Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 06-14-11 regular — reading text

I 17 Criminal mist- misdemeanor 256 1S% 18 Theft petit 255 1. 5% 19 Vehicle disabled 241 1 4% 20 Suspicious person 230 14% 62. 9% i 21 Intox. Driver 220 1. 3% 22 intox. Person 197 1 2% 23 Loud music 188 11% 189 L1% 24 Suspicious activity 25 Disturbonoe/ Family 183 J TheThe toptop fivefive calls—calls— traffictraffic stops,stops, assistassist citizen,citizen, 911911 verification,verification, traffictraffic crash,crash, andand alarmalarm i PagePage 1717 PacketPacket Pg.Pg. 163163  i4.3. e business audible—account for almost 35% of all calls. A review of this list of top call types shows that alarm calls, disturbances of various types ( disturbances, noise complaints, suspicious vehicles and persons, loud music, suspicious activity, and disturbance /family) and traffic issues accounts for the majority of police calls for service. This is typical of communities like Destin with resort activity and a largely middle to upper class population. Distribution of Sworn Personnel Small police departments usually use one of three scheduling patterns: five, eight hour days followed by two days off; four, 10 hour days followed by three days off: and, some variation of 12 hour days, frequently two 12 hour days followed by two days off. In general, most police officers favor a compressed schedule, with either 10 or 12 hour days, so that they have more time off. The OCSO deputies assigned to Destin work 12 hour shifts. The shift structure is important because of its impact on the number of personnel needed to staff the beats. It is also an important factor in trying to schedule personnel to match peaks in workload. One factor to consider is the Fair Labor Standards Act FLSA) which allows public safety employees to work 171 hours in a 28 -day cycle before they are required to be paid overtime. A 12 hour shift that uses a 2 day on 2 day off sequence would result in 168 hours in a 28 -day cycle ( 12 hours for each of 14 days worked). A 10 hour shift with a four days off, three days off sequence results in 160 hours during a 28 -day cycle ( 10 hours for four days for four weeks). An eight hour shift with a five days on, two days off sequence also would result in 160 hours ( eight hours for five days for four weeks). Page 18 Packet Pg. 164  14. 3. e In Destin, to staff three beats continuously, in all practicality, four officers would need to be assigned to each shift ( a 75% show -up rate). In the 12 hour shift schedule, using a four squad configuration, 16 patrol officers would be needed. Using a fixed shift system and two shifts per day, the first squad of four patrol officers would work two day shifts followed by two days off. A second squad would work the two midnight shifts followed by two days off. A third and fourth squad would work when the first two squads are off. Each squad would have four patrol officers assigned for a total of 16 city -wide. A four -10 schedule has three shifts per beat each day. This shift plan provides 30 hours of coverage over the 24 -hour day for the three daily shifts thus allowing overlap to meet peak periods. Four officers must be scheduled per shift in order to continuously cover three beats. Each week needs 28 shifts per week covered ( 4 positions times 7 days). Given that each officer works 4 shifts per week, each shift needs to be staffed by 7 officers ( 28 divided by 4 shifts per officer). A total, then, of 21 officers would need to be assigned to cover three beats continuously. The five days off, eight hours per day shift also requires that 28 weekly slots be staffed in order to have four officers assigned to have three beats continuously filled. Under this model, each officer has five shifts per week so six officers per shift are needed ( five shifts per officer times six officers equal 30 slots to cover the 28 needed). For the three daily shifts, a total of 18 officers are needed ( six officers times three shifts). I Therefore, in order to minimize the number of officers needed, Destin should consider using 12 hour shifts. In the calculations that follow PERF uses the number of patrol officers needed for a three beat structure ( 16) for budget planning purposes. Although the number of calls- for-service can vary greatly by hour of the day, day of the week and location of calls, distributing patrol officers evenly between shifts is necessary due to the limited number of officers available for shift work and to address officer 1 Page 19 Packet Pg. 165  14. 3. e safety concerns. Exact proportional staffing of shifts based solely on workload or calls for service is not feasible for departments with a small number of officers. For a police department in Destin, assignment based on geographical beats rather than " calls for service" workload would work best. Officer Safety Considerations - Enough personnel must work each shift to ensure an acceptable level of officer safety This is of greatest concern on the midnight shift when the only personnel working the m street are patrol officers and a supervisor. This contrasts with days and evenings when c a there may be other supervisors and detectives available to assist with emergencies or other critical situations. Therefore, to meet this important need, the number of officers Y; assigned to the midnight shift in most communities usually exceeds that required by the 0N workload. The increased staffing on midnight shirt is normally meant to accommodate v L two assumptions about late night calls: M M Although there will be fewer calls, more of the calls received during late night hours require a multiple officer response, and Late night calls require longer handling /processing time due to the severity of the incident as well as a high percentage of custody situations. The PERF established target of three officers working ( with four assigned) each shift is based not only on a three -beat configuration but also maintaining a " safety minimum." A Destin Police Department should have parallel objectives of providing an adequate number of officers to efficiently respond to calls for service while also providing the community with an effective level of problem solving capacity. 1. In order to achieve both goals, the department must have patrol officer schedule integrity." An effective schedule will not have routine gaps for officer availability and will be staffed sufficiently to support necessary non - patrol activities ( training, development, community interaction, problem Page 20 Padcet:Pg. 166  F14 3.. e solving community policing, etc.). As described above, the Destin Police Department will need to have at least 16 patrol officers in order to meet a staffing target of 3 officers on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for a 12 hour schedule. 2. The patrol section should not depend on utilizing other sworn staff to fill holes in the schedule that were unanticipated. 3. The department should try to promote " squad integrity." Officers should have vNCO da' the same supervisor! sergeant for an extended period of time. The u sergeant should be their primary source of assistance and information. L0N The sergeant should also be the key person for the completion of evaluations in order to provide both developmental information as well as y L M future direction. M 9 T Shifts should be fixed for at least six months. Frequent rotation is N N detrimental to long term health and generates fatigue due to constantly NC interrupted sleep patterns. Long -term scheduling provides continuous supervisory/ officer relationships for performance evaluation, allows