• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • The Magazine
  • Events
  • Partners
  • Products
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Jobs and Careers
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Subscribe to the Magazine
American Police Beat

American Police Beat Magazine

Law Enforcement Publication

  • Home
  • Editor’s Picks
    • The power of teamwork
      Stay awake and alert on the job
      The worst rank in law enforcement
      Firearms maintenance
      Why fries need salt
  • Topics
    • On the Job
      • Boone County Sheriff’s Office solves cold case from nearly 50 years...
        Time to address the status of women in policing today
        Police K-9 comforts Michigan State University students returning to...
        Volkswagen acknowledges policy breach after failing to provide...
        Michigan lieutenant completes DoorDash delivery for pregnant driver...
    • Labor
      • LAPD union proposes police stop responding to non-emergency calls
        Florida’s recruitment program lures Chicago police officers to the...
        Staffing shortages plague Cleveland police as record number leave the...
        New Orleans interim police chief aims to hire civilians in time for...
        “Anyone can get this job”: Memphis police lowered hiring...
    • Tech
      • One of country’s oldest cold cases solved with DNA from untested...
        Crypto crime investigations
        Austin Police Department launches non-emergency artificial...
        iPhone crash detection feature helps deputies rescue driver from canal
        Nebraska State Patrol uses drone technology to improve traffic flow...
    • Training
      • Working effectively in low light
        Realism and stress inoculation in training
        Avoiding conflict and escalation
        U.S. trails in police training
        Denver police recruit has leg amputated after training drill
    • Policy
      • Oregon law enforcement and retailers seek to combat organized...
        Utah bill aims to regulate how law enforcement uses genetic genealogy...
        Opposing POVs on permit-less carry
        Ohio bill would lower minimum age to become a police officer to 18 to...
        Utah bill would allow people with “invisible conditions” to alert...
    • Health/Wellness
      • Expanding your identity
        Nonprofit offers telehealth therapy to upstate New York first...
        A California police department’s new wellness unit aims to improve...
        Massachusetts police department prioritizes officers’ mental health...
        My poor coping strategies
    • Community
      • Colorado Springs police kick off annual soccer ball giveaway to bond...
        “These are beautiful animals”: Community members gift horses to...
        Central Texas nonprofit to open law enforcement museum in honor of...
        “It was an honor to serve with her”: Kansas first responders...
        Chicago police cook with children to build community relationships
    • Offbeat
      • Motorist stranded in Oregon wilderness without cell phone reception...
        Cincinnati police work with animal rescuers to capture exotic cat...
        Not UFOs: Police departments across the country receive 9-1-1 calls...
        Texas deputy detains runaway tortoise after “slowest foot...
        Suspect hiding in bathtub in Florida calls 9-1-1 to send deputies to...
    • We Remember
      • Law enforcement from across the country join seventh annual Fallen...
        Boone County holds fifth annual Jacob Pickett Remembrance Day to...
        Farewell to a “living legend”: Oldest law enforcement officer in...
        “Officer Becerra will never be forgotten”: Colorado police...
        “I had a calling”: Colorado cadet inspired by fallen hero Eric...
  • On the Job
    • Boone County Sheriff’s Office solves cold case from nearly 50 years...
      Time to address the status of women in policing today
      Police K-9 comforts Michigan State University students returning to...
      Volkswagen acknowledges policy breach after failing to provide...
      Michigan lieutenant completes DoorDash delivery for pregnant driver...
  • Labor
    • LAPD union proposes police stop responding to non-emergency calls
      Florida’s recruitment program lures Chicago police officers to the...
      Staffing shortages plague Cleveland police as record number leave the...
      New Orleans interim police chief aims to hire civilians in time for...
      “Anyone can get this job”: Memphis police lowered hiring...
  • Tech
    • One of country’s oldest cold cases solved with DNA from untested...
      Crypto crime investigations
      Austin Police Department launches non-emergency artificial...
      iPhone crash detection feature helps deputies rescue driver from canal
      Nebraska State Patrol uses drone technology to improve traffic flow...
  • Training
    • Working effectively in low light
      Realism and stress inoculation in training
      Avoiding conflict and escalation
      U.S. trails in police training
      Denver police recruit has leg amputated after training drill
  • Policy
    • Oregon law enforcement and retailers seek to combat organized...
      Utah bill aims to regulate how law enforcement uses genetic genealogy...
      Opposing POVs on permit-less carry
      Ohio bill would lower minimum age to become a police officer to 18 to...
      Utah bill would allow people with “invisible conditions” to alert...
  • Health/Wellness
    • Expanding your identity
      Nonprofit offers telehealth therapy to upstate New York first...
      A California police department’s new wellness unit aims to improve...
      Massachusetts police department prioritizes officers’ mental health...
      My poor coping strategies
  • Community
    • Colorado Springs police kick off annual soccer ball giveaway to bond...
      “These are beautiful animals”: Community members gift horses to...
      Central Texas nonprofit to open law enforcement museum in honor of...
      “It was an honor to serve with her”: Kansas first responders...
      Chicago police cook with children to build community relationships
  • Offbeat
    • Motorist stranded in Oregon wilderness without cell phone reception...
      Cincinnati police work with animal rescuers to capture exotic cat...
      Not UFOs: Police departments across the country receive 9-1-1 calls...
      Texas deputy detains runaway tortoise after “slowest foot...
      Suspect hiding in bathtub in Florida calls 9-1-1 to send deputies to...
  • We Remember
    • Law enforcement from across the country join seventh annual Fallen...
      Boone County holds fifth annual Jacob Pickett Remembrance Day to...
      Farewell to a “living legend”: Oldest law enforcement officer in...
      “Officer Becerra will never be forgotten”: Colorado police...
      “I had a calling”: Colorado cadet inspired by fallen hero Eric...
  • Between the Lines
    • The imprisonment of law enforcement technology
      Persecution of the LEO is classic schadenfreude
      The rule of law is worthless without order
      School policing: a paradox of the defund movement
      Defending the honor of the LE profession – finally!
  • About
  • The Magazine
  • Events
  • Partners
  • Products
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Search

On the Job

Reality bites

City leadership placing value on the quality of law enforcement

CLIFF COUCH Published February 23, 2021 @ 11:00 am PST

iStock.com/MediaProduction

“We have to do more with less.”

I still remember the first time I heard an elected official say something to that effect in a council meeting. It struck me as both insulting and odd. Insulting, because I’d spent my entire adult life learning how to be a police chief. I’d spent the time I’d already worked at this particular city making the police department a more efficient place, squeezing every possible ounce of result from the limited resources that the department was given to work with. The officers I worked with were already doing an amazing job with incredibly limited resources. The councilmember who’d just spoken had no clue how hard the officers were already working. It struck me as odd because I obviously would have already made improvements with the resources I already had, if it were possible. I wanted to reply, “Geez, why didn’t I think of that?” When the honorable councilmember put forth his maxim, it implied he thought we weren’t already doing our best. The police department was obviously just tripping around, letting resources we already had go to waste because we’re too stupid to utilize them appropriately.

I merely shake my head when I remember that first encounter, but I shudder when I remember all the similar encounters since then. I’ve come to learn that this is a common refrain, an easy go-to move for elected officials during budget time. When their law enforcement officials confront them with the truth about what they need, they are faced with hard decisions that will have profound effects on their community. Instead of making hard decisions, it’s often easier to mutter a clever sounding proverb, go home and leave the police department to live with the unrealistic situation they’ve been placed in.

“You solve no crime before overtime.”

That’s a very different statement I heard long before my first council meeting, in a very different setting. It was spoken by an instructor at a homicide investigation school. It rings true for the profession in general. His point was that law enforcement is a very staffing-intensive venture. Good police work requires police officers; men and women with a badge doing all the very human work that keeps communities safe. You can only “do more with less” for so long. Eventually, you are just doing less with less.

Virtually every department I’ve led has struggled with a lack of staffing, and virtually every local government I’ve worked for has cringed at the idea of adding permanent positions. Adding officers means finding more money in a budget. To do this, a city usually has to raise taxes or take money from a different department. Those are admittedly difficult decisions that require a great deal of courage from elected officials.

The easiest way for a city to get money for more staff is when its revenues grow naturally as tax valuations or population increase. When a city does get “easy” money because its tax base grows, the money doesn’t always get spent on boring things like staff. Officials are usually anxious to spend it on something sexier and more immediately recognizable to the average citizen, like a new park or a cool new program that a specific group of citizens will like and then laud on social media.

The irony is that there is little more important than police, in these times, that a city can fund. Politicians, career government officials and citizens alike all seem to agree that police departments need to be doing amazing, cutting-edge, reform-minded things. Whether special programs, community outreach or just better training, you’d be hard-pressed to find a citizen or official who wasn’t in favor of “building a better police department.” It’s unfortunate that this view and the tendency of local governments to neglect proper police staffing are completely at odds with one another. Most people understand, from a commonsense perspective, why it’s important for their local police department to have enough officers to get the job done. But it goes a lot further than just needing enough officers to answer the calls that come in to dispatch. A concept I call “cyclical burnout” makes it impossible to build an effective police department without proper staffing.

What is cyclical burnout?

There are many reasons why proper staffing is essential, but I’ve come to realize that a “cyclical burnout” phenomenon makes it impossible to build a stable, effective department without adequate staffing. There are reliable, scientific ways to determine just how many officers a department needs. The best of these methods take into account a jurisdiction’s workload, as well as the on-duty time that officers will need for training. When a department isn’t given the funding for enough personnel to do these things, the officers suffer in two ways: they’re overworked while on the job and they’re required to give up their off days to cover work shortages. Put another way, you can’t run your car with the RPM gauge in the red all the time. It will eventually overheat. A department is no different. If overworked perpetually, officers will burn out and leave for greener pastures. When individual officers leave, those who remain are forced to work even harder to make up the deficit. They eventually burn out and leave, and so on. A department dealing with this phenomenon will eventually find itself unable to hire and train new officers fast enough to replace those who leave. It’s a vicious cycle.

The dangers of cyclical burnout

The damage caused by this very preventable phenomenon is easily recognizable: we’ve all seen the local news articles about cities that are struggling to keep their streets safe because their police departments are short-handed. But there is a less visible cost as well. An agency that is in a constant state of turnover can never build an adequate internal culture that ensures appropriate behavior and mindset from its officers. It can’t build a relationship with its community, because the faces are always changing. In short, all of the higher-level progressive things that are so the rage for politicians and reformers to talk about are impossible in an improperly staffed agency. A police department is its officers, and you can’t build a quality department if there is no consistency regarding who those officers are. Trying to build a quality department with a constantly changing workforce is like trying to carve a statue out of water. It can’t be done. An agency needs something solid and consistent from which to mold a masterpiece.

Improper staffing (and the cyclical burnout that follows) also create another no-win situation for departments. Studies show that there is indeed a cost to overworking officers (and it’s not just overtime pay). Officers who are tired and overworked are more likely to resort to uses of force, receive complaints or react poorly in high-stress, high-stakes situations. Any agency looking to provide quality policing has to avoid overworking their officers. It’s equally important for that agency to ensure their officers are receiving frequent, quality training. In an organization that’s not properly staffed, training means that officers are forced to come in on their days off. Taking away scheduled days off exacerbates the burnout process in a profession that already makes it incredibly difficult for officers to maintain a work–life balance. Inadequate staffing essentially pits two equally important concepts (adequately rested officers and the need to train) against each other. Effective reform simply isn’t possible under these circumstances.

A department that is inadequately staffed causes its officers to work too hard while they’re on duty. It also causes them to be on duty more than they should be. The cumulative effects of this type of lifestyle shouldn’t be underestimated. It’s understandable that officers living under these conditions will eventually accept an easier job elsewhere. Finding quality police recruits is a universal issue within the profession these days, so there is rarely a shortage of places to go when officers decide they’ve had enough. The shortage caused by these officers leaving exacerbates the problem for the remaining officers, until they leave too. The cycle goes on, and the citizens suffer.

The solution

A police department is not a building, a reliable set of cars or a solid asset sheet. These things are important, but only to the extent that they’re equipping a group of dedicated men and women. It’s these officers, properly trained and given a realistic workload, who constitute a police department. These guardians are any city’s most valuable resource. Yet too many localities approach police department staffing with an attitude more akin to simply finding warm bodies to fill a patrol car seat, more meat for the proverbial grinder, to be used until they burn out.

Local governments have to decide, up front, that having quality law enforcement officers is their top priority. Elected officials need only turn on the news to see the high stakes involved. Police leaders need to utilize recognized staffing models that take into account the unique call-volume of their jurisdiction. It’s imperative that any study they do take into account an adequate amount of time for training and time off for officers. That training needs to be built into an officer’s work schedule so that their days-off can truly be a day off. There is a lot of math involved in the process, but it’s important that all parties involved understand up front that it’s really about people. Cops are not numbers, tools or convenient props to be used as politicians try to gauge the winds of political sentiment. They’re people. They have families, aspirations and limitations. They are usually rational beings who will go find a different place to work if their employer treats them like they’re expendable.

It’s imperative that this very simple, very human factor be taken into consideration when a governing body sits down to decide how to staff a police department. A failure to get it right will inevitably lead to cyclical burnout — and none of the higher-level things expected of agencies these days have the remotest chance of success when that’s in play.

 

CLIFF COUCH

CLIFF COUCH

Cliff Couch is a police chief in East Tennessee and a graduate of the FBI National Academy, Northwestern University School of Police Staff and Command, and Harvard’s Executive Education Program for State and Local Government. He holds a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in criminology and psychology from Florida State University. You can follow him on Twitter @CliftonDCouch  or on his blog, www.LifeofaLawman.com .

View articles by CLIFF COUCH

As seen in the February 2021 issue of American Police Beat magazine.
Don’t miss out on another issue today! Click below:

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!

Categories: On the Job

Primary Sidebar

Recent Articles

  • Motorist stranded in Oregon wilderness without cell phone reception finds ingenious way to call for help by using a drone
  • Law enforcement from across the country join seventh annual Fallen Heroes Honor Run to pay tribute to officers killed in the line of duty
  • Working effectively in low light
  • Colorado Springs police kick off annual soccer ball giveaway to bond with kids
  • Cincinnati police work with animal rescuers to capture exotic cat stuck in tree with cocaine found in its system
  • Realism and stress inoculation in training
  • Boone County Sheriff’s Office solves cold case from nearly 50 years ago using genealogy research
  • Oregon law enforcement and retailers seek to combat organized shoplifting with legislation and anti-theft operations
  • Expanding your identity
  • “These are beautiful animals”: Community members gift horses to Dallas police in memory of loved ones

Footer

Our Mission
To serve as a trusted voice of the nation’s law enforcement community, providing informative, entertaining and inspiring content on interesting and engaging topics affecting peace officers today.

Contact us: info@apbweb.com | (800) 234-0056.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Categories

  • Editor’s Picks
  • On the Job
  • Labor
  • Tech
  • Training
  • Policy
  • Health/Wellness
  • Community
  • Offbeat
  • We Remember
  • Jobs and Careers
  • Events

Editor’s Picks

The power of teamwork

The power of teamwork

July 23, 2021

Stay awake and alert on the job

Stay awake and alert on the job

July 20, 2021

The worst rank in law enforcement

The worst rank in law enforcement

July 19, 2021

Firearms maintenance

Firearms maintenance

July 04, 2021

Privacy Policy | Copyright © 2023 APB Media, LLC | Website design, development and maintenance by 911MEDIA

Open

Subscribe

Close

Receive the latest news and updates from American Police Beat directly to your inbox!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.