HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 8409 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8409
pg r� June 18, 2002
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
►� SUBJECT: Police Department Staffing
During a presentation by John Kerr given at the City Council Meeting on June 4, 2002, regarding
the recommendations from the Justex study of the police department, four questions were raised
concerning police and patrol staffing. The following information will address those questions.
1. What is the number of authorized sworn positions?
The Fort Worth Police Department currently has 1,276 authorized sworn officer positions of
various ranks. Prior to October 1, 2001, there were 1,226 positions and the department had
1,222 actual officers, a deficit of 4 positions. The addition of 50 patrol positions as
recommended by Justex increased the authorized number and the deficit to 54 positions.
Assignment of sworn personnel is as follows:
Field Operations Divisions: 837
North 220
West 201
South 156
East 260
Traffic 68
All Other Assignments 371
(Includes central detectives, special operations, etc, without a geographic assignment.)
Total Authorized 1,276
2 When will the next class of police trainees be ready for assignment?
Class 105, consisting of 35 officers, completed field training at the end of May 2002 and was
assigned to patrol. Class 106 is scheduled to graduate in July 2002. This class should add 38
officers to the field in October 2002. Class 107, with 40 trainees, will begin on August 12th and
graduate in February 2003. It is projected that this class will bring us to 1,274 actual sworn
positions, or 2 below authorized strength, as shown in the chart on the following page.
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8409
June 18, 2002
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
Page 2 of 3
SUBJECT: Police Department Staffing
Staffing levels since October 2001
0 --T-------T------- ------- -- - - I-�"T- -- , -�
Oct- N D i F M A M i i A S Oct- N D i
-10
-20
Class 106 (38) class 107 (40)
-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
.80
3. How is coverage in the city by patrol officers addressed?
The current beat configuration was constructed using a formula of time spent on call. A
printout was obtained giving the amount of patrol time spent on call within each Police
Reporting Area by hour and a formula was devised calculating the desired amount of hours on
call for any given beat. This approach was used rather than a "hazard" file approach as the
assumption was made that more serious calls would require more time on call. The beats were
adjusted to consider traffic accidents and offenses. Modifications were made in 1996 to ensure
that beat boundaries did not split neighborhoods or COP group. The most recent patrol
allocation adjustment was done through a call load analysis using a weighting value for type of
call. Data from the dispatch system included citizen calls for service and police officer initiated
activity. The final Justex report includes a Patrol Allocation Model from Northwestern
University that requires data not currently available and does not include officer-initiated
activity. They are also due to develop and deliver an annexation model that would provide
resource allocation for newly annexed areas but it is not yet available. Neighborhood Patrol
Officers are currently assigned to each of the 76 patrol beats and some special locations such as
parks, housing communities, and universities.
4. How far along are we in closing the gap on the number of patrol officers needed?
As noted in the above chart we are steadily closing the gap in total sworn officer strength
through the addition of trainees and a projected slowing of the attrition rate. The attrition rate
for the police department for the fiscal year is 6.16 officers per month, going from 4.33 in the
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 8409
June 18, 2002
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
Paae 3 of 3
SUBJECT: Police Department Staffing
first quarter to 8.00 in the second quarter. The latter figure was heavily impacted by civil
service retirements that frequently occur in January for tax purposes. Since the implementation
of 25-year retirement, the 3.0 multiplier, and using a high-3 rather than a high-5 salary average
civil service retirements increased and have remained at an elevated level. Presently we have
1,217 officers and when class 106 completes field training in October of this year this we will
be at 1,255. This is the total sworn strength and does not include any changes due to Justex
recommendations that are still being reviewed by the Police Department command staff.
f you h've any questions regarding this information,please contact me or Chief Ralph Mendoza
/
at 817p, 77-8385.
ary W. Jac on
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS