Fort Worth Police Department Strategic Plan
and help them work through these issues. Currently FWPD operates with a 10 to 1 span of control; 10 officers to one sergeant.
2016 Patrol Staffing Assessment Methods Summary Table
Figure 3.8 on page 30 summarizes the staffing model information on the previous pages and considers additional patrol officers and sergeants committed to the creation of a Sixth Patrol Division. Additionally, Figure 3.8 summarizes the patrol assessment methods using a row that delineates the average of all models and a row that applies the growth factor to the average of the models. It is important to note that the 87 officers and 10 sergeants that are assigned to the Neighborhood Police Officer (NPO) program are not included in the patrol staffing models. The NPO program is one of FWPD’s defining community policing achievements and is interwoven in the fabric of the community, but it is often misunderstood by outside agencies, who mistakenly think that NPOs can be interchanged with officers on patrol. For example, the 2014 PERF staffing study recommended reassigning more than half of the NPOs to patrol. This resulted in a significant negative reaction from citizens that rely on NPOs in their communities. Many in the community expressed that the quality of service they had become accustomed to would suffer by reducing the size of the NPO program. The NPO program provides the FWPD the ability to dedicate officers to focus specifically on community issues. For example, not only is there a NPO assigned to each patrol beat, FWPD assigns NPOs for specific issues such as the homeless outreach program and multifamily complexes that require a dedicated community liaison. These community issues need NPOs that can go above and beyond typical patrol responsibilities and act as direct liaisons between community members and the Police Department. An NPO’s primary task is to work with citizens in order to address quality of life issues, but they do respond to certain calls and can assist patrol officers when necessary. If NPOs were required to answer calls for service, as well as complete other typical patrol tasks as part of other patrol duties, it would reduce their ability to perform their primary function working directly with the community. Special Response Team (SRT) personnel, formally known as Zero Tolerance, were also not included in the staffing models as their primary function is not to respond to calls for service. SRT performs tasks not typically performed by patrol officers. SRT members respond to tactical situations and assists with certain incidents such as containment until SWAT arrives, but their primary focus is crime suppression. Both NPOs and SRT positions are funded through the Crime Control and Prevention District.
How Growth Affects the Fort Worth Police Department
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