Virtual Police Department Case Study Essay Example for Free

Virtual patrol Department facial expression Study bear witnessIntroductionThis paper volition consist of an overview of the Virtual Police Department, the history of that part and where it is to daylight. I will analyse the different issues deep crop up the plane section and set a constructive path for the discussion section so that it whitethorn make headway fully from every(prenominal) the resources that it has available. The Virtual Police Department is a medium surface surgical incision with 155 go bad tongue to officers. The subdivision has a long history of hiring from a good ole son system. The criteria for being utilized at this particular department is minimal and their turnover rate for personnel is a mess and all at once. The current department leadership has been approximately for no more(prenominal) than 15 days and around of the staff project been hired within the last 5 years. Beca role of the turnover rate, experience is lacking. eithe r of the seasoned officers go through phased out and promotions were required, however, non necessarily earned or deserved. I have detect several areas that I would recomm break off immediate attention to. However, I have highlighted four of these for the purpose of this crusade study. Firstly, I would look at the hiring process within this department and make some much take changes.Next, I would revisit the reckon. Then, I would restructure the four organizations into functioning efficient groups. Lastly, I would depict connections within the participation and neighbouring natural law force departments and community jump onncies to ensure a close knit, positive, supported ne cardinalrk. I recommend that this department begin with a change to its hiring process. M some(prenominal) of the employees have no more than a high cultivate diploma. I feel there should be a set standard of education and experience to move the Chief of Police. Not just family relations or friend s. The community of VPD are losing faith and confidence in their guard department and one way to begin the change is to start from the inside. once the Chief of Police is inoffice with a Bachelor or higher, then they may start enforcing their own officers to at least fulfil an associates degree in Criminal Justice. I understand that in the past, looking for personnel who had a Bachelors degree rendered many from within the department ineligible, however, mayhap this is a beginning to the change.The department use ups to start looking outside of their town for personnel to police the area. According to the department demographics chart, the department has never had the full authorized members. From 2009-2012, the average number of actual sworn employees was 140. The authorized number rose in 2011 to 145. The current year, there are 155 sworn officers which is 10 over authorization. The history of the making of this police department has seriously perpetuated the situation the VPD is facing today. From the initial hiring in 1950, the Mayor and City Council hired their friends as the initial department members. In the beginning, this had no effect on the department and it actually solidified a great relationship within the community. However, as times have changed, the department itself has grown, the community has grown as well, this kind of hiring process has taken its toll on the department, authority, and the community.The department has a signifi dirty dogt repetitive issue which is the consistent bulk hiring and retiring of its officers. There really isnt a phase out process in place whereby rookie police officers train and project from the more experienced ones before they screw. It seems a common theme within this department is a lot of running from fire to fire. It appears the department spends more time playing defence as opposed to offense. kinda of the department spacing its personnel who are looking at retirement out, they all seem to retire a t the same time. This is yet another impaction of the hiring of friends and family. Although it worked well in the 1950s, the city and its inhabitants are outlying(prenominal) different than they were in the 1950s. There also appears to be a signifi dejectiont amount of complaints from both ingrained and external sources as well as decreasing percentage of criminal offences solved and/or successfully prosecuted. ground on these issues, I would phase the retirement and hiring process.It may initially create a few headaches, however, I believe those will be fewer than the continual spiral out of control the department is soon facing. I believe that if some of those that are close to retirement were promoted to other positions within the force, they would stay around a little longer.Eventually, there will be a good mix of longevity within the police department. Ensuring that junior officers receive proper training from the more seasoned officers is extremely strategic. According to the crime statistics provided by the scenario, there appears to be a lot of burglary, robbery, and theft in the element 1 Offences. military force should be dedicated to these areas to ensure the crime is attacked BEFORE it occurs. The Broken Windows theory is epic when considering the transformation of a community. Showing the community that the police want to be proactive as opposed to reactive is for certain a good start. In the proactive article titled Broken Windows The Police and Neighborhood Safety, crowd Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling argued that policing should work more on little problems such as maintaining order, providing services to those in need, and adopting strategies to reduce the idolize of crime (198229).Their assumptions were based on three reasons Areas with street people, youth gangs, prostitution, and drunks are high-crime areas. Neighborhood deflect creates fear. (198230) other issue with the current hiring process is there is no hiring board or public presagements made. The police department likes to hire from within and have kept to hiring friends and family to, keep all the undesirables off the police force. I would announce any upcoming vacancies assert wide and set up a hiring process based on qualifications. The hiring would not be concurrent with the Mayoral elections and the police department will break from the political hook it soon has. As the police department and the mayoral council run so tightly together, it is impossible for the VPD, state police, and county sheriff to communicate with separately other. Communication between police departments is crucial for the VPD to survive. The process of socialization seems to be absentminded from the Virtual Police Department. Although they are close because of the internal hiring, it does not lend credence to learning the ropes by doing as much as by the rule-book.As the experienced officers phase out, there is not a lot left for the younger inexperienced office rs to learn the valuable on-the-job lessons with. George, C., Smith, C. (2004). With the changes to the hiring and retiring process, the budget manifestly needs to be revisited. The first thing I would do is look at the average startle salary for the police and drop it to $32,000 $35,000 annual. Starting rookie police officers out at $45,000 doesnt give room for promotion with suffer adjoin, time ondepartment increases, and doesnt encourage members within the department to further their education or hand for a better position. Pay should increase as positions and right increase. If 75 of the 155 police officers are within their first 5 years on the force, their wages should be $35,000 annual. The budget would need to be met to cover the cost of apiece police officer with a buffer of 15% for over time. If the starting salary for the VPD force was $32,000, the total for the rookie officers would be $2,400,000 annual.That would be a savings of $975,000 a year. Police departme nts should have a program and promotion rate for their officers to strive toward. According to George Cole and Christopher Smith, The average starting salary in 2001 was more than $32,000. (2004173). Pay increase should have sex with responsibility and job sockledge and time on the force. I also turn over the police department needs to compare the pay of their officers and commanders to other neighbouring departments and base the starting pay on those. An extremely important aspect has been overlooked within this department collectable to budget cuts. training has obviously suffered greatly. I do not believe that training should ever be jeopardized for the sake of saving a few pennies. Train the trainer programs are a great way to maximize training the cheapest way. Sending one or two individuals to receive training that will certify them to conduct the training within their department is gold.Once the rapport is pictureed with the other departments within the area, then the t rainer can also train those departments. Essentially, each department would send someone to receive specialized training and share that training throughout the departments. This way, each department will save money and not have to forego the training. Another area that is concerning is composition qualification training. This is a major mistake to stop officers to continue to carry their firearms when they are not qualified. If they had to use their weapon and during the course of the investigation, it is determined that they were not qualified, the repercussions would be immense, not just for the department, but for the other departments, the city, and the state. likewise of great importance in the training area is ET not keeping up with law updates, changes, and late court rulings. Training can be conducted on the job and any additional training can be completed during one of the 8 instant shifts if the schedule can be made to allow a training day. That way, the officerisnt o n the road, isnt side-tracked, isnt in court, or isnt unavailable. If training day was a duty day then training can be maintained. Recruits need formal training in order to gain an understanding of legal rules, weapons use, and other aspects of the job. (2004179).A positive approach to establishing a budget within the jurisdiction would be to evaluate the cost of crime. According to gibe Cohen, taking a bottom-up approach to crime aids in breaking them down. (2005 84). Breaking the crimes down on a per-crime basis will give the planners assistance when looking at the statistics of their community crimes. In doing this, it would be beneficial for the courts to readdress the cost of fines paid, fees and offence times, etc. The courts would essentially be assisting the police department in policing their community. Possibly, stiffer sentences, stiffer fines, and attention to the crimes will be a significant deterrent. Let those who choose to break the law pay the price for it. The bes t way to reasonably ensure that training is being conducted is to organize the department a bit better. The department does seem to be organized well. It has the typical four separate commands Patrol, Investigations, Special Operations, and stand out Services.Each of these departments has a commander. The departments are organized by talents, friendships, and skills. The department seems to be extremely mismanaged as they currently have 155 sworn officers, however they are scarce authorized 145 by 2012. along with the sworn officers, they are also extremely overstaffed with civilian employees as well. According to the table, they are authorized 17, however, they currently employ 70. On top of the overstaffing issue, the department has a history of hiring predominately Caucasian male police officers (70%), and only 11% Caucasian female officers which has held pretty steady over the last four years. According to Wilson and Kelling, For most of the nations history, almost all police officers were white men. (2004174). The Civilian Personnel demographics are not much different. The department has a high number of Caucasian men and women employees. The African-American male employees portend at 10% of the police force over the last four years. The African-American female police officers sat at 3.7% estimated over the last four years. As the community has grown in size, it appears the police department has maintained a consistent employee demographic base.The last recorded census was from 2000. Based on that census, the populationconsisted of the following 50.9% male, 49.1% female, 60.1% Caucasian, 16.7% black or African American, 11.4% Hispanic, 7.0% Asian, Other 0.2%, some other race 1.7%, two or more races 2.9% and foreign born 16.2%. The median age was 37.9 years of age. Not only has the cultural population changed, but the median income average has as well. The median has dropped by 13% which should alert the surround agencies that their citizens are not a s wealthy as they once were and most of the time, this also incites criminal activity. The demographic differences in the community and police department is wide. It may have been the same demographics at one time, however, the police department hasnt seemed to change much since the 1930s in that aspect. As the department still chooses to hire friends and family, this is not expected to change anytime soon. I would argue that the change needs to happen immediately. I think a new census should be taken or at least have patrols identify areas within the community that have changed drastically with ethnicity.A new census would also assist the budget and the jurisdiction boundary and also allow the bigger picture to be evident to the Mayor. Most cities have a natural cultural divide. It is important for the police department to recognize this and adjust their manning accordingly. If there is an increase of crimes against women, it would be important for the department to look at hiring more women onto the force who can deal with the more sensitive areas. If there are race issues within the community, it wouldnt be a good closing to send a police officer into that area knowing it could potentially escalate a situation. The department should have more diversity amongst the officers.To start this, I will go back to my earlier avouchment on hiring outside of the police force family. Try and appeal to the other ethnic backgrounds that the community can relate to and hopefully start to trust. Next, I would re-evaluate the shift work. If the area of responsibility has grown, and the number of citizens within the community has grown, it is imperative that the police are able to respond and react to calls appropriately. Because police work doesnt end at the scene, officers must have time to go back to the station and complete their required paperwork. twelve hour shifts make it virtually impossible to complete paperwork and get enough rest before the attached shift. I w ould break the shifts up into 8 hour shifts and apply the greater amount of officers to the busiest time of the day or night.Taking a look at the criminal statistics, I initially notice that due to the unplanned city demographic changes, the department is currently suffering a set back with a larger than projected area of responsibility and more citizens within their jurisdiction. The number of lower income families has risen, and the average age of the community dropped to 34.7 which means more children are attending the local schools. Looking at the Statistics of plague in VPD area, there has been a significant increase in Part 1 and Part II Offenses. Part II Offences have seen the most increase over the last four years with drugs, disorderly conduct, and burglary surpass the list. It is scary to note that although crimes in almost every offense is up, arrests are down significantly from 2009-2011 and 2012. everywhere the last four years, the city has seen a steady increase in crime and antisocial activity. Also, utilisation of Force, conduct, and performance complaints have drastically increased against the police, highlighting a possible stressed, stretched thin police department, and bilk community. It also appears that the adult offences are higher than the youth offenses.This could be as a result of the closing of the neighbouring citys high rise public and subsidized housing causing its residents to relocate. Due to this, a 10% increase in low income residents are now a part of the VPD community. Larry Bennett, Janet Smith, and Patricia Wright wrote about capital of Minnesota Fischer of Lake Forest College. In a 2003 study, most families relocated from CHA housing are re-segregated into other very low-income, legal age African-American neighborhoods where housing conditions are not appreciably better than those they left. (2006 219). Along the lines of changing 12 hour shifts into 8 hour shifts, I would also start communicating with the surround ing police departments. I would establish a rapport even if it is to my departments sacrifice at first. I would be interested in any training opportunities, their demographics for their area, any areas that may overlap with jurisdictions, and I would start an interagency database so the surrounding areas demographics may be included in it. One thing that would have assisted the VPD before the buildings were torn down in the neighbouring areas would have been the communication between departments.Having a good working relationship with them would have potentially avoided all the chaos that was created by the influx of lower income families. I would also have myPatrol Commander to establish a Community Oriented Policing task force to get out into the community and get some insight to what the citizens would like to see. If the department takes a step in the right direction and shows the community that they know there is a problem and they want the communitys help to fix it then it ma y generate a lot of interest. I am sure that if the community pulls together to start compensable attention to vandalism, prostitution, drugs and disorderly conduct, then hopefully the homicides, rapes, burglaries, motor vehicle thefts and aggravated assaults would decrease. I would also consist an operation similar to Operation Condor which was highlighted by Howard Safir and Ellis Whitman. According to Safir and Whitman, Condor was an extension of the Broken Windows effect.This operation had significant impact on homicide and crime rates and eliminated signs of lawlessness. (2005 198). Based on the positive outcome of Operation Condor, VPD may benefit significantly with something like this. The police department has a bad reputation responding to calls. In 2012, there were 163,433 calls for police service and units were dispatched to only 131,548. That means that 31,885 calls for assistance were unanswered. This is not acceptable. According to James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelli ng, Untended disorderly conduct is a signal that the community does not care. This leads to worse disorder and crime. If police are to deal with disorder to reduce fear and crime, they need the community for assistance. (198429) The new acceptable standard of bending the rules and the code of closeness is inexcusable. The VPD has had a longstanding reputation for integrity. However, over the last several years, it has become accepted to bend the rules and violations, and is overlooked by supervisors.The Virtual Police Department is in great need of a complete overhaul. Unfortunately, the department does not have its priorities correct. In my attempt to fix the VPD, I would call in Police incumbent Standards and Training Commissions POST Commissions to evaluate and train the department on the critical issues of police officer standards. As this is a state function, the county, Mayor, and others will not be able to influence the training or ratiocination making. According to Sulliv an and Simonetti Rosen, These state-level commissions provide law enforcement agencies with guidelines, established by administrative regulations or law, and require compliance by all municipal, county, and state law enforcement agencies, to maintain a baseline forpolice officer standards and training. (2006 350-351).I frankly feel an audit would benefit the department on so many levels. Finally, I would appoint a Human Resource Manager to ensure that the needs of the personnel are met and a Safety policeman to ensure that regulations are being followed appropriately. The hiring process, budget, structure of the department, and community relations are what I see to be the weakest areas within this department. Fortunately, they feed off of each other and adjustments in one area will venture the others. It will be a process, but a greatly needed process none-the-less.ReferencesCohen, M. (2005). The Costs of Crime and Justice. New York Routledge. George, C., Smith, C. (2004). The Am erican System of Criminal Justice (10 ed.). Belmont Thompson Learning, Inc. Howard, S., Whitman, E. (2003). Security Policing your Homeland, your State, Your City (1 ed.). New York St Martins Press. Larry, B., Smith, J., Wright, P. (2006). Where are misfortunate people to live?. Armonk M.E. Sharpe, Inc. Larry, S., Simonetti Rosen, M. (2005). Encyclopedia of Law Enforcement (Vol. 1). Thousand Oaks Sage Publications, Inc. Virtual Police Department Case Study Paper