Police response officer selection development of tool to aid the dispatch of police response officers

It’s essential the Police force use their resources to the highest possible efficiency to ensure adequate service in the face of major funding cuts. Automation of the response officer selection process can improve efficiency by assisting in selecting the most appropriate response officer to attend an incident. Currently dispatchers are tasked with selecting the appropriate response officers to send to incidents. Often these dispatchers ask response officers who can attend rather than making an informed decision. This may not result in the most efficient officer being selected to attend an incident. Providing a software tool to assist in the decision making process will decrease uncertainty in the decision and hence increase the likelihood of the most efficient officer being selected to attend an incident. The selection considers response time, availability, area coverage, driving standard and traffic conditions. The tool incorporates mapping, routing and decision making

Police Response Officer Selection - Development of Tool to Aid the Dispatch of Police Response Officers

It’s essential the Police force use their resources to the highest possible efficiency to ensure adequate service in the face of major funding cuts. Automation of the response officer selection process can improve efficiency by assisting in selecting the most appropriate response officer to attend an incident. Currently dispatchers are tasked with selecting the appropriate response officers to send to incidents. Often these dispatchers ask response officers who can attend rather than making an informed decision. This may not result in the most efficient officer being selected to attend an incident. Providing a software tool to assist in the decision making process will decrease uncertainty in the decision and hence increase the likelihood of the most efficient officer being selected to attend an incident. The selection considers response time, availability, area coverage, driving standard and traffic conditions. The tool incorporates mapping, routing and decision making

Technical Review of Law Enforcement Standards and Guides Relative to Incident Management

In an effort to locate potential law enforcement-related standards that support incident management, a team from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) contacted representatives from the National Institute of Standards-Office of Law Enforcement Standards (NIST-OLES), National Institute of Justice (NIJ), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Secret Service, ASTM International committees that have a law enforcement focus, and a variety of individuals from local and regional law enforcement organizations. Discussions were held with various state and local law enforcement organizations. The NIJ has published several specific equipment-related law enforcement standards that were included in the review, but it appears that law enforcement program and process-type standards are developed principally by organizations that operate at the state and local level. Input is provided from state regulations and codes and from external non-government organizations (NGOs) that provide national standards. The standards that are adopted from external organizations or developed independently by state authorities are available for use by local law enforcement agencies on a voluntary basis. The extent to which they are used depends on the respective jurisdictions involved. In some instances, use of state and local disseminated standards is mandatory, but in most cases, use is voluntary. Usually, the extent to which these standards are used appears to depend on whether or not jurisdictions receive certification from a “governing” entity due to their use and compliance with the standards. In some cases, these certification-based standards are used in principal but without certification or other compliance monitoring. In general, these standards appear to be routinely used for qualification, selection for employment, and training. In these standards, the term “Peace Officer” is frequently used to refer to law enforcement personnel. This technical review of national law enforcement standards and guides identified the following four guides as having content that supports incident management: • TE-02-02 Guide to Radio Communications Interoperability Strategies and Products • OSHA 335-10N Preparing and Protecting Security Personnel in Emergencies • NIJ 181584 Fire and Arson Scene Evidence: A Guide for Public Safety Personnel • NIJ 181869 A Guide for Explosion and Bombing Scene Investigation In conversations with various state and local law enforcement officials, it was determined that the following National Fire Protection Association (NPFA) standards are generally recognized and tend to be universally used by law enforcement organizations across the country: • NFPA 1600 Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs • NFPA 1561 Standard on Fire Department Incident Management Systems • NFPA 472 Standard for Competence of Responders to Hazardous Materials/Weapons of Mass Destruction Incidents (2008 Edition) • NFPA 473 Standard for Competencies for EMS Personnel Responding to Hazardous Materials/Weapons of Mass Destruction Incidents (2008 Edition

Technical assistance for law-enforcement communications: Grant summary

A summary overview of project activities and results are presented. The goals and objectives are reviewed and a description of the approaches used to attain them is given. The feedback received from the seminars conducted as part of the project, and results from a questionnaire about the project are included. Significant findings of the project in such areas as radio channel loading, dispatch system design, training and technology transfer are discussed. Several specific problem areas are identified and evaluated. Specific recommendations for future technical assistance efforts are presented along with an inventory of technical-assistance reports generated throughout the project

The Reinvention of the Gaston County Animal Control

In the fall of 2014 after the retirement of the longtime director, it became apparent that the conditions within the Animal Control Division of the Gaston County Police Department were far from what had been portrayed for years. Facing the department was an antiquated records system, staff with limited training, a lack of supervision resulting in lengthy response times, and a subculture existing independent of the department’s culture. Utilizing Morgan’s (2006) storyline to determine what forces were influencing the current and future conditions within the division, I identified that the Cultural Metaphor was the dominant frame. As Morgan (2006, p. 141) pointed out, this metaphor directs attention to the symbolic significance of almost every aspect of organizational life including structures, hierarchies, rules, and routines. Changing the culture of the division was one of the four goals of my project, along with reducing pending call times, improving training, and updating antiquated records systems and processes. After 2½ years of project intervention, the pending call times went from 32.02 hours to 7.90 hours, an 84% reduction. In training, the division witnessed a 96% increase in training hours per full-time employee. When examining complaints, there was an 85% reduction in citizen complaints as well as a 42% reduction in administrative complaints. Survey data analysis showed t-statistic values that significantly exceeded the critical value, indicating that the observed changes were due in fact to the implemented changes of the project and not just from chance

COuntywide Police Simulation System COPS

COuntywide Police Simulation System (COPS) is a model which simulates the receipt of police, fire, and emergency medical calls at a public safety communications center, with subsequent dispatch of law enforcement officers to police events. The model examines the interaction of exogenous variables, including the type of call, the frequency of calls, the number of telecommunicators on duty, the number of police cars in service, the deployment pattern of the officers, the number of cars to be dispatched, and the dispatch plan. By modifying the values that these variables can hold, the distribution of workload among police officers can be observed, response times and service times can be examined, and dispatching policies can be evaluated. Sensitivity analysis can be performed without disrupting the life-critical nature of the live operation. An interactive component permits the model to also be used as a training tool for police dispatchers. The thesis presents reasons why it is important to gain a better understanding of the delivery of police services. Major considerations in developing a model are explored, especially as they relate to the simulation of police activity. Programs which gather data on event generation times, telecommunicator service times, patrol-unit travel and service times, event waiting times, and the number of cars per call are detailed. A major portion of the thesis examines each module and entity used in the GPSS/H implementation of the simulation model. The important issue of validation is also addressed. Validation strategy, validation programs, and the construction of a benchmark are discussed. An evaluation of the success of the project is presented, with suggested areas for consideration and future research

The Role of Transportation in Campus Emergency Planning, MTI Report 08-06

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina created the greatest natural disaster in American history. The states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama sustained significant damage, including 31 colleges and universities. Other institutions of higher education, most notably Louisiana State University (LSU), became resources to the disaster area. This is just one of the many examples of disaster impacts on institutions of higher education. The Federal Department of Homeland Security, under Homeland Security Presidential Directive–5, requires all public agencies that want to receive federal preparedness assistance to comply with the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which includes the creation of an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP). Universities, which may be victims or resources during disasters, must write NIMS–compliant emergency plans. While most university emergency plans address public safety and logistics management, few adequately address the transportation aspects of disaster response and recovery. This MTI report describes the value of integrating transportation infrastructure into the campus emergency plan, including planning for helicopter operations. It offers a list of materials that can be used to educate and inform campus leadership on campus emergency impacts, including books about the Katrina response by LSU and Tulane Hospital, contained in the report´s bibliography. It provides a complete set of Emergency Operations Plan checklists and organization charts updated to acknowledge lessons learned from Katrina, 9/11 and other wide–scale emergencies. Campus emergency planners can quickly update their existing emergency management documents by integrating selected annexes and elements, or create new NIMS–compliant plans by adapting the complete set of annexes to their university´s structures

Feasibility of a human performance model in consequence management

Human civilization has always encountered unpredictable disasters as a result of natural events. Now it also faces the disasters caused by terrorist attacks. Governments must have consequence management plans in place to protect public health and safety, restore essential services, and provide emergency relief to affected businesses and individuals. Human performance models predict outcomes in complex dynamic situations. Such models can simulate disaster management procedures under varying circumstances. This work applies human performance modeling in a terrorist situation and evaluates possible uses of such models by first responders in practical consequence management applications. It includes a case study of an attempted terrorist attack --Abstract, page iv

Application of automatic vehicle location in law enforcement: An introductory planning guide

A set of planning guidelines for the application of automatic vehicle location (AVL) to law enforcement is presented. Some essential characteristics and applications of AVL are outlined; systems in the operational or planning phases are discussed. Requirements analysis, system concept design, implementation planning, and performance and cost modeling are described and demonstrated with numerous examples. A detailed description of a typical law enforcement AVL system, and a list of vendor sources are given in appendixes