Power Shifts in Law Enforcement

Departmental Implementation of a Powershift

Many police departments both across the country and throughout the world have found themselves struggling with manpower resource issues. Having enough officers on call to effectively meet the needs of the community must always be the priority, but it is a priority that is often overlooked by those who delegate financial resources to these departments. Being tasked with performing a job more efficiently and still using the same levels of resources requires a creative and lateral approach. One such method for meeting this increased demand in law enforcement is the employment of call volume analysis and the subsequent changes in scheduling that the results suggest. In most cases, the solution is the addition of a "power shift."

The most common complaint from the public regarding policing is the amount of time required to have an officer respond to the scene when a call for service has been made (Center). Analysis of call for service trends shows a demonstrable peak in volume between the hours of 4 PM and midnight, particularly on weekends (Woolfenden 5). Having additional officers on duty during these higher volume hours, or "powershift" periods, means quicker response times, increased availability of back-up, and a greater ability to engage in other pertinent policing activities such as pro-active patrol and community policing initiatives (Woolfenden 6).

Given these demands, there is a clear and consistent need for a powershift in modern policing. Although general scheduling adjustments can partially compensate for hourly fluctuations in call volume, this is not a complete solution. There are numerous other factors to consider such as weekends, special events, and holidays. The theory here for some would be to radically change the overall scheduling system to accommodate for these factors. This could be done to some extent through a transition to 12 hour shifts where more officers are on duty per given shift. This additional

staffing would help greatly during the higher volume evening shift. For the equally manned earlier shift, however, there would be no such benefit thus

resulting in a net loss of useful manpower. In addition to the wasted allocation of resources presented by this solution, there are additional quality of life and safety concerns that come with radical changes in scheduling and the implementation of longer shifts (Woolfenden 6).

Although there are clear benefits to public perception and time management with the addition of a powershift, there is also a notable increase in the overall productivity of police work. Having more officers working during periods of higher criminal activity results in a substantially more productive police force. A prominent example of this benefit is the Third District of Washington DC's Metropolitan Police Department. By implementing a powershift, during a three month time period they managed to see impressive results in both crime prevention and offender arrest rates attributable to this unit. These statistics include:

Ð'* assisted in dropping crime by 24% in the Third District

Ð'* made 101 felony arrests (45 felony drugs, 22 felony

warrants, 5 robberies, 20 miscellaneous felonies, 21

Ð'* Carrying a Pistol Without a License arrests)

Ð'* made 301 misdemeanor arrests (57 miscellaneous

drug, 28 contempts, 6 theft from autos, 40 panhandlers,

161 miscellaneous arrests)

Ð'* 63 traffic arrests

Ð'* 465 total arrests

Ð'* seized 21 guns and one paint gun

Ð'* seized over $19,000 in US currency

Ð'* seized over 15 cars for civil forfeiture

Ð'* conducted over 2,400 subject stops

Ð'* recovered over 800 grams of cocaine, 1,200 grams of

marijuana, 60

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