What kind of continuity planning is ahead at the Woodstock Police Department? Or does such a concept exist in the government of small towns?
Recently a second Deputy Chief position was created at the Woodstock Police Department, and a senior officer, who was presented last year with his 30-year pin, was tapped for that spot. Let's assume that he got more responsibility, more pay and a boost in potential retirement pay.
Without deep research here's what I think we have now in Woodstock. A chief who served 25 years at another department before coming to Woodstock about two years ago. Two deputy chiefs, each with 30 years' service.
What the City and the Woodstock PD should now be planning for is the retirement, likely within a fairly short time-span of one another, of the top three command officers. To what extent is the cost of retirement pay factored into decisions regarding promotions? Is the current administration grooming several current officers to assume command positions as these individuals retire? Or will an expensive outside "search" be launched to hire someone from the outside? Why not groom current staff and plan to promote from within?
Let's hope that Woodstock does not follow the expensive path of creating a civilian Director of Public Safety position, allowing a senior officer to retire and come back to work the next day as a civilian. The department should avoid becoming top-heavy with administration, when the need for officers on the street is high.
Continuity of policies and building of teamwork in the department will pay huge rewards in the future. A police force needs to be known and respected within a small community. Woodstock is not the City of Chicago.
We have several new programs in Woodstock. How are these really working out for all concerned? For the residents? For the businessowners? For the officers as employees? For the City?
We now have a "beat" program, where officers are assigned for one-year periods to the same quadrant of the City and for the same shift. It would be interesting to hear from officers about whether they like this program. Is it good for some? Boring for others? Boring for too many others? If so, this will lead to turnover, which is expensive for any business, including City government.
How is the Department-ordered rotation of officers working out? For example, an officer may aspire to becoming a detective. To be promoted to that position, he must acquire certain training and experience. The training isn't free and it intensifies after the officer is appointed to detective status. Then after a fairly short period (four years?), during which he has begun to acquire the experience and contacts that could provide years of benefits to the department and the community, he must leave the detective assignment for different work within the department.
Yes, this provides an opportunity for another officer to move to the detective division. Then his own expensive training begins, which includes off-site training programs (cost of the training program itself plus payroll while he is away from Woodstock). And then, about the time he is becoming profitable to the department, he must move out to make room for someone else to advance.
Woodstock P.D. has a couple of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. An officer must attend a training program to "qualify" for motorcycle duty. How are these motorcycles used? In a recent year, according to information discussed at a Coffee with the Chief last year, 800 miles were put on the motorcycles.
These motorcycles are excellent vehicles for traffic duty. That's what police motorcycles are for. If they were used for speed limit, stop sign, red light, illegal center-lane use and other traffic enforcement, it shouldn't be too hard to put 800 miles on a motorcycle in a week or two. If only 800 miles is put on a motorcycle in an entire riding season, is it time to get rid of the bikes?
Woodstock isn't big enough for a motorcycle traffic "unit", and the two motorcycles should be in use by street officers whose primary duty is traffic. If a supervisor utilizes one of them, can he focus his primary attention on traffic enforcement, when he has an entire shift to supervise?
Officer comments are invited. Create a free email account on Google, so that you can post comments without revealing your identity.
© 2008 GUS PHILPOTT
Recently a second Deputy Chief position was created at the Woodstock Police Department, and a senior officer, who was presented last year with his 30-year pin, was tapped for that spot. Let's assume that he got more responsibility, more pay and a boost in potential retirement pay.
Without deep research here's what I think we have now in Woodstock. A chief who served 25 years at another department before coming to Woodstock about two years ago. Two deputy chiefs, each with 30 years' service.
What the City and the Woodstock PD should now be planning for is the retirement, likely within a fairly short time-span of one another, of the top three command officers. To what extent is the cost of retirement pay factored into decisions regarding promotions? Is the current administration grooming several current officers to assume command positions as these individuals retire? Or will an expensive outside "search" be launched to hire someone from the outside? Why not groom current staff and plan to promote from within?
Let's hope that Woodstock does not follow the expensive path of creating a civilian Director of Public Safety position, allowing a senior officer to retire and come back to work the next day as a civilian. The department should avoid becoming top-heavy with administration, when the need for officers on the street is high.
Continuity of policies and building of teamwork in the department will pay huge rewards in the future. A police force needs to be known and respected within a small community. Woodstock is not the City of Chicago.
We have several new programs in Woodstock. How are these really working out for all concerned? For the residents? For the businessowners? For the officers as employees? For the City?
We now have a "beat" program, where officers are assigned for one-year periods to the same quadrant of the City and for the same shift. It would be interesting to hear from officers about whether they like this program. Is it good for some? Boring for others? Boring for too many others? If so, this will lead to turnover, which is expensive for any business, including City government.
How is the Department-ordered rotation of officers working out? For example, an officer may aspire to becoming a detective. To be promoted to that position, he must acquire certain training and experience. The training isn't free and it intensifies after the officer is appointed to detective status. Then after a fairly short period (four years?), during which he has begun to acquire the experience and contacts that could provide years of benefits to the department and the community, he must leave the detective assignment for different work within the department.
Yes, this provides an opportunity for another officer to move to the detective division. Then his own expensive training begins, which includes off-site training programs (cost of the training program itself plus payroll while he is away from Woodstock). And then, about the time he is becoming profitable to the department, he must move out to make room for someone else to advance.
Woodstock P.D. has a couple of Harley-Davidson motorcycles. An officer must attend a training program to "qualify" for motorcycle duty. How are these motorcycles used? In a recent year, according to information discussed at a Coffee with the Chief last year, 800 miles were put on the motorcycles.
These motorcycles are excellent vehicles for traffic duty. That's what police motorcycles are for. If they were used for speed limit, stop sign, red light, illegal center-lane use and other traffic enforcement, it shouldn't be too hard to put 800 miles on a motorcycle in a week or two. If only 800 miles is put on a motorcycle in an entire riding season, is it time to get rid of the bikes?
Woodstock isn't big enough for a motorcycle traffic "unit", and the two motorcycles should be in use by street officers whose primary duty is traffic. If a supervisor utilizes one of them, can he focus his primary attention on traffic enforcement, when he has an entire shift to supervise?
Officer comments are invited. Create a free email account on Google, so that you can post comments without revealing your identity.
© 2008 GUS PHILPOTT
3 comments:
Gus,
At times I wonder what is going on at the Woodstock PD. I have known a lot of the patrol officers since they started on duty 15 to 20 years ago and they seem to be very unhappy with the way "things are done" at this time. The underlying reason I am not 100% sure of but I think the City Manager, the Mayor and the City Council might begin with asking the Chief what his opinion is regarding the decline in moral.
I've been thinking about the 360-degree evaluations that are used in the corporate world. With those, not only do managers evaluate subordinates, but subordinates get to give open, candid, anonymous feedback on superiors. The problem in a small company/office/business/unit is that it's often too easy to figure out who said what, even when evaluations are handled by an independent consulting firm.
It would be interesting to know if such evaluations are used in Woodstock.
To my knowledge and memory I do not think they have any type of evaluation system like that; I am not even sure if they have any type of internal self improvement system based on the input of the people involved (employees).
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