As a crime analyst working, and most likely overworked, in a municipal police department, administrative and operational personnel will come to rely on you to provide pertinent information in a number of police and crime-related areas. Perhaps one of the most important aspects of this line of work is the proper deployment of resources (patrol personnel being the top priority) for the response to and suppression of crime and crime-related activities. Proper deployment ensures that the citizens will be the recipients of police services in a timely, acceptable, and cost effective manner.

Crime analysis is often considered to consist of three major components: “strategic,” “tactical,” and “administrative” analysis. Operations Analysis includes elements of three.  The process involves examining CAD data culled from a number of previous years, analyzing this data to ascertain projected deployment needs, and determining “beat configurations” in the jurisdiction of the department for a predetermined period in the future (e.g., the next 3, 6, 9, or 12 months). The final product will determine how the police department delivers service to the people it serves. Thus, this six-part series will discuss the process involved in this important function. It is very likely that you will be asked to perform this task at least once and possibly many times throughout your career as a crime analyst. Operations analysis, and deployment and configuration of beats based upon it, may appear to be a daunting task, but it is hoped that this series will provide you with the knowledge to make it easier for you to accomplish.

The series will consist of the following six parts presented in a straight-forward approach and delivered in the easiest way possible. The topic will be open to discussion as it progresses and any and all comments are welcomed. Spreadsheets will be provided with explanations to aid in the calculations that are a part of this important task. The six parts are comprised of the following:

Part 1: Manpower Availability: the Determination of Relief Factors

Part 2: Calls For Service: Reports Needed / Data Analysis

Part 3: The “Primary Equation” (CGCFST)+(ADMINT)+(UNOBT)+(UNCOMT)=100% (we’ll get to what they mean!)

Part 4: Historical - Established Service Levels

Part 5: Boundary and Shift Determination – Response Alternatives

Part 6: Conclusion: Computer Models and Successful Examples

Part One:  Manpower Availability: the Determination of Relief Factors

The question arises “ what is the number of personnel needed to provide coverage for the beat areas in the patrol division?” This number will increase if in some cases “front desk” personnel and “booking” personnel etc. are included in the departments budget for “patrol functions”. However for this example we will use only personnel assigned in a “patrol capacity”. Let us take a look at the following hypothetical patrol division of the “Anytown” police department patrol division, a mid-sized department with 400 sworn officers, 200 of whom are assigned to patrol.

Fortunately, the personnel division of the City of Anytown keeps specific records of attendance broken down by all the necessary categories to facilitate determining a relief factor in the spreadsheet below. Initially we know the following: There are presently 100 patrol assignments to be filled each day (the forthcoming analysis may show a need to add or subtract the number of patrol assignments from this number). The relief factor in use was 1.90, which meant that to fill the 100 assignments 190 officers were needed on an average daily basis. With 200 officers assigned, there was some room for extra deployment into “hot-spot” areas and excessive relief coverage to offset overtime costs.

The Anytown PD has traditionally reviewed sick and lost time records yearly for a number of obvious reasons but first and foremost for the continued quality of delivery of service from the patrol division. A smaller department may choose to use, as a lost-time basis, the maximum amount of all time off that is accumulated in a given year through employment packages. However, the Anytown PD has found it advantageous to use personnel lost time records for each fiscal year to determine patrol division staffing levels on a yearly basis.

The spreadsheet below (Figure 1) simplifies the relief factor calculation and is easily copied or constructed in a program such as Microsoft Excel. Pertinent information is entered in the light green boxes with calculations determined automatically in the yellow boxes (formulas previously entered). By following the lines on the spreadsheet you will understand how the calculations are made (formulas in parentheses). This example assumes a shift period of eight hours with a working schedule of - five days on two days off - rotating backwards every 28 days. Mixed schedules require further calculations but along the same lines as the example portrays.

The spreadsheet calculations show that the relief factor has decreased, which is good news, especially in light of the fact that an earlier report generated by the Crime Analysis Unit showed that “Officer Initiated Calls for Service (OICFS) have been increasing from 90,000 a year, two years ago to 92,000 in this past year (more about this in Part 2).  It now takes 183 officers to fill the 100 assignments available freeing up approximately seven officers for relief duty on average compared to the previous year of record. However, it appears that the city is becoming busier and to make that determination we will have to examine calls for service data in a number of different formats in the upcoming forums.

Suffice it to say that for now a basis has been developed to further the analysis of a possible redeployment in the city of Anytown. Part 2 will contain information on determining the historic and/or established level of service, which again is an important part of this process. We will also examine Calls for Service data and the necessary reports that need to be generated to facilitate the “redeployment” process. In order to utilize personnel efficiently, especially in regard to community policing efforts, the determination of patrol personnel levels and needs goes hand in hand with determining committed time plus uncommitted time. It isn’t as difficult as it might sound.