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Results for police recruitment

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Author: Seattle Community Police Commission

Title: An Assessment of the Seattle Police Department's Community Engagement: Through Recruitment, Hiring, and Training

Summary: In the July 27, 2012, MOU between DOJ and the City of Seattle, the CPC was charged with conducting an assessment of the community's "experiences with and perceptions of SPD's community outreach, engagement, and problem-oriented policing." Community engagement is a complex topic that means different things to different people. After collecting feedback across Seattle to gain direction (see Appendix I, Parts A-C), the CPC distilled the comments into 10 topics for potential analysis within the larger theme of community engagement (see Appendix I, Part D). We then prioritized three of the topics based on our understanding of the interests and concerns of the constituencies we represent. This report documents our findings from one of those topics, namely, whether SPD's policies and practices in recruitment, hiring, and training of officers promote positive engagement with people from racial, ethnic, immigrant, and refugee communities. The CPC prioritized the study of recruitment, hiring, and training because it emerged as a central community concern across all demographics. In addition, SPD is in the middle of a hiring surge, and we hoped our assessment would ultimately inform the department's practices. Specifically, we are studying SPD's policies and practices as they may affect its relations with racial, ethnic, immigrant, and refugee communities. Certainly, the CPC recognizes the importance of studying other historically underrepresented communities. Provided that we have the resources necessary, we plan to carry out future assessments along these lines. The other two topics that were prioritized and flagged for immediate study regard communications and the formal channels available to racial, ethnic, immigrant, and refugee communities to provide input to SPD, and the communication structures employed by SPD to provide output to those communities. Findings on those topics will be released in the spring of 2016. This report, meanwhile, broadly addresses the question of whether SPD's policies and practices for recruitment, hiring, and training are sufficient to assure that its personnel reflect, understand, and engage with the many racial, ethnic, immigrant, and refugee communities it serves. This is a very expansive area to cover, and our report does not have all the answers. Nevertheless, it attempts to shed light on strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement. This report does not offer any recommendations; rather, those will be formulated in the coming months in collaboration with the community and SPD. We have pursued information about the racial makeup of SPD and how it compares to the City of Seattle's population, how SPD's congruity in racial composition compares to that of other cities, the department's current goals for increasing diversity in new hires in the midst of a hiring surge, and how SPD handles recruitment and hiring with regard to racial/ethnic candidates. We have also considered whether there are unnecessary barriers for such candidates moving through the multiple hurdles of the application and selection process and whether there is identifiable attrition. In addition, we have recounted many of the expressed concerns within the communities where we conducted interviews and listening sessions. Finally, we have examined SPD's training of new officers to evaluate the level of focus placed on developing community engagement and cultural competency skills.

Details: Seattle: The Commission, 2016. 48p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 12, 2017 at: https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/CommunityPoliceCommission/CPC_Report_on_SPD_Community_Engagement.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/CommunityPoliceCommission/CPC_Report_on_SPD_Community_Engagement.pdf

Shelf Number: 146061

Keywords:
Community Policing
Police Education and Training
Police Policies and Practices
Police Recruitment
Police-Community Interactions
Police-Community Relations
Problem-Oriented Policing

Author: San Jose (CA). Office of the City Auditor

Title: Police Overtime: The San Jose Police Department Relies on Overtime to Patrol the City Due to Unprecedented Vacancies

Summary: The San Jose Police Department has seen a significant increase in vacant positions. As the vacancies have increased, the Department has increasingly relied on overtime to staff regular operations. Overtime hours have increased as the Department works to patrol the City using limited staff. This increase has resulted in higher officer workload and overtime costs. As a result of the sharp increase in Department vacancies, the remaining sworn employees have shouldered an increased workload to back-fill for vacant positions. The average overtime worked by sworn personnel has doubled from 225 hours of overtime in calendar year 2008 to 450 hours in 2015. In comparison, in FY 2015-16, sworn personnel in Los Angeles and San Francisco worked about 100 hours of city overtime or less - less than a quarter of the average in San Jose. In terms of weekly amounts, sworn personnel in San Jose are working, on average, over 8.5 hours per week in overtime - nearly an extra shift. Moreover, the amount of overtime worked in the Department, despite its large volume, still does not cover the workload gap caused by high vacancies. On August 30, 2016, the City Council approved declaration of an emergency under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act at the request of the Chief of Police to allow him the flexibility to move additional staff onto patrol. In addition, with increases in officer workload, changes in the sick leave payout policy, and a reduced ability to take vacation time, sick leave usage has increased significantly. The pattern of usage (heavier on weekends and during the summer months) indicates the potential use of sick leave to take time off in lieu of vacation or comp time. In our opinion, the Department needs to remind its staff about the City's sick leave policy, including the allowed uses of sick leave, and the impact that inappropriate sick leave use has on other officers. Further, the Department should evaluate interest in expanding the shift swap program and if sufficient interest exists, consider centralizing the process in eResource or another software solution; implement previous audit recommendations to civilianize positions in the Department; and establish a retiree-rehire program to help cope with spiraling vacancies in the Department. These items may be subject to the City's meet and confer process.

Details: San Jose, CA: Office of the City Auditor, 2016. 71p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 21, 2017 at: http://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/60924

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: http://www.sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/60924

Shelf Number: 146334

Keywords:
Costs of Policing
Police Administration
Police Overtime
Police Personnel
Police Recruitment