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

0N v officers to establish more predictable off -duty routines and diminishes rotation fatigue. 4. The department should prepare annual and multi -year staffing projections LUaNE based on actual calls for service experience. The calculations should include the amount of time needed to complete the calls for service as well as the staffing requirements for each shift. This will require the creation of a system to record, store, and analyze calls for service, officer initiated, and administrative activity. Page 21 Paeket P9 167  14.3. e Geographic Deployment 1 Beat Design PERF proposes that Destin be divided into three police beats. The boundaries of these beats should be based on several factors. To the extent possible, workload should be about the same for each beat. Travel time from one point in a beat to others should be a factor, also. Rather than using only terrain boundaries, beat boundaries should consider activity areas such as business districts, schools, housing centers or parks. These types of beats would be more conducive to geographic accountability and d neighborhood problem solving. Officers and neighborhood residents will probably 0 understand the boundaries that would encompass " natural" neighborhoods. Their z a opinions and suggestions should be sought out and utilized for establishing new beats. ° 2' 0N Patrol Staffing Targets d r With the proposed schedule of four patrol officers assigned to each 12 hour shift in order to have three officers on duty, maintaining full staffing becomes of great importance. A shortage of one or two officers, due to unfilled vacancies, or long term injuries will result in patrol strength periodically below the targeted level. If the department does not create a hiring process that is both expedient and effective (with good background investigations, etc.) it would have to cover resulting staffing gaps by having the detective, or other officers on overtime fill -in. Supervisory Staffing With the 12 hour, four squad approach, the Destin Police Department would need one supervisor for each squad. In addition, a fifth sergeant will be needed for relief when one of the squad sergeants in on vacation or is on other leave. On the occasional days when neither a squad supervisor nor the relief sergeant is available, the senior officer on the squad would serve as the supervisor. Page 22 k Packet Pg. 168  F143. Civilian Staffing Non -sworn employees could be needed to provide services in the areas of answering emergency and non -emergency phone calls, dispatching officers, administrative support, and parking enforcement. Therefore, the optimal police department models include five dispatchers and one administrative clerk. Many small police departments may also include non -sworn staff for functions such as animal control and parking enforcement. Facility and Equipment A Destin city police department would occupy the current facility used by the Okaloosa County Sheriff. This city- owned building was built as a fire station and remodeled for law enforcement services. Although the facility is acceptable for a city police department, the building does not have a holding cell. Because of the substantial prisoner transport distances to the county jail, the department would need a secure room / cell that would be used to temporarily hold arrested persons for later transport to county jaii. The construction costs for a holding cell have been estimated to be approximately $ 25, 000 e Record Management and Dispatching Ideally, a Destin police department should control its own dispatching operations. This would ensure that local priorities can be set and maintained. This would require a minimum of five full -time call- taker /dispatchers. They could also be responsible for front desk/ walk -in complaints, if the clerk is not available. Based on similar sized police agencies, PERF estimates 30 to 50- people daily would come to the front desk to s ' Public Safety Element - Preliminary Analysis Report," Hartman and Associates, December, 2001, p. 6. Page 23 Packet Pg. 169  14. 3. e request services such as information requests, requests for copies of reports and to file reports of criminal activity. Again based on other similar departments, a Destin police department could expect that the dispatchers: workload would consist of 50% dispatch duties and 50% administrative and front desk activities during normal business hours. During the nighttime, workload is likely to be approximately 75% dispatch duties and 25% administrative and front desk activities. Design of the front desk and dispatch console areas is important to avoid having dispatchers losing contact with the radio consoles to deal with requests from those who walk into the police department. Dispatchers' work shifts should parallel the same shift hours as the officers, with one dispatcher working the same sequence as each of the four squads. The fifth dispatcher would act in a relief capacity and fill -in for absences. The clerical person should be cross- trained and able to perform dispatch duties as an additional backup. Administrative Functions The department should employ a full -time clerk who will be responsible for a wide variety of clerical, administrative duties and for providing back up for dispatchers. There should be sufficient clerical support to accomplish necessary functional tasks i. e., maintaining daily records, permit processing, support walk -in requests for service, etc.). Additional duties to be assigned to this position could include: greeting and supporting walk -in activities, selling animal licenses, preparing copies of reports, report filing, statistical documentation, transcribing necessary reports, and assisting sergeants with programmatic administrative functions ( schedules, routine documentation, reports, Page 24 PacketPg: 170  1 F143. i civilian contacts, etc.). The " Rules and Regulations Manual' of the Destin Police Department should provide detailed job descriptions for all department positions as well as limited descriptions of the various divisions of the department. The description would include appropriate lstatements about the duties and responsibilities for each job assignment and unit. 1 Mission and Goal Statements K 0 The Destin Police Department should develop a Mission Statement to provide d direction for its employees as well as providing the community with a clear declaration 2 of intent. The following is an example of the type of statement that is needed: o N I The mission of the Destin Police Department is to provide effective and M courteous community policing services in collaboration with our community,, to preserve the rights of all individuals and to prevent and v control crime and disorder so that both residents and visitors feel safe and H NO secure. Np t 0N Development of the department' s mission statement should be a high priority. If, as in the example, the statement incorporated a community policing perspective, the e department' s proactive policing efforts should be supported and directed to this value. Officers and civilian staff should be held to the standard defined by the statement as E A well as rewarded for positive behavior that supports the mission statement. i The mission statement should be inculcated into the day -to -day work performance of all department employees and should be made a specific portion of each position' s evaluation. The evaluation should enumerate specific items that would demonstrate 1 that each employee both understands as well as performs according to the values l 1 Page 25 Packe[ Pg. 171  14. 3. e expressed in the statement. The chief should also formally and publically acknowledge the individual acts or general activities which support the mission statement. This recognition could be in the form of internal memos, awards, or public statements. The chief should provide clear, annual goal