Reference no: EM131430186

Planning

Planning is a future-oriented, proactive management function. One plans in order to prepare for the future. Organizations plan so that when a decision has to be made or an action has to be taken, they will be prepared. The decision or action itself tends to be driven by a short-term focus. If effective planning has previously taken place, though, a longer-term perspective has already helped identify the choices that employees have.

Much of our future activity is planned by us or by someone else. Your course in police administration was planned by your instructor. It was planned or scheduled to meet at a certain time on certain days of the week by the dean of your college. It is probably within your plans to graduate from college and to be successful in your career. Perhaps you plan to get married and have a family. One day you may plan to buy a home. You may even plan for your own children to go to college. Plans are preparations for future expectations and are the means by which you will meet your goals and objectives.

Planning is perhaps the most analytical aspect of management. It requires a certain amount of foresight and creativity, and a willingness to dedicate sufficient time to the planning process. However, police culture tends to be action-oriented, often seeking a quick fix. Consequently, police organizations often confront problems only when it is too late and they have become crises.

Effective planning is especially crucial for the police protection of lives and property and the maintenance of order in the community depend on the police responding at the right time, and taking appropriate actions. In our complex and rapidly changing society, only careful planning can make this possible. For example, if a police adminis-trator has not properly staffed patrol shifts, there is a distinct possibility that not all calls for service can be handled. In one Eastern city Bwith a population of 360,000 people, 15,000 calls for service per year went unanswered because of a lack of available personnel during peak workload times. This was a serious matter that reflected poor planning; the department had enough personnel, they just were not allocated properly.

Planning frequently begins with the identification of a problem. Tte problem may be identified by a patrol officer, the chief, a clerk in the records division, a citizen, or by anyone else, either inside or outside the organization. If the authority-level principle has been applied to the department, the planning involved in solving many problems will be relatively simple and will not require the attention of specialized planners or a planning unit. Planning is an important part of every supervisor's and manager's job.

Only problems that require extensive research and cannot be solved at any working level within the police department should be referred to the planning unit, if there is one, which should be responsible for studying specific problems that are not easily solved and presenting solutions to these problems in the form of plans that can either be accepted or rejected by the chief.

The planning unit itself should have very broad responsibilities and be involved in studying every aspect of the department. It should periodically examine every procedure and every operation within the department to determine if these are operating effectively and efficiently. fte planning unit should be self-starting, proceeding on its own without waiting for direction from the chief, but in no way precluding his or her involvement in the planning process.

An excellent vehicle for undertaking an organizational self-assessment is the accredi-tation program run by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies(CALEA). Even if a department elects not to take part in the formal accreditation program, the standards promulgated by CALEA provide useful benchmarks by which to judge the department's current practices.

Questions such as the following might be asked when examining procedures and operations:

1. Is this really necessary?

2. Should this be eliminated?

3. How could this be done better?

4. Could this be done less expensively?

5. If a change were made, what would6the result be?

6. Has another police department foun8d a way of doing this better?

Assignment

Once trained at the orientation and recruit levels, and employee must be assigned to a job within the organization. The nature of the job in which the trained recruit is placed ordinarily requires little choice job most police departments, because most new sworn police employees begin their careers as patrol officers. this tradition has changed very little since Sir Robert Peel established the first metropolitan police department in London in 1829. However, in larger police departments, the assignment of rookies may involve some choice as to the locations of their assignment. Some departments assign officers to districts in which they live; others intentionally assign officers away from their places of residence. Some assignments are made on the basis of race and ethnicity. For example, black and Spanish-speaking officers may be assigned to predominantly black and Spanish-speaking neighborhoods, Bespectively.

Although there are vastly conflicting philosophies regarding assignments, the placing of individuals within any organizatUion is an extremely important staffing function.

Individuals who are improperly assigned can negatively affect the organization's effort to meet its goals and objectives.

Assignment should be regarded as a continuous staffing process. Those responsible for the staffing function should continually assess assignment output through feedback in order to make staffing adjustments or personnel transfers. Very few police officers spend their entire careers in the positions to which they were assigned as rookies. Although many may remain at the patrol officer rank throughout their careers, most will probably be transferred from district to district within the community or to specialized duties within the organi- zation. The transfer of personnel should be considered a healthy application of the systems concept to the police management function. It should never be anticipated that everyone placed in every position will always be best suited to perform in that position.

Although long-term beat assignments for patrol officers are often preferred, there is also much to be said for regular, periodic shifting of personnel. It not only develops more well-rounded employees, but by re-challenging them to learn new and more interesting jobs also lessens the likelihood that they will stagnate in one position. Transfers also become necessary in problem situations. Some employees simply may not be able to perform in a particular area of the community or in a particular job. Disputes between co-workers or between subordinates and superiors may be insoluble except through transfers.

However, when personality problems impede an organization from meeting its goals and objectives, great care should be taken in using transfer as the solution. In such cases, transfers should be used only as a last resort, especially when feedback indicates that transfers would only move problems from one subsystem of the organization to another. therefore, transfers should be made only if it appears likely that they, will positively affect system output.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What specific steps can police agencies take to enhance system learning? What happens to the store of knowledge and experience in a police department when key members retire after long careers? How could their knowledge and experience be "saved" by the agency?

2. Some people argue that planning is a wasteful activity, because they believe that the future is either preordained or too unpredictable to prepare for. Do you agree with these people? Does planning serve any useful purpose?

3. African Americans, women, and other groups have traditionally been underrepresented in police organizations. Why do you think this has been the case? How would you correct this situation?

4. Police departments have traditionally required their employees to retire once they reach a certain age, for example, 55 years old. Do you think this is fair to employees? What should police agencies do with older officers who do not want to retire? As a citizen, how would you feel if you were in trouble and the police officer who responded to your call for assistance was 65 or 70 years old?

5. Some authorities have proposed that police officers should be chosen only from among people possessing college degrees. Do you agree with this position? If you do, how would you answer the criticism that many otherwise well-qualified people have been excluded from consideration? What about the argument that college is not as available to poor people and thus they would be unfairly discriminated against by a college degree requirement? On the other side of the coin, if you do not favor the requirement, what consideration would you give to those people who do have the degree? Would you offer promotional advantages, extra money, or special positions?

Two of the case studies in the back of the text might be analyzed using material from Chapter 6. You should compare the chapter,'s discussion of planning to Case 3, Strategic Planning in Spokane, Washington. You should also examine Case 5, Leading Change in Riverside, California from the standpoint of management functions by level of organization-as you will see, the chief tried to change the duties and responsibilitiMes of sergeants, lieutenants, and captains in the police department.