One characteristic of the current organization of the Police Department is that there is little interaction between the investigative function, performed by Inspectors, and the patrol function, performed by Police Officers and Sergeants. The two functions are separated into two distinct bureaus, each overseen by its own Deputy Chief. Inspectors rarely return to patrol assignments, and Police Officers and Sergeants have minimal involvement in the rebooking and follow-up investigation process. Inspectors are centrally located at the Hall of Justice, whereas patrol personnel are deployed at the 10 district stations.

As a result, patrol personnel do not have a comprehensive, first-hand understanding of what is required by the DA to mount a successful prosecution, and the Inspectors who do possess this understanding are unable to share this knowledge because they are isolated at the Hall of Justice. For example, a Coro Foundation study concluded that patrol officers do not always see the connection between the preliminary report they write, the Inspector"s investigation of that case and the DA"s decision whether or not to press charges against the suspect. As such, they may not realize that a poorly written Police report may result in the release of the main suspect in that case. ^[1]

The Effect of Having Inspectors Present at the Crime Scene

Since most crime incidents occur during non-business hours, the Homicide and Sex Crimes sections and the Juvenile Division have on-call Inspectors who respond to incidents that occur during evening and night-time hours. Inspectors from the Night Investigations Unit also respond to crime scenes for some of the other types of crime incidents which occur at night. These Inspectors are able to obtain a first-hand view of the crime scene and the evidence, assist Police Officers in interviewing victims and witnesses at the scene, and ascertain what work must still be done in order for the DA to file formal charges against the arrested person (if there is one) or to identify, apprehend and prosecute a suspect.

On the other hand, investigative personnel assigned to the other 11 investigative sections do not typically attend the crime scene immediately after the crime has occurred. Rather, if the incident occurs at night, Inspectors in these units are assigned the case for follow-up investigation the following morning. In cases which require the rebooking of a suspect, this means that the arrestee has already spent one night in jail before the Inspector who is assigned the case has a chance to talk to him/her, or anyone else related to the case. In addition, by this time, the crime scene has been cleared, victims and witnesses have dispersed, and any evidence gathered has already been booked into Property Control for safe-keeping. The Inspector must rely on the Police Officer"s incident report in order to gain some understanding as to what may have occurred and in order to be able to visualize the crime scene without the benefit of having been there himself/herself.

Given these circumstances, it is worth noting that, based on statistical data provided by the Police Department, the four investigative sections in which there are Inspectors available to immediately respond to crime scenes, thereby increasing their interaction with patrol personnel and their involvement in the preliminary investigation process, have among the highest DA filing rates for rebookings. As illustrated in Exhibits 1.3 and 1.4 from Section 1, the Night Investigations, Juvenile, Homicide and Sex Crimes Units have filing rates for rebookings of 80.5 percent, 77.3 percent, 75.0 percent and 70.4 percent, respectively, versus the mean of only 49.8 percent for the other 11 investigative units. This demonstrates that the presence of Inspectors at crime scenes may be a contributing factor to the higher filing rates for these investigative units. The Police Department may wish to perform further evaluation in this area.

Increasing Interaction Between Inspectors and Patrol Officers

In order to increase the presence of Inspectors at the district stations and the interaction between the patrol and investigative functions, one option would be to assign Inspectors to each district station on a 24-hour basis. These Inspectors could perform "triage" by responding to requests for assistance via radio from patrol officers in the field, assessing the situation, and determining whether assistance can be provided via radio or whether a more experienced patrol officer, or even an Inspector, should be deployed to the scene. By providing assistance via radio, the Inspector could provide input as to what the DA needs in order to file charges against the suspect and assist in writing the Police report. In more complex cases, this Inspector could notify the appropriate investigative unit at the Hall of Justice, or, if the incident occurred during evening or night-time hours, the Night Investigations Unit, and request that an Inspector from that unit be deployed to the scene. In addition, the Inspector, along with the Sergeant on duty, would be able to review each arrest case and possibly weed out the cases which have little chances of success.

The Police Department should be able to implement this triage function using existing staff from the Inspectors Bureau, especially given the pending Inspectors exam, which was scheduled to begin on April 14, 1998, allowing the Department to fill at least 100 vacant Inspector positions. To implement this plan, the Department could, through a meet and confer process, establish two 12.5-hour shifts at each district (e.g., 6 pm to 6:30 am and 6 am to 6:30 pm). Inspectors from each unit in the Investigations Bureau (with the exception of Homicide, Sex Crimes and Juvenile) could be rotated through the triage posts for a three to six-month period.

The estimated number of Inspectors needed to work two shifts per day, seven days per week, at each district station, based on the standard relief factor of 2.8 positions per post, would be a maximum of 56 Inspectors. Assigning 56 Inspectors to the district stations could result in an increase in the caseload for Inspectors still working at the Hall of Justice of up to an additional 7.5 cases per month. In addition, the estimated cost of nightshift differential premium for 12 hours of the day for 10 posts, 365 days per year, based on 6.25 percent of an Inspector"s base hourly rate of $30.82, would be approximately $84,368 per year. However, in order to minimize these costs, the Police Department could assign existing Sergeants at the district stations who hold the dual rank of Sergeant/Inspector, and who have prior experience working in the Inspectors Bureau, to the triage function. Additionally, due to the lower calls for service activity at some of the district stations, such as Richmond, Taraval and Park, the Department could require one Inspector at one of these district stations to also perform triage for one or two other district stations.

Assigning Inspectors to district stations would increase the interaction between the investigative and patrol functions, expand the involvement of Inspectors in the preliminary investigation process and contribute to increasing the number of cases accepted by the DA for prosecution.

Other options for implementing this triage function could be:

• Designating specific Inspectors, who would remain with their units in the Hall of Justice, to field calls from Officers in the field who need assistance or have questions on how to proceed with an investigation;

• Creating a specialized unit of Inspectors at the Hall of Justice, who would serve as triage Inspectors, working with the Sergeants and Officers in the field, and assigning these Inspectors to shifts which provide coverage 24 hours per day, seven days per week; or

• Establishing on-call procedures for each of the 11 investigative sections that do not currently have on-call Inspectors, which will ensure that there are Inspectors available to answer questions and to go to crime scenes when Patrol Officers deem it necessary.

Each of these three alternative options for implementing a triage function could be accomplished with existing staff and resources after going through a meet and confer process to establish work rules and conditions. For example, during the day, designated Inspectors could respond to calls from field units during regular working hours, while at night, this would be the responsibility of Inspectors in the Night Investigations Unit, thereby resulting in 24-hour coverage at no additional cost.

Involving Patrol Personnel in the Investigative Process

In addition to assigning Inspectors to the district stations, patrol Sergeants and Police Officers should gain a more comprehensive, first-hand understanding of the investigation and prosecution processes. One way of accomplishing this is to restore a pilot program previously conducted by the Police Department and the DA"s Office, in which patrol Sergeants from the district stations were rotated through each section of the Inspectors Bureau over a two-week period. Sergeants were thereby familiarized with the investigative process and the DA"s role and were able to obtain a first-hand understanding of what is needed in order to successfully rebook a suspect and/or prosecute a case. The Sergeants could then return to their respective district stations and share this knowledge with the patrol officers through roll-call and training sessions. Re-establishing this practice of Sergeants rotating through the Inspectors sections and then sharing their knowledge with patrol officers, would also improve field supervision at crime scenes. As such, the Police Department should make this pilot program a normal practice by regularly detailing three or four patrol Sergeants at a time from different district stations to the Inspectors Bureau for a two-week period once every two years.

Conclusions

Investigative units that deploy Inspectors to crime scenes have an average filing rate for felony rebookings of 78 percent, versus the average of 50 percent for other investigative units, thereby demonstrating that the presence of Inspectors at crime scenes may contribute to the higher filing rates of certain investigative units.

In other investigative units, there is minimal interaction between the investigative and patrol functions of the Police Department. As a result, patrol personnel do not have a comprehensive understanding of the investigative process and Inspectors are excluded from preliminary investigations.

In order to improve the interaction between investigations and patrol, Inspectors should be available to provide assistance to patrol personnel on a 24-hour basis and, when necessary, to respond to crime scenes. Additionally, the Department should resume the rotation of patrol Sergeants through the Inspectors Bureau in order to provide them with a first-hand view of the investigation process.

Recommendations

The Police Department should:

The Deputy Chief of Investigations and the Deputy Chief of Field Operations should:

Costs and Benefits

The estimated cost of assigning Inspectors to the district stations would be approximately $84,368 per year for nightshift differential premium pay. The three other options for creating a triage function for Inspectors could be implemented using existing resources and staff.

Establishing a triage function for Inspectors by assigning Inspectors to the district stations or employing one of the other three options cited, and rotating patrol Sergeants through the Inspectors Bureau, would improve the interaction between the investigative and patrol functions, expand the involvement of Inspectors in the preliminary investigation process and contribute to increasing the number of cases accepted by the DA for prosecution.

Footnotes

1. Hatamiya, Leslie, "The Impact of Proposition 115 on the San Francisco Police Department," Coro Foundation, October, 1990.