Introduction
The department of security in the city faces a challenge of an increasing workload attributed to an ever-increasing city population of 5% per annum. For the last six years, the department of city security has not conducted any recruitment for an additional police force. The increased workload due to the increased number of calls at the call centre requires that the department propose an additional five police officers.
The city statistics and survey conducted reveals that the rate of crimes has reduced significantly in the last six years. Although one of the members of the security office cites an increased crime rate, the record disputes this allegation based on the hard figures.
In this presentation, the chief of the police (COP) anticipates to face two critical objections to the proposal from the city council office. To achieve its objectives, the chief of the police shall deliver relevant justifications for the proposed increase of the number of police by about five officers.
Justification by the chief of the police for hiring the five police officers
Justification One
Our security office proposes to hire additional five uniformed police officers. Currently, the office operates with thirty uniformed police officers allocated to conduct all duties relating to law enforcement, civil request, crime prevention, and court security responsibilities (Auerbach, Burch & Gale, 2010). City censuses conducted suggest that the population growth increases by about 3% to 5 % every year.
Currently, the city has an estimated population of about 75000 citizens. This implies that six years ago, the city’s population was about 30% less than the present size, which translates to a population of 57, 000. The statistics reveals that the police-citizen ratio for the last six years was 1: 1900.
This shows that the ratio has greatly deteriorated for the last six years, hence resulting to inadequate security services rendered to the city residents. Apparently, the city’s security office has not hired any additional officer for the last six years.
Justification Two
For the past few years, the office together with its police and support staff have encountered a constant strain due to the complexity and the increased number of service calls. Additionally, the office has acquired many other duties and assignments that relate to responding to the city’s resident needs and city visitors.
To align the city with the standards of security, the office has found it necessary to supplement its routine patrols with additional personnel via utilization of overtime scheduling (Auerbach, Burch & Gale, 2010). Although the office has carefully managed and monitored the overtime schedules and costs, the resultant costs have been above the budgetary allocations for our office.
Throughout the last three years, the city security office undertook the extra responsibility of conducting investigative roles for motor accidents on the city’s roads under the request of the Central security department of the county.
This has made our security office to become the fundamental security and law enforcement agency and as such, it must set up mechanisms to increase its security work force to take care of the city security dynamics (Auerbach, Burch & Gale, 2010). The additional police officers are requisite to maintain a high response rate for the increased number of both emergency and non-emergency calls through the call centre.
Our security department anticipates creating a viable security system capable of addressing security and legal issues while responding to citizen’s queries. To enable our office to offer distinguished services to its city residents, the office intends to hire five additional police officers. The process projects that this hiring process will facilitate an achievement of two fundamental objectives:
- The department projects to achieve a police-citizen ratio of one for every 2100 citizens for the next two years.
- To increase the citizen query response rate by approximately 30% after the hiring process.
Anticipated Questions
The chief of the police anticipates that the city council will raise questions aimed at examining the viability of the need for additional police officers (Mikesell, 2010). Therefore, the COP expects three critical questions during the presentation. The following constitutes possible questions.
- To what extend has the need affected the operations of the security office?
- When did the office begin to observe the need for additional police officers?
- Does the proposal respond to an increased workload, and if so, could the creation of overtime hours help to resolve the challenge?
- Is there a correlation between the number of police officers and the quality of service delivered?
Objections to the proposal
Objection One
The first objection that the department of police anticipates from the city council is an argument that adequate community policing does not draw advantage from increasing the number uniformed officers.
This argument relies on a proposition that the practice tends to raise the participation rate of citizens in the control of crime within the city. The number of additional police to correct the police-citizen ratio will not increase the effectiveness of the department.
In tackling this objection, it is imperative that the city council becomes aware that increasing that increasing the number of police officers would be beneficial in creating perceived safety. According to surveys conducted, the results indicate that increased number of police officers shall make people feel safer.
This feeling is possible, especially where the pollution of the city does not harbor feelings of police brutality (Mikesell, 2010). The scenario means that when people feel safer, they are likely to venture into participating in the general safekeeping of the city environments.
Objection Two
The second objection that the presentation anticipates from the city council is the additional number of police officers would put a strain on the already limited resources. The office of the city council believes that the budget allocation for the city police department cannot sustain an additional cost beyond the existing limits. The city council proposes that an additional police force will result in an exaggerated cost (Mikesell, 2010).
In its objection, the city council proposes the use of overtime scheduling for the current number of police officers. However, in explaining the need for an additional number of police officers, the council has prepared preliminary budgetary expenses for the overtimes. In our submission, records indicate that overtime hours have a capacity to exceed the normal budget by 20% as compared to if the council hirers these numbers.
Conclusion
The paper presents a proposal to increase the number of uniformed police officers by five. The city security office faces an increased workload spotted about three years ago. In justifying the proposal, the chief of the police reveals that the city census has shown a population increase of about 3-5% per annum.
The chief of the police submits to the city council that hiring the police force will increase the response rate t the call center by about 30%. Additionally, the chief of the police has shared with the city council that surveys conducted suggest that an increased number of police officers have the capacity to bring about safety if the city residents do not harbor perceptions of police brutality.
References
Auerbach, A., Burch, R., & Gale, W. (2010). The federal budget outlook. Washington, D.C: Brookings Institution Pres.
Mikesell, J. L. (2010). Fiscal administration: Analysis and applications for the public sector (8th ed.). Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning.