The on-duty patrol lieutenant must authorize the use of traffic units to
respond to patrol calls for service.
8
with special groups (such as BIA, Traffic Engineer) , and
coordinates a number of programs (such as crossing Guard,
Green Pennant, and Pedestrian Safety) . These duties,
together with the special reports now prepared by the
Traffic Sergeant, can be assigned to the patrol commander,
who could delegate them to the appropriate watch .lieutenant.
If the Department must permanently assign the traffic
officers to Patrol Division because it is unable to fill its
vacant patrol officer positions, we recommend the Traffic
Safety Unit supervisor position be eliminated.
Evidence/Property Unit. In the POST Publication, "Managing
Property in Law Enforcement Agencies," we wrote "There are
compelling reasons -- which apply to all departments -- that
the responsibility for safeguarding and processing property
be assigned to a specific organizational unit which
functions primarily for that purpose. Thatunit usually is
placed organizationally in the support services bureau,
division, or section.
"Investigation or patrol personnel, who are involved in
collecting evidence in the field and who subsequently may
authorize release of these items, should not also be given
the responsibility to store or process evidence. The
storage by investigators of such items as narcotics or hit-
and-run related evidence should also be avoided.
Centralizing the control and storage of property, and
staffing the property unit with personnel, who are not
involved in operational tasks, are precautions that will
simplify control procedures and enhance the integrity of a
property system."`
POST has observed in other agencies that when the Evidence
and Property function is organizationally situated in the
investigative unit, the Property Custodian can be subject to
undue pressure from investigators in the unit to "take
shortcuts" in the booking or release of evidence or
property. We have been assured, however, that in San Luis
Obispo, evidentiary property is secure and only the evidence
technician has access to the property room.
We were also advised that non-evidentiary property is
handled differently than evidence (for example, non-
evidentiary property is booked and released by Patrol
Division Field Services Technicians) . We believe that all
6 "MANAGING PROPERTY IN LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES," commission on Peace
Officer Standards and Training, p.2.
9
property (evidence and non-evidence) should be processed in
the same manner and stored in the same facility. Property
Management is, after all, principally a storekeeping
function. For these reasons, we believe the orraniion
czatal
placement of the Property/Evidence Unit should be moved from
the. Investigations Division to the Records Division.
We recommend that the property function be assigned .as a
subordinate unit of the Records Division.
Records DivisionandCommunications Division. The
communications Division has been operating without a
supervisor for some time (that vacant position was filled
while this study was in progress) .
In addition, the Records Supervisor is presently responsible
for supervising only four records clerks. Further, because
of the high volume of dictated reports that must be
transcribed,' the records supervisor personally transcribes
reports.
When the Investigations Division is moved to the
Administrative Services Bureau and the Property and Evidence
Unit is moved to the Records Division, the Records and
Communication divisions and the Support Services Manager
function can be combined into a single division (Records and
Communications Division) , but only if the number of reports
transcribed is significantly reduced or eliminated.` A
single non-peace officer manager position is appropriate to
supervise the new division.
We recommend that both the Records and Communications
components be combined into one division (the Records V
Communications Division) under one supervisor, but only if
the number of reports transcribed is significantly reduced
or eliminated.
2 . Rank Classifications and Assicinments
Captains. Each of the two bureaus is commanded by a
captain. If the captain of operations Services Bureau is
responsible for Patrol Division, Traffic Safety Unit and
SORT Unit, and the captain of Administrative Services Bureau
is responsible for Investigations Division, Records &
Communications Division, Support Services Unit and Training
7 See "USE OF TECHNOLOGY," Use of Tape Recorders for Police Reports, pages
39-44 of this report.
g Ibid.
10
unit, the assignment of two peace officer managers is
appropriate to command the largest organizational
components.
We recommend that the Department continue to assign captains
as bureau commanders.
Lieutenants.
A. Patrol Division. The present assignment schedule
assigns a patrol watch commander (lieutenant) 24 hours
per day, six days per week.' A patrol field supervisor-
is also assigned 24 hours per day, six days per week.
All patrol lieutenants are assigned a "specialty."
Specialties include:
1) Report Review;
2) Noise Abatement;
3) Cost Recovery;
4) Background Investigations;
5) Civil Disaster;
6) Employee Recognition; and
7) Scheduling.
We believe that a watch commander (i.e. , a lieutenant)
position should be assigned to provide management
control and command presence on all shifts and days of
the week. Duties of the on-duty lieutenant should
include:
1) Supervising field supervisors and the communications
dispatchers during hours when the Communications
Division Manager is absent;
2) Acting for the Chief of Police when the Chief (and
the captains) is off duty or unavailable;
3) Receiving citizen's complaints and conducting
internal investigations, when necessary;
9 There are fourteen 12-hour shifts per week. Onelieutenant position can
work 3 shifts per week; thus, four lieutenants can work 12 of the 14
shifts per week.
11
4) Attending public meetings as appropriate;
5) Providing needed management coordination between
different bureaus and divisions;
6) Providing appropriate inspections of department
facilities;
7) Ensuring that departmental policies are consistently
applied; and
8) Acting as the Incident Commander during emergencies
and unusual occurrences.
We recommend the Department continue to assign four
lieutenants to Patrol Division. The proposed assignment
schedule for patrol (see Personnel Scheduling, page )
assures that four lieutenants provide management control
and command presence on all shifts, seven days per week.
B. Investigations Division. The lieutenant in
Investigations Division commands five specialized
investigative units and two independent units (D.A.R.E. ,
and the Narcotics Task Force) . (The Evidence/Property
Unit has been reassigned to Records & Communications
Division) . A lieutenant position is appropriate in this
position because of the need to coordinate investigative
activities and investigator call-out assignments with
patrol watch commanders.
we recommend the Department continue to assign a
lieutenant to Investigations Division.
3 . Sergeants and Non-Peace officer Supervisors.
A. Patrol Division. Two patrol sergeants are assigned to
each 12-hour shift. Because all patrol personnel work 3
days per week (see Patrol Schedule, page 22) 8 patrol
sergeant coverage on each shift is provided each week
for a total of six days (with a patrol lieutenant
filling in on the seventh day) .
We believe a supervisor (i.e. , a sergeant) position
should be assigned to provide supervisory control on all
shifts and days of the week. Duties of the on-duty
supervisor should include:
1) Conducting briefings, and roll-call and in-service
training sessions;
12
2) Providing direction to Communications Division
dispatchers during tactical situations (e.g. ,
vehicle pursuits, barricaded suspects, etc.) ;
3) Providing coordination of high-risk and major
incidents, and serving as the "Incident Commander"
in appropriate circumstances;
4) Providing field supervision to all patrol officers
on duty;
5) Assessing the quality of services provided by patrol
officers by monitoring and evaluating patrol
officers' performance of duty;
6) Assessinq..crime problems and assigning "directed
patrol" activities;
7) Interpreting the application of, and assuring
adherence to, Departmental rules and procedures in
the field;
S) Providing counseling or discipline, as necessary;
9) Supervising the performance of new officers assigned
to the field training program; and
10) Acting as backup when no other units are available.
To minimize liability to the Department and the City, it
is important that these duties be performed by persons
of supervisory rank who are assigned primarily to
patrol.
We recommend the Department continue to assign four
sergeants to Patrol Division. The proposed assignment
schedule for patrol (see Personnel Scheduling, page )
assures that four sergeants provide supervisory control
on all shifts, seven days per week.
B. 1raininc7 Unit. The Training Sergeant also serves as the
Safety Officer. He manages the Field Training Officer
(FTO) program, and is the Department's rangemaster. He
performs recruiting and testing duties, and screens
He coordinates the assignment
employment applications.
of background investigations and serves as an
interviewer on panels for other agencies.
Since the administrative lieutenant position was
eliminated, the training sergeant has been assigned some
13
' I
"administrative" tasks (e.g. , setting up the Student
Noise Abatement Program ["SNAP"J , serving on the College
Kiosk Committee, and being the first contact for the
Department's crime prevention program) . He also handles
massage parlor and solicitor permit applications, and
coordinates the volunteer program.
We considered whether a peace officer position is
required to coordinate and plan training for peace
officer personnel or to maintain credibility in meetings
of police training officers. We also considered whether
a supervisory peace officer is required to manage
attendance problems arising from assigned training.
We considered whether a supervisory peace officer would
be needed to "negotiate" with peace officer personnel
regarding reimbursement forextraneous costs (seals,hey had
travel, lodging) expensive
requested.
We considered whether a supervisory peace officer would
be needed to disapprove requests for training submitted
by peace officers or their supervisors.
We considered the advantages to the Department (and the
advantages to employees' morale) in having a position
where assigned employees could develop special skills.
Finally, we considered whether the non-training (i.e. ,
administrative) duties performed by the Training
Sergeant required a peace officer.
We believe that managing attendance problems are the
responsibility of employees' supervisors. We also
believe that a non-peace officer training manager, with
an adequate orientation, should be able to handle
negotiations and communicate disapproval of training
requests. To the extent that disputes arise, a peace
officer manager (i.e. , the captain commanding the
Administrative Services Bureau) would be available when
necessary to provide direction.
Although, as we have noted, there are few opportunities
in a small department for peace officers to develop
special skills, the cost differential between assigning
a supervisory peace officer and a non-peace officer to
this function is great and therefore must also be given
consideration.
1
14
We believe that all of the administrative tasks
(including background investigations) can be performed
by a non-peace officer.
There is clearly a need for one employee to coordinate
and manage training. However, we believe these duties,
including coordinating the field training program and
performing other administrative duties, could be
performed satisfactorily and in a cost effective manner
by a non-peace officer employee.
We recommend the Training Sergeant position be
eliminated and replaced by a non-peace officer Training
coordinator position. We :recommend this position be
eliminated through attrition (i.e., vhen a sergeant's
position becomes vacant) .
C. Su3 ort Services Manager. This position was originally
responsible for supervising a combined Records &
Communications Division. Over time, the
responsibilities of maintaining the automated Records
-Aided-Dispatch systems have
Management and Computer
increased so the incumbent can no longer manage the
Records and Communications units. At present, the
position only supervises one .janitor position.
We recommend the support Services Manager position be
changed to a non-supervisory classification (such as
Issupport services Technician") and the position
description modified to reflect the present job
responsibilities. We recommend these changes be made
through attrition (i.e. , when the position becomes
vacant) .
A proposed organization design is shown in Figure 2, on
the next page.
15
i
WORKLOAD DISTRIBUTION STAF ING AND- PERSONNEL SCHEDULING
Workload Distribution. We conducted a patrol workload survey to
analyze the amount of "consumed time" by patrol police officers
handling calls for service (CFS) . Consumed time is that period a
police officer is unavailable for other duties while handling a
specific assignment. Our study focused on the reactive CFS
demand. We did not analyze activities unrelated to the demand
for calls-for-service, such as: (a) self-initiated tasks
performed by police officers; (b) administrative duties; and (c)
proactive patrol duties.
self-initiated activities include vehicle stops, business checks
and field contacts. Administrative tasks include meals,
report-writing and court appearances. Proactive patrol duties
include patrol activities undertaken during unobligated time as
directed by patrol supervisors. We do not .analyze these
activities because they are subject to control by department
policy. Moreover, the volume of self-initiated activities is, as
a rule, proportionate to the number of police officers assigned
to a particular shift.
After a workload analysis is completed, judgments can be- made
concerning the time available for officers to perform proactive
Patrol duties, response time, deployment, and the number of
police officers assigned to patrol.
1. Patrol Dispatching: Calls for law enforcement service in
San Luis Obispo are received and dispatched by the
Communications Division.
2. Data Elements that were Analyzed. POST's methodology for
conducting a patrol workload survey involves calculating the
following data elements from each call for service:
A. Day -- The day-of=week the call was received by the
Communications Division.
B. Priority -- The relative importance of the call.
In most departments, calls are prioritized according to
their urgency. Call "priorities" are fixed by assigning
priority codes to different types of calls. Usually,
calls are categorized as emergency (Priority A) , non-
emergency (Priority B) , and purposely delayed (Priority
C) .
In San Luis Obispo, the Communications Division does not
rely on the CAD system's priorities when dispatching
calls for service. Instead, priorities for each call
17
are established by the dispatcher on a call-by-call
basis, using personal judgment and experience.
The CAD system's could not assist POST in assigning
priorities because "cold" calls are assigned the same
designator as "in-progress" calls. Consequently, all
calls analyzed and described in this report are
categorized as non-emergency (Priority B) ,
C. Time Received -- The time-of-day the call was received
by the communications unit.
D. Reporting District -- The geographic area from which the.
call for service originated.
The Department uses a "sector" system whereby the City
is divided into two sectors, with each sector comprised
of smaller geographical districts.'° Sector I contains 30
reporting districts; Sector II contains 32 reporting
districts. Sector and reporting district configurations
are not based on the patrol workload demand.
Although the Communication Division's Computer-Aided-
Dispatch (CAD) system records the reporting district of
each call for service, patrol officers are not deployed
to specific sectors or reporting districts.
In addition, the City is also divided into three
"zones."
1) Zone 1 includes everything north of Palm Street;
2) Zone "Free" includes everything between Palm and
Pacific streets (i.e. , the "downtown" area) ; and
3) Zone 2 includes everything south of Pacific Street.
Two officers are assigned to Zone 1 and two officers are
assigned to Zone 2. All officers will respond to calls
in the Free Zone.
For reports that result emanate from a citizen going to
the police station, the dispatcher assigns an officer to
return to headquarters to take the report based on the
location where the incident occurred.
E. Oueue Time -- The delay that occurs after a call is
received by the dispatch center until it is dispatched.
to The CAD system assigns reporting districts "500" and "5000" to all
incidents outside the city limits.
18
F. Travel Time -- The length of time an officer assigned to
a call spends travelling to the location of the call.
G. Resuonse Time -- The length of time after a call is
received until a .patrol unit arrives at the call (i.e. ,
the sum of queue time plus travel time) .
H. Consumed Time -- The length of time the primary police
officer in patrol (and back-up officers, if they were
dispatched) are out-of-service handling the call and
therefore unavailable for other assignments.
The Department provided us with a data listing of dispatches
that were recorded by the CAD system during a 91-day period
between September ist and November 30th, 1993. A 91-day
period was used to ensure that the database contained
information from an equal number of Mondays, Tuesdays,
Wednesdays, etc.
A total of 5,541 calls dispatched to patrol police officers
were used in the analysis_
Data concerning the calls were input a microcomputer and
calculated using POST's Patrol Workload/Deployment Program.
3. Response Performance: Figures 3-5, on the next two pages,
show the queue, travel and response time averages for each
day of the week, by shift, and overall.
19
SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Assign all component units of the Investigations Division to
the Administrative Services Bureau.
2. Unless the Department can augment the patrol force (by
filling vacant police officer positions) , reassign the three
traffic officer positions (with their motorcycles, if
desired) to patrol shifts.
.3. If the Department must permanently reassign the traffic
officers to Patrol Division (because it is unable to fill
vacant patrol officer positions) , eliminate the Traffic
Safety Unit peace officer supervisor position.
4. Assign the property function as a subordinate unit of the
Records Division.
5. Combine both the Records and Communications components into
one division (the Records & Communications Division) and
assign one person to manage the combined division, but only
if the number of reports transcribed is significantly
reduced or eliminated.
6. Continue to assign captains as bureau commanders.
7 . Continue to assign four- lieutenants to Patrol Division.
8. Continue to assign a lieutenant to Investigations Division.
9. Continue to assign four sergeants to Patrol Division.
1o. Eliminate the Training Sergeant position and replace the
position with a non-peace officer Training Coordinator
position. Note: this recommendation should be implemented
by attrition (i.e. , when a sergeant's position becomes
vacant) .
11. Change the support Services Manager position to a non-
supervisory classification (such as "Support Services
Technician") and modify the position description to reflect
the present job responsibilities. Note: This
recommendation should be implemented by attrition (i.e. ,
when the Support Services Manager position becomes vacant.) :
12 . Continue the 12-Plan schedule, but adopt the alternative
schedule presented in this report. It is particularly
important that patrol lieutenants and sergeants be assigned
45
to this schedule, to maximize supervision and command
presence.
13. Use priority designations when dispatching calls for
service, in order to provide a means for calculating queue,
r
travel and response time averages for emergency and non-
emergency calls.
14. Assign dispatch priorities for in-progress and report-only
incidents in the CAD system database, and use the call.
priorities when dispatching calls for service.
15. Discontinue the cassette tape-recording system; institute
the "One-Write" system of handwritten reports, including
field review by the reporting officers' supervisor; and
discontinue typing of police reports (except in unusual
circumstances -- for example, lengthy homicide reports.)
46
MEMORANDUM
to: Chief James Gardiner
from: The EHecutiue Board
San Luis Obispo Police Officer's Rssociation
subject POST REPORT
date: May 1O, 1995
The Board wants to start by thanking you for the opportunity to review the POST report
and give you our ideas. We understand that much of the data used was a snap shot"
of the Department on October 2, 1994.The.report showed that the Department had 23
Officers with four vacancies. We understand most of those vacancies are now filled
and this changed some assumptions made'bythe author in the report.
During our review of the report, we found some errors. As an example, the author's
discussion of this Departments handling of evidence and property was flawed. This
may have been avoided if the author had conducted a more thorough investigation..
On April 11, 1995; we received three pages of a report compiled by David M. Griffith
• and Associates. We were unaware of this analysis, but thank you for sharing it with us.
We will attempt to incorporate the findings from that report into our response. The
Board found an interesting.observation included in the Griffith report (item 2, page 4):
`7NE PROJECT TEAM'S ANALYSIS OF PUBLIC SAFETY SERVICES INDICATES
THAT THESE DEPARTMENTS ARE OPERATING AT OR BELOW THE STAFFING
LEVELS REQUIRED TO PROVIDE`ABOVEAVERAGE'SERVICE."
These reports provide all of us with an opportunity to reflect on current organizational
structure and the methods we use. We view this as a chance to improve the way we do
business. The Board's comments are not a criticism of you, the Department, or the
author of the POST report
The Board will now address each recommendation in-the POST report and, where
appropriate, show if it is a aMeet and Confer" issue. Finally, the Board will propose a
reorganization of the Department that will, we think, best use the budget available and
yet meet the growing needs of our community.
POST RECOMMENDATIONS
1. "We recommend the Investigations Division (including all the component units).
be assigned to the Administrative Services Bureau:'
The Board disagrees with this recommendation.The POST report gives no justification
to move the Investigative Division.The author did not find any problem with the current
operation. The only reason cited was to give the Administrative Services Bureau
Captain more to do.This can only be seen as an attempt to justify the position.
1
Chief James Gardiner -2- May 10, 1995
The current organizational structure with Investigations under Operations is working
Owell. It is our opinion that the recommended change could create a communications
problem between Patrol and Investigations. Most importantly, moving the Investigative
Division from the Operations Bureau to the Administrative Services Bureau appears to
be an attempt to justify the second Captain position. Please refer to recommendation 6
for further discussion.
2. "Unless the Department can augment the patrol force (by filling its vacant
police officer positions), we recommend the three traffic officer positions be
reassigned (with their motorcycles,if desired)to patrol shifts."
The Board agrees with you, as stated in the report, that traffic is an appropriate use of
resources. We also concur with the report's recommendation to reassign the Traffic
Officers to patrol shifts.Thereport listed four observations on page 8:
la. Department policy is to assign Traffic Safety motorcycle units to patrol calls for
service `when necessary.'In practice, motorcycle units are assigned to patrol calls for
service when patrol officers are unavailable.
`Sb. Traffic officers should be assigned to respond to patrol call for service. During the
time they are not answering calls, it may be appropriate, because of their training and
equipment, to direct their activities to traffic enforcement and collision investigation
duties.
"c.Any decision to assign patrol duties to an officer equipped with a motorcycle should
take into account the limitations on patrol performance inherent in the use of
motorcycles (e.g., transporting prisoners, carrying equipment or evidence, and officer
protection).
`d. We were advised that reported traffic collision assignments are usually held for
traffic units. To the degree that this practice exists, the response time to collisions is
increased. All police officers have received basic training in traffic accident
investigation. Except for serious or complicated collision investigations, dispatchers
should make no distinction between patrol officers and motorcycle officers when
assigning traffic collision investigations.A
The Griffith report incorrectly shows one Sergeant and two Police 0fficers.deployed in
traffic.There are actually three Traffic Officers and one Sergeant.
We recommend adding one additional Traffic Officer for a total of four. This fourth
position was lost in a previous budget cut The cost of this position would be offset by
the elimination of the Traffic Sergeant position (See Recommendation 3). Reassigning
Traffic Officers to patrol shifts would reduce our response time to urgent calls and help
us meet your goal of 33% available time. The report broke down the 91 days of the
study into one hour time increments. Every seven days of the studied we failed to meet
the goal 50 times with 21 officers. The author went on to project that if we have 25
officers, the number of times we fail to meet the goal is reduced to 21. We have 27
Officers, which drops the number even more. If you add in four traffic officers, the
number of times we fail to meet the goal is reduced to about nine.
•
Chief James Gardiner - 3- May 10, 1995
The Griffith report states, under the °Proact Time"heading, "Appears to be at about
O30% overall. Considered in the industry to be the minimum necessary to have any
practical proactive capability at all. This level must impact response times and the
Dept's. ability to implement any community policing program." This supports our
recommendation to move traffic to patrol.
3. "if the Department must permanently assign the traffic officers to Patrol
Division because it Is unable to fill its vacant patrol positions,we recommend the
Traffic Safety Unit supervisor position be eliminated."
We concur with the POST reports statement on page 8 that 'if the Traffic Safety Unit is
pennanently assimila ted in the patrol force. . . there is no need fora full-time traffic unit
supervisor."The Board also concurs with the POST report, in that, the duties of the
supervisor, `together with the special reports now prepared by the Traffic Sergeant,
can be assigned to the patrol commander, who could delegate them to the appropriate
watch lieutenant"The elimination of this position would save the Department$75,764
annually. This savings would allow the Department to add the fourth Traffic Officer
position lost in a previous budget cut A patrol Sergeant would supervise the Traffic
Officers on the watch. in the past we had five Traffic Officers and no Sergeant.
4. "We recommend that the property function be assigned as a subordnate unit
of the Records Division."
The Board concurs with this recommendation. One Board member is the Evidence
Technician and another member is a Feld Services Technician; therefore, our review
of this recommendation is germane. Neither the Evidence Technician nor the Feld
Services Technicians were interviewed. The author was in error when he wrote on
page 9 that `hon-evidentiary property is handled differently than evidence. . .,`and,
"we have been assured, however, that in San Luis Obispo, evidentiary property is
secure and only the evidence technician has access to the property room."Actually,
evidence and non-evidence are processed in the same manner and stored in the
same facility. Besides the Evidence Technician, the Feld Services Technicians and
the Support Services Manager have both keys and access. Property is released on a
"who's available"basis.
We agree with the POST report that those . . who are involved in collecting evidence
in the field and who subsequently may authorize release of these items, should not
also be given the responsibility to store or process evidence."These two functions
should be separated. Currently, these two separate unrelated functions are assigned
to the Evidence Technician: Crime Scene Investigation and Property Management As
a Crime Scene Investigator he: collects and preserves evidence; performs laboratory
analysis; photographs crime scenes; and collects, develops, and compares
fingerprints. As the Property Manager he: inventories and maintains property; releases
property; purges property;and conducts a public auction.
We recommend the Evidence Technician continue to be assigned to Investigations
and that a new position of Property Clerk be created. The Property Clerk is a clerical
position and, therefore, should be assigned to Records as recommended by the POST
report. The Evidence Technician position is highly specialized requiring extensive
training and it offers technical support in the discovery of valuable evidence.The value
Chief James Gardiner -4- May lO,i995
of the position is hampered by the time spent in property management With the
addition of a Property Cierk, the Evidence Technician would certainly increase
productivity and efficiency. Additionally, it would provide the Feld Services
Technicians adequate time to perform their duties, and in tum, increase available time
for patrol officers.
The Griffith report did not mention either the Evidence Technician or the Field Services
Technicians.
5. "We recommend that both the Records and Communications components be
combined into one division (the Records & Communications Division) under one
supervisor, but only if the number of reports transcribed is significantly reduced
or eliminated."
The Board disagrees with this recommendation. A Communications Technician 11 has
recently been selected to fill the vacant position of Dispatch Supervisor. Adding
another layer of supervision on top of that is not advisable. In the past when the
Support Services Manager supervised both Records and Dispatch it proved
unworkable. Separate supervisors are needed in both Dispatch and Records. .
The Griffithreport recommended no changes to either Records or Communications.
6. "We recommend that the Department continue to assign captains as bureau
commanders:'
The Board disagrees with this recommendation. The author writes on page 5: We
know of no single organizational structure which is suitable for all agencies, nor a
structure which will forever remain suitable."The author goes on to say, "We believe
the responsibilities and work load of the two Captains are unbalanced."On page 6 the
author writes, "We find it difficult to justify the under-utilization of a peace officer
executive position to manage 19 employees in tine Administrative Services Bureau,
only one of whom the training sergeant— is a peace officer."You have explained to
us that the author meant under-utilized in terms of sworn employees supervised. In
other words, we are using a "peace officer executive position" to supervise.one peace
officer, the training Sergeant.There are three logical solutions: Give the Administrative
Services Bureau Captain more of the work-load (which is the. author's solution),
change the position to a Civilian Manager (which is more in line with the author's
recommendation to civilianize the training Sergeant's position), or look at a new
organization (which is our recommendation).
The POST report raised other issues to be considered. First it stated on page 6 that
keeping two Captains provides: the ability to rotate assignments,which enhances and
increases experience; and provides a benefit of varied perspectives. Additionally, he
asserts that it provides a career path opportunity. The author does not address these
issues in terms of the civilian side of the Department if the position were changed to a
. Civilian Manager, the career path for civilians might be enhanced and certainly a new
perspective would be represented.
Chief James Gardiner -5- May 10, 1995
The author then addresses a Federal law suit in which the Administrative Captain is
"heavily" involved.Although this is a "significant burden,"he tells us that the situation is
temporary.It would then appear that this should have no bearing on the decision.
The report tells us on page 6, that "simply eliminating the Administrative Services
Bureau captain position, and assigning the present duties to the Operations Bureau
captain presents other problems."The author then refers us to page 10. However,
there, the author recommends keeping the two Captains only if the Department is
reorganized. He does not tell us what the `other problems" are. We propose
reassigning these present duties to a Lieutenant, not to the Operations Bureau
Captain:This would seem to negate this issue.
Next the POST report addresses "one-on one" supervisory relationships. The author
did not tell us what was inherently wrong with that, but simply stated that "In general,
principles of organization suggest that organizations be structured so that managers
and supervisors are responsible for several functions orpersons."T'he author ends the
section by stating "Eliminating the position would create just this structure and,
therefore, is nota satisfactorysolution."Eliminating the Administrative Services Bureau
Captain's position would create a "one-on-one"supervisory relationship between you _
and the remaining Captain. You have pointed out that the POST report recommends
against this "one-on-one" relationship. A "one-on=one" supervisory relationship
currently exists between the Lieutenants and the Sergeants in patrol. To our
knowledge,this has not caused a supervisory problem.
The Board would propose changing the Operations Services Bureau Captain's title to
Assistant Chief (or whatever title you deem appropriate). We further propose
eliminating the Administrative Services Bureau Captain and assigning a Lieutenant to
Administrative Services. He would be in charge of Communications, Records, and the
Support Services Technician. The Assistant Chief position would be in charge of the
Day Watch Lieutenant, the Night Watch Lieutenant, the Investigative Lieutenant, and
the Administrative Services Lieutenant. A review of the 1979, 1981, 1982, and 1983
organizational charts for the Department reveals only one Captain.Yet the Department
had three Lieutenants, eight or nine Sergeants, and 34 Officers, a more balanced
organization.
Notwithstanding our stated position, we recognize your belief that a properly managed
Department must maintain the two bureau organization. With that in mind, we have
included an additional organizational chart which contains the two bureau concept.
Eliminating the Captain position is a salary savings of$91,948 annually.
The Griffith report states, °The SLOPD has a Chief and two Captains in this 80 person
Department. In this size range cities divide between 2-3 Captains." This seems to
conflict with the POST report
7. "We recommend the Department continue to assign.four lieutenants to Patrol
Division."
The Board disagrees with this recommendation. This is an inappropriate use of the
Lieutenants. Currently, there are two Lieutenants in charge of Days and two in charge
Chief James Gardiner -6- May 10, 1995
of Nights. Each Lieutenant supervises one Sergeant We would propose eliminating
one Lieutenant on each watch and making the remaining Lieutenant the watch
commander. In this way there would be only one Lieutenant in charge of each watch.
Each watch commander would supervise three Sergeants (Refer to our response to
Recommendation 9).The Lieutenants could adjust their work week in order to provide
leadership for the watch and monitor their Sergeants.
The elimination of these two positions would be a savings of$167,090 annually.
8. "We recommend the Department continue to assign a lieutenant to
Investigations Division."
The Board concurs. Although-the position only supervises seven people, it is a
sensitive assignment justifying the use of a Lieutenant. We would recommend moving
the SORT team to Investigations. The SORT Sergeant would work directly under the
Investigations Lieutenant providing supervision to the six investigators as well as the
SORT team. This would enhance the relationship between SORT and Investigations.
We would further recommend increasing the SORT team from three to four Officers,
making it a viable unit This was the number originally approved by the City'Council. If
case loads increase, the SORT team could handle cases as assigned by the
Sergeant, who would also supervise the Evidence Technician. Organizationally, the
Officer and Records Clerk assigned to the Narcotics Task Force would be under the
Sergeant
The Griffith report states, `The SORT team gives the City a flexible resource to be
directed to a variety of problems."This report shows only two Officers assigned, which
is incorrect
9. "We recommend the Department continue to assign four sergeants to Patrol
Division."
The Board disagrees with this recommendation. As stated under our response to
Recommendation 7; we propose having three Sergeants on each watch for a total of
six. We also eliminated two Lieutenants in Recommendation 7. Our proposed
organization utilizes the same number of Sergeants that exist currently (Refer to
eliminated Sergeants positions in Recommendations 3 and 10). To augment the
supervisors we would recommend using MPO Ill's. This is a reasonable extension of
the MPO program. To achieve MPO 111, the Officer must have at least 12 years of
experience, have successfully completed three specialized assignments, and possess
an advanced POST certificate. These Officers could approve reports, view arrestees,
present training, and perform as the acting field supervisor. Currently, in the absence
of a supervisor,the Department assigns a senior Officer to fulfill the responsibilities.
The Griffith report states, 'Very small span of control(of two Sgts. each). Many smaller
depts. give Sgts. additional duty of shift mgmtnit also reports that there is a 16.6 Sgts.
to P.O.Asupervisory ratio. In reality, ?raffia has one Sergeant to three Officers, SORT
has one to three, the Administrative Sergeant has no Officers, patrol has one to six,
and Investigations has no Sergeant
Chief James Gardiner -7 - May 10.,1995
10."We recommend the Training Sergeant position be eliminated and replaced by
a non-peace officer Training Coordinator pos}tion.We 'recommend this position be
eliminated through attrition(ie,when a sergeant's position becomes vacant).'
The Board concurs with the recommendation to eliminate the Training Sergeant
position, however, we disagree with the use of attrition to accomplish the change. The
author of the POST report gives a list of considerations to justify this recommendation..
Although the author recommends using `a non peace officer employee,"we would
recommend moving the responsibilities currently being handled by this position to a
new position of Administrative Lieutenant (See Recommendation 6). We do not
believe the change should wait for attrition. Using attrition to accomplish
organizational changes would negate the cost savings involved and could take years.
If changes are appropriate,they should be implemented.
The elimination of this position would be a savings of$75,764 annually.
11."We recommend the Support Services Manager position be changed to a non-
supervisory classification (such as "Support Services Techniclan'l and the
position description modified to reflect the present job responsibiifts. We
recommend these changes be made through attrition (ie, when the position
becomes vacant).'
We concur with the recommendation to reduce the Support Services Manager position
to Support Services Technician, however, we disagree with the use of attrition to
accomplish the change. The POST report tells us that 'Mis position was originally
responsible for supervising a combined Records & communications Division.
Overtime, the responsibilities of maintaining the automated Records Management and
Computer-Aided-Dispatch systems have increased so the incumbent can no longer
manage the Records and Communications units."We would place this position under
the new Administrative Lieutenant mentioned in our response to Recommendation 6.
We do not believe the change should wait for attrition. Using attrition to accomplish
organizational changes would,eliminate the cost savings involved and, in this case,
take years. If changes are appropriate,they should be implemented.
The Support Services Manager position costs $71,820 annually. A Computer Systems
Technician II position costs $51,072. The reduction of this position would save
$20,748 annually.
12."We recommend the Department continue the 12-plan schedule, but adopt the
alternative schedule presented in this report. it is particularly important that patrol
lieutenants and sergeants. be assigned to this schedule, to maximize supervision
and command presence."
The Board disagreeswith the recommendation to adopt the proposed alternative
schedule. A police officer's job is stressful and, therefore, time off is valuable. The
author's plan builds in eight hours of overtime every 28 days for every officer. Yet, the
. proposed plan still does not meet the "goal" of 33% available time. The author
recommends keeping overtime down by having officers only work 10 hours instead of
12 hours one day a week.
Chief James Gardiner -8- May 10, 1995
We feel modifications to the current 3/12 plan could be made. One idea would be to
have Officers report for a 20 minute briefing, but receive no overtime for the briefing.
Excluding paybacks, this amounts to four hours in each 28 day cycle. Officers would
then work one 12 hour payback instead of the current two eight hour paybacks. This
method is currently being used successfully by several other Departments. The
change would eliminate 3.5 hours of overtime for each Officer every 28 days. At time
and one half, for 31 Officers this amounts to $3,255 per 28 day cycle. This would
produce a savings of$ 42,315 annually. Additionally, it would reduce driving time, an
upcoming City issue as we attempt to meet Air Quality Management standards.
There was another deployment concern raised by both,Officers and Supervisors alike,
the need for a cover watch. There is a plan which dovetails with the above idea, in
which cover watches, consisting of three or four Officers,would work a 4/10 plan. They
would provide the needed coverage during change of watch. We have reviewed the
actual schedules and find it plausible.
Regarding the 3/12 plan, the Griffith report states, "Represents a cost-effective plan
with value to the employee (days off."
• The Board believes this to be a meet and confer issue.
13.4We recommend the Department use the priority designations when
dispatching calls for service, In order to provide a means for calculating priority
. queues, travel and response time averages for emergency and nonemergency
calls:'
The Board concurs with this recommendation.
The Griffith report states, "Unknown--currently being documented in POSTreport"
14."We recommend the process for assigning dispatch priorities for in-progress
and report-only Incidents (described on pages 35.37 of this report) be included In
the CAD system database, and that the call priorities be used when dispatching
calls for services."
The Board concurs with this recommendation.
The Griffith report states, "Unknown--currently being documented in POSTreport"
15."we recommend the Department: (a)discontinue the cassette tape-recording
system; (b) institute the "One -Write " system of hand written reports, Including
field review by the reporting officer's supervisor; and (c) discontinue typing of
police reports (except in unusual circumstances — for example, lengthy homicide
reports.)"
We disagree with this recommendation, however, the Board believes it may be
appropriate to review our report writing system and thereby improve our final work
product This may be a topic for a self-directed-work-team.
Chief James Gardiner -9- May 10, 1995
The POST report recommends changing to a "One Write" report system to increase.
0efficiency in preparation, review and processing. . . "However,the underlying reason
to change our report writing procedure was stated earlier in the POST report when the
author wrote on page 10, a . . the Records and Communications divisions and the
Support Services Manager function can be combined into a single division (Records
and Communications Division), but only ff the number of reports transcribed is
signfficantly reduced or eflmfnated." (The author also used bold type in the report for
emphasis.) If the problem is too much work for the record clerks, then the Board feels
the answer is the hiring of another clerk.
Those of us who have used a "One Write" report system know from personal
experience that the time spent handwriting a report is considerably. longer than
dictating the same report. This increased time would negatively affect reaching your
goal of 33% available time for patrol. Additionally, when used in court the typed report
is superior.
Another valid concern regarding the "One Write" report system is officer safety. The
author suggests that officers write the report by hand in the field. However, it may not
be safe to sit in a patrol car and write a lengthy report. There are alternatives such as:
a new report face sheet combined with a "Scantron" type reading device requiring no
retyping or the use of laptop computers. Additionally, an increase in the use of
telephonic reporting, handled by dispatch, would reduce the number of reports.taken
by officers.
PROPOSED ORGANIZATION
Our ultimate goal should be to provide our community with a feeling of security that
goes beyond the classic test: "the absence of crime and disorder." The presence of
uniformed Police Officers helps establish that feeling. This Department should be
moving toward a less top-heavy, more efficient organization. Emphasis should be on
increasing the field force to allow a faster response time, more community
involvement, and more proactive policework
The Griffith report stated, "at[the] currentlevels ofproactivity[,]patrol(is]notcapable of
[a] more visible and proactive program." Under "Crime analysis", the report stated,
`[There is] No dedicated position"and `(This is a] Wide ranging and significant issue
potentially affecting operational efficiency, comm. policing efforts and crime prevention
needs." The report stated under Crime Prevention Programs, "With loss of [a]
dedicated position, [the] program [s] mainly handled by volunteers." and "While the
Dept has [a] dedicated core of volunteers, our experience in other cities suggests a
risk of losing program continuity, coordination, interest and support without a staff
position."The position referred to was the Crime Prevention Coordinator, lost in a
previous budget cut. The real issue isbudgetary constraints.
The Board would propose eliminating the Administrative Services Bureau Captain and
assigning an existing Lieutenant to Administrative Services.This position would be in-
charge of Communications, Records, the Support Services Technician, and the
. Custodian. The Communications Technician II and the Records Supervisor would
report directly to this Lieutenant who would also be responsible for the functions of the
eliminated Administrative Sergeant. He could also handle sensitive internal
Chief James Gardiner _ 10- May 10, 1995
investigation, background investigations, etc. This proposal would be in line with the
O POST report's comments on page 6 where the author writes: " . . to provide the
flexibility to periodically rotate the assignment . . . maintaining career path
opportunities. . . and. . .avoids `one-on-one'supervisoryreladonships."This would be
one of the four assignments available to Lieutenants. We propose changing the
Operations Services Bureau Captain's title to Assistant Chief. Under this position
would be the Day Watch Lieutenant, the Night Watch Lieutenant, the Investigative
Lieutenant, and the new Administrative Lieutenant.
The patrol functions would be handled by two Lieutenants, one on days and one on
nights. The two extra Lieutenants currently on each watch would be replaced with an
existing Sergeant That would give each watch one Lieutenant and three Sergeants.
We would also recommend using MPO III's to assist the Sergeants. (This is a
reasonable extension of the MPO program.To achieve MPO III, the Officer must have
at least 12 years of experience, have successfully completed three specialized
assignments, and possess an advanced POST certificate. These Officers could
approve reports, view arrestees, present training, and perform as the acting field
supervisor). Under each watch we would deploy two Traffic Officers. This deployment
would provide a DUI team at night. There are currently three Traffic Officers; however,
we recommend eliminating the Traffic Sergeant and replacing him with another
Officer. Historically,the unit has had as many as five Officers and no Sergeant Finally,
Day Watch would have the two Field Services Technicians.
As stated above, we recommend eliminating the Traffic Sergeant. The POST report
tells us " . . ., there is no need for a full-time traffic unit supervisor."The Board also
concurs with the POST report, in that, the duties of the supervisor, `together with tine
special reports now prepared by the Traffic Sergeant; can be assigned to the . . .
appropriate watch Lieutenant."Eliminating this position would allow the Department to
add an additional Traffic Officer lost in a previous budget cut. A patrol Sergeant would
supervise the Traffic Officers on the watch.
The Board believes it is appropriate to assign a Lieutenant to Investigations. The
position will be in charge of 15 people and it is a sensitive assignment justifying the
use of a Lieutenant The Secretary currently assigned to the Administrative Captain
should be reclassified to Record Clerk and assigned to Investigations.All Investigative
typing would be handled by this position.This should help relieve Records. Further we
recommend moving the SORT team to Investigations.The SORT Sergeant would work
directly under the Investigations Lieutenant providing supervision to the six
investigators as well as the SORT team.This would enhance the relationship between
SORT and Investigations. We would further recommend increasing the SORT team
from three to four Officers, making it a viable unit. This was the number originally
approved by the City Council. If case loads increase, the SORT team could handle
cases as assigned by the Sergeant, who would also supervise the Evidence
Technician. Organizationally, the Officer and Records Clerk assigned to the Narcotics
Task Force would be under the Sergeant
We do not concur with the author that attrition should be used to cavy out the changes.
These changes should take place immediately following past practices (i.e., the
Department's downsizing of 1992). Using attrition to accomplish organizational
changes would negate the cost savings of $87,944 annually, and take years to
Chief James Gardiner - 11 - May 10, 1995
implement. If changes are appropriate, they should be made. Our organizational plan
0 would result in a significant salary savings with no layoffs. It would also provide a more
efficient organizational structure that has a clear chain of command with related
accountability.
In our review of the POST recommendations, we considered the positions rather than
the people who filled them. It was our intention to consider the impact on the
organization as a whole, instead of the individual personalities involved. However,we
understand that these "positions" represent people with families and responsibilities.
For that reason, using attrition to implement these changes would be most benevolent
But with anticipated retirements just a few years away, the impact of immediate
implementation would only be temporary. It should also be understood that by
eliminating positions we negatively impact our members ability to promote. We tried to
give you our honest opinions about the recommendations in the POST report without
regard to their impact on specific individuals.
SPECIRC PROPOSALS
1. Replacing the Administrative Services Captain with a Lieutenant.
The POST report is clear, "We find it difficult to justify the under-utilization of a peace
officer executive position to manage 19 employees in the Administrative Services
Bureau, only one of whom — the training sergeant — is a peace officer." This
Administrative Lieutenant would be under the remaining Captain (the Assistant Chief).
The Administrative Lieutenant would be in charge of Communications, Records, the
Support Services Technician, and the Custodian. The Communications Technician 11
and the Records Supervisor would report directly to this Lieutenant who would also be
responsible for the functions of the eliminated Administrative Sergeant Additionally,
this Lieutenant could handle sensitive internal investigation, background
investigations, etc. This proposal would be in line with the POST reports comments on
page 6 where the author writes: ". . . to provide the flexibility to periodically rotate the
assignment. . . maintaining career path opportunities . . . and. . . avoids `one-on-one'.
supervisory relationships.'This would be one of the four assignments available to
Lieutenants. (See POST recommendation 6 for a further discussion of the elimination
of the Administrative Services Captain position.)
2. Eliminating two Lieutenants in patrol.
Currently there are two Lieutenants in charge of Days and two in charge of Nights.
Each Lieutenant supervises one Sergeant. We would propose eliminating one
Lieutenant on each watch and making the remaining Lieutenant the Watch
Commander. In this way there would be only one Lieutenant in charge of each watch.
Each watch commander would supervise three Sergeants. The Lieutenants could
adjust their work week in order to provide leadership for the watch and monitor their
Sergeants. This is consistent with the Fair Labor Standards Act's definition of an
exempt employee (Lieutenant).
Chief James Gardiner - 12- May 10"1995
3. Increasing the Sergeants in patrol to six.
• We propose having three Sergeants on each watch for a total of six Our proposed
organization utilizes the same number of Sergeants that exist currently. To augment
the Sergeants we would recommend using MPO Ill's. This is a reasonable extension
of the MPO program. To achieve MPO III, the Officer must have at least 12 years of
experience, have successfully completed three specialized assignments, and possess
an advanced POST certificates These Officers could approve reports, view arrestees,
present training, and perform as the acting field supervisor. Currently, in the absence
of a supervisor,the Department assigns a senior Officer to fulfill the responsibilities.
4. Eliminating the Traffic Sergeant.
The Traffic Sergeant is currently in charge of three Officers. The POST report is clear
on page 8 that "if the Traffic Safety Unit is permanently assimilated in the patrol force .
. ., there is no need fora full-time traffic unit supervisor."The Board also concurs with
the POST,report, in that, the duties of the supervisor, `together with the special reports
now prepared by Traffic Sergeant can be assigned to the patrol commander, who
could delegate them to the appropriate watch lieutenant." The elimination of this
position would save the Department $75,764 annually. This savings would allow the
Department to add the fourth Traffic Officer position lost in a previous budget cut A
patrol Sergeant would supervise the Traffic Officers on the watch.
5. Move SORT (including the Sergeant) to Investigations and increase it to four
• Officers.
This would enhance the relationship and the communications between SORT and
Investigations providing additional supervision for both. The increase to four, the
number originally approved by the City Council, would make it a viable unit If case
loads increase,the SORT team could handle cases as assigned by the Sergeant
6. Increasing the Traffic Safety Unit to four Officers.
Under each watch we would deploy two Traffic Officers. This deployment would
provide a DUI team at night There are currently three Traffic Officers; however, we
recommend eliminating the Traffic Sergeant and replacing him with another Officer.
Historically, the unit has had as many as five Officers and no Sergeant
7. Eliminate the position of Administrative Sergeant.
The author of the POST report gives a list of considerations to justify this
recommendation. However,.instead of using `a non peace officer employee,"as the
author suggests, we recommend moving the responsibilities currently being handled
by this position to the new position of Administrative Lieutenant
8. Change the Support Services Manager to the Support Services Technician.
The POST report tells us that `Phis position was originally responsible for supervising a
combined Records & communications Division. Overtime, the responsibilities of
maintaining the automated Records Management and Computer-Aided-Dispatch
Chief James Gardiner - 13 May 10, 1995
• systems have increased so the incumbent can no longer manage the Records and
Communicaffons units."We concur with the POST reports recommendation to reduce
the Support Services Manager position to Support Services Technician. We would
place this position under the new Administrative Lieutenant.
9. Add a position of Property Clerk and assign it to Records.
The Property Clerk would inventory, maintain, release, and purge property; as well as
conduct a public auction. This would be a clerical position requiring a great deal of
time to organize and control the property. We would recommend this position also
handle station duties such as finger printing, citation sign-off, dispatch relief, and other
in-house administrative functions. This new position should be assigned to Records,
as recommended by the POST report.We agree with the POST report that those a . .
who are involved in collecting evidence in the field and who subsequently may
authorize release of these items, should not also be given the responsibility to store or
process evrdence.n This change would be welcome relief for the overburdened
position of Evidence Technician. With the addition of a Property Clerk, the Evidence
Technician would certainly increase productivity and efficiency. Additionally, it would
provide the Feld Services Technicians adequate time to perform their duties, and in
tum, increase available time for patrol officers.
CONCLUSION
These proposed changes would eliminate one Captain and one Lieutenant and
reduce the position of Support Services Manager to Computer Technician II. If the
revised 3/12 plan were implemented as well, the resulting savings would amount to
$238,556 annually. Our plan would then add one Police Officer to SORT, one Officer
to Traffic, and a new position of Property Clerk. Assuming the annual cost for the
position of Property Clerk would be the same as Record Clerk Il, the additional
expense for the three new positions would be $150,612 annually. The difference
between the positions eliminated and the positions added still results in a significant
savings of$87,944 annually.
In summary, our proposed reorganization would consist of one Captain, four
lieutenants, seven Sergeants and 41 Police Officers. This plan would result in
significant annual savings with no layoffs.
See attached organizational chart.
The EKecutiue Board
San Luis Obispo Police Officer's Iflssociation
Gary Nemeth
President
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Office of
Memo RED FILE
MEETING AGENDA
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To: Mayor Romero and Council M ers DATE_L/��y�TEM
Via: Ken Hampian, CAO
From: Audrey Hooper, City ClerlG4-
Date: May 26, 2005
Re: Costs for Candidates' Statements
One of the operating program changes recommended by the City Clerk's office in our effort
to achieve a balanced budget is that of no longer paying costs related to the publishing of
candidates' statements. Prior to making this recommendation, we conducted a survey to
determine, in part, which other cities require candidates to pay these costs. A copy of that
brief survey is attached for Council's consideration. This change in practice would become
effective with the adoption of the 2005-07 Financial Plan.
' COUNCIL
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