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HomeMy WebLinkAbout(0004) IR 20-10467 - Police Staffing – Mid Level Mgmt PositionsINFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 20-10467 PRTEA To the Mayor and Members of the City Council August 25, 2020 fr$ d5 Page 1 of 1 rrA SUBJECT: POLICE STAFFING, INCLUDING MID -LEVEL MANAGEMENT POSITIONS The purpose of this Informal Report is to respond to a City Councilmember question related to mid -level staffing as recommended by the Matrix Study and the Expert Panel reviewing police policies and operations. The Matrix study reviewed the operations of the police department, including overall staffing and outlined recommendations on restructuring the department to better serve the community as well as providing projections for needed additional staffing is specific areas of the department. The study called for an increase of 350 sworn positions and 92 civilian positions over a ten-year period beginning in FY20. Additionally, the recommendations included having many of those added as soon as practical. Based on the projected ability for the City to add positions based on cost, a plan was developed to recommend adding 35 sworn positions per year if financially feasible. In FY20, 38 positions were added to the budget, 35 of which were tied to the Matrix study recommendation as outlined below: 23 Police Officers 1 Corporal • 11 Sergeants The three additional positions were related to the implementation of the Cadet Program and additional School Resource Officers requested by the ISDs. Because of the current financial situation related to the economic impacts of COVID-19, the ability to continue the plan to add 35 officers was put on hold. In an effort to add officers overall, the City Council approved the application to the Justice Department for the participation in the COPS Hiring grant that will provide partial funding of 13 sworn positions starting in FY21: • 3 Sex Offender Registry Team (SORT) officers • 4 Real Time Crime Center (RTCC) officers • 3 Crimes Against Children Unit (CACU) detectives (Corporals) • 3 Domestic Violence Unit (DVU) detectives (Corporals) One of the areas of emphasis in the Matrix study and the Expert Panel concerned the ability for front line supervision to provide adequate oversight and support of officers because of large spans of control. Specifically, the Matrix study called for additional sergeant positions to be added. As outlined above, eleven sergeants were added in FY20. The current recommended budget does not include any additional positions. The cost of adding a sergeant position would be $145,000 annually, which includes salary, benefits, supplies and uniforms. For any questions on this report, please contact Jay Chapa, Deputy City Manager, at 817-392-5804. David Cooke City Manager ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS