Investigations Bureau

The Investigations Bureau is also headed by a Deputy Chief. There are four divisions in the Investigations Bureau, each of which is headed by a Captain or non-sworn manager reporting directly to the Deputy Chief of Investigations.
 

Each division within the Investigations Bureau is further divided in units or details, headed by a Lieutenant and staffed primarily by Inspectors. Staffing of the Investigations Bureau is further discussed in Section 1 of this report.

Field Operations Bureau

The organizational structure of Field Operations Bureau is shown on Page 120. The Field Operations Bureau is comprised of two divisions, Patrol and Special Operations. As such, the Field Operations Bureau has two Commanders who directly report to the Deputy Chief of the Field Operations Bureau. One Commander oversees the Patrol Division, which consists of the 10 district stations, each of which is headed by a Captain. The other Commander oversees four specialized units of the Special Operations Division, including: the Crime Prevention Company (Mounted Police, Park/Beach Patrol, Bomb Squad, Canine Unit, TAC Squad, Air-Marine Unit); the Traffic Division (Motorcycles and Traffic Administration); the Housing Detail; and the MUNI Detail. Each of these specialized units is headed by a Captain, except the Housing Detail, which is headed by a Lieutenant.

The units of the Field Operations Bureau are organized, in a military fashion, into platoons and squads. A platoon consists of approximately four squads and is supervised by a Lieutenant, the "Platoon Commander." According to the Police Department, the optimal staffing level for a squad should be seven or eight Police Officers supervised by one Sergeant. The Sergeant has direct responsibility for the Police Officers in his or her squad.

For example, in the Patrol Division, each district has four Platoon Commanders who hold the rank of Lieutenant, each of whom oversees approximately four squads. Also, each district station has between 14 and 17 squads, each consisting of one Sergeant and up to eight Police Officers, depending on the number of Police Officers assigned to each district station (there are between 60 and 130 Police Officers per district station). In terms of scheduling, there is at least one Lieutenant on duty at all times at each district station. There are two Lieutenants assigned to the day watch (6 am to 4 pm) and two Lieutenants assigned to the night watch (4 pm to 2 am). Between the hours of 2 am and 6 am, a Sergeant serves as an acting Lieutenant. In addition, the Police Department advises that Sergeants are assigned to work the same shifts as the Police Officers whom they directly supervise.

In the Special Operations Division, each unit has at least one Lieutenant, each of whom oversees between three to six squads. Each unit also has between three and 13 squads, each consisting of seven to eight officers and one Sergeant. As in the Patrol Division, Sergeants and the Police Officers in their squads are assigned to the work the same shifts.  

In order to compare SFPD"s organizational structure to other police departments, we surveyed the police departments of the 10 largest cities in California (other than San Francisco). We received responses from seven of the 10 police departments. Based on these responses, we found the management and staffing configurations of the San Francisco Police Department to be quite similar to the organizational structures of other large California police departments.

For example, Table A1-1 below illustrates that the SFPD is within the range of ratios of management personnel to other sworn personnel for the six police departments that submitted detailed responses to our survey. Table A1-1   Ratio of Management to Other Sworn Personnel in the SFPD and Six Other Large California Police Departments    

Using the data provided by the surveyed jurisdictions, we also developed Table A1-2, on the following page, which displays information on district police stations and their command structures for each of the surveyed police departments and the SFPD.

As illustrated in Table A1-2, although San Francisco has the highest number of district police stations per square mile and the second lowest population per district station compared to the other police departments surveyed, the SFPD is quite similar to the other police departments in terms of its command structure at district police stations.   Table A1-2   District Police Stations, SFPD and Seven Other Large California Police Departments    

Supervisor to Staff Ratios

Only six of the 10 surveyed California police departments submitted documents listing detailed information on authorized staffing by position and program. Using this data, we developed Sergeant to Police Officer, Lieutenant to Sergeant and Captain to Lieutenant ratios based on authorized sworn positions in San Francisco and the surveyed jurisdictions, both department-wide and by program (Administration, Investigations and Field Operations).

Table A1-3 exhibits a comparison of supervisor to staff ratios in the Field Operations units of SFPD and each police department surveyed. Sworn staff assigned to Field Operations units comprise the majority of sworn personnel who are responsible for responding to calls for service and typically work out of the district police stations. Table A1-3   Comparative Supervisor to Staff Ratios for Field Operations Personnel    

As illustrated above, although San Francisco has higher supervisor to staff ratios than the average of the six other jurisdictions, the SFPD still falls within the range of Sergeant to Police Officer, Lieutenant to Sergeant and Captain to Lieutenant ratios of the six other police departments.

In addition, as noted above, the SFPD indicates that the optimal Sergeant to Police Officer ratio is one to seven or eight Police Officers. As reflected in Table A1-3, the Sergeant to Police Officer ratio in San Francisco is one to 6.7 Officers, which is only slightly higher than the optimal number.

As such, it appears that the San Francisco Police Department has sufficient supervisory positions to manage line staff, and there does not appear to be an excessive number of higher level management/supervisory positions relative to line staff, when comparing San Francisco to other jurisdictions.

Below, we provide additional tables containing supervisor to staff ratios for the SFPD and other jurisdictions by program.

Because sworn staff are often responsible for supervising civilian administrative staff, we requested that the SFPD provide information on reporting relationships between sworn supervisors and both sworn and non-sworn line staff. We then developed Sergeant to staff, Lieutenant to staff and Captain to staff ratios which included both sworn and non-sworn personnel. These are shown in Table A1-4 below. Table A1-4   San Francisco Police Department Supervisor to staff Ratios by Bureau/Program    

Table A1-4 illustrates that the Sergeant to staff ratio based on actual staffing and including non-sworn staff is rather high at one to 3.4 staff in the Administration Bureau. Recommendations regarding staffing in the Administration Bureau, including the potential for civilianizing many of the sworn positions, are included in Section 3 of this report.

In addition, Table A1-4 shows that the Lieutenant to staff ratio in the Investigations Bureau is rather low (one to 14.8 staff). However, according to the Police Department, this is because Inspectors, who comprise the majority of line staff reporting to Lieutenants in the Investigations Bureau, are more experienced and independent and therefore need less supervision than other line staff, such as patrol officers in the Field Operations Bureau.

Table A1-5 shows the supervisor to staff ratios for each of the 10 district stations in San Francisco, based on actual staffing and including non-sworn personnel. As discussed previously, although the district stations in San Francisco have relatively high supervisor to staff ratios, they still fall within the range of supervisor to staff ratios in other comparable jurisdictions. Table A1-5   San Francisco Police Department Supervisor to Staff Ratios by District Station    

Supervisor to Staff Ratios in the Surveyed Police Departments

Because the California police departments surveyed did not indicate which, if any, non-sworn personnel were supervised by sworn staff, we were unable to include civilian staff in the surveyed department supervisor to staff ratios. Based on the number of authorized sworn positions, we calculated Sergeant to Police Officer, Lieutenant to Sergeant and Captain to Lieutenant ratios, department-wide and by program, for the San Francisco Police Department and six other California police departments, which are shown in the following tables.   Table A1-6   Comparative Department-wide Supervisor to Staff Ratios    

Table A1-7 shows a comparison of supervisor to staff ratios in the Investigations divisions of the SFPD and in each police department surveyed. Table A1-7   Comparative Supervisor to Staff Ratios for Investigative Personnel