Evaluating Effectiveness

WORKSHOP FIVE WRITING SCENARIO

Bay County has grown from 40,000 residents to over 100,000 as a result of the new “eCommerce, Inc.” headquarters and support offices moving to the county three years earlier. Dozens of Internet companies and technology firms followed e-Commerce, Inc. into Bay County, as did dozens more restaurants, bars, and retail stores. Unfortunately, crime has moved into Bay County, as well.

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office has been required to triple its number of deputies in just the last two years. They now have 145 sworn deputies and 60 corrections officers. (The county recently completed a new county jail to replace the century-old building that was unable to keep up with the influx of inmates.) Because most of Bay County is rural, the sheriff’s office is tasked with patrolling the entire county other than in the city of Bayview, which has a small police department. Because of tax incentives to encourage e-Commerce, Inc. to relocate to Bay County, the tax revenue will not reach Bayview for two more years. Until it does, Bayview will not have the funds to increase the size of its police department. Bayview has entered into a mutual aid agreement with the sheriff’s office to assist patrolling Bayview.

You have been hired to evaluate the effectiveness of the Bayview Sheriff’s Office and to provide recommendations to move the sheriff’s office forward in its new role as a large patrol organization and its responsibility for staffing the county jail. In your initial examination, you found the following issues: • The Bayview County Crime Lab is understaffed. • Bayview sheriff’s patrols are only able to patrol the residential side streets three times per shift; the state patrol recommendation is five patrol passes per shift. • The Bayview county jail has seen an increase in inmates arrested for drug offenses. • The sheriff of Bayview County has an assistant sheriff but, otherwise, there are no upper level supervisors not assigned to supervising patrol deputies.

PATROL • The patrol supervisors are as follows: o Two lieutenants o Ten sergeants  The lieutenants and sergeants set their own schedules. Currently, one lieutenant must be on duty between eight a.m. and five p.m., seven days a week. One sergeant must be on duty at all times, seven days a week. • One hundred thirty-three deputies patrol the county in three shifts, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Because of vacations and sick time, at any one time, the sheriff’s office has one hundred thirty deputies available for patrol across the three shifts. • Sixty-five deputies are available at any given time to work the day shift, from eight a.m. to five p.m., with an hour for meal breaks (forty-five deputies each of the seven days of the week). • Forty deputies are available at any given time to work the evening shift, four p.m. to one a.m., with an hour for meal breaks (twenty-eight deputies each of the seven days of the week). • Twenty-five deputies are available at any given time to work the overnight shift, midnight to nine a.m., with an hour for meal breaks (eighteen deputies each of the seven days of the week). • Bay County is divided into nine patrol zones. Each patrol zone takes two hours to patrol, not including time responding to calls for service. Ideally, each patrol zone should have three deputies on patrol at a time. • The busiest time for calls for service is on first shift. Other than the period from two a.m. to three a.m., after the bars close and deputies are assigned to DUI traffic patrol, few calls for service are made after midnight.

JAIL • On an average day, there are one hundred males in the jail awaiting trial or serving time for misdemeanor offenses. There is a female unit, where an average of five females are housed on the average day.

• Due to vacations and sick leave, twelve corrections officers are available on any given shift. The jail, of course, must be staffed twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. • Visitation is Saturdays and Sundays. One male and one female corrections officer are required to work the visitation reception area to search visitors.

PERSONNEL • The Bay County Sheriff’s Office uses civil service rules for hiring and for promotion to sergeant. Promotions above sergeant are at the discretion of the sheriff • Of the two lieutenants, one is planning to retire later this year. The other has worked her way up from the jail to patrol to supervisor. • Of the ten sergeants, only two have been with Bay County more than three years. None has worked in the jail. • Until last year, jail corrections officer was a non-sworn position. Now, corrections officers are sworn deputies. All deputies must work a minimum one year assignment in the jail before being eligible for assignment to patrol. That assignment is at the discretion of the assistant sheriff and the sheriff. A corrections officer may elect to remain working in the jail and take the jail promotion track rather than the patrol-promotion track. • There are currently four corrections officer sergeants providing supervisor coverage at all times. There are no jail supervisors above the rank of sergeant. • There is currently no formal training program for corrections officers, patrol deputies, or supervisors.

YOUR DECISIONS

EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATION For your final writing assignment, provide an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office using only the information you leaned in your review of the Sheriff’s Office, as detailed above, and the personnel evaluations provided later in this section. Your effectiveness evaluation should include the following:

1. Is the patrol function of the sheriff’s office properly staffed? If your response is “yes” justify your response with facts from the scenario. If your response is “no” explain what you believe the staffing level should be. 2. Are the state patrol requirements being met? If not, what would you suggest should be done to meet the state requirements? Be sure to consider these points in your response: a. Is the number of patrol deputies per shift appropriate? b. Could the number of deputies per shift be adjusted? 3. Is the jail adequately staffed? If your response is “yes” justify your response with facts from the scenario. If your response is “no” explain what you believe the staffing level should be. 4. Are there sufficient supervisors for supervisory functions and training? If your response is “yes” justify your response with facts from the scenario. If your response is “no” explain what you believe the proper number of supervisors should be.

PROMOTION Regardless of your effectiveness evaluation, the sheriff has decided to create the new position of Captain of Operations. This captain will oversee both the patrol functions and the jail.

The sheriff is considering three candidates. Provide the sheriff with your recommendation as to which of these candidates he should hire:

Lieutenant Margie Nolan Lieutenant Nolan joined the Bay County Sheriff’s Office when Bay County was still small. She spent two years working in the jail, first as a corrections officer and then as the first female sergeant in the jail. For the past three years, Lieutenant Nolan has been an evening shift patrol supervisor. During her tenure, there has been a decrease in crime rates on her shift. Lieutenant Nolan has received no formal leadership or management training. She has the respect of the male patrol deputies but nearly all the female deputies have complained to the sheriff that Lieutenant Nolan is condescending to them.

Sergeant Craig Thompson Sergeant Thompson began his career with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office the same week Lieutenant Nolan joined. He worked patrol for five years, first as a patrol deputy then, for the past two years, as first shift supervisor. Crime rates have steadily increased on first shift. Sergeant Thompson recently completed a degree in Law Enforcement Administration from Bay University. There have been no complaints about Sergeant Thompson from patrol deputies. Sergeant Thompson has not worked in the jail and considers corrections officers to not be “real deputies.”

Sergeant Roland Jennison Sergeant Jennison transferred from the Capital City Police Department a year earlier. Sergeant Jennison is currently third shift supervisor on weekends. Sergeant Jennison introduced the “zero-tolerance bar watch” program, in which deputies would park on Main Avenue at bar closing time and look for intoxicated patrons leaving the five Main Avenue taverns. While with the Capital City PD, Sergeant Jennison completed the week-long Supervisor Training Academy. Like Sergeant Thompson, he has not worked in the jail.

This is the only information you have about the candidates. Based on what you have learned in this course, which candidate would you recommend be promoted to Captain of Operations? Your recommendation must be based upon identifying the individual among the candidates who is likely to be the most effective leader to lead the sheriff’s office forward. Support your recommendation with reasons supported by theory. It is not necessary to explain why you pass over the other two candidates, but you may do so if it lends value to your recommendation.

CHECKLIST

For the final part of your writing assignment, create a one-page checklist you would provide to your chosen candidate that he or she could use as a template for making changes intended to improve the overall effectiveness of the sheriff’s office. Consider such things as training, personnel evaluation, hiring, etc. in your checklist.

Background Information

"Effectiveness" depends on the desired outcomes of an organization's functions.  As you have seen, a criminal justice organization can be effective even if it does not eliminate all crime, rehabilitate all offenders, or create a zero rate of recidivism.  Courts can be effective even if they do not adjudicate every case the way a particular individual or group would like to see the case handled.  A criminal justice organization is effective if it reaches the goals of the organization set out in the organization's mission.

There are numerous models of effectiveness and many ways in which to analyze and measure effectiveness.  No one model is preferable, nor is one method of analysis best.  Quite often what is best is multiple measures, or a "pick and choose" from elements of multiple measures, depending on the mission of the organization, its structure, and the degree of behavioral interaction between the members of the organization.  In your final writing assignment, you must refer to the models of effectiveness and the methods of assessing effectiveness as you perform your evaluation of the organization described in the scenario.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.

2. In your textbook, Criminal Justice Organizations: Administration and Management,read:

a. Chapter 12, "Decision Making"

b. Chapter 15, "Research in Criminal Justice Organizations"

3. Now, call upon everything you have absorbed in this course to do the following:

a. Evaluate the effectiveness of the organization described in the scenario.

b. Identify the individual among the candidates listed who is most likely to be the most effective leader to lead the organization forward.

c. Create a one-page checklist this new leader could use as a template for making changes intended to improve the organization's effectiveness. 

4. Your deliverable should be a six-page paper, double-spaced, 12-point type, and follow APA citation form.

5. When you have completed your assignment, save a copy for yourself and submit a copy to your instructor using the link below or the Activities button by the end of the workshop.