Needs Assessment for Strategic Plan

12 Hybrid Policing Models- Are They Possible?

What is possible? Often the idea of what is possible appears intangible but can unexpectedly become very palpable, similar to the volcanic eruption from the Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii. This story on the volcano provides an interesting perspective relative to implications for the future of policing. The story begins with a volcano eruption. A slow moving river of molten lava edged ever so close to the village of Pahoa at a pace of 14 meters an hour. Many specialists had been evaluating the trajectory of the flow to anticipate the “corridor of risk.” Needless to say, this “current” eruption began in 1983 with new activity surfacing from early in June 2014. The village stayed in the “corridor of risk” despite early implications that eventually the volcano would erupt and the village would be in the path of destruction. Law enforcement is analogous to the village of Pahoa and the residents of that village. The villagers were living under the assumption things would never change. If law enforcement remains in its own “corridor of risk”, until there is imminent danger of being torched by 900 degrees Celsius molten rock, things will also stay very much the same. Across California cities have filed for bankruptcy and many others are on the fringe. One of those cities, East Palo Alto with a population of 28,000, is considering outsourcing police services (Frank, Stephen, 2014). By adopting a hybrid model, East Palo Alto and other municipal police agencies would benefit in all areas of operations. If consideration is given to the viable possibilities and solutions with a hybrid model, a law enforcement agency could ensure the credibility of law enforcement, reduce liability, increase service, decrease crime, reduce costs and increase the quality of life for citizens.

Hybrid Models of Policing A hybrid model differs from hybrid blends currently in practice. A hybrid blend is often comprised of volunteers outsourcing to a variety of contractors for nonessential services and police officer reserves. For example, Los Angeles Police Reserves Corps is comprised of community members who volunteer their time to fulfill many of the roles handled by full-time sworn police officers (“Reserve Police Officer Program,” 2014). Reserve officers receive the same training as full- time officers, work alongside them in every aspect of department operations and

Hybrid Policing Models — Are They Possible? By: Assistant Chief Jonni L. Fenner,

California Highway Patrol - Valley Division

Assistant Chief Jonni Fenner has been with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) 27 years, an organization with over 11,000 employees with 7,000 sworn officers. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Management and is a graduate of POST Command College

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are accredited by the California Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST). In Atlanta at the 1996 Olympic Games, the city employed 4,800 state and local police officers, 14,000 soldiers, and 13,000 private-security guards (“Welcome to the New,” 2009). In 2012, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office estimated reserves were 10 percent of their full-time force and donated over 210,000 hours at $30 per hour (half the salary paid to a full-time deputy), equating to a value of $6.3 million (“For the Love of the Job,” 2014). Extending on these concepts can create a police agency of the future that combines the best of fulltime peace officers with a blend of volunteer and private-sector contractors. Economically, privatization, outsourcing, or temporary workers have shown to boost local economy through the contracted companies paying taxes while also reducing municipal budgets. About 36 percent of private companies hire contract or temporary workers. This employment practice can create great economic benefits for a public agency following suit. Job search site CareerBuilder reports that 42 percent of employers plan to hire temporary or contract workers in 2014—an increase from 40 percent in 2013. This means the temporary staffing industry was expected to grow by six percent in 2014 and seven percent in 2015 (Dill, Kathryn, 2014). A “hybrid model” is distinguished from a more traditional blend of sworn and non-sworn fulltime public employee positions in a police agency. It is designed to integrate a specialized, highly trained, well-qualified temporary peace officer from an accredited agency, making augmentation seamless. The anchor of this model is that temporary officers will derive from an accredited, licensed law enforcement temporary, or temp, agency. The hybrid model will eliminate a lack of uniformed regulatory controls on the quality of the temporary employee for hire that can occur with current blends. Thus, it will become a benchmark for certification requirements for both the temporary employee and the vendor providing the service to reduce risks and liability to the police agency. Blends utilizing volunteers have been instrumental in policing. However, as there are many variations of hybrid augmentation, this new hybrid model can become a gold standard for policing in the 21st century. To illustrate the advantages of a hybrid model, let’s look at a temporary agency in the near future named POSSIBLE INC. POSSIBLE INC (PI) provides a platform for standardized highly trained and qualified temp officers contracted to municipal police agencies for sworn police services. An added option from PI is to also contract for civilian staff temporary employment.

A New Public Safety Staffing Agency On March 12, 2017, the following full-page advertisement appears in the daily edition of USA Today:

“POSSIBLE INC: A global agency that offers our clients award-winning support service solutions. We are committed to excellence, and are

14 Hybrid Policing Models- Are They Possible?

accredited by Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement (CALEA) and Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) has recognized us for our leadership in innovation and quality of work.

We recruit diverse experienced and retired members from the law enforcement community. Through our process, staff is carefully pre- screened through an extensive background investigation. With most agencies, the emotional intelligence of staff is essential, so we also ensure we hire the right people to fit into the right positions. Our uniformed staff all receive basic POST training. For specialized needs, our veteran staff receives ongoing training to hone their skills.

Our staff can fill positions in any of the following areas: ● Advanced Officer Safety Training trainers ● SWAT training ● Criminal and traffic investigations ● Traffic enforcement and California vehicle code knowledge ● Forensics ● Computer crimes ● Crowd control and tactical deployment training ● Protective services training, and many others.

Solutions are cost effective and scalable to any level of need, whether it is a case-by-case basis, part-time or full-time temporary staffing members. The process allows for the ease to scale back at any given time as demand changes. For more information on services, contractual agreements, and assessment of your organization’s needs, call (800) 555-5555.”

About 26 percent of law enforcement agencies nationwide have reduced their staffing in a variety of ways. Another 38 percent discontinued specialized training units such as gang and traffic enforcement. Certainly, law enforcement agencies are looking for solutions (DOJ Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2011). With these types of statistics, an ad placed such as the one above would draw substantial interest. POSSIBLE INC would be an intriguing, timely and money-saving approach. Beyond saving budget dollars, PI would enhance effectiveness as it alters the way policing is delivered to communities. Is this something that can work in our policing culture? It could resolve many longstanding challenges. With salary and benefits being the largest chunk of the budget, there would no longer be the incessant demands of entitlement pay increases, increasing benefit packages and the detrimental cost of PERS pensions. Police agencies would have more flexibility and be more effective while increasing police presence and deterring crime by enhancing the guardian side of their

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crime triangle (Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, 2015). Additionally, the generational differences in new employees have reshaped the police environment and connectivity. (Houstoun, Feather O’Connor, 2013). Current Challenges There are three primary motivators for police agencies to consider a hybrid public-private model: budget, diversifying workforces and recruitment/retention. There is a continual dichotomy to balance the budget and meet both the political and economic external and internal demands. Relative to the budget, consider the pie chart of a budget with several slices dedicated to equipment, salaries, benefits, etc. Those pie slices are not all equal.

The California Highway Patrol budget depicted above illustrates the large slice of the pie belonging to salary and wages. If combined salary, wages and benefits, it is over 75 percent of the entire budget. The hybrid model would change the size of those pie slices. There would be smaller portions for salary and benefits, which then could be redistributed for other essential organizational needs. Law enforcement agencies nationwide struggle with the ability to diversify the organization to reflect the communities they serve. Additionally, with diverse population growth and the strain on resources, the ability to bring in temporary officers that mirror the community will increase public trust and bridge gaps. The temp agency would be symbiotic with the diversity requests of the police agency due to the accessibility of a police agency to select their employee based on their needs. An agency could address community issues and perceptions with a simple request for a temporary officer. Additionally, the flexibility the temp agency has in hiring employees for their agency is vast. PI could advertise and market in a way that appeals to candidates without the constraints of police agencies that have to keep the right approach. PI could also offer incentives to their temp employees and be selective in who they hire based on their company policies. In police agencies, there is not much flexibility to make agencies competitive, as most agencies all fish from the same pond. That pond is currently reflective of California’s current drought situation; dismal. Policy agency policies disadvantage the effectiveness of

California Highway Patrol Budget

Salary/Wages

Benefits

Operating Expenses & Equipment

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recruiting and retaining officers. However, a hybrid model enriches the recruiting/ hiring streams and creates vitality. It is not an exaggeration to say today’s conditions have created a concern in the relationship between peace officers and the communities they are sworn to serve. Based on the panel of professionals used to work on this issue, general consensus was community policing needs to be a priority and not a buzz word. The group felt the hybrid model would help overcome the legacy of challenges by police agencies to meet the demographic trends of our nation’s communities while providing cost effective sustainability. This segues into the ability to hire quality members for law enforcement and retaining them, which has been a longstanding struggle for policing. A new study by Randstad finds many U.S. companies are more committed to utilizing a mix of permanent and contingent workers as a long-term business strategy in the post-recession economy (HR.BLR.com, 2012). Of those studied, 67 percent of companies indicated they currently use contingent workers in some capacity and most indicate that contingent workers comprise a steady or increasing percentage of their overall employee populations. The survey was conducted of 225 human resources managers and 2,035 employed adults. What was discovered was workers are choosing to work in a contingent capacity and finding higher job satisfaction. Overall, 78 percent of temporary and contract workers agree their experience as a contingent worker has been a positive one. Specifically, the study finds that 86 percent of temporary/contractors agree their current level of job satisfaction is very good/excellent compared to 73 percent of permanent workers. Additionally, temporary employees hope their temporary assignment will lead to permanent employment, as well as a managerial or supervisory position. The study showed that nearly one-third of temporary workers (32 percent) are currently holding those types of positions (HR.BLR.com, 2012). Therefore, the hybrid model moored by a standardized, accredited foundation through an agency such as POSSIBLE INC would create a clearinghouse to streamline the recruitment and hiring process. PI could provide a pool of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) certified officers with completed screening in backgrounds, medical and psychological processes. Basically, waiting for an agency to put in a request for what they are looking for and the temporary agency able to look through PI’s temporary staff profiles to match them with the police agency seeking temporary sworn staff. Instead of matching for a personal relationship, it would be matching for a professional partnership.

Hybrid Policing Model a Long-Term Strategy – Managing the Risks Some primary concerns for using a temporary workforce for municipal police agencies include: • will it be a long-term strategy for staffing? • how to manage the risk liability factors of using privatized employment. Managing risk covers accountability gaps and suitability of the hybrid model (Donahue, John, 2006). Determining whether it will be a long-term strategy

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depends on the effectiveness withwhich an agency integrates the hybrid. It will be important to ensure there are standards established by control agencies for the qualifications and training of the temporary officers, as well as standards set for the agency qualifying and training these individuals. These concerns will be shared by police unions/associations. A past president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association expressed a concern that a hybrid model might be the “beginning of a slippery slope.” In his mind, privatization and hybrid models would lead to the elimination of sworn officer positions and the inability to create competitive wages/benefits for officers. The comment was made that temporary workers will not have the investment in the community as agencies already deal with transient permanent officers who do not live in the communities they serve now. Additionally, temporary officer will not be as well trained and could not perform the job as well as permanent full-time officers. Although these points may be valid from a union perspective, without strong supportive evidence to demonstrate the model would not be successful, it could be chalked up to simply opinion. There is always the delicate balance to meet organizational needs by using temporary staff to do the work of permanent employees. For example, one agency was faced with discontinuing contract services for a specific service due to a union grievance. The agency was required to utilize current employees for those services. The agency had to go through an internal process to increase the departmental classification to meet those needs which some would argue cost more money, created more inefficiency and took longer than expected. On the other side of the coin, there can be some hidden risks including poorly conceived contracts that create cost increases surpassing the cost of in-house services, and a lack of oversight that could lead to the potential for lax accountability.

Recommendations Law enforcement agencies are not cookie cutter. Accordingly, this business model is not one-dimensional. The foundation of the hybrid model is centered on the quality of the model itself and the temporary staff that would provide the services. This should include the accreditation of the temporary agency. Law enforcement agencies should assess the needs of their departments and identify areas that could benefit from augmenting staffing with temporary sworn members. They can then begin to integrate the temporary positions at a pace that is tolerable for the overall internal environment. Assess the benefits of the changes, modify as needed and begin to include the resources at a more progressive pace to meet needs. In addition to self-assessment and implementation, this staffing business model should also solicit support from law enforcement accrediting entities. The support provided by these entities would create the framework for certification guidelines for the the model’s success. Additionally, there may be potential for legislative changes to create a more effective operating environment to implement the model, giving police agencies the leverage needed to move forward.

18 Hybrid Policing Models- Are They Possible?

Conclusion Jim Link, Managing Director of Human Resources for Randstad US recently said “The recession produced such significant operational and financial duress for U.S. companies that the business model of the future will rely heavily upon the ability to be insulated from economic downturns. We live in a world now that rewards financial flexibility rather than fixed-cost business models, and agility, cost containment reign supreme…What used to be viewed as a temporary stop-gap measure, the utilization of a contingent workforce alongside full-time talent is no longer a contingency plan. This integrated staffing model will be fundamental to operational and fiscal success for the foreseeable future” (HR.BLR.com, 2012). In any business practice, it is essential to evaluate all options and identify those that have viability and sustainability. Law enforcement agencies are wise to recognize the signs of a sluggish economy only slowly recovering and at a pace that may take much longer than expected. Therefore, with decreasing fiscal pools to draw from, along with environmental and technological changes, agencies must be open to new ways of doing business (Lyons, Joseph 1993). Law enforcement agencies remain in the corridor of risk much longer than they should and then take evasive action too late. Avoid the corridor of risk and consider what’s possible by adopting a hybrid model of policing.

References Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. (2011). The Impact of the Economic Downturn on American Police Agencies. p. 20-31 Dill, Kathryn. (2014, August). Even Post-Recession, Demand For Temporary Employees Remains High. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes. com/sites/kathryndill/2014/08/26/even-post-recession-demand-for- temporary-employees-remains-high/ Donahue, John D. (2006, July). Outsourcing Perversity. Governing.com. Retrieved from http://www.governing.com/columns/col-outsource-perversity. Frank, Stephen. (2014, January). East Palo Alto to Mull Outsourcing of Police Services. Retrieved from http://capoliticalnews.com/2014/01/31/east- palo-alto-to-mull-outsourcing-of-police-services-2.ices-2. Houstoun, Feather O’Conner (2013, November). When Connection is the Innovation in Human Services. Governing.com. Retrieved from http:// www.governing.com/columns/col-philadelphia-social-innovations- journal-nonprofits-collaboration.htmlfits-collaboration.html Flexibility goal of mixing permanent, contingent workers says study. (2012). Retrieved from http://hr.blr.com/HR-news/Staffing-Training/Contingent- Workers/Flexibility-goal-of-mixing-permanent-contingent-wo# Joyce, Philip. (2013, October). Outsourced Government: Have We Gone Too Far? Governing.com. Retrieved from http://www.governing.com/columns/ mgmt-insights/col-outsource government Lyons, Joseph. (1993). Privatizing of Police Services. Abstract, p.8-14

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The Problem Analysis Triangle. 2015). Center for Problem Oriented Policing. Retrieved from http://www.popcenter.org/about/?p=triangle Reserve Officers: For Love of the Job. (2014 March 04). Retrieved from http:// www.policemag.com/channel/careers-training/articles/2014/03/reserve- officers-for-love-of-the-job.aspx Reserve Police Officer Program. (2014, June). Retrieved from http://www. lapdonline.org/join_the_team/content_basic_view/542 Welcome to the New World of Private Security. (1997 April 17), Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/node/86147

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