POLICE PLANNING

DEFINITION OF POLICE PLANNING

It is a systematic and continuous process of preparing a set of decision for action in the
future, directed in achieving goal by optimal means and of learning from the outcome about
possible new sets of decision and new goals to be achieved.

It is devising a method or course of action; arranging means or steps for the attainment of
an objective. In police work, plans can be procedural, tactical, operational, extra-
departmental and management plans.
 The Police Management Function

 Planning. The process of combining all aspects of the public safety activity and the realistic
anticipation of future problems, the analysis of strategy and the correlation of strategy to
detail.
 Organizing. A process done in structuring a work group into components in order to
establish workable channels of intra-group communication in the performance of an
assigned task or tasks. In this structuring, there must be allocation of responsibility,
authority, and accountability with the vertical and lateral channels of communication to
allow the flow of instructions.
 Directing. Ordering, commanding, instructing, and superintending the subordinates. In the
police service, directing is three-folds: COMMAND, COORDINATION and
CONTROL.
 Staffing. Bringing in and out of personnel, training and maintaining the staff the favorable
conditions of work; filling in the organization with the right people in the right job.
 Coordinating. Making harmonious adjustment to give things and actions their proper
proportions and relationships; it is to unify various efforts which may be disconnected
whole, be vertical or horizontal coordination.
 Reporting. Keeping the superior informed of what is going on in the organization,
which includes keeping himself and his subordinates also informed through records,
researches and inspections.
 Budgeting. Fiscal planning, accounting and control.

The task of preparing a police plans cannot be completed without an in-depth study and
considerable preliminary inquiry before the outlining of decision and program of action for
future implementation of the police organization’s activities and projects.
 OBJECTIVES
 Protection of persons and property;
 Preservation of peace;
 Prevention of crime;
 Repression and suppression of criminal activities;
 Apprehension of Criminals;
 Enforcement of laws and ordinances and regulations of conduct;
 Safeguarding of public health and morals;
 Prompt execution of criminal writs and processes of the courts; and coordination and cooperation
with other law enforcement agencies.
 FUNDAMENTALS OF POLICE
PLANNING
 Know your situation
 Know what you want to do
 Breakdown your goals into smaller tasks
 Determine the resources needed
 Anticipate problems or changing situations
 Implement your plan
 Monitor results
 Evaluate the plan
 Document the experience
 Report your experience
 THE VALUE OF PLANS

 It implements policies and clarifies it by defining more precisely an immediate objective or

purpose and outlining what is to be done to achieve it.
 It serves as guide or reference in both training and performance.
 The planning process gives continued attention to the improvement of the practices and
procedures.
 It enables a check on accomplishments.
 Wise planning assumes the most effective and economical use of resources in the
accomplishment of the purpose of the organization.
 Sequence in Police Planning Process

■ Setting Planning Goals

■ Preparing for Planning

■ Identifying the Problems

■ Identifying Alternative Solutions

 SIGNIFICANCE OF PLANNING
The increasing complexity of police operations demands the utmost skills and careful planning in
order to ensure the accomplishments of police objectives and missions. The planning process must be
done in all police organization regardless of size. Thus, therefore, the police officer in charge in
planning must be an expert in operational activities and methods. The planner must be capable of
inspecting works systems, conducting studies, analyzing data, and developing matured
recommendations for constructive changes in police operations when necessary.

If the police planner is to best perform his planning duties, he must be able to forecast future
needs of his organization as part of his planning activities, anticipate problems, and make decisions
ahead of times to solve them. The planner must familiarize himself in work simplification practices in
order to bring about greater efficiency in police organization through the streamlining procedures,
reduction of paperwork, and the effective use of resources—human and material.
CLASSIFICATION OF POLICE PLANS

Police plans may be classified in a number of ways. To facilitate orderly discussion, they are arbitrarily
divided into five (5) classifications, although its terminology may be controversial. Research is, of course,
essential in all planning.

■ Procedural Plans

Procedural plans include every procedure that has been outlined and officially adopted as the
standard method of action to be followed by all members of the police organization under specified
circumstances, regardless of where or when the circumstances arise and regardless of the functional unit to
which the member confronted by them may be currently assigned. These plans constitute the standard
operating procedures of the organization.
■ Tactical Plans

Tactical plans also affect all members of the police organization, but they are restricted to
methods of action to be taken at a designated location and under specified circumstances. Tactical
plans represent the application of procedures to specific situation. An outline of description of action
that is to be taken in the event of an emergency or when a report is received that a crime is in progress
or has just been committed at a specified location. (bomb)
■ Operational Plans

Operational plans include the work programs of the line divisions. The work to be done to
accomplish the process of patrol, crime investigation, traffic, vice, and juvenile-crime control, must be
analyzed from the point of view of the nature, time, and place of the component tasks, and measured
in terms of manpower and equipment requirements. Human and material requirement must be
assigned to each branch of service; specific objectives must be defined and methods of action
developed for their achievement.
■ Extra-Departmental Plans

Extra-departmental plans include those that require action or assistance from persons or agencies
outside the police organization, or that related to some form of community organization. An extra-
departmental plan may be 0f particular interest to a special operating division. These special division,
therefore, have a greater responsibility in the development of extra-departmental plans in their spheres
of activity that has the organization as a whole.
■ Management Plans

Management plans related to the problems of equipping, staffing, and preparing the police
organization to do the job, rather than to its actual operation as an organized force. They include the
organization plan--with definitions of the duties of the component organic units, the budget, and
procedures relating to accounting, purchasing, and personnel management—-recruitment, training,
rating, selection for promotion, discipline, and welfare.
 Types of Police Plans According to
Range
There are also types of police plans according to range, as follows:

Short Range

This is a type of police plan according to range with a life span of one (1) year, a typical example
of plan falling under this type are those plans to meet special incidents encountered by the police.

Medium Range

This is a type of police plan according to range with a life span of two (2) years, a typical example of
plan falling under this type are standard operating procedures, and auxiliary plans.
■ Long Range

This is a type of police plan according to range with a life span of three (3) years or more, a
typical example of plan falling under this type is the strategic plan.
 STAGES IN POLICE PLANNING
ACTIVITIES
Frame of Reference
This shall be based on a careful selection of matters relating to the situations in which plans are being
developed, and the opinions or ideas of individual persons who may speak with authority on the subject
concerned.
Clarifying the Problems
This calls for the identification of the problem, understanding both its record and its possible solutions.
Collecting Pertinent Facts
Attempts shall not be made to develop a plan until all facts relating to it have been gathered and collated.
 Analyzing the Facts

After all data have been gathered, a careful analysis and evaluation for its usefulness shall be made,
and to deduce conclusion from it.

 Developing Alternative Plans

In the initial phase of plan development, several alternative measures will appear to be logically
comparable to the needs of a situation.

 Selecting Appropriate Alternative

A careful consideration of all facts usually leads to the selection of the “best” of all alternative
proposals.

 Selling the Plan

A plan to be effectively carried out must be accepted by all personnel concerned at the appropriate
level of the plans development.
Arranging for Executions of the Plan

The execution of a plan requires the issuance of orders and directives to concerned unit or
personnel, the establishment of a schedule, and the provision of manpower and equipment for carrying
out the plans.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Plan

The results of the plan shall be determined, and this is necessary in order to know whether
correct alternative was chosen, whether the plan was correct, which phase was poorly implemented,
and whether additional planning may be necessary.