Patrol Officer Availability - April 2009
Patrol Officer Availability
Released April 2009 Download the Full Report here Download highlights here This performance audit of patrol officer availability compares the extent to which on-duty patrol staffing was sufficient to cover calls for service in the city’s six patrol zones. We reviewed activity during the thirteen-month period from March 1, 2007, through March 31, 2008. It is the third report in a three-part series related to police staffing. The audit focused on the APD’s deployment of resources and whether or not its deployment strategies matched department workload. |
We introduced the concept of blackout which we defined as periods when all patrol officers assigned to respond to a call for service in a zone are busy and cannot respond to additional calls.While all areas of the city experienced some patrol blackout during the 13 months we reviewed, some zones experienced more blackout than others. We found:
- The Police Department could reduce blackout by better aligning on duty patrol staffing with workload by hour of day.
- The police department could equalize uncommitted time by shifting resources or workload among zones.