Borough of Quakertown

Police Department

To: Mayor of Anytown

From: Chief Chris Grill

Date: March 11th, 2022

Subject: CONFIDENTIAL – Staffing Concerns

Law enforcement nationwide faces several challenges that make it difficult

to operate in the current environment. Staffing being one of those challenges is a

crucial component to successfully achieving the agency's goals and mission.

Personnel costs represent the majority of any police budget, and having adequate

police personnel is critical to providing an acceptable level of police service. One

of the most significant responsibilities of the Chief of Police is to regularly assess

the department's effectiveness and make recommendations that will impact crime,

safety, and the level of service provided to the community.

Part of serving the community of Anytown involves the leaders being fiscally

responsible when developing a budget. A police department can spend up to and

exceeding 80% of its budget on staffing. (King, 2021) With the challenges law

enforcement faces, it is difficult to retain experienced officers and recruit new

ones. As a community that values public safety, it is essential that we invest in

Serving with Honor, Integrity, and Pride

recruitment and that we are competitive in benefits and work conditions. (Nayor,

2021) The proposal and request to reduce the recruitment budget by 50% will be

detrimental to the department and cause a ripple effect for years to come. With

this proposed cut in the budget, the department will not be able to keep pace with

the attrition rate. The expanding responsibilities of the police today further add to

the importance of having adequate staffing levels. With lower staffing levels over

time, the quality of police service that the department can provide will suffer. The

well-being of the department's officers will be affected by lower personnel. With

increased workload shared by fewer officers, burnout and mental stress is a

concern.

The creation of the Homeless Outreach Team (HOT) will benefit the

community in many ways. The team's creation will place a burden on staffing and

further emphasize the need to maintain and replace officers. Without adding to

the complement of current officers, the seven positions for the HOT will need to be

pulled from patrol or out of other specialty units.

Although a 12-hour shift may increase the ability to patrol with less by

essentially eliminating a shift, there are some concerns about how it will affect the

department and the budget. A more extended shift may result in a significant

reduction in alertness with the increased potential for mistakes to occur. (Weerd,

2021) There will also be an impact on the quality of life of the patrol officers with

families. Consideration must be given to the potential overtime cost. Officers will

work 84 hours in an 80-hour workweek. The department will have to provide

overtime, Kelley days as compensation or adjust officers' shifts to one eight-hour

Serving with Honor, Integrity, and Pride

shift in those two weeks. The last two options will result in less staffing on the

street. The addition of time off for training, sick days, court time, vacations,

injuries, and disciplinary reasons may drive the overtime up.

Combatting the rising crime in the south part of the city will take a

combination of resources. Advanced technological equipment can assist with

staffing shortages, increase officer safety, and help officers be more effective.

(Sadulski, 2017) Traditional policing methods like directed patrols aided by

technology will allow the department to combat the rise in crime. Both the

technology and directed patrols will require additional staffing to address the

south's crime effectively. For these reasons, it is imperative to aggressively recruit

and fund those efforts to have a well-planned succession plan.

Serving with Honor, Integrity, and Pride

 Works Cited
King, C. (2021). Chief. (B. Goldberg, Interviewer)

Nayor, D. (2021). Chief. (B. Goldberg, Interviewer)

Sadulski, D. J. (2017, October 16th). Unintended consequences of technology in policing.

Retrieved from Police 1: https://www.police1.com/american-military-
university/articles/unintended-consequences-of-technology-in-policing-
EQhuM6wsvpCNKqYF/

Weerd, R. V. (2021, January 27th). Trying times for law enforcement may call for
alternate work schedules. Retrieved from Police1: https://www.police1.com/chiefs-
sheriffs/articles/trying-times-for-law-enforcement-may-call-for-alternate-work-
schedules-QXj80HbBVH1Smqgk/

Serving with Honor, Integrity, and Pride