U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Image of United States Department of Justice seal Community Oriented Policing Services logo Fact Sheet www.cops.usdoj.gov MORE Redeployment 101 Redeployment by Report Introduction The Municipal Police Department applies for a MORE grant to purchase 12 laptop computers with supporting hardware, wireless data capacity, and report-writing software. Currently, all officers hand-write their reports. The department has a sworn force strength of 25 officers with four patrol officers assigned to each shift. Last year the department generated a total of 28,763 reports. Each officer currently spends about 40 minutes writing every report and averages six reports per shift. If the department receives the MORE grant, they estimate that each officer will save approximately 20 minutes per report, cutting the time it takes to complete the reports in half. The cost of the laptops with supporting hardware and software is $110,000. To determine the required level of redeployment, the department would use the following formula that is laid out in the Cost Effectiveness Worksheet portion of the grant application. Required Redeployment Line 1 – Entry level salary of SWORN police officer (as of Jan. 1, 2002) 1. $27,000 Line 2 – Fringe benefits of SWORN police officer (as of Jan. 1, 2002) 2. $10,000 Line 3 – Add lines 1 and 2 3. $37,000 Line 4 – Multiply line 3 by .75 4. $27,750 Line 5 – Enter figure on line 4 or $25,000, whichever is less 5. $25,000 Line 6 – Total cost of item, system, or group of like items 6. $110,000 (100%) Line 7 – Federal amount requested 7. $82,500 (75%) Can be no more than 75% of total item cost (line 6) Line 8- Divide line 7 by line 5 8. 3.3 FTEs Projected/Actual Redeployment Using the number of reports the department generated in the previous year, the department uses the following formula to calculate the projected actual redeployment for this grant: 28,763 reports per year x 20 minutes per report = 575,260/ 60 minutes = 9,587 hours saved 9,587 hours saved / 1,824 (Cops standard) = 5.3 FTEs The department exceeds the required redeployment level and is awarded the MORE grant. Redeployment Tracking The Municipal Police Department must now come up with a plan to track redeployment once their system becomes operational. The agency begins its redeployment tracking plan with a short summary of the project and how it will save time for officers within the agency. The Municipal Police Department was awarded a grant to purchase 12 laptops with supporting hardware, report-writing software to make writing reports more efficient and transmit them wirelessly. Prior to the implementation of the grant, the department benchmarked that each officer spent about 40 minutes writing each report. Through the use of the new laptops and report- writing software, the department estimates that it will cut this time in half. The department then goes on to explain what method it will use to track the time savings realized through the use of the laptops and report-writing software. In order to track the time savings that officers will realize under this grant, the department has issued log sheets to all officers and asked them to log in the time they spend entering reports into the laptop and sending them to headquarters through wireless transfer. On a monthly basis it will take a sample of the time logs for 12 officers on varying shifts to determine the average amount of time officers spend writing reports after the awarded equipment becomes operational. The final part of the redeployment tracking plan explains how the time saved through this grant will allow the department to enhance its community policing efforts. With the time saved through the use of the grant-funded equipment, officers will attend an increased number of neighborhood meetings with community and business leaders. The department will also begin a program to target high crime areas through increased foot and bike patrols. Additionally, the department hopes to begin conducting a citizen survey on crime and institute several neighborhood watch programs. Implementing the Redeployment Tracking Plan The department implements the grant and each officer submits a time log each shift showing time savings that is achieved as a result of the grant. The log sheets are then totaled for each officer and entered into a spreadsheet tracking the time savings that each officer realizes. Because tracking the time savings for 25 officers is very time consuming, the department uses a sample of 12 officers who work varying shifts to determine time savings across the department. Using the log sheets, the department is able to create a spreadsheet to determine how long it takes officers to do a report on average. A sample of the spreadsheet that it uses to track the hours saved follows: Officer Reports per Shift Time spent writing reports Dame 8 180 minutes (3 hours) Chapman 5 135 minutes (2.25 hours) Neely 3 60 minutes (1 hour) Mehring 6 150 minutes ( 2.5 hours) Bezdikian 6 150 minutes (2.5 hours) Clark 2 30 minutes (.5 hours) Scrivner 5 120 minutes ( 2 hours) Gorniak 7 225 minutes (3.75 hours) Dodge 6 150 minutes (2.5 hours) Webb 8 180 minutes (3 hours) Phillips 6 150 minutes (2.5 hours) Alford 4 120 minutes (2 hours) Total 66 1,650 minutes (27.5 hours) Three months after the equipment becomes fully operational, the department is able to tabulate on a daily basis the time savings that accrues over the course of the grant. Based on the sample, the department finds that each officer spends an average of 25 minutes per report writing reports. This results in a time savings of 15 minutes per report. 1,650 minutes / 66 reports = 25 minutes per report 40 minutes per report (prior to grant) - 25 minutes per report (post grant) = 15 minutes in savings per report. Over the three month period, the department has generated 7,230 reports. Therefore, its time savings to date can be calculated as follows: 7,230 reports x 15 minutes per report = 108,450/60 minutes = 1,807 hours saved 1,807 hours saved / 1,824 (COPS standard) = 1 FTE If the department continues to see this level of time savings for the remainder of the 12 months, it can expect to achieve a total redeployment of four FTEs. The Department continues tracking officer time savings each month and finds that 25 minutes per report is the average throughout the entire 12-month period. The Municipal Police Department generated 30,504 reports during the 12-month redeployment period. Therefore, its time savings for the year can be calculated as follows: 30,504 reports x 15 minutes per report = 457,560/60 minutes = 7,626 hours saved 7,626 hours saved / 1,824 (COPS standard) = 4.2 FTE Although this is slightly less time savings than originally estimated, it still exceeds the required level of redeployment for the grant. After the laptops have been implemented, the department notices that there is additional time savings that occurs as a result of the grant: • Electronically transferring reports to supervisor instead of driving reports to headquarters • Electronic revisions after review instead of re-writing reports Contact COPS For more information, call the U.S. Department of Justice Response Center at 1.800.421.6770, or visit COPS Online at: www.cops.usdoj.gov. Updated January 07, 2003 e12021816