LEPS 590

LEGISLATIVE BUDGET REVIEW

Any Town, USA

Oscar Perez

Prof. Kelso

08/14/2020
 Introduction

I would like to thank the Mayor and residents of this wonderful city for allowing me

to be the Chief of police. It is a great responsibility I take seriously and the faith bestowed

upon me drives me to best serve this organization and community. The Any town police

department will aim to be a leading agency in law enforcement by maintaining the highest

standards and providing the best service possible. This legislative review is aimed to

empower the organization and its employees to best serve the community by reducing

crime and improving the quality of life for all. The constant strive to best serve the

community, requires this organization to constantly identify improvements and make

necessary changes to achieve excellence. During the creation of this review and strategic

plan, certain priorities were identified by the mayor, city council, and community members

which needed improvement to be a more effective organization which this strategic plan

will aim to do.

Identified Priorities
1. Decrease violent crime
2. Decrease response times
3. Improve community policing methods and intelligence-led policing
4. Increase staffing.
5. Improve public trust.
6. Increase involvement in juvenile programs and youth education

To address and find viable options to these concerns the creation of this legislative

review will be a valuable tool as it will allow a strategic plan to create a mission, vision,

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goals, and objectives for the organization to efficiently and effectively in making spending,

tracking, forecasting, and justification decisions to best allocate resources to be

successful(Orrick, 2018). The goals, guidelines, and objectives created to influence the

budget of this organization will be influenced by the organization's mission and values

which have been identified to best address the city council, mayors, and community’s

priorities of staffing, reduction of crime, and community policing.

Mission/Values

The mission selected for the organization is “Excellence and Professionalism which

promotes ethical service, public trust, confidence, and safety”. The mission's overall vision

is to enhance public safety and security through efficient law enforcement and promoting

community partnerships. The values of the department emphasize a commitment to

service, professionalism, compassion, employees, partnerships, and the future which assist

in achieving/obtaining the organization's mission.

Goals

The department's strategic plan has identified the three goals of delivering

operational excellence, enhancing community trust, relationship, and collaboration, and

strengthening organizational performance to constantly strive to be one of the safest cities

in the nation. These three identified goals will allow the organization to address the

concerns identified by the mayor, city council, and community stakeholders.

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Goal #1: Operational excellence will be critical and the primary focus of this agency. This

organization will focus on increasing public safety, reducing crime levels, and lowering

response times through staffing, advanced technologies, and assets utilization. This goal

will be strategically sought after by:

 Implementing and leveraging new technology to deliver better service

 Increasing staffing to adjust to city and community needs

 Maintain crime rates lower than surrounding agencies averages

 This goal and its strategies will address priorities (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)

Goal #2 Enhancing community trust, relationship, and collaboration will be obtained by

creating opportunities for meaningful and positive interactions with members of our

community. Enhancing community trust and relationships influence the building of a

strong culture of collaboration to implement effective community policing practices. This

organization plans to constantly be a fully transparent agency, holding all personnel

accountable with a commitment to understanding the needs of our community before they

become an issue. This goal will strategically be sought after by:

 Increasing community engagement

 Strengthening the relationship with the youth in our community by creating and

expanding youth diversion programs and outreach

 Implementing technology to better document incidents

 These strategies will address priorities (1)(3)(4)(6)

Goal#3 Strengthening Organizational Performance will allow the organization to educate,

outfit, and retain qualified personnel of all ranks to efficiently and effectively serve the

people of this community.

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  The strategies of improved and updated fto programs, increased allocation in

training, increased less-lethal options, revised policy updates/review, and

investment in updated tools and technology will create an opportunity for

organizational and employee development.

 These strategies will address priorities (2)(5)(3)

These identified goals will allow for the organization's adoption of community

policing which will produce an enhancement in the community being served through less

crime, trust creating a closer-knit faith-based relationship with its community, and overall

quality of life for the community being served (Orrick, 2018).

Community Policing

Community policing is the future of public safety and this organization will be fully

dedicated to this concept. Community policing allows for the collection of accurate

information from residents regarding criminal activity in the community and a better

understanding of improving trust between the community and organization (DOJ, 1994). To

directly address and utilize community policing two officers acquired from expanded

staffing will spearhead this effort. The creation of a two-man unit known as the community

impact team will allow the organization to dedicate two full time sworn officers to

measures fully related to community interaction and policing. This unit will be instrumental

in creating programs that emphasize community partnerships and cooperation to identify

and analyze recurring issues within the community to collaboratively find long term

solutions to these issues. The department will also commit to the utilization of social media

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to engage with its community members to obtain and collect community influenced

information and strengthen relations.

The following are the expenditures needed to positively impact the areas of staffing,

crime reduction, and community policing to strive to meet and obtain the organization's

identified goals and priorities.

Budget
The city allocated $10,500,000 for the organization to operate during this fiscal year.

$100,000 will be added to this budget through the utilization of a grant allotting for a total

budget of $10,600,000. The grant will be written and aimed toward safety which will allow

us to use this funding toward technology and tools to best outfit our officers. There are

three categories to this budget which are personnel, operational, and capital expenditures.

The expected spending in each of these areas will be critical in fulfilling the goals and

priorities identified.

Personnel Cost
The largest expenditure of this budget will be the Personnel Cost which equates to

%71 percent of the entire organization's budget. This expenditure is critical as it will allow

the department to be staffed with the proper number of employees to carry out the day to

day operations and services needed to best serve the community. No alterations will be

made to the current staffing matrix except for addition of 20 officers. The current staffing

matrix allows the organization to maintain the level of service it already provided. The

proposed 20 new officers will be hired to account for the ten retiring’s and staff ten extra

officers. The additional 10 officers will allow for the creation of specified enforcement units

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to address the increase in violent crimes, allow for more officers to be out in the field to

respond to calls for service faster decreasing response times, and address other areas of

concerns. The initial expenditure for these officers will come out of the operational cost

account.

Personnel Structure

1 Chief $175,000, 1 Captain $150,000, 2 Lieutenants $250,000 (125,000 x 2), 14 Sergeants

$1,400,000 (100,000 x 14), 10 Detectives $800,000 (80,000 x 10), 48 Police Officers

$3,600,000 (75,000 x 48), 10 Dispatchers $600,000 (60,000 x 10), 3 Auto Mechanics $210,000

(70,000 x 3), 1 Crime Analyst $75,000, 1 Property Room Clerk $50,000, 4 Admin Clerks

$200,000 (50,000 x 4).

The total Personnel will Costs: $7, 510,000.

Personnel cost address identified priorities (1) (2) (3) (4) (6)

Operational Cost
Operational costs are expenditures that are needed to run an organization daily.

The expenses for the category are as follows: $1,500,000 for recruitment and hiring of 20

additional officers to fully and adequately staff this department which is facing a mass

retirement. With 20 new officers the organization will be able to create a major crimes unit

consisting of four officers who will be dedicated to the prevention, suppression, and

deterrence of the violent crimes within our city. 2 officers will be assigned to a newly

created community impact team which will address quality of life issues such as

community concerns, code enforcement issues, homelessness, and juvenile gang

prevention and education. The 4 other officers will be assigned the patrol bureau as K9

handlers to further supplement day to day patrol operations and calls for service. These

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additions to the staffing of this organization will allow patrol officers to be available and out

in the field allowing them to respond to calls shortening the response times of all calls for

service. These staffing changes will allow the agency to reach and deliver all three of its

identified goals of delivering operational excellence through better well-staffed agency

capable of addressing the issues that previously impacted the department, enhancing

community trust by decreasing crimes through the units enacted allowing for more

available personnel to respond to calls, and strengthening organizational performance

through specialized units to impact identified problem areas.

Vest replacements, uniform allowance, ammunition, safety equipment, and office

supplies totaling $379,000 to properly outfit our officers with the equipment necessary to

safely and adequately perform day to day duties.

Training

Unlike the previous year, I will be allocating $30,000 for training costs for the officers

in this organization. The valuable training courses that applicable officers will be sent to will

consist of sensitivity training, force options training, leadership training, intelligence-led

police training, community policing training, investigation development class, and gang

identification class. Having a well-trained and educated police force will produce officers

who have improved adaptability, improved skill-sets, better decision making skills, and

more efficient problem solving skills increasing the quality of officers which will improve

quality of service and reduce liability concerns (Brereton, 1961). These expenses

highlighted from the operational cost fund will allow the organization to reach all three of

its identified goals through properly placing more officers out in the field, outfitting officers

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with proper equipment for the job, and cross-training officers to be better-rounded

resulting in greater effectiveness and efficiency.

The total operational cost will Cost: $1,909,000

Operational cost Address priorities: (1) (2) (5)

Capital Cost
Capital expenditures are higher priced items which result in a large financial

commitment. The decisions made pertaining to capital expenditures will be dictated by

informed data and justification techniques to ensure proper allocation of resources are

made to meet the needs of the organization and community (Zhao, 2008).

Technology

The organization will be spending $300,000 to purchase a crime mapping program

system to allow our crime analyst to integrate intelligence led-policing to solve and deter

crime. The use of predictive intelligence-led policing and technology is a cost-effective

approach to policing because it not only looks at where a crime is likely to occur but also

when the crime is likely to occur which will help to identify when and where it is necessary

to saturate and deploy officers effectively and efficiently to prevent and deter crime

(Karpilo, 2019). Coupled with the improvement of the crime mapping system, $400,000 will

be spent on upgrading the outdated dispatch and automated record system. This

technology is central for carrying out the most fundamental policing activities of

responding to calls for service, information management systems, hot-spot policing tactics,

location-based activities, and generating data that other activities and technology

applications the agency utilizes rely on (Strom, 2017). $16,000 will be used to purchase 16

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facial recognition cameras which will be affixed in the major thorough ways of our town.

The upgrade and implementation of these technology systems will assist sworn personnel

to identify criminals, solve more crimes, and efficiently police. The agency will seek further

technology advances in the following fiscal year.

Officer specific Technology and Equipment

$100,000 obtained from a grant directed at overall safety will be used to purchase

AXON body-worn cameras for each officer in the agency totaling $76,000. Outfitting each of

our officers with body-worn cameras is important because of the technology's ability to

enhance safety for the public, enhance officer accountability resulting in greater trust,

accuracy to collect and document evidence, and its ability to become a tool for training and

learning. The remainder of the $24,000 will be coupled with $14,000 coming from the

capital general fund to purchase Tasers which are manufactured by the same company

and operate in sync with the body-worn camera.

$8,000 will be used to purchase 20-40MM, $6,000 will be used to purchase 20-

beanbag shotguns and ammo, and $3,000 will be used to purchase pepper spray for the

entire department. Acquiring 20 of the 40 MM and 20 of the beanbag shotguns will allow

the agency to outfit each patrol vehicle with each of these less-lethal options. This will

ensure that our officers are outfitted with as many tools as possible to resolve a situation

in the most efficient and effective way. The purchasing and implementation of these less

lethal tools can decrease excessive or deadly force used.

$32,000 will be used to have 4 K9 dogs to supplement patrol staffing on every shift

as well as act as a less-lethal option and search resource for patrol officers.

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 Vehicles/Fleet

To ensure officers have the proper equipment to respond to calls in a timely

manner $152,000 will be spent on purchasing 4 new patrol vehicles to start the

replacement of the 7 poor condition crown Victoria’s. In the following fiscal year, the 3

other vehicles will be replaced.

The total capital cost will total $1,181,000.

Capital cost budget addresses :( 1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

These three categorized costs will cost 10,500,000 keeping this proposal within the

allotted budget. $100,000 will be utilized from a grant. If any overspending were to occur,

budget cuts to specific cost/budgets have already been predetermined to ensure the

service to the community is not affected.

Budget Methodology
The methodology I will utilize to track this new fiscal year will be a hybrid budgeting

plan which utilizes techniques from line-item and performance-based budgeting to

effectively account, track, and justify the expenses of this new budget.

The foundation of this hybrid budget will be documented with the principles of line-

item budgeting. The techniques of this budgeting concept will allow the agency to classify

all expenditures into specific categories such as equipment, maintenance, storage, records,

personnel, and all other miscellaneous spending which will allow for the tracking of every

dollar spent in any specific category (Carlee, 2008). The benefit of this technique is that it

will show taxpayers, community stakeholders, and city personnel where every dollar is

being spent ensuring full transparency and accountability. This initial tracking and

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documentation of specific expenses will also allow the organization to learn what expenses

can be expected and plan strategically to see if these expenses will become permanent

(PERF, 2002).

Once all items are documented via line-item principles, I will infuse and utilize the

techniques of performance-based budgeting to track the efficiency and effectiveness of

these new expenditures. Performance-based budgeting techniques will be implemented to

create benchmarks and goals which will be critical in the identification of certain

performance indicators of new technology being utilized by the department, newly created

community policing programs, and newly created crime prevention units from this

proposed budget. The performance indicators identified will allow our organization to see

the cost of our programs but most importantly the effectiveness of them (Stuart, 2002).

This hybrid budget will allow the organization to efficiently track exact spending of

this budget showing full transparency from line-item principles and allow the organization

to see if our new expenditures, spending, personnel unit restructuring, and community

policing based programs are effective and worthy of resource expenditure based on

performance measured outcomes (Dickson, 1979). This hybrid approach and methodology

will allow the organization to properly allocate resources for the present based on the

agency's needs, allotted budget, and allow the organization to make informed budgetary

decisions on the future of the agency allowing the organization to stay in line with the

organization's mission and reach its identified goals.

Conclusion

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The proposed mission, values, goals, expenditures, and resource allocation of this strategic

plan and budget mirror a community-orientated policing approach the department will

pride itself in. The components of this strategic plan place an emphasis on successful and

efficient service to address staffing, crime reduction, and community policing to improve

the overall quality of life of the community being served and its employees. The successful

implementation of this strategic plan will ensure all identified priorities of the mayor, city

council, and community stakeholders will be addressed so this organization becomes the

gold standard of public safety.

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 References

Brereton, George H. “The Importance of Training and Education in the Professionalization

Carlee, Ron. “Budgeting for Local Governments in the United States: Deciding Who Gets
What, How Much, and Who Pays?” Business and Public Administration Studies, 2008,
www.bpastudies.org/bpastudies/article/view/73/151.

Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice. “Understanding Community Policing: A

Karpillo, Jia. “Crime Mapping and Analysis Law .” Enforcement Agencies Look to Maps and
Geographic Technologies, 2019, doi:10.31274/etd-180810-3164.

Orrick, Dwayne. “Best Practices Guide: Budgeting in Small Police Agencies.”

Police Executive Research Forum. “Police Department Budgeting: A Guide for Law
Enforcement Chief Executives.”
2002,www.policeforum.org/assets/docs/Free_Online_Documents/Budgeting/police
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%20chief%20executives%202002.p

Strom, Kevin. “National Criminal Justice Reference Service.” .Research on the Impact of
Technology on Policing Strategy in the 21st Century, Sept. 2017.

Suart, R.D. “Budgeting Basics.” Institute for Criminal Justice Education: Budgeting Basics,
2002, doi:http://www.icje.org/articles/BudgetingBasics.pdf.

Zhao, Jihong “Solomon", et al. “An Examination of Strategic Planning in American Law
Enforcement Agencies.” Police Quarterly, vol. 11, no. 1, 2008, pp. 3–26.,
doi:10.1177/1098611107309624.

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