1. District Station Deployment
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As a part of the Budget Analyst"s management audit of the San Francisco Police Department, we researched the deployment policies and practices of the Field Operations Bureau"s ten [1] district stations. With over 1,300 personnel, the district stations are the units within the Department with the greatest and most consistent exposure to the general public.
As part of this analysis, we examined: (1) whether the planned/budgeted staffing levels correlate to public demand for Police services, (2) the effect of deployment practices on police officer availability and service, and (3) whether allocation of staff complies with Board of Supervisors policies and budget decisions, and with the mandates of Proposition D.
To accomplish these study objectives, we analyzed:
- Randomly selected attendance records from each of the ten district stations for four pay periods, one from each quarter in Calendar Year (CY) 1995.
- Summary statistics from the Police Department Planning Division illustrating the number of calls for service by priority category, and by day of week and time of day for all district stations for CY 1995.
- A report from the Field Operations Bureau Headquarters (FOB) showing the hours worked and the overall cost of all special events in each of the districts for fiscal year (FY) 1994-95.
- Cost reports maintained by FOB to determine the breakdown of special events by day of week and time of day.
- Overtime summary reports generated by the SFPD Fiscal Division.
- Information gathered from interviews with district captains regarding the daily assignment of staff at each district and general deployment practices.
FOB Personnel Assignment Practices
Based on our analysis of this data, we found that staffing patterns at the district stations generally do not correspond to the overall and relative demand for service in each district. This staff versus demand imbalance between the district stations results, primarily, because the current deployment decisions made by FOB are not consistent with minimum staffing requirements determined to be appropriate by district Captains, and do not correlate with workload activity or demand for service.
Police Officer Deployment
Each district captain is responsible for deploying his/her assigned police officers on each shift at his/her district station. Therefore, as part of this study, we asked the Captains to define minimum staffing requirements for his/her station. We defined minimum staffing requirements for the Captains as being the minimum number of "beat" officers that are required each day to provide adequate police services within the district.
Minimum staffing requirements were generally based on the Captain"s knowledge of the district. Typical factors which were used by the Captains to determine minimum staffing included: (1) the demand for service in the district, as determined by complaint/crime and arrest patterns; (2) concerns expressed by the public; (3) characteristics of the district (e.g., geography, residential vs. commercial, etc.); and, (4) the availability of police officers, vehicles, and radios allocated to the district station by FOB command staff. Within each district, police officers may be assigned to patrol car beats (sector cars), foot beats, plainclothes units, school car units, bicycle beats, administrative posts, and certain special assignments under the direct supervision of the Captain (e.g., permit processing, subpoena service, station duty, vehicle management, etc.).
Based on our interviews with the district station Captains, and our analysis of staffing and deployment data compiled from Department records, we found that the district stations generally are unable to meet minimum staffing requirements or to provide consistent levels of law enforcement services within the City. Our conclusions are drawn from the following specific findings:
(1) The number of officers assigned to each district by the Field Operations Bureau are, in most cases, not sufficient to meet the minimum staffing requirements believed to be appropriate by the district Captains; and,
(2) The number of police officers assigned and available at each district station does not correlate with workload, resulting in significant workload disparities between districts.
Inability to Meet Minimum Staffing Requirements
Using the minimum staffing information which we developed based on interviews with the district Captains, and available scheduling and payroll records obtained from FOB administration, we were able to construct a model which compares the total number of hours worked per year by police officers at each district station to the number of hours per year that are required to provide minimum staffing. Based on this analysis, seven out of ten districts have not been assigned sufficient staff to meet the minimum staffing requirement defined by the Captains at those stations.
The table below shows the current assigned staff at each district, the estimated staff surplus or shortfall (based on the Captains" minimum staffing requirements, and assigned staffing adjusted by police officer attendance) and the total number of staff needed to meet each Captain"s minimum staffing requirement.
Table 1.1
Actual Staffing Levels versus District Captains"
Minimum Staffing Requirements by District
San Francisco Police Department - 1996
| District | Current No. of Assigned Staff * | Estimated Staff Surplus/ (Shortfall) | No. of Staff Required to Meet Minimum Staff Requirement | ||||||
| Tenderloin Southern Mission Richmond Ingleside Taraval Potrero Northern Park Central | 59 92 111 62 89 78 83 107 65 95 | (40) (29) (25) (22) (14) (8) (7) 0 7 18 | 99 121 136 84 103 86 90 107 58 77 | ||||||
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| Total | 841 | (120) | 961 | ||||||
| * As of February, 1996 (excludes 190 police officers who completed field training in mid-1996). | |||||||||
As shown in the table above, the district stations had a staffing shortfall of approximately 120 police officers in February, 1996 (excluding 190 police officers who completed field training in mid-1996). However, on an individual district station basis, staffing ranged from a shortfall of 40 positions for the Tenderloin Task Force to a surplus of 18 positions at Central Station.
The results of the analysis displayed in Table 1.1, and an examination of the minimum staffing requirements defined by the Captains, suggests that this methodology does not result in the most effective use of sworn personnel. For example, the Mission District appropriately has the highest total staffing based on the Captain"s minimum staffing requirements at that station, the relatively high number of calls for service activity and rate of serious crime in the District, and a relatively large number of special events each year. Similarly, it is reasonable that the Park District would have the lowest staffing level since the Park District has a lower level of crime and special event activity than do other districts.
However, it is uncertain why the Richmond District--which has the lowest crime rate, calls for service and special event activity in the City--would require nine more staff than the Central District, which has a higher demand for service. Further, it is not reasonable that the Richmond District has only six fewer staff than the Potrero District, which has one of the highest levels of calls for service and crime activity in the City.
Staffing and Calls for Service
As part of this study, we compared actual staffing, adjusted for attendance, to the number of Priority A and Priority B calls for service (high priority calls) by district. Using this analysis, we then developed a statistic showing the number of calls for service per beat assignment, per day for each district as a basic measurement of staffing compared with workload. The results of this analysis are displayed in the table, below.
Table 1.2
Analysis of Calls for Service and
Actual Staffing by District
San Francisco Police Department - 1995 / 96
| District | Number of Priority A & B Calls for Service Per Day | Reported Minimum Number of Patrol Beats Per Day | Number of Calls Per Beat | ||||||
| Potrero Central Northern Taraval Park Mission Ingleside Southern Richmond Tenderloin | 67 55 81 53 38 84 58 63 40 33 | 35 31 50 34 25 59 44 51 35 43 | 1.9 1.8 1.6 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 1.2 1.1 0.8 | ||||||
As illustrated, there is an apparent workload disparity between the districts when comparing minimum staffing to high priority calls for service. For example, under the minimum staffing requirements established by the Captain for the Potrero District, a police officer would respond to an average of 1.9 Priority A and Priority B calls per shift. At the other extreme, a police officer assigned to the Tenderloin Task Force would need to respond to an average of 0.8 calls per shift. In this example, police officers assigned to the Potrero District Station would respond to twice the number of high priority calls per officer than would those officers assigned to the Tenderloin Task Force.
In part, these disparities can be explained by other factors that affect police activity in each district. Such factors include district geography and crime activity patterns, the frequency of special events and related officer staffing requirements, and characteristics of the calls for service. However, the analysis displayed in Table 1.2 does not appear to be heavily affected by these factors.
For example, the Richmond District (which has relatively lower calls for service activity, fewer special events and lower crime rates than do most of the other districts) has a calls per beat ratio of only 1.1. On the other hand, the Potrero District (which has the third highest number of Priority A and Priority B calls) has the highest calls per beat ratio in the City. Although we believe workload disparities between districts can partially be explained by the types of activities that occur and the characteristics of each district, the workload disparities shown in Table 1.2 seem to follow an inconsistent pattern that conflicts with what one would expect if these factors were significantly influencing deployment decisions.
Although the current minimum staffing requirements established by district Captains reflect, to some extent, the relative demand for service among the districts, there are many inconsistencies which could not be satisfactorily explained by the Police Department during the course of this review. We believe these inconsistencies occur because minimum staffing requirements are established independently by district captains with little understanding of the overall priorities and needs for police services on a City-wide basis.
It is clear that the number of staff assigned by central command (FOB) to district stations does not correspond to the minimum staffing requirements determined by the district captains. However, we were unable to identify any formalized standards or criteria which are used by FOB administration for allocating police officers to the district stations. Instead, discussions with Police Department management staff indicate that staff allocation decisions are more commonly a product of negotiation between central administration and line managers within the Department. We believe that staff allocation decisions can be improved if the Police Department establishes standards and an effective, centralized process for allocating police officers to district stations.
Utilization of Police Officers by District Captains
Once police officer staffing has been allocated to the district stations, the assigned Captain appropriately makes decisions regarding the deployment of that staff. As part of this analysis, we examined shift scheduling practices and police officer attendance, and compared the results with calls for service activity by location.
Shift Scheduling
Each district has an average of five shifts per day. Although shift start times vary from district to district, each district has two to three shift start times in the morning (usually at 6 AM, 7 or 8 AM and 10 or 11 AM), one or two shift start times in the afternoon (at 1 or 2 PM and/or 4 PM) and one shift start time in the evening (usually at 8:30 PM or 9 PM). Because each shift lasts ten hours, there are anywhere from 16 to 36 hours of overlapping shifts per day (e.g., two shifts which overlap each other for two hours would represent four hours of overlapping shifts). Accordingly, there is a significant amount of shift overlap time built into police officer schedules at the district stations.
The benefits of shift overlap are that (a) it allows the Police Department to provide more police staffing during hours of higher public demand for service, and (b) incoming police officers can take new calls for service, allowing the outgoing police officers time to complete police reports and other administrative duties.
However, in our analysis of start times and shift overlap periods at the district stations, we found that shift overlap periods did not always follow the same pattern as calls for service activity. For example, at eight of the ten district stations, we found that the number of scheduled shifts declined during afternoon and early evening hours (between 4 PM and 8 PM), which is the time of day when calls for service activity tends to increase. This shift pattern occurs primarily because many of the districts have several day shifts, but only one swing shift and one night shift. For example, the day watch officers who finish their shifts at 4 PM, 6 PM and 9 PM are usually replaced by only one shift which starts at 4 PM. The night shift does not usually start until 9 PM, when all the day watch officers have already finished their shifts. This is illustrated by Exhibit 1.1, which shows the pattern of shift overlap times and calls for service activity over the time of day for the Central District.
Exhibit 1.1
San Francisco Police Department
Calls for Service Activity and Shift Scheduling by Hour
Central District - 1995 - 96
Rotating Days Off on a Weekly Basis
A "watch-off group" is a group of police officers who are assigned the same scheduled work days and days off from work. For example, one watch-off group may work Sunday through Wednesday and have Thursday through Saturday off, while a second watch off group would work Monday through Thursday and have Friday through Sunday off during that same week. During each of the following six weeks, each watch-off group rotates its work days and days off by one day per week. Depending on the number of watch-off groups at each district and the number of police officers allocated to each watch-off group, there can be wide fluctuations in the number of officers scheduled to work on the same day from week to week. Each district has up to seven watch-off groups per watch, with a varying number of officers in each watch-off group.
We found that there were often wide fluctuations in the number of scheduled shifts on any given day from one week to the next. For example, there were 58 officers scheduled to work on one Monday in June, 1995 at Southern District. However, on the following Monday, there were 79 officers scheduled to work, an increase of 21 officers (36 percent). Similarly, we found that while 60 officers were scheduled to work on one Sunday in April, 1995 at Ingleside District, there were only 44 officers scheduled to work on the following Sunday, a decrease of 16 officers (27 percent). On average, the ten districts showed a variance of plus or minus 3.4 percent (about three shifts) from a given day during one week to the same day in the following week.
We also found that Saturdays and Sundays, which were usually the days with the highest demand for service, were almost always the days with the lowest number of scheduled shifts, whereas the highest number of scheduled shifts usually occurred on weekdays. This may occur because district Captains assign a different number of police staff to each watch-off group, and because the Department"s automated scheduling system is programmed to assign a higher number of watch-off groups on weekend days than on weekdays.
Therefore, rotating watch-off groups on a weekly basis inhibits the districts" ability to allocate a larger proportion of available police staff to the days of the week that are consistently the busiest.
Assigning On-duty Police Officers to Special Events or to Other Units
Using data on special events obtained from the Field Operations Bureau, we calculated the number of shifts that were required to police special events in each district in order to measure the staffing demand that special events place on each. Based on this analysis, at five out of ten stations, the two days of the week with the highest percentage of staff required for special events were Saturday and Sunday. At nine districts, Sunday was one of the two days of the week with the highest percentage of shifts required for special events. At three stations -- Central, Northern and Southern -- the amount of on-duty staff time required for special event coverage is very high on the weekends. On-duty special event staffing requirements were on average 120 percent higher on weekends than on weekdays for all the districts, as shown in Table 1.3 on the next page.
In addition, we also found that Saturday was the one of the two days of the week with the highest percentage of officers working another assignment at eight out of ten stations. At seven out of ten stations, Friday was the day with the highest percentage of officers working another assignment.
Table 1.3
Average Number of On-Duty Staff Hours Needed per Day for
Special Event Coverage on Weekends vs. Weekdays
San Francisco Police Department - 1995
| District | Weekdays | Weekends | Variance | Percentage Increase | ||||||||
| Central Southern Potrero Mission Northern Park Richmond Ingleside Taraval Tenderloin | 9.1 18.7 1.6 5.5 8.5 0.9 1.8 1.8 1.7 2.5 | 15.6 20.4 3.7 6.1 22.0 5.3 2.1 5.2 2.7 4.1 | +6.5 +1.7 +2.7 +0.6 +13.5 +4.4 +0.3 +3.4 +1.0 +1.6 | +71.4% +9.1% +131.3% +10.9% +158.8% +488.9% +16.7% +188.9% +58.8% +64.0% | ||||||||
As noted earlier, the highest demand for police services occurs on weekends. However, the practices of using on-duty police officers from the districts to provide special event coverage and of assigning on-duty officers to other units within the Department results in the fewest number of police officers being assigned and available to perform regular police duties (such as responding to calls for service) during periods of highest demand.
Police Officer Attendance
Based on our attendance data, we found that at seven out of ten stations, the two days of the week with the highest percentage of staff taking sick and other unanticipated leave days were Saturday and Sunday. At all stations, Saturday was one of the two days of the week with the highest percentage of sick and other unanticipated leave days.
This high rate of sick leave combined with the previously-cited high number of assignments to other units on Saturday and Sunday contribute to a large staff versus demand imbalance on the weekends. This is particularly true for Saturdays. Including both sick days and reassignment days, Saturday consistently has the highest percentage of officers absent from their regular duty in nine out of ten stations. The rate of such absences ranges from 15 percent in Northern Station up to 28 percent in Tenderloin Station.
General Results
The deployment practices, shift assignment practices and level of police officer absenteeism described in the paragraphs above resulted in a disparity between staffing levels and demand for service, by day of week and time of day at the district stations. Although there were some specific variations by station, the following are the general results of our analysis. Details of the analysis performed for each district station have been provided to the Police Department and are available for review upon request.
- Because of shift assignment practices and police officer attendance, the number of calls for service per police officer is on average 34 percent greater on the day with the highest calls for service activity (always Saturday or Sunday) than on the day with lowest calls for service activity (usually Wednesday).
- The number of Priority A calls for service per police officer is on average 46.5 percent greater on the day with the highest number of Priority A calls (always Saturday or Sunday) than on the day with the lowest number of Priority A calls (usually Wednesday).
Ideally, variations in Police staffing should correlate with the variation in demand for Police services. In our review of district staffing compared to demand for Police services as measured by calls for service, we found a reverse correlation. That is, calls for service activity was highest on Saturdays and Sundays and lowest during midweek, while staffing levels at each district were typically lowest on weekends and highest during midweek. For example, we found that the number of officers not working their regular shift due to sickness or reassignment to another unit was higher during weekend shifts. As a result, the number of calls for service per officer is almost always higher on weekends than on weekdays.
Exhibit 1.2 below shows calls for service and staffing by day of week for the Mission District, which is representative of the general results of our analysis of staffing and calls for service activity for all ten districts.
Exhibit 1.2
San Francisco Police Department
Calls for Service Activity and Staffing by Day of Week
Mission District 1995 - 96
* Planned available staff is defined as the number of officers who were scheduled to work, less those who were unavailable due to vacation, compensatory time off, holidays, disability leave, military leave, personal leave and/or other types of anticipated leave. The number of officers assigned to the Captain"s Staff (non-patrol shifts) was then deducted from this figure in order to arrive at the number of planned available patrol staff.
** The actual number of staff is defined as the number of officers who worked their regular assignment. Actual staffing was derived by deducting from the number of planned available staff (defined above) the number of officers unavailable to work due to (a) illness or other type of unanticipated leave, (b) assignment to another unit, such as narcotics or vice, (c) assignment to training, (d) on-duty court time and/or (e) on-duty special event time.
Exhibit 1.3 demonstrates the effect that unanticipated absences, assignments to training or to other units, on-duty court appearances and special events have on the number of calls for service per officer.
Exhibit 1.3
San Francisco Police Department
Calls for Service per Planned and Actual Staff by Day of Week
Mission District - 1995 - 96
Exhibit 1.4 below shows a percentage comparison of calls for service per staff by day of week for the Mission District.
Exhibit 1.4
San Francisco Police Department
Comparison of Calls for Service per Staff by Day of Week
Mission District - 1995 - 96
- Although the district stations do a relatively better job of scheduling officers by time of day than by day of week, the number of calls for service per officer is on average 120 percent greater during the two-hour period with the highest number of calls for service per officer (usually between 6 PM and 8 PM) than during the two-hour period with the lowest number of calls for service per officer (between 4 AM and 6 AM or between 6 AM and 8 AM).
- The number of Priority A calls for service per officer is on average 270 percent greater during the two-hour period with the highest number of Priority A calls per officer (between 2 AM and 4 AM or between 6 PM and 8 PM) than during the two-hour period with the lowest number of Priority A calls per officer (usually between 6 AM and 8 AM).
Overall, the districts do a relatively better job of scheduling staff by time of day than by day of week. For example, in general, more officers work during evening and nighttime hours, when demand is highest, than during the day. However, we still found that a relatively high percentage of officers worked during the day considering the lower calls for service activity. Similarly, a relatively low number of officers worked during the swing shift (usually 4 PM to 2 AM) in comparison to the percentage of calls for service which occur during those hours. Additionally, we found that the periods of highest demand for each district (usually between 6 PM and 12 AM and lowest demand (between 4 AM and 8 AM) did not always correspond to the periods of highest and lowest staffing levels at each district. As a result, the number of calls for service per officer is almost always higher during evening and nighttime hours than during morning and daytime hours.
Additionally, it should be noted that, because shift assignments are determined on a seniority basis, the officers with the most years of experience have the first opportunity to sign-up for the shift start times that are usually the most preferred--that is--daytime shifts. As a result, those officers with the least amount of seniority usually are assigned to the swing or night-time shifts, which are also the periods with the highest calls for service activity.
Exhibit 1.5 below shows calls for service and staffing by two-hour interval for the Ingleside District.
Exhibit 1.5
San Francisco Police Department
Calls for Service and Staffing by Time of Day
Ingleside District - 1995 - 96
Exhibit 1.6 demonstrates the effect that unanticipated absences, assignments to training or to other units, on-duty court appearances and special events have on the number of calls for service per officer.
Exhibit 1.6
San Francisco Police Department
Calls for Service per Planned and Actual Staff by Time of Day
Ingleside District - 1995 - 96
Exhibit 1.7 shows a percentage comparison of calls for service per staff by two-hour interval for the Ingleside District.
Exhibit 1.7
San Francisco Police Department
Comparison of Calls for Service per Staff by Time of Day
Ingleside District - 1995 - 96
Opportunities for Improving Police Coverage
In the subsections above, we have outlined our general findings regarding staff deployment, shift scheduling, and police officer attendance at the district stations. Described below are methods by which we believe police coverage at the district stations could be improved. These include (a) shifting the responsibility of determining the minimum staffing requirements for each district from the district Captains to the Field Operations Bureau, and establishing formalized staffing criteria, standards and performance measures for each district; (b) creating a Special Event Unit under Field Operations Headquarters and evaluating the assignment of on-duty district officers to other units on weekends; (c) adjusting shift start times and/or adding new shifts in order to more effectively schedule shift overlap time during periods of peak demand for service; (d) instituting a new rotating days off scheduling system; and (e) monitoring sick leave usage on weekends more closely.
Shifting the Responsibility of Establishing Minimum Staffing Requirements for Each District from District Captains to the Field Operations Bureau
As previously noted, we found that (a) the minimum staffing requirements defined by the individual district Captains resulted in an inconsistent pattern of workload disparities among the districts, based on the relative demand for service in each district; and, (b) the number of officers assigned to each district by the Field Operations Bureau were in most cases insufficient to meet the minimum staffing requirements established by the district Captains. Furthermore, if officers were assigned to district stations on the basis of the minimum staffing requirements established by the district Captains, the result would be staffing levels at each district that do not coincide with the relative demand for service among district stations.
These inconsistencies exist in part because minimum staffing requirements are established independently by district captains with little consideration to the overall priorities and needs for police services on a City-wide basis. As such, central management (Field Operations Bureau) should be responsible for establishing criteria and standards upon which the minimum staffing requirements at each district station can be determined. Staff deployment decisions should be made with input from each district captain, and with greater consideration to the relative demand for service between districts, the overall priorities of the City, and available resources.
In addition, officers should be assigned to the districts based on these minimum staffing requirements. The Field Operations Bureau should develop objectives and performance measures for each of the district stations as a means of evaluating whether the minimum staffing requirements developed for a particular station are effective in meeting the Department"s overall objectives, and what adjustments, if any, may be necessary. However, the district captains should still be given the flexibility to assign staff based on his or her own best judgment. In this manner, the concept of community policing can be maintained (i.e., retaining a high degree of station control over operations) while more equitably allocating staff on a City-wide basis.
As an example, FOB may determine that the reduction of burglary rates in the commercial sector of the Potrero District is one of its priorities over the next six months. As such, FOB might establish a minimum staffing requirement of two patrol cars in that sector every night of the week and assign sufficient staff to the Potrero District in order to meet this minimum staffing requirement. However, the district captain at Potrero would maintain the flexibility of deploying the staff assigned to his or her district in the manner he or she saw fit, while keeping FOB"s priorities in mind.
After reviewing burglary rates in the commercial sector of the Potrero District at the end of the six-month period, FOB could determine whether or not its objective was met, and, if so, how staff were deployed by the district captain in order to meet that objective. If the captain were able to meet FOB"s objective by deploying staff in a manner different from that prescribed by FOB"s minimum staffing requirements, or if deploying staff based on FOB"s minimum staffing requirements did not result in a reduction in the burglary rate, this would indicate that some adjustments to FOB"s minimum staffing requirements for that district could be necessary.
Creating a Special Event Unit within FOB and Evaluating the Assignment of Officers to Other Units on Weekends
As described earlier, at five out of ten stations, the two days of the week with the highest percentage of staff required for special events were Saturday and Sunday. In addition, we also found that Friday and Saturday were the two days of the week with the highest percentage of officers working another assignment at the majority of the stations.
The practices of using on-duty police officers from the districts to provide special event coverage and of assigning on-duty officers to other units within the Department results in the fewest number of police officers being assigned and available to perform regular police duties, such as responding to calls for service, during the periods of highest demand.
The SFPD should consider creating an on-duty unit of officers under Field Operations Bureau Headquarters which would be scheduled to be available for special event coverage during the periods when special events add significantly to the districts" workload. Such a unit would allow district captains to project more accurately the number of staff they will have available to respond to calls for service during busy weekend periods and would reduce the number of officers who are taken away from regular police duties because of special events. In addition, such a unit would make it possible for the SFPD to reduce the hours of overtime which are caused by special events. Further discussion of this problem and a more specific recommendation can be found in Section 4.1 of this report.
Additionally, the SFPD should review the practice of assigning officers to other units during periods of heavy demand, such as weekend days, to determine whether the need for additional personnel in such other units justifies the impact on the capabilities of the district stations.
Adjusting Shift Start Times and/or Adding New Shifts
In our analysis of start times and shift overlap periods at the district stations, we found that shift overlap periods usually followed the same pattern as calls for service activity--there were some inconsistencies. For example, as previously noted, at eight of the ten district stations, we found that the number of scheduled shifts declined during afternoon and early evening hours (between 4 PM and 8 PM), which is the time of day when calls for service activity tends to increase and peak.
The SFPD should adjust shift start times at the district stations so that patterns in shift overlap time better coincide with patterns in demand for service over the time of day. For example, some districts should consider having fewer day shifts and more swing shifts in order to improve police coverage during late afternoon and early evening hours. Alternatively, some districts should consider moving some of the day shift start times a few hours back so that there is more shift overlap time during the periods of high demand for service.
Instituting a New Rotating Days Off Scheduling System
The SFPD should consider ending the practice of rotating days off on a weekly basis, which reduces the districts" control over scheduling a larger proportion of staff on the busiest days, and replacing it with a system that rotates days off by some other time period, such as every two months.
The Department had previously attempted to switch to a fixed days off system. However, the SFPD reportedly returned to the present rotating days off system because there were numerous complaints from the spouses and families of police officers who were always scheduled to work on weekends. One way of avoiding this problem is to set up a system under which days off are fixed for a limited duration, and then rotated after a period of two months. Under this system, each district could have only three watch-off groups for each watch (versus the current maximum of seven groups per watch), under which two groups would work weekend days and have weekdays off, and one group would work weekdays and have weekends off. Each watch-off group would consist of the same number of police officers, so that, during any given week, there would always be twice as many officers assigned to work on weekend days as on weekdays. After two months, the three groups could switch days off so that a second group would have consecutive weekends off and the remaining two groups would work on weekends. After another two months, the groups would rotate again. As such, each group would have consecutive weekends off for a period of two months during each six-month shift sign-up period and would have weekends off for four months out of the year.
Under this system, officers would still be guaranteed a certain number of weekend days off per year. Moreover, under this system, the districts could more easily and more consistently schedule a larger proportion of their staff to Saturdays and Sundays, the days with the highest demand for service.
Monitoring Sick Leave Usage on Weekends
In most stations, sick leave usage is highest on weekend days, when stations are the busiest. Our data point to a need for the SFPD to monitor and review sick leave usage on weekend days and to work with personnel to bring down the rates of usage so that the number of officers taking sick days does not lead to staff shortages on weekend shifts.
We estimate that allocating staff in a manner that corresponds more closely with crime activity would be equivalent to adding nearly 28 additional police officers costing $2.0 million per year during periods when police coverage is currently at its lowest.
Conclusions
Police Department command staff have not developed standards or an effective process for assigning police officers to each of the district stations. As a result, district station Captains have mixed success achieving the minimum staffing levels that they believe are appropriate for their districts. Further, workload disparities between district stations are significant, requiring officers in some areas of the City to respond to twice the number of high priority calls per officer than do officers in other areas of the City.
Police officer deployment practices at the district stations, the temporary reassignment of officers to other duties, and patterns of officer absenteeism are also problematic. Because of these and other factors, per officer workload is highest at the district stations during evening and weekend shifts when service demands are greatest. Additionally, because of seniority rights established in the labor contract with the Police Officers Association (POA), evening and weekend shifts are generally staffed with the least experienced officers.
The Police Department should modify current officer deployment and shift assignment practices, and closely manage police officer sick leave use, in order to achieve a more effective and balanced allocation of police officer resources.Allocating staff in a manner that corresponds more closely with crime activity would be equivalent to adding nearly 28 additional police officers costing $2.0 million per year during periods when police coverage is currently at its lowest.
Recommendations
The Deputy Chief of Field Operations should:
1.1 Establish formalized standards and criteria for assigning sworn staff to district stations.
1.2 Based on the formalized standards and criteria for assigning sworn staff, establish minimum staffing requirements for each district station. The minimum staffing requirements should be determined after input from the district captains, but be based primarily on the overall priorities of the Police Department, the relative demand for service by district, and resources available to the Police Department.
1.3 Assign sworn employees to each district on the basis of these minimum staffing requirements.
1.4 Develop objectives and performance measures for each of the district stations as a means of evaluating whether the minimum staffing requirements developed for each station are effective in meeting the Department"s overall goals, and as a means for determining whether adjustments to staffing may be necessary.
1.5 Create a unit of officers under Field Operations Bureau Headquarters which would be scheduled to be available for special event coverage during the periods when special events add significantly to district station workload.
1.6 Review the practice of assigning officers to other units during periods of heavy demand, such as weekend days, to determine whether the need for additional personnel in these other units justifies the impact on staff availability of the district stations.
1.7 End the practice of rotating days off on a weekly basis and replace it with a system that rotates days off by some other time period, such as every two months.
1.8 Monitor and review sick leave usage on weekend days and work with personnel to bring down the rates of usage.
The District Captains should:
1.9 Deploy staff at their districts based on the minimum staffing requirements established by the Deputy Chief of Field Operations, and based on their best judgment, in order to meet the Police Department"s overall objectives.
1.10 Adjust day shift start times or add additional shifts during afternoon and evening hours so that patterns in shift overlap time better coincide with patterns in demand for service by time of day.
Costs and Benefits
There would be no additional costs to implement these recommendations.
Implementation of these recommendations would result in a more efficient and effective deployment of officers at the district stations, in a manner that is consistent with overall Departmental policies, and would improve police coverage during periods of peak demand. Allocating staff in a manner that corresponds more closely with crime activity would be equivalent to adding nearly 28 additional police officers during periods when police coverage is currently at its lowest, thereby producing a benefit of $2.0 million per year .
Footnotes
1. The Tenderloin Task Force, established in 1989, has never been formally designated as a District Station. However, in practice, this unit operates as a district and there are no plans to close the facility. Therefore, the Tenderloin Task Force has been counted, treated, and referred to as a district station throughout our report.