HomeMy WebLinkAboutDocumentation_Miscellaneous_Tab 03_04/09/1990_Public Safety Committee.�
LISTING OF TEQUESTA POLICE DEPARTMENT CRITICISMS
CONTAINED WITHIN THE PUBLIC SAFETY OPTIONS REPORT
POLICE RECORDS.
1) The Department does not collect nor maintain adequate ecords of
police officer activity. ----
2) No time -stamped records are collected which record applicable
times for receipt, dispatch, arrival or clearing of calls for
service (cfs).
3) Non-cfs activities of individual officers are not recorded.
4) No officer logs are kept, thus making it impossible to track
daily activities of the patrol officers and prohibiting an
accurate time analysis of the agency's work load.
o MANPOWER ALLOCATION.
1) Current staffing of the Department gives the impression that the
Department places little emphasis on productivity and effective
deployment of existing personnel.
2) There appears to be no rationale for the deployment of two (2)
detectives. The current use and assignment of detectives should
be closely reviewed.
3) The need for a full-time secretary should be closely examined
and be compared to the value of adding additional dispatch
personnel.
4) There appears to be little control of patrol officers'
activities. No directed Patrol Program exists. Officers are
apparently permitted to operate with little direction of their
activities. Patrol officers routinely are in the station and
dispatch area, rather than in their patrol zone. The control of
patrol officers' activities should be strengthened. Officers
should be discouraged from leaving their patrol zones without
adequate reason. A directed Patrol Program should be
established.
5) The Lieutenant and Detective Sergeant apparently serve as "de
facto" assistant Police Chiefs and yet seem to work the same
hours as the Chief of Police. A more appropriate use of these
officers would be to assign them to those times and shifts when
the Chief of Police is not on -duty, thus spreading management
presence over the entire schedule. The assignment of management
and supervisory personnel should be closely reviewed.
o WORK LOAD.
1) On average, the Department responds to only 7.8 calls for
service per 24 hour period.
2) On average, a Tequesta police officer, including sergeants,
handles less than one call for service per shift.
3) Only 21% of all calls for services involve a crime.
4) On average, the Department handles only 6.3 self -initiated calls
per 24 hour day.
5) On average, only 6% of all patrol officers' time on duty is
spent on dispatch calls for service.
6) On average, only 5% of all patrol officers' time on duty is
spent on self -initiated calls.
7) The vast bulk of officers' time (89%) is spent on "preventive
patrol".
8) Given the very low work load demand on the Department, we
question the current table of organization and deployment of
personnel. In the event the Village does not implement the
Public Safety concept, the Department should reconsider the need
for three (3) officers on duty at all times, and consequently,
the total number of officers employed by the agency.
9) Without a directed Patrol Program, especially in such a low
activity agency as Tequesta, preventive patrol becomes a
meaningless, unsupervised wandering of officers for most of
their 8 hour tour. The Department should immediately provide
closer supervision and control of patrol activities. This
should include directed patrol, incorporating Park, Walk and
Talk activities.
o RESPONSE TIMES.
1) Given the record keeping system of the Department, we are unable
to calculate response times for second or third arriving units.
o SUMMARY.
1) The very low call for service demand on the Police Department is
typical of a law enforcement agency in a small, affluent
community. The management practices of the Department do not
provide the community with the advantages such conditions can
offer.
2) The Department is not a community service oriented agency. The
absence of any citizen contact programs for patrol personnel
t clearly demonstrates this. In a police agency such as
Tequesta's, patrol personnel should closely interact with the
citizenry on an on-going, daily basis. That is currently not
the case.
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