Issue link: http://trmagonline.epubxp.com/i/117780
H ow many offcers are needed on duty at a given time? Studies and recommendations by various agencies generally say the ratio is between 0.85 and 1.5 police offcers per thousand residents. On the low side or the high side of that ratio, many considerations need to be factored. The Pasco County, Fla., Sheriff���s Offce addressed their staffng issue with a twist. Tey wanted to research K9 stafng and how K9 teams impacted rates of arrest on calls, as well as the types of calls where the presence of a K9 saved patrol time for deputies. Tey wanted to improve the optimal efciency of their K9 units. Te focus was to pinpoint, hour by hour, the cost beneft of having additional units available, and to identify specifcally the degree of impact they would have. According to Lieutenant Brian Prescott, Commanding Ofcer, Sherif���s Intelligenceled Policing (ILP) Section, the purposes of their K9 Stafng Analysis would be to evaluate seasonal trends, analyze K9 units��� utilization under current deployment conditions, determine the impact of K9 involvement in resolutions of calls for service, discover the present distribution of calls by location, and provide recommendations and benefts for future K9 schedules. Pasco County covers 747 square miles and has a population of about 470,000, a majority of whom live in the western section near the Gulf of Mexico. Within the county���s boundaries are six mid-size and small-size cities with city police departments. Te sherif���s K9 deputy teams and the police ofcer K9 teams from the city departments train together and have the same training standards, since the agencies��� K9 teams can be called upon for mutual assistance. Normally three Sherif���s K9 teams are scheduled to be on duty nightly, but vacations, sick time, etc., can have a limiting effect. More dogs are detailed to the western section of the county where greater population and more transient neighborhoods are located. When three K9 teams are at work, one is assigned the east county to save time and travel to get to locations where they are needed. It is especially helpful to call on a nearby city���s K9 team for assistance, especially if the sherif���s p The Pasco County, Fla. Sheriff���s Offce addressed their staffng issue with a twist. They wanted to research K9 staffng and how K9 teams impacted rates of arrest on calls, as well as the types of calls where the presence of a K9 saved patrol time for deputies. They wanted to improve the optimal effciency of their K9 units. K9 teams are short stafed. The K9 Utilization Study Te Sherif���s Ofce���s Intelligence-led Policing Section was asked to study the K9 Unit and make recommendations concerning stafng and deployment. During a lieutenant���s presentation at a Pasco Sherif���s Citizen Police Academy, one of the attendees, a young woman, asked questions well above the norm for the general public. Jhojana Infante, an industrial engineer on sabbatical leave, turned out to be both available and willing to assist ILP as a Sherif���s Offce volunteer. She was given the lead in this complex analysis. Using information from the ComputerAided Dispatch (CAD) system and the Crimes Management System (CMS), she analyzed K9 activities in responding to calls for service requiring a K9 presence, as well as those calls generally assigned to patrol deputies and street-level K9 teams. (K9 deputies are patrol deputies with a specialty, so there is not any type of call they should not go to if they are clear and can do so, especially if they are nearby.) Infante studied the K9 workload by location, day of the week, and hour to determine how many K9 deputies would be appropriate. Te workload was also projected for the next year. Next, she calculated how efective the K9 teams had been, both in answering calls for service and in increasing the arrest rate for those types of calls. Finally, she reported multiple stafng and deployment options, showing the cost and beneft of each. Te analysis boiled the details of thousands of calls for service and their related crime reports into actionable intelligence for managerial decision-making. Te software programs used were MS-Access, MS-Excel, and ESRI���s ArcGIS (a mapping program). Te fnal presentation to the command staf was made using MS-PowerPoint. Te Sherif���s K9 Unit is comprised of seven K9 teams made up of one handler and t The study used 15 months of data from the K9 Unit. It was discovered that while K9 deputies could assist with any call for service, there were 38 types of call categories that could be considered K9 calls. www.trmagonline.com 23