Memo – Organizational Change in the Police Department

Memo – Organizational Change in the Police Department

TO:

FROM:

DATE

RE: Organizational change in the police department

Introduction

The police operations division comprises of units that offer the basic functions of the police. Most of the units are uniform assignments that typically involve routine and regular contact with the public. These divisions include the Patrol team, the Service Area Policing, The Traffic unit, the Police Department Jail, Helicopter Support, the Special Response Team, and the Parking Enforcement Team. This report proposes a merger of the Patrol, Service Area Policing, and the Departmental Jail. Do you need help with your assignment ? Get in touch with us at eminencepapers.com.

Summary of Current Duties of the Three Divisions

Patrol Team

The patrol team are the hub of the operations and patrol the city every day. The team conducts self-initiated enforcement and responds to a wide array of radio calls in their line of service. The patrol operations are done in line with the Service Area Policing principles in which the activity accountability is under the lieutenant’s management in the Patrol Division.

The division comprises of six officer teams which are lead by a sergeant. The schedule is one that is hybrid where the half of the patrol works ten hours a day for four days, and the other half works 12 and half hours a day for three days and one additional 10 hours for a single day in a month. This hybrid schedule ensures that patrol operations are effectively staffed, avails more resources over the weekends, and minimizes overtime costs.

Service Area Policing Team

The city has three service areas, with each area having a designated lieutenant ready to answer any questions regarding the services offered. The police department strives to offer the city residents excellent customer service, and citizens can contact the team for any issues that are non-emergency. It is a citizen-friendly policing style that provides increased accountability, personalized services; citizen satisfaction, and improved quality of life in the neighborhoods

Department Jail

The police jail is a Type 1 jail that can house up to 20 prisoners. When an arrest is made, the arrested person is booked at the jail, which includes completion of booking paperwork, photographing, live finger scan and printing, and medical screening. A person can be held for up to 72 hours prior to being transported for arraignment in court. The city jail is staffed with Jailers who work on a 24/7 schedule. The jailers are responsible for the paperwork in the booking process, which allows officers to get back to the field as soon as possible after an arrest. The jailers are also responsible for supervising the prisoners, making visits to those held over 24 hours, and providing meals to the prisoners.

Recommended Changes

The three units in the police department (Patrol, Service Area Policing, and Jail) can be consolidated into one unit. The number of lieutenants heading the Patrol and Service area will need to be reduced from the current three to one for the Patrol and Service policing teams. The newly consolidated unit will have two lieutenants heading each of the businesses, and they will be assisted by deputies. Therefore, the new leadership will comprise of 4 heads as opposed to the current 16.

The department will need to release the non-sworn jailers from their duties as their employment only increases human resource costs. The current police staff will need to be cross-trained on how to book a prisoner and ensure that their rights, while in police custody, are not violated. The working schedule will follow that of the Patrol team hybrid schedule. The current service policing team will be deployed along with the patrol team. For every three patrol officers, two service policing officers will be added to the team to make it a team of five. Hence, every team in a hybrid schedule will comprise five patrols and one service policing officer. This will be different from the current teams that comprise three patrol and three service policing officers who work separately. The additional service policing officer in the current setup will be deployed to jail services. The Patrol officers will rotate duties as they normally do while the service patrol police will rotate between working along with the patrol team and prisoner booking services.

The patrol and service policing police will report to the lieutenant or deputy lieutenant on duty. The leadership will rotate on a schedule but will work to ensure all the three services are running efficiently.  The leadership will also be responsible for ensuring that the police officers are thoroughly trained in service delivery including excellent communication skills and customer service so as to maintain and surpass the current customer service and satisfaction levels.

Theoretical Perspective: Teleological Theory of Change

According to the teleological change theory, the actions of humans are purposive; the goal is the last cause of guiding an entity’s movement (Van de Ven & Sun, 2011). This theory underlies other theories such as adaptive learning, decision-making, functionalism, and strategic planning model and goal setting (Hayes, 2018). Through the teleological theory, an organization proceeds to an end state of goal. The entity is adaptive and purposeful, constructs an envisioned state, goes ahead to achieve it through specific actions, and monitors progress.

The proposed change in the department is one that has a set goal of minimizing operations costs and increasing efficiency by maximizing the available human resources (Smith, 2016). The police department intends to improve its customer service by ensuring that all services provided are timely, round the clock, and require minimal expenditure. Reducing the working staff, such as eliminating the non-sworn jailers, will save the department on employee remuneration costs. Having fewer officers on patrol will reduce fuel costs for patrol cars while at the same time ensuring that the citizens feel safe and closer to the policing unit. In other words, the department will offer protection and quality customer service simultaneously.

Impact on Staff Morale and Culture

Employees and people in general, naturally resist change and more so, when the change affects the working routine (Ford & Ford, 2009). An organizational change at the department will most likely have a negative effect on the morale of the employees. There is bound to be complaints and resistance to the change. Employees may also experience work stress resulting from the change and resulting physical health symptoms(Cummings & Worley, 2014).

Staff in the department are also likely to report lower job satisfaction levels and low productivity (Johns, 2011). Cynicism from staff is also expected, along with perceptions of the motivations behind the change and the success of the same (Aslam et al., 2016). The staff that will be affected by the change may also lack trust in the leadership and may look for new jobs in other law enforcement agencies. Disillusioned staff who may be frustrated with the efforts to make change are likely to question the motives of the leaders and may resist any further changes (Kannan & Lawrence, 2012; Gao et al., 2011).

Conclusion

The organizational change at the police department is necessary and long overdue. With the success of the community policing and the lower rates of crime in the city, the department needs to consolidate the services f the Patrol, Service Policing, and Jail to maintain the momentum already started by the three units. The change will increase efficiency, cut down on organizational costs and ensure that customer satisfaction is maintained at the highest level.

References

Aslam, U., Ilyas, M., Imran, M. K., & Rahman, U. U. (2016). Detrimental effects of cynicism on organizational change: an interactive model of organizational cynicism (a study of employees in public sector organizations). Journal of Organizational Change Management, 29(4), 580-598.

Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2014). Organization development and change. Cengage Learning.

Ford, J. D., & Ford, L. W. (2009). Decoding resistance to change. Harvard Business Review, 87(4), 99-103.

Gao, L., Janssen, O., & Shi, K. (2011). Leader trust and employee voice: The moderating role of empowering leader behaviors. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(4), 787-798.

Hayes, J. (2018). The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave.

Johns, G. (2011). Attendance dynamics at work: the antecedents and correlates of presenteeism, absenteeism, and productivity loss. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 16(4), 483.

Kannan-Narasimhan, R., & Lawrence, B. S. (2012). Behavioral integrity: How leader referents and trust matter to workplace outcomes. Journal of business ethics, 111(2), 165-178.

Smith, R. (2016). Policing in austerity: time to go lean?. International Journal of Emergency Services, 5(2), 174-183.

Van de Ven, A. H., & Sun, K. (2011). Breakdowns in implementing models of organization change. Academy of Management Perspectives, 25(3), 58-74.

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Organizational Change in the Police Department

Create a memorandum to submit to the chief, which proposes the consolidation of three units within the department under one commander. As a result of the reorganization, two or three commander positions should be eliminated. In your memorandum, discuss the impact of these changes on the organizational structure in terms of organizational efficiency as well as its impact on culture and staff morale. In your memo, select an alternative management structure from the literature that can be applied to the consolidation. Be sure to include budget implications as part of your memorandum. Please remember to include the theoretical perspective associated with the new management structure you have selected.

References: Include a minimum of five scholarly references.