U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services Image of United States Department of Justice seal Commuity Oriented Policing Services logo Fact Sheet www.cops.usdoj.gov MORE Redeployment 101 Redeployment by Shift Introduction The Neely County Sheriff's Department applies for a MORE grant to purchase a Computer Aided Dispatch/Records Management System (CAD/RMS) and 100 Mobile Data Terminals (MDT's). The department has 200 full-time officers assigned to patrol, each MDT will be used by more than one officer. Currently, on average, each patrol officer runs 12 tag and/or license checks per shift. Currently each check takes about five minutes. If the department receives the MORE grant, it estimates that each officer will only need three minutes per check, a savings of two minutes per check. Additionally, the department estimates that officers spend approximately two and a half hours per shift writing reports. With the implementation of the new system and the MDTs, it estimates it can reduce that time to two hours per officer per shift. The cost of the system is $700,000. To determine their required level of redeployment, the department would use the following formula that was 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, 1998) 1.____$30,000_____________ Line 2 -Fringe benefits of SWORN police officer (as of Jan. 1, 1998) 2.____$ 8,000_____________ Line 3 -Add lines 1 and 2 3.____$38,000_____________ Line 4 - Multiply line 3 by .75 4.____$28,500_____________ 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. __ $700,000___________(100%) Line 7 - Federal amount requested 7.___$525,000___________(75%) Can be no more than 75% of total item cost (line 6) Line 8- Divide line 7 by line 5 8.____21 FTEs____________ Actual Redeployment The formula used to calculate the estimated actual redeployment for this grant would be 2 minutes saved X 12 checks = 24 minutes per shift 24 minutes X 200 officers X 228 shifts = 1,094,400 minutes 1,094,400/60 = 18,240 hours per year. 18,240 hours /1,824 (COPS Standard)= 10 10 FTEs saved per year This is less than the required amount in the above calculation, but as demonstrated below, the department plans to use the MDTs for other tasks as well. The department also states that it will use the laptops for report writing while patrol officers are in their vehicles. Again the laptops will be used by more than one officer. Currently, each officer, 200 in all, spends two and a half hours per shift writing their reports. With the laptops it believes officers can save one half hour per shift. The reports will have automated formats and can be sent for approval via modem versus driving back to the station. The formula used to calculate the estimated actual redeployment is .5 hours per shift X 200 officers X 228 shifts = 22,800 hours per year 22,800 hours/ 1,824 (COPS standard)= 12.5 FTEs So through the time savings of 10 FTEs with the tag checks and 12.5 FTEs with the reports, the department projects a total redeployment of 22.5 FTEs, which is above the minimum required and the department receives the grant. In this case the Department was able to meet the required level of redeployment using only time estimates for patrol officers. However, after implementation, it may discover that estimates were high. In this case, it should look to other areas of the Department such as investigations or administration to determine if time savings may also be occurring there. Redeployment Tracking The next task for the Neely County Sheriff's Department is to develop a redeployment tracking plan for its MORE grant. 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 Neely County Sheriff's Department has been awarded a COPS MORE grant for a Computer Aided Disptach/Records Management System (CAD/RMS) and 100 mobile data computers. These mobile data computers will be used as part of a pilot project to assess the effectiveness of automated field reporting in this agency. We at the department believe that this new technology will allow patrol officers to perform quicker records checks and that it will make our reporting process more efficient. The grant-funded technology will allow officers to conduct their own records checks without going through dispatch. The field reporting system will reduce the need to enter duplicate information for accident and incident reports and will save officer travel time by allowing patrol officers to electronically transmit their reports to their supervisor. Currently officers spend about five minutes per tag check. We hope to reduce the wait time by two minutes. Additionally, officers currently spend approximately two and a half hours per shift writing reports. With the new technology, we estimate we will be able to reduce this time by one half hour per shift. The next part of the plan is an explanation of the method that the Neely County Sheriff's Department will use to track the time savings from its grant-funded technology: The Neely County Sheriff's Department will track the time savings from the grant-funded mobile data computers by comparing the survey results of the officers using the new equipment and the survey results (baseline) of the patrol officers writing reports prior to the implementation of the grant technology. Due to the large size of the patrol division, the department will use a sample of 20 percent of the officers. The sample will take into account all shifts. For one week during each quarter, the 40 officers included in the sample will track the number of records checks and reports that they write per day, and how long these activities take them. Prior to the grant award, the Sheriff's Department completed log sheets which demonstrated the time necessary to complete various checks and reports. The responses will be compared to determine the amount of time savings produced by the new technology. The final part of the redeployment tracking plan includes an explanation of how the time saved through this grant will allow this agency to enhance its community policing efforts: The officers using the computers will devote approximately one hour of their time savings per day to problem-solving projects. During this time the officers will contact community residents to identify community concerns and work with community and city agencies to proactively address the causes of these concerns. The officers will respond to a minimal number of calls for service during this time. Additionally, the Department plans to use the additional officer time to expand its Neighborhood Watch programs and also its community volunteers program. Additional officer time will be dedicated to attending Neighborhood meetings and providing training to community volunteers. Implementing the Redeployment Tracking Plan The Neely County Sheriff's Department begins to implement its redeployment tracking plan once the grant-funded technology has been purchased and becomes fully operational. For one week during each quarter of the one-year redeployment tracking period, this agency requires officers to complete daily logs tracking how many reports and records checks are performed by officers and how long these activities take. These logs are completed by the twenty officers using the mobile data computers and compared to the time survey completed prior to the implementation of the technology. The results from the logs are used to form projections for time savings over a one-year period: Group One (40 officers with mobile data computers) Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Overall Averages # shifts 200 210 220 205 Total hours report writing time 450 462 440 359 Average hours writing reports per shift 2.25 2.20 2.0 1.75 2.05 Total hours for records checks 150 200 180 130 Average hours performing records checks per shift 1.0 .75 1.2 1.12 1 Group Two (40 officers prior to technology implementation) Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Overall Averages # shifts 200 210 220 205 Total hours report writing time 550 780 1193 960 Average hours writing reports per shift 2.75 2.5 2.65 2.4 2.58 Total hours for records checks 180 190 220 210 Average hours performing records checks per shift 1.25 1.5 1.5 1.3 1.4 Group One: 2.05 hours report writing per shift + 1 hour performing records checks per shifts = 3.05 hours Group Two: 2.58 hours report writing per shift + 1.4 hours performing records checks per shifts = 3.98 hours Time Savings = 3.98 hours for officers without technology - 3.05 hours for officers with technology = 0.93 hours saved per shift 0.93 hours per shift X 200 officers X 228 shifts (COPS Office standard) = 42,408 42,408 / 1,824 (COPS Office standard) = 23.25 FTEs saved Updated December 19, 2002 e12021817