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Chick Report Identifies Ways to
Increase Civilians at LAPD

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Chick Report Identifies Ways to Increase Civilians at LAPD
Potential to Redeploy Over 400 Officers Back on the Streets

Los Angeles
-- Calling Los Angeles “… one of the most underpoliced big cities in America,” City Controller Laura Chick, issued a report today identifying ways to increase civilian staffing of the Los Angeles Police Department and put more officers out fighting crime on our streets and in our neighborhoods.

“We found over 500 positions that could potentially be filled by civilians, freeing up sworn personnel to perform more traditional policing functions. The last chapter of the report lays out a clear plan, implemented over a three year period that would put these already trained, experienced veteran police officers, back out in neighborhoods where we need them,” said Chick at a news conference with LAPD Chief Bill Bratton.

“Over and over again we hear the sound-bite, 'Let’s get officers out from behind desks and out on our streets.' Yet we continue to impose hiring freezes for civilian positions resulting in a vacancy level ranging up to 640 and currently hovering at 608 vacant positions. Who do we think is performing this essential back-up work?,” continued Chick.

The Chick report also sets forth a three year implementation plan to increase civilianization at the LAPD. After the three years, over 400 full-duty and experienced officers would be re-deployed to perform essential law enforcement duties.

“This is not about ‘especially in these hard fiscal times.’ This is about the fact that the LAPD already absorbs over $1.2 billion every year of taxpayer money, and that amount continues to increase as we struggle to get the right number of uniformed police on our streets,” said Chick.

“We do not need hundreds of police officers, at a cost of $30,000 a year more than a properly trained civilian, performing administrative functions that do not require carrying a firearm. While Chief Bratton has made major progress in deploying our officers more effectively, this report challenges us to fully engage in smarter 21st Century policing,” concluded Chick.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Here is the Executive Summary:

REVIEW OF INCREASED CIVILIANIZATION OF THE
LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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The scope of the Review of Increased Civilianization of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD or Department) is to identify and evaluate the feasibility and potential financial and operational impact of increased civilianization within the Department. The study involved a department-wide assessment to identity functions and positions that could be civilianized.

Methodology

This review was conducted from late July 2007 through January 2008 and included a multi-pronged analysis utilizing a variety of methodologies including: data and document review, one-on-one and small group interviews, literature review, and comparative analysis and best practices benchmarking. In total, nearly 100 interviews and meetings were conducted of key stakeholders, including all LAPD divisions and bureaus, other relevant City Departments, and representatives from applicable labor unions.

Best Practices

The literature review, which included studies of similar departments across the United States, found consistency in the benefits and challenges of civilianization. Over the past forty years, there has been an increasing trend of civilianization, which has seen the ratio of sworn to civilians decrease from 8.3:1 in 1965 to 2.1:1 in 2004. Motivating factors that have impacted this trend include:

• The increasing costs of police services delivery and the need to reduce costs,

• Technological innovations which have increased functional specialization,

• An emphasis on increased effectiveness and efficiency in management,

• A need to increase the number of sworn officers available for front-line duties,

• The changing needs of increasingly diverse communities, and

• A desire to increase civilian retention through expanded career opportunities.

Despite the increasing role of civilians within police departments, there are still a number of challenges which affect the ability of departments to best utilize the unique skills sets provided by specially trained civilians. Organizational resistance to change, opposition from police unions and associations, the need for police expertise and experience, and challenges related to recruiting and retaining civilian staff are among the many hurdles that must be overcome to successfully integrate civilian employees.

This review also included a comparison of the LAPD with other law enforcement organizations in the United States. The comparative survey was designed to shed light on the utilization of civilian personnel in other law enforcement agencies, particularly on issues and functions identified in our field interviews of the LAPD that warranted comparison. Comparative survey results were generally consistent with the literature review, demonstrating the increasing specialization of law enforcement operations, a greater acknowledgement of civilianization as a best practice, and the growing role of civilians in police organizations. Of the eight agencies included in the survey, all but one agency have engaged in a civilianization effort in the past five years. Similarities and commonalities in terms of functions identified to be best performed by civilians were more apparent than their differences, which can be attributed to a variety of reasons, including differing operational structures, organizational culture, and sworn/civilian staffing levels. For example, the law enforcement agencies on the East Coast and in Chicago generally had more police officers relative to their service populations and, thus, would have smaller civilian workforces relative to their police forces.

Key Issues and Observations

The following issues are likely to serve as the most difficult barriers to increased civilianization within the LAPD:

1.
Strong Sworn Organizational Culture:

The Department is characterized by an entrenched sworn-dominated culture, particularly at the Area stations, that often subordinates the work and status of civilian employees. While a new cadre of sworn leadership appears to recognize the important role of civilians in the LAPD, many civilians still feel that their efforts go unrecognized. In order for civilianization efforts to be successful, a change must occur at all levels in the organizational culture.
2.
Lack of Clear and Viable Career Paths for Specialized Civilians:

For certain classifications within the LAPD, particularly specialized classifications, there is limited opportunity for vertical and lateral movement. Conversely, the use of more common citywide classification creates retention issues as civilians can seek promotional opportunities to other departments. While specialized classifications provide for retention of civilian employees in the LAPD, their utilization should be tempered by considerations for career growth and development.
3.
Recruitment and Hiring Challenges for Specialized Functions and Areas:

For specialized functions that are unique to the LAPD and because of the nature of law enforcement work, recruitment and hiring present another challenge for civilianization in the LAPD. The use of citywide classifications for certain specialized functions, is intrinsically restrictive to recruiting and hiring qualified civilian candidates, especially from outside the City. Furthermore, the sensitivity and confidentiality requirements involved in certain police functions present another challenge for recruitment and hiring. The LAPD’s more extensive background investigation prolongs the hiring process making other positions within the City more attractive and is a discouraging factor for some potential applicants considering these specialized positions. Another important issue cited in the interviews was that certain divisions – particularly Area stations located in higher crime areas – were less attractive to civilian employees. This resulted in these Area stations experiencing more difficulty in the hiring and retaining of civilians than the divisions located at the LAPD headquarters. This circumstance is compounded by the limited opportunities for promotion within these Area stations, which are geographically isolated from headquarters.
4.
Lack of Pre- and In-Service Training Opportunities:

The LAPD’s sworn personnel are exposed to rigorous, consistent and ongoing training, but such training is not available to civilian personnel. These training opportunities are viewed as a reflection of the Department’s limited investment in civilian staff. The implementation of a comprehensive civilian training program, with a particular focus on orientation for employee needs, is a critical component for increasing the effective utilization of civilians throughout the Department.
5.
High Level of Accommodation:

One unique element of LAPD’s sworn culture has been a desire to “take care of our own” by providing accommodations for officers assigned to permanent limited-duty status. This practice has had a long-term fiscal impact on the LAPD as positions which could be filled more cost-effectively by civilians are currently filled by sworn officers. As of February 2008, estimates indicate there are approximately 489 sworn officers, or 5% of the total sworn workforce, assigned to permanent limited duties. While the LAPD’s Special Order #7, which applies to officers injured after August 1, 2006, would require officers who cannot fulfill the essential job functions of a peace officer to either transfer to an alternate (civilian) job classification or retire, there are still a significant number of officers that were “grandfathered” into positions that should be performed by civilians. Special Order #7 has been codified in Section 711.76, Volume 3 of the LAPD Manual.
6.
High Civilian Vacancy:

As of August 2007, there were 591 civilian vacancies in the Department. Among this total are vacancies in key clerical, administrative and professional classifications, including Clerk Typist, Police Service Representative, and Management Analyst. However, because of budgetary constraints, not all of these vacancies are funded to be filled. For the current FY 2007-08, based on available funding and projected civilian attrition, the Department is projected to achieve 308 civilian hires. With a projected attrition of 234 civilian employees, the LAPD projected net gain is only 74 new civilian hires. These vacant positions are responsible for the Department’s critical non-sworn support functions, many of which are now performed by sworn officers.
7.
Need to “Harvest” Officers:

“Harvesting” refers to the practice of taking full-duty sworn officers from the field, particularly from patrol operations, and reassigning them to perform certain essential tasks, duties and responsibilities. The significant rise in additional critical duties and responsibilities, coupled with the lack of adequate civilian support, requires commanding officers to reassign or harvest full-duty officers from patrol duties. For Area stations, the Department has been using a “fixed post” staffing model that was first implemented several decades ago. The LAPD has yet to realign Area staffing structure and resources to address new demands, functions and responsibilities. The lack of clear, codified positions, particularly at the Area stations, presents a challenge to any civilianization effort.
8.
Financial Constraints:

While civilianizing positions that are currently being filled by sworn officers results in cost avoidance, there are not sufficient numbers of existing civilians to fill these positions and the City would need to expend significant funds to hire the additional needed civilian personnel. The estimated cost new civilian employees to fill the 565 positions identified in this study is over $53,000,000 per year, which represents a 25% increase in the FY 2007-08 civilian salary budget. The expected financial impact presents a significant challenge to the LAPD’s efforts in increasing civilianization and minimizing the practice of harvesting. However, the successful implementation of a civilianization plan must be gradual, multi-phased and long-term, so that the cost impact associated with civilianization can be absorbed over an extended period. Furthermore, increased civilianization should not be viewed as a stand-alone initiative, but must be considered as a key component of the overall effort to increase the number of police officers serving the City. Civilianizing non-police functions and positions is a cost effective strategy to expand the City’s police force by redeploying full-duty sworn officers back out into the field.

This study recommends a total of 565 positions and/or functions for civilianization, representing approximately 6% of the entire sworn workforce. The estimated “cost avoidance” is approximately $16,000,000 annually. On an annual basis, the estimated average cost for one of these 565 sworn positions is approximately $29,000 more than the estimated cost of a civilian employee in this position or function. The breakdown by divisions is as follows:

4 Operational Bureaus (Central, South, Valley and West):
19 geographic Area stations and Traffic Divisions:
All Other Entities:
Total Positions: 
...24
272
269
565

Positions that are recommended to be civilianized include, among many others: public front desks and equipment (kit) rooms at Area stations, community/media relations, Teams II (Consent Decree auditing) coordination, crime analysis units at Area stations, timekeeping and sick/IOD coordination, and training coordination.

Appendix E is a summary of the positions by office, bureau, group and division recommended for civilianization.

Conclusion

The Los Angeles Police Department is charged with safeguarding and protecting the second most populous city in the United States, as well as an expansive network of resources and infrastructure that is critical to the social well-being and economic stability of the City, the State of California and the United States. With this immense duty and purpose, the Department also has the responsibility to utilize its resources in a manner that maximizes public safety.

Although it is the third largest law enforcement organization in the nation (with over 9,500 officers), when compared to a number of large urban law enforcement agencies in the United States, the LAPD has fewer sworn officers on a per capita basis. One measure of a police organization’s ability to operate efficiently and effectively is the number and percentage of police officers who are performing enforcement and other critical police functions. While the City is now committed to adding 1,000 new police officers to its force, another strategy to maximize the Department’s resources is to minimize the number of sworn officers performing functions that can be as effectively or more effectively performed by civilians. In turn, as more officers are reassigned to law enforcement duties, the number of police officers directly involved in securing the public safety can be maximized.

However, the process of civilianization in the LAPD is constrained by a myriad of factors discussed above, including budgetary limitations for the City, as well as high levels of civilian vacancy and permanent sworn accommodation. This study provides the first step in the process, by identifying the positions and functions that are eligible for civilianization, and addressing the constraints and challenges to a successful department-wide civilianization process. The review includes 12 recommendations (summarized on the following page) that speak to these identified constraints and issues, and recommends a total of 565 positions and/or functions currently performed by sworn officers that are appropriate candidates to be civilianized.

Given the context in which the LAPD and the City operate, any successful implementation plan must be gradual, multi-phased and long-term, with measurable short-, mid- and long-term goals. It should consider current civilian vacancies, existing permanent accommodations, sworn leadership development positions, and other issues that would impact implementation timelines and priorities. The plan should include a rigorous civilian training program that offers consistent opportunities for pre- and in-service training. Furthermore, the plan should effectively consider and incorporate the budgetary constraints faced by the City of Los Angeles. And lastly, in order for civilianization to be effective and successful, the implementation plan must garner the support from all levels of the Department, other City stakeholders, members of the City Council, as well as various outside stakeholders. This study proposes an implementation plan which sets forth a three-year strategy to execute the civilianization of the identified positions in a gradual, multi-phased process that maximizes operational and cost effectiveness.

A draft report was provided to LAPD management on February 11, 2008. We discussed the contents of the report with Department management on February 19, 2008. The Department concurred with the issues, observations and recommendations identified in this report. We considered the Department’s comments before finalizing this report. Management has recognized the benefits and challenges to increased civilianization and has indicated its commitment to address the report’s identified issues, observations and recommendations. We would like to thank LAPD management and staff – particularly the Personnel Division – for their cooperation and assistance during this study.

The full 203 page report can be accessed at: http://www.lacity.org/ctr/audits/FINAL_LAPD_CivilianizationReport.pdf (pdf format).

Controller Chick web site: www.lacity.org/ctr