Fort Worth Police Department Strategic Plan
Figure 3.5. Fort Worth Sworn per capita (per 1,000 population)
Source: Fort Worth Police Department, 2016
Land Area
Another comparison that can be explored is the number of sworn personnel per square mile. FWPD’s service area is 332 square miles with potentially adding an additional 25 square miles in the next five years through annexations. There are 4.9 sworn personnel per square mile. When compared with cities over 500,000, FWPD is below the average of 12.2 sworn personnel per square mile. Although per capita and/or per square mile methods of analyzing staffing levels provides some basic context, it is not widely recognized as the most accurate means to assess public safety staffing need. Comparisons of police presence provide some insight into staffing levels ; however, it is critical to assess police workload and community need with some degree of accuracy for an actual staffing model to have legitimacy. There are numerous workload assessment methods available to determine appropriate staffing levels to meet current and future needs. All workload assessment methods analyze some or all or the following factors: Current demand that includes calls for service, investigative workload, staffing for special events, and utilization of support staff Benchmarks for police staffing for similar agencies serving similar populations Community expectations for crime reduction strategies, community policing, and overall patrol utilization Span of Control – For each of the following models, a span of control of 7 officers per 1 sergeant was used. This is ratio is below the optimal span of control for policing of 5 police officers for 1 supervisor, especially for agencies that commit to community policing. FWPD’s patrol span of control is currently 10 to 1 Workload Assessment Methods
How Growth Affects the Fort Worth Police Department
Page 22
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs