charlotte county sheriff’s office county sheriff’s office strategic plan fiscal year 2014 to...

CHARLOTTECOUNTYSHERIFF’SOFFICE

StrategicPlan

FiscalYear2014to2018UpdatedApril20,2015

WilliamG.Prummell,Jr.SheriffofCharlotteCounty

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CONTENTS

A Message From

The Sheriff of Charlotte County 3

Charlotte County, Gateway

to Southwest Florida’s Gulf Coast 4

Committed to Crime Suppression

and Community Partnerships 5

Population Estimates for

Charlotte County 12

Staffing and

Resource Allocation 14

Communications Center 19

Capital Improvement

and Equipment Needs 22

References and Endnotes 24

Organizational Chart 25

The Mission, Vision, and Core Values of

the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office

Mission

It is our mission that the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office serve the citi-zens and visitors of Charlotte County by providing professional law en-forcement, detention, court security, and communications services that protects and preserves the Constitutional Rights of the people and man-dates the fair and impartial enforcement of the law.

Vision

It is our vision that Charlotte County remain one of the safest and most enjoyable places to live and visit in the State of Florida and in the nation and for the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office to be a leader in public safety. We achieve this through innovation, technology, and communi-ty partnerships. We strive to integrate the concepts of community po-licing with our and achieve our vision through collaborative problem solving.

Core Values

We, the men and women of the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, pledge to infuse our core values in every aspect of our service to our communi-ty. They are:

Integrity

We pledge to maintain a strong sense of honesty, morality, goodness, and ethical character.

Professionalism

We are skilled in the performance of our duties and governed by the code of ethics that demands integrity by word or by act publicly and pri-vately, the allegiance to our oath of office and the laws that govern our nation.

Trust

We must value and nurture the trust we earn through honesty and ex-cellence in service. We pledge to treat those we serve and have sworn to protect with courtesy, respect, dignity, and compassion to achieve that trust.

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A Message from the Sheriff of Charlotte County

Maintaining a safe community for all!

William G. Prummell, Jr. Sheriff

I have waited and worked my entire career toward being able to write this, my first message to you as the Sheriff of Charlotte County. So let me start by saying, “Thank You” for this opportunity to further serve the citizens of this great county.

I have worked my entire law enforcement career here at the Charlotte County Sher-iff's Office. I started here as a Reserve Deputy in March of 1992 and was hired full-time later that December as a road patrol deputy. Shortly after I began work, I knew I wanted to one day be the Sheriff. But it was going to take hard work.

I earned my undergraduate and two graduate degrees while working in a variety of positions, ranks and locations in the agency. Because of the different positions I have filled and areas I have worked, I developed what I hope is a greater knowledge of those areas involved in law enforcement and what it takes to be in charge of an agen-cy like the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.

I have always thought that community involvement was important for members of the law enforcement community. I have served on the boards of directors for both CARE and for the Sheriff's Office's PAL program. I also attended Leadership Char-lotte. So here I am as the 19th Sheriff of this county. What can you expect of me and this agency? In the past year, the Sheriff's Office went through two different re-accreditation processes and scored a remarkable 100 percent on both. Our Traffic Unit has been the recipient of numerous awards each year. The number of Narcotics related arrests and related drug seizures by our agency has increased steadily. The crime rate in Charlotte County has been steadily decreasing. I certainly intend to continue to maintain these high levels of accomplishment.

Because the Sheriff's race was decided in the August primary, I have been in a unique position of being the Sheriff-Elect while this fiscal year's budget was still being ironed out. I had the opportunity to have input into the budget process and to begin my part of continuing an open line of communication with county staff. Effective today, the Sheriff's Office has been restructured slightly. We have eliminated some command staff positions and shifted some others around so that we have more people at “street level.” We want to continue our emphasis on Narcotic activity, so we have created a new Special Investigations Section that includes the Narcotics Unit, Street Crimes Unit and Fugitive Apprehension Unit. By grouping these units together under a sepa-rate supervisor, we hope to better concentrate our resources to fight the drug activity that is a major source of other crimes in this county.

Let this document serve as a vision of how the Sheriff’s Office plans to achieve its goals and objective in keeping with the mission, vision, and core values espoused. This is an excellent agency and I am very fortunate to be its and your Sheriff. But we will always continue to strive to make it even better.

Thank you again for this opportunity.

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Nestled between Sarasota and Lee Counties in Southwest Florida, Charlotte County is made up of 693.6 square miles of land and 165.5 square miles of coastal and intercoastal waterways (Bureau of Eco-nomic and Business Research, 2012). From fertile agricultural lands towards the eastern portion of the county to the more conventional urban landscape and coastal amenities, the Sheriff's Office provides law enforcement and public safety services for the estimated 146,980 residents of unincorporated Charlotte County (Office of Economic and Demographic Research, April 1, 2014). To properly serve the community, the Sheriff’s Office divided areas in Charlotte County into four distinct service districts which encompass 16 patrol zones as shown in the map below:

District One, with a substation located at 6868 San Casa Drive, is responsible for four zones in the Englewood area;

District Two, with its substation located at 1441 Tamiami Trail, has deputies that patrol areas in Murdock and El Jobean, and Port Charlotte;

District Three, with a substation located at 7474 Utilities Road, covers four zones comprised of Punta Gorda, Deep Creek, Harbour Heights, Babcock Ranch, and Burnt Store; and

District Four, located at 3280 Tamiami Trail, Suite 505, has deputies patrol four zones in Port Charlotte and Charlotte Harbor.

Based on service demand and call volume, the Sheriff’s Office has strategically placed district substations in these areas so that depu-ties and other members of the Sheriff’s Office can take ownership of their areas of responsibility. This provides consistent, efficient re-sponse to and prevention of criminal activity.

Charlotte County, Florida

Gateway to Southwest Florida’s Gulf Coast!

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Committed to Crime Suppression and Community Partnerships

Goals and Objectives for the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office

Consistent with his predecessors, Sheriff Prummell developed six distinct agency goals and subsequent objectives focused on incorpo-rating academic paradigms surrounding Intelligence-Led Policing and Community Policing. These two concepts, which were central tenets in his platform when running for sheriff, focus on the integrated use of current and new technologies in addressing crime and quality of life issues in Charlotte County. When looking at such issues, it is important to simultaneously gain feedback and buy in from the community by way of Community Policing.

Sheriff Prummell has reorganized each of the Uniform Road Patrol shifts so that, where feasible, deputies would be assigned to the district in which they live or live closest to. These assignments allow the deputies to be more responsive and attuned to crime or quali-ty of life issues relative to where they live. Such a plan allows for the development and sustainability of community and business part-nerships so that potential opportunities for crime can be detected at the neighborhood level more efficiently than before.

Given the recent tragedies across the country relative to school shootings and continuing school violence, Sheriff Prummell feels strongly about the safety of children in Charlotte County Schools. To meet this goal and through budget negotiations, Sheriff Prum-mell has placed a dedicated School Resource Officer (SRO) in every Charlotte County Public School. SROs work to ensure a safe cam-pus environment while also act as mentors to and increase prevention and education programs such as DARE, Stranger Danger, and Good Touch Bad Touch for school children.

Sheriff Prummell has directed his administration to annually review these goals to ensure they still align with community concerns, are effective, and are applicable. These goals are comprised of the following:

Professional Law Enforcement, Court, Detention, and Communications Services,

Attentiveness to Public Safety and Public Service,

Traffic Safety,

Drug Demand Reduction,

School Safety, and

Management of Detainee Population.

The six goals and their subsequent objectives are meant to better evaluate the services the Sheriff’s Office provides while demonstrat-ing to the community the progression towards successful attainment of these goals. The public has requested of its county government agencies transparency in its operations. We feel with the implementation and progress towards the six goals, you will receive the transparency you seek. Not only will there be transparency, but with each goal, contributing sections within the organization will be held accountable to meeting these goals. Should particular objectives or strategies not yield the results we anticipated, we will reevalu-ate our methods and take appropriate action.

We are confident that by engaging in a systematic, objective, and methodological endeavor, the citizens and visitors to Charlotte Coun-ty will know their Sheriff’s Office is taking proactive, voluntary steps to demonstrate and account for service excellence at every oppor-tunity given to us when the community calls upon us. As stated earlier, this comprehensive assessment will be posted annually for the community to review on our website at http://www.ccso.org.

We look forward to working towards these goals and objectives so that we can make Charlotte County a safe, secure, and enjoyable community!

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Goal To provide the citizens of Charlotte County with the highest degree of professional services by investing in and developing the Sheriff’s Office human capital and resources. Rationale With scheduled retirements and unanticipated resignations, qualified individuals who not only demonstrate integrity, professional-ism, and trust but also promote and encourage quality decision making, creative problem solving, and effective communication is important for the continuity of the Sheriff’s operations. Developing tenured members ensures they are properly selected and devel-oped based on the competencies and experience required to fill critical roles within the organization and thus better serve the com-munity. These efforts should ensure when the public comes in contact with any member of the Sheriff’s Office, they will be treated in a respectful, professional manner. Contributors All Division of the Sheriff’s Office Objectives

Recruit and retain individuals who demonstrate integrity, professionalism, and trust.

Train and provide educational opportunities to individuals in relevant and critical areas related to public safety and the proper care, custody, and control of detainee population.

Ensure compliance with professional standards. Maintain functionality, security, and efficiency of information technology for the Sheriff’s Office and its ability to serve the

public. Coach, mentor, develop, and invest in tenured members who demonstrate quality decision making, creative problem solving,

and effective communication. Develop a succession plan which addresses current staffing and assets as a framework to appropriately assign human capital to

meet current and future organizational needs.


Professional Law Enforcement, Court, Detention, and Communications Services

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Goal To maintain a high quality of life through the effective, efficient delivery of public safety services through Intelligence-Led Policing and community partnerships. Rationale The elimination or reduction of crime and domestic threats are paramount to the safety and security of the citizens of Charlotte County. Through collaborative efforts, the members of the Sheriff’s Office and the community can make Charlotte County a safer place to live, work, and visit. Contributors Uniform Road Patrol Division Criminal Investigations Division Operational Support Division Logistics/Communications Division Jail Operations Public Information Office Objectives

Reduce crime through proactive initiatives, Intelligence-Led Policing, and partnerships with the community.

Safe care, custody, and control of detainees.

Facilitate resolving neighborhood issues through collaborative partnerships.

Partner with community organizations to enhance overall quality of life. Enhance public awareness through social media and information technologies.


Attentiveness to Public Safety and Public Service

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Goal To make the roadways of Charlotte County safe for those who use them. Rationale Traffic enforcement has a direct, proportional relationship to highway safety. In addition, traffic enforcement is the number one cited concern from the community to the Sheriff’s Office. Traffic enforcement allows citizens to feel safe knowing that drivers are abiding by the traffic laws. Contributors Operational Support Division Uniform Road Patrol Division Objectives

Enforce laws on county roadways, concentrating on intersections and roads historically identified as problematic.

Reduce traffic crashes and injuries related to traffic crashes and fatalities.

Respond to citizen complaints regarding neighborhood traffic issues.


Traffic Safety

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Goal To curtail illegal and synthetic drug, alcohol, and tobacco activities, and reduce the illegal use and demand for these substances. Rationale Many of the crimes committed in Charlotte County are predicated on the use, sale, and distribution of illegal and synthetic sub-stances and the abuse of such drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Enforcement, while beneficial, should not be the only response to this issue. Through collaborative efforts with community partners, we must also take a proactive approach to educate the Charlotte County community on the negative effects of such activities. Contributors Criminal Investigations Division Operational Support Division Uniform Road Patrol Division Logistics / Communications Division Objectives

Investigate and arrest individuals who participate in illegal and synthetic drug trafficking, use, sales, or distribution.

Investigate and arrest individuals who participate in illegal alcohol and tobacco use, sales, or distribution.

Increase community awareness, especially with Charlotte County youth, about the impact, dangers, and consequences of illegal drug, alcohol, and tobacco use.

Participate in and enhance community partnerships for the successful achievement of this goal.


Drug Demand Reduction

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Goal To aid in the safety and security of students and staff in and around schools, colleges, and universities in Charlotte County. Rationale Collectively, the United States Departments of Education, Homeland Security, and Defense have identified schools as one of several soft targets in communities which can be exploited for personal, criminal, or political gain. Students and school staff in Charlotte County deserve a safe environment in which to learn and work. Contributors Operational Support Division Uniform Road Patrol Divisions Criminal Investigation Division Objective Provide a campus environment where students and staff can feel safe and secure while arriving, attending, and leaving school grounds.


School Safety

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Goal To improve the process of the case disposition system and recidivism rates, and utilize all resources available to minimize current and future encumbrances on County taxpayers. Rationale Multiple factors contribute to the direct costs associated with the daily operations of a jail. The average length of stay and the de-tainee population levels influence the majority of the funds required. Contributor Jail Operations Objectives

Reduce the recidivism rate of incarcerated individuals by providing educational opportunities and programs.

Work as a team member to streamline cases with the primary focus concentrating on an expected disposition. Implement programs that reduce the tax burden on County taxpayers.


Management of Detainee Population

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Population Estimates for Charlotte County

Holding the distinction of being the oldest county, age-wise, while being the 28th most populous county in the state poses interesting challenges to the enforcement of laws in Charlotte County and potential recruitment and retention issues of qualified applicants to be Deputy Sheriffs and Correctional Officers. Based on estimates from the Florida Legislature’s Office of Economic & Demographic Re-search, the charts below show the projected population of Charlotte County in 2015, 2020, and 2025. As subsequent charts illustrate, Charlotte County is projected to remain a community heavily populated with older residents. Baby Boomers, individuals born be-tween 1947 and 1966 falling within the age brackets of 55 and 79, are estimated to make up 44.5 percent of the population, while an estimated 60.9 percent of the total of men and women of Charlotte County will be 50 years of age and older by the year 2025.

The Sheriff’s Office is not immune to the impending population projections. With pending retirements and resignations, maintaining an effective strength of law enforcement deputies, detention officers, and civilian support personnel remain on our minds. As the economy improves from recent economic conditions, we continue to provide exceptional levels of service and safety with our ability to add personnel to the Office. Filling these vacancies, however, was much easier in the past, characteristics from Generation Y, individ-uals whose parents are Baby Boomers and were born between 1977 and 1994, estimates project the applicant pool will be much smaller than it has been. Not only will the applicant pool be small, but the labor force, which will mainly be comprised of Generation Y em-ployees, will be well educated, technology-oriented, and highly curious.

The knowledge, skills, and abilities this generation has and will bring to the table will require the Sheriff’s Office to reevaluate and amend its recruitment strategies and hiring procedures to include, but not limited to, appropriate compensation based on fair market value. A more talented, knowledgeable labor market will demand more from prospective employers and, in order to meet those de-mands, the Sheriff’s Office should continue to offer a fair and reasonable compensation package to prospective applicants.

We are committed to responsibly staffing our personnel relative to current and projected county population, generated service de-mands, and detainee populations. The citizens and visitors to Charlotte County expect the Sheriff’s Office to be good stewards of pub-lic funds and spend its resources on proven strategies, initiatives, equipment, and foremost human resources.

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Population Projections through 2025 for Charlotte County

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Staffing and Resource Allocation for the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office

Uniform Road Patrol Triennially, the Sheriff’s Office conducts a staffing and resource allocation study to determine the needs of Uniform Road Patrol rela-tive to service demands. In accordance with the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA) standard 16.1.2, the following analysis was conducted by Information Services for calls for service generated between January 1, 2014 and De-cember 31, 2014 (365 days). The purpose of the study is to determine:

A) The level of proper staffing based on workload demands placed on the Uniform Road Patrol Divisions;

B) How many personnel members are necessary given workload demands district-wide; and

C) How best to allocate personnel and resources proportional to workload demands.

Assessment Components

Workload assessments are used to estimate the number of Uniform Road Patrol deputies necessary to effectively manage and meet service demands. The data under evaluation is for calendar year 2014, from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014. This assess-ment looks at citizen-generated calls for service requesting service by personnel assigned to Uniform Road Patrol for the aforemen-tioned date range. These calls for service were extracted from the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office Computer-Aided Dispatch Sys-tem from a SQL query coded and generated by Planning and Research. The query isolates radio identification numbers assigned to Uniform Road Patrol deputies ONLY. Said radio IDs call between either 0105 to 0169, 0205 to 0269, 0305 to 0369, or 0405 to 0469. Sergeant radio IDs were removed so that Planning and Research could identify the normal service demands for deputies who are required to primarily respond to citizen complaints via citizen-generated calls for service, herein termed “calls for service.” For the purposes of this assessment, a call for service is defined as a call from a citizen received by the Sheriff’s Office Communications Center which are NOT received by mobile laptop initiation (MOB radio); the jurisdiction is classified as “CCSO,” where the com-plaint type are NOT 060, 060T, 073, nor Traffic Stop, and where the radio IDs are for Uniform Road Patrol deputies. Given these stated parameters and the timeframe listed above, Uniformed Road Patrol deputies worked 58,840 calls for service.

Staffing as of December 31, 2014

On April 17, 2015, Planning and Research requested the Authorized Budgeted Positions Report from Human Resources’ Epicor HCM system, which identified the number of budgeted and filled positions Uniform Road Patrol had as of December 31, 2014. Ta-ble 1 shows a breakdown of the aforementioned report:

Given the number of budgeted positions for Sergeants and below (137) relative to the number of positions filled (124), as of Decem-ber 31, 2014, Uniformed Road Patrol is down 13 deputies from its budgeted allocation.

Workload

To determine the workload placed upon Uniform Road Patrol, the Patrol Force Workload Analysis Model developed by Criminal Justice researcher Jon M. Shane (2007) was used. The model calls for the average service time, by complaint type and priority type, for calls for service and the average number of deputies responding to those calls. Collectively, the 58,523 calls for service responded to by patrol deputies account for a total of 80,900 hours, 4 minutes, and 0 seconds of service time. This value was rounded up to 80,901 in order to accommodate Shane’s (2007) model.

D1 Budgeted Filled D3 Budgeted Filled D4 Budgeted Filled

Sergeant 4 4 Sergeant 4 4 Sergeant 4 4

Corporal 4 4 Corporal 4 4 Corporal 4 4

Deputies 25 23 Deputies 26 24 Deputies 28 24

Total 33 31 Total 34 32 Total 36 32

Filled

4

4

21

29

D2

Sergeant

Corporal

Deputies

Total

Budgeted

4

4

26

34

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Relief Factor

The term relief factor, also known as staffing factor, describes the number of FTEs, presented as a ratio, required to fill a single po-sition which requires relief, i.e. a position that must be continuously covered for 24 hours per day, 365 days per year (Shane, 2007; Harris, 2002). A deputy’s 12-hour shift calculates out to be 2,236 hours per year. From the 2,236 hours, the amount of benefit time must be factored in and subtracted from the total scheduled work hours. Such benefit time include, vacation time, personal time, sick time, training time, holiday time, and estimated compensatory time. Table 2 lists the average benefit time given to Uniform Road Patrol deputies:

If one subtracts the 409.06 hours from the 2,236 scheduled work hours, the result would be 1,834.94 hours available to work. The ratio of scheduled hours to available hours is 2,236/1,834.94 or a relief factor of 1.22; meaning for every 10 deputies needed to ef-fectively handle the calls for service, the Sheriff’s Office would have to have 12.2 or 12 deputies on hand to provide the appropriate level of service for the citizens of Charlotte County.

Distribution of Time

Distribution of time refers to the time in which an organization’s administration feels they want their personnel to adequately work their tours of duty. Based on conversations with members of the Sheriff’s Command Staff and for the purpose of this assessment, the distribution of time necessary to provide the citizens of Charlotte County with appropriate levels of service, time necessary to conduct proactive initiatives, and routine administrative time for meetings and other tasks will be 35 percent service demands, 50 percent proactive time, and 15 percent administrative time. Table 3 illustrates how those percent allocations factor into the model:

Based on the parameters listed above, the Uniform Road Patrols time distributed and calculating the relief factor, 120 deputies are necessary to maintain adequate coverage based on service demands for the evaluation period listed above.

Benefit Time Hours Given

Vacation 144.00

Sick 96.20

Holiday 88.00

Personal 24.00

State Certification-Related Training 40.00

Compensatory 8.86

Total 401.06


Activity % Hours/Year Daily/Minutes Daily/Hours

Service Demands 35% 80,901 252 4.2

Proactive 50% 115,573 360 6.0

Administrative 15% 34,672 108 1.8

TOTAL 100% 213,146 720 12.0

Scheduled Hours 2,236

Effective Strength 103 Fulltime Equivalent Positions

Relief Factor 1.22

ACTUAL STRENGTH 126.00 Corporals and below

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Management and Supervisory Staff and Fulltime Equivalent Complement

The ratio of management and supervisory staff should be based on how effective an organization’s administration feels each super-visor can adequately manage and supervise their personnel; this concept is known as “span of control.” According to Lane (2006) the average span of control for the 140 agencies taking part in his survey was one supervisor per seven subordinates (1:7). Because the Sheriff’s Office uses its corporals as assistant supervisors to the sergeants in the district, 16 sergeants and 16 corporals have been allocated to each patrol district. Given each of the four districts requires administrative staff, each district shall be staffed with one lieutenant, totaling four lieutenants. Because watch commanders rotate shifts as well, their complement requires the addition of a fifth lieutenant to fill in when the one of the other four are taking benefit time.

By establishing the effective strength for the various positions necessary to handle the service demands laid out in the Workload section of this assessment, Planning and Research estimates the number of positions needed to be budgeted to handle service de-mands, which is itemized below:

Calculated Allocation

When calls for service are assigned to the district where they were generated from, the percentage of call volume shows which district accounts for the most service demands. Based on the service demands by zone, using a modified version of Shane’s (2007) model, Information Services allots the 116 deputies to each district commensurate with service demands and the types of calls generated from each patrol district. Below is a comparison between the number of calculated positions and what is currently budgeted for each dis-trict. The Sheriff can and should use whatever measures deemed necessary to allocate the appropriate personnel to meet these service demands. Below is a how personnel should be allocated:

As referenced above, the time spent on and total number of calls for service vary among the districts. Because of this variance, per-sonnel should be allocated to best serve the interest of deputy readiness and rapid response. With the calculated allocation based on percentage and intensity of calls for service in the districts, as of December 31, 2014, District 4 requires additional staffing to meet service demands. It should be noted that with the establishment of Babcock Ranch, the Planning and Research is working with Command Staff to evaluate the feasibility of re-zoning the county for more effective community response.

When evaluating the number of personnel needed to provide sufficient coverage to meet service demands, the Sheriff’s Office con-tinuously evaluates several variables which may affect calls for service volume. When necessary, Staff Inspections shall evaluate those variables and if need be, incorporate them into the staffing model and recalculate the estimated number of deputies necessary to respond to citizen complaints.

D1 D2 D3 D4

Budgeted Allocation

25 26 26 28

Calculated Allocation

23 25 27 25

Net ( +/- )

2 1 (1) (7)

Calls for Service 12,231 13,409 14,512 18,552

Percent of Call Volume 20.9% 22.8% 24.7% 31.5%

Position Complement (includes relief factor)

District Commander 4

Watch Commander 5

Sergeant 16

Deputy 116

Total FTEs Actual Strength — 151

Corporal 16

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Detention With the expansion of the jail completed in 2008, a paramount issue that remains is the need to appropriately estimate the number of Detention Officers necessary to ensure the effective care, custody, and control of detainees, is essential. Similar to how the Uniform Road Patrol staffing is dictated by service demands, Correctional Officer staffing is dictated by a convergence of internal and external factors. As Liebert and Miller (2003) state, internal factors include the physical design of the jail (which encompasses sightlines, number of control posts, perimeter security, and control of circulation and movement), the operational philosophy and the jails poli-cies and procedures, classification levels of the inmates, and the level of crowding in the facility (p. 4). External factors include court decisions, standards of practice (Liebert and Miller, 2003, p. 4) and budgetary mandates from state and local governing bodies.

Currently the jail is designed to house 960 detainees with detention officers working in direct supervision of the detainees. Although growth of the Charlotte County Jail has leveled off in recent years, the average daily detainee population in 2014 was 735 and the aver-age daily detainee stay was 35.9 days, an increase of 43.0 percent since 2012 (ADOS 25.1 in 2012). By housing detainees in excess of the original design of the current facility translates to a cost incurred to the community for transporting and housing individuals who exceed the maximum allowable threshold in other jurisdictions. When transportation is not feasible nor practical, detainees are main-tained in excess of the housing unit’s original design. This also incurs a cost due to the fact that with a 1:64 Correctional Officer to detainee ratio, when the 65th detainee enters the general housing unit, where applicable, an additional Correctional Officer will be added to maintain adequate ratios. Depending on levels of staffing, overtime costs may be necessary for the proper maintenance of care, custody, and control of detainees.

Based on the number of existing bed space, at a growth rate of 2.6 percent for the average daily detainee population from 2008 to 2013, original projections showed the jail to have an average daily detainee population of 607 by the end of 2015, assuming the growth rate remained constant. However, calendar year 2014 showed an average increase in daily population of 10.4 percent from that of 2013 (666 for 2013 versus 735 for 2014). By comparison, Charlotte County’s population growth rate is 1.3 percent given the same pa-rameters. At full capacity, the Charlotte County Jail can house 960 detainees.

Staffing analyses show that because a jail’s service demands are influenced by several factors (Liebert and Miller, 2003), the Sheriff’s Office has incorporated a staffing model which we feel adequately represents the current and future needs of the Charlotte County Jail. We began by identifying the current positions, the positions required for expansion, and the number of personnel required to staff each position on a 24-hour basis. Because the benefit and training times are similar to those used in the Uniform Road Patrol’s work-load analysis (see p. 20), the relief factor of 1.22 was factored by four to account for those positions requiring 24-hour sworn personnel and 1.31 was also factored by four for 24-hour civilian positions. Those values were determined to be a relief factor of 4.88 for sworn personnel and 5.24 for civilians. Positions requiring 12-hour staffing were calculated to be half the sworn and civilian relief factors or 2.44 and 2.62 respectively.

With recent daily population increasing, the Sheriff’s Office has evaluated where it can accommodate detainees in order to maintain adequate care, custody, and control over them. Due to the passage of the Penny Sales Tax legislation in Charlotte County in 2014, a new infirmary will be added to the jail so as to dedicate a medical facility for inmates rather than having an existing housing unit be retrofitted to do the same. The Sheriff is looking at every option available to him to ensure the both detention officers and civilians working in the jail are safe and detainees have the proper care, custody, and control while serving their time or are awaiting trial. Be-low is the projected staffing of the Charlotte County Jail, to include position, number of hours required for tour of duty, number of personnel currently assigned, the relief factor, and the actual personnel required for optimum efficiency:

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The Charlotte County Jail currently employs 164 sworn personnel and 57 civilians3. Given the relief factor and the additional person-nel necessary with the expansion of the infirmary, the Sheriff’s Office estimates an additional six FTEs are required for optimum effi-ciency; which is derived from the difference between the actual positions necessary and where we are at current staffing.

Civilians In 2004, the Federal Bureau of Investigation published a report referencing crime in the United States and the demographics of law enforcement agencies across the county (Department of Justice, 2004). The report stated a 30.4 percent of personnel in their study were civilian personnel. As of April 15, 2015, the Sheriff’s Office civilian staff makes up 28.3 percent of all personnel (Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, 2015). In order to maximize the knowledge, skills, abilities, and training of certified law enforcement and correctional officers, whenever possible, the Sheriff’s Office will reclassify positions and place the duties and responsibilities under a civilian classi-fication. By doing so, we are assessing the most cost-effective manner in which the Sheriff’s Office can provide you excellent service delivery.

Staffing of new positions will require the requesting section to empirically demonstrate the need for a new position, while also showing how the new position will benefit the organization and the community. The decision to approve new positions ultimately rests with the Sheriff, who will evaluate the current and future needs of the organization and make the proper determination.

Position Hours Required Count Relief Factor Sworn

Major 8 1 0.00 1.00

Captain 8 2 0.00 2.00

Lieutenant (Watch Commanders) 24 4 0.00 4.00

Lieutenant (Support Services & Administrative) 8 2 0.00 2.00

Sergeant (Assistant Watch Commanders, Housing and Intake) 24 8 0.00 8.00

Sergeant (Training) 8 1 0.00 1.00

Corporal (Housing and Intake Corporals) 24 12 0.00 12.00

Detention Deputy (Transportation and Medical Deputies) 8 12 0.00 12.00

Detention Deputy 24 24 4.88 117.12

Detention Deputy (Kitchen) 12 1 2.44 2.44

Total Certified 164.00

Detention Deputy (Programs) 12 1 2.44 2.44

Position Hours Required Count Relief Factor Civilian

Kitchen Manager 8 1 0.00 1.00

Assistant Supervisor (Maintenance) 8 1 0.00 1.00

Assistant Supervisor (Administrative Services) 24 4 0.00 4.00

Assistant Kitchen Supervisor 8 1 0.00 1.00

Support Services & Administrative Services Clerks 24 6 5.24 31.44

Visitation Building Personnel 12 1 2.62 2.62

Accreditation, Classification, Inmate Accounts, Laundry/Warehouse, Programs, Management Information Systems, and Warrants

8 16 0.00 16.00

Total Certified 57.06

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Communications Center

The central nervous system of the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office

“If the patrol force is the heart of the police organization, the communications center is the central nervous system. It is through the communications center that vital information is received and transmitted to patrol units” (as cited in Shane, 2007, p. 114). The Char-lotte County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center is a “consolidated” center, handling 911 calls along with dispatching for Fire and EMS services. An employee in the Communications Center must respond calmly and effectively in all emergency situations. Clear, decisive judgment is required in making quick decisions during emergencies. It is imperative that there is sufficient personnel as-signed to and working in the Communications Center with the ability to receive and communicate important information to both law enforcement officers and Fire/EMS officials. This portion of the Strategic Plan will discuss anticipated workload, personnel levels, and capital improvements necessary to absorb the demands for service for our growing community.

Communications Given the growth of our community in recent years and with an estimated 1.9 percent annual growth rate1 through 2025 (see graphs on p. 12 and 13), the number of calls the Communications Center will receive requesting service should also grow at a proportional rate. A workload analysis was conducted to determine whether additional personnel is needed in the Communications Center and, based on 2012’s call volume and a relief factor of 1.21, the number of positions necessary for efficient operation of the Communications Center is 42.

Components of Assessment

The following analysis is based on inbound and certain outbound calls received by the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office’s Communi-cations Center, herein known as Communications Center. These calls were extracted from the Charlotte County’s Enhanced 9-1-1 (E-911) System from a report generated by the system’s vendor. The data comparison spreadsheet was provided to be my E-911 Administrator Laurie Anderson which groups together the calls received by line type. Emergency calls are always received on either the “911 Lines” or “VOIP Line” groups while non-emergency calls are received on either the “Admin Line Number” or “EOC Admin Line” groups. Given how the calls are received by E-911 and the timeframe listed above, the Communications Center received 205,978 calls, of which 66,827, or 32.4 percent, calls were received on an emergency line.

Disclaimer

Because the reports provided by Administrator Anderson are canned reports and analyzing the raw data is not possible, Infor-mation Services has had to modify the Communications Center Workload Analysis Model, Volume-based Approach developed by Criminal Justice researcher Jon M. Shane (2007) to accommodate available data. Outputs generated from this model should be considered estimates of personnel necessary for the Communications Center.

Current Staffing

On May 23, 2013, Information Services obtained a report from the Epicor HCM system titled, Authorized Budgeted Positions re-port, which identifies the number of personnel assigned to the Communications Center. While the data contained for the Commu-nications Center states there is one Communications Administrator, four Supervisors, four Assistant Supervisors, 26 Public Safety Operators, two Public Safety Call Takers, and two Communications Academy Attendees, personnel are allocated to four squads staffing a 24/7 operation. A roster provided by the Communications Center, which is replicated in the below table, shows how these personnel are allocated:

Job Title Squad A Squad B Squad C Squad D

Administrator One Communications Administrator

Supervisor 1 1 1 1

Assistant Supervisor 1 1 1 1

Public Safety Operator 6 7 6 7

Total 8 9 8 9

Fixed-shift Call Taker 2

39 Communications Personnel Academy Attendees 2

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Workload

To determine the workload placed on the Communications Center, as stated above, the Communications Center Workload Analysis Model, Volume-based Approach was used for this assessment (Shane, 2007, p. 117). The modification Information Services made to the model was to take the average call time by line type in lieu of the average call time by complaint type. To estimate the amount of time the average call takes, Information Services asked Communications to run a call time report which shows the duration of an individual call. Because the consuming a great deal of time to generate, Information Services asked for one hour’s worth of calls for one day in 2012. This report yielded 22 calls, both inbound and outbound for both 911 and Admin lines. The average time spent on calls was 2 minutes and 15 seconds. It should be disclosed that because of the difficulty in calculating these times, it is conceiva-ble there will be error in generalizing these data for a calendar year. That said, the overall time spent on the 205,978 calls was 7,721 hours, 34 minutes, and 27 seconds. For the purposes of this assessment, the workload model asks for the call time to be calculated in decimal hours, thus generating a value of 7,721.57 hours.

Relief Factor

The term “relief factor”, also known as staffing factor, describes the number, presented as a ratio, of FTEs required to fill a single position which requires relief, i.e. a position that must be continuously covered for 24 hours per day, 365 days per year (Shane, 2007; Harris, 2002). As defined in the Department of Labor’s Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA, amended May 25, 2007), members of the Communications Center are classified as non-exempt employees. The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA, Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, 2009, p. 20) states a member of the Communications Center will work an 11.5 hour shift. Given the param-eters of the FLSA and the CBA, overtime expenditures and flexible scheduling is used to meet the needs of the agency. A member of the Communications Center working his or her 11.5-hour shift is expected to work 2,080 hours per year. From the 2,080 hours, the amount of benefit time must be taken into account and subtracted from the total scheduled work hours. Such benefit time includes, vacation time, personal time, sick time, training time, holiday time, and estimated compensatory time. The following is the average benefit time given to members of the Communications Center:

1 Calculated the years in service for each member and averaged the annual leave allocated as stated in the Civilian Union Contract

2 Estimate based on payroll data

If one subtracts the 364.79 hours from the 2,080 scheduled work hours, the result would be 1,715.21 hours available to work. The ratio of scheduled hours to available hours is 2,080/1,715.21 or a relief factor of 1.21; meaning for every 10 Communications Center positions needed to effectively manage call volume, the Sheriff’s Office would have to have 12.1 or 12 employees on hand to provide the appropriate level of service for the citizens of and visitors to Charlotte County.


Distribution of time refers to the time in which the organization’s administration feels they want their personnel to adequately work their tours of duty. Based on conversations with the Logistics Division Commander, the Communications Administrator, and for the purpose of this assessment, the distribution of time necessary to provide the citizens of Charlotte County with appropriate levels of service, time estimated to answer emergency and non-emergency calls, 15 percent of the time will be allocated to emergency calls while 85 percent will be for non-emergency calls. Below is how these percent allocations factor into the model:

Benefit Time Hours Given

Vacation1 149.54

Personal 024.00

Sick 080.00

Training 016.00

Holiday 088.00

Compensatory2 007.25

Total 364.79

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Given how the time is distributed for each call type and calculating the relief factor, 30 non-supervisory positions are necessary to maintain adequate coverage based on 2012’s service demands.

Ratio of Supervisory Staff

The ratio supervisory staff should be based on how effective the organization’s administration feels each supervisor can adequately manage and supervise their personnel; this concept is known as “span of control.” Using Lane’s (2006) average span of control for the law enforcement agencies as a barometer for a Communications Center, one Communications Supervisor should be able to ade-quately administer eight subordinates (1:8). Because a supervisor must be in the Communications Center at all times, the Sheriff’s Office employs an Assistant Supervisor per squad. This allows the Communication Center to function 24 hours a day with supervi-sion while also allowing the Communications Administrator the flexibility to delegate tasks as needed. As shown in the Current Staffing section, the allocation of eight supervisory positions is effective.

Fulltime Equivalent (FTE) Complement

By establishing the effective strength for the various positions necessary to handle incoming calls laid out in the Workload section of this assessment, Information Services calculates the number of positions required to actually operate the Communications Cen-ter below:

Given the number of calls received in 2012, the Sheriff’s Office would need an actual strength of 38 personnel in order to meet call demand.

Workload in Radio Traffic

The actual strength for the Communications Center takes into account the number of calls the agency receives. The second portion which will be considered is the discrepancy in the workload relative to radio traffic from non-road patrol units. For those calls as-signed to operators who work Dispatch 1 and Dispatch 3 (196,227 of 225,544, or 87.0 percent), about one in five (19.2 percent) of those are generated by Sheriff’s Office non-road patrol units. This disparity becomes more evident when special operations take place whereby these operators have to manage regular radio traffic while also managing these additional self-initiated and citizen-generated calls for service.


Activity % Hours/Year Daily/Minutes Daily/Hours

911 Calls 15% 7,725 108 1.8

Admin Calls 85% 43,775 612 10.2

Total 100% 51,500 720 12.0

Scheduled Hours 2,080

Effective Strength 25 Fulltime Equivalent Positions

Relief Factor 1.21

Actual Strength 30.0 Non-Supervisory Comm. Center Positions

FTE Complement (includes relief factor) Complement

Communications Supervisor 4

Communications Assistant Supervisor 4

Communications Operators 30

Total FTEs Actual Strength: 38

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Capital Improvement and Equipment Needs

On February 17, 2015, the Sheriff’s Office presented a five- to ten-year facilities forecast documenting the current state of each location and equipment, their condition, what entities are housed therein, and potential locations for new substa-tions. Below is a summary of the presentation by order of priority: Priority #1 — Computer-Aided Dispatch System Ongoing discussions have taken place with the Sheriff’s current CAD vendor TriTech Software Systems to upgrade the system to the latest version of its technology and equipment. The Office has used the current CAD system since 1999 and both the Charlotte County Fire/EMS Department and the Sheriff are satisfied with the level of service and support they have received. The cost to upgrade the CAD is estimated at $363,263 for licenses, services and a one-year maintenance. It should be noted that in the Sheriff’s FY2015 budg-et, the maintenance costs have been allocated, thus only requiring the balance for full upgrade.

Priority #2 — Forensics, Evidence, Impound, and co-locate District 04 Substation Adjacent to the Florida Department of Transportation site at 23016 Harborview Rd, Port Charlotte, along with the DOT site provides at least 10 acres of usable land to build and relocate the above-mentioned entities to a more centralized location for both deputies and the public alike to pick up property. With an annual rental cost of $298,500, funds could be reallocated to a facility that is owned by the county and build to be a true police station. In reviewing the location, there should not be any adverse impact on law enforcement operations pertaining to trials and court dates for the picking up and transport of evidence. Given its proximity to the Parkside Dis-trict (1.5 miles to the Southeast border), the proposed site, within the Charlotte Harbor CRA, is the only suitable location in the Dis-trict 04 boundaries this large to support this facility.

Priority #3 — Upgrade to the Training Annex and co-locate District 03 Substation The current location for District 03 is owned by the county but resides on land owned by the Charlotte County Airport. The lease to use the airport’s land is set to expire in 2023 thus giving the county sufficient time to plan for a new facility for the Sheriff’s Punta Gor-da law enforcement needs. With a master site plan underway for the Sheriff’s Training Complex, which calls for upgrades to training rooms, the obstacle course, the gun range, and the installation of a driving course, the county-owned land located at 25500 Airport Rd, Punta Gorda, is sufficient to co-locate the District 03 Substation to Airport Rd.

Priority #4 — Relocate Central Communications and E911 With the Charlotte County Emergency Operations Center build as a category-hardened facility and currently acting as the backup Communications Center, relocating Communications Operations to the EOC serves a logistical and practical function. Should a major natural disaster like Hurricane Charley in 2004 take place again, the EOC could withstand such a storm and maintain public safety communication throughout the event. With the primary Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) currently located at the Sheriff’s Head-quarters, which as stated above is set to expire in 2023, it is practical to relocate Communications and E911 operations to the EOC. This would allow the EOC to be the primary PSAP and the back-up site to be at the new Sheriff’s Headquarters and District 02 Substa-tion at Murdock Village.

Priority #5 — Sheriff’s Headquarters and co-locate District 02 Substation To minimize the impact on Charlotte County taxpayers, the Sheriff’s Headquarters could be relocated to the county-owned property known as Murdock Village. This development area has sufficient land to accommodate the 10-acre minimum area to meet the current and future needs of Headquarters and District 02 Substation. The roads and facility within this space can be configured to incorporate within the County’s master plans for this area. The District 02 Substation is located at the Port Charlotte Town Center, a facility that is not designed as a police station and cannot be used to conduct sensitive interviews. Consideration for the Sheriff’s Substation at Babcock Ranch With ground breaking and construction expected to commence by the end of calendar year 2015, the Master Development Order re-quired developers to provide the Sheriff’s Office with an interim fully operational facility as the first Sheriff’s Substation which will exist next to the Charlotte County Fire Department’s station located on State Road 31. This temporary facility will be made available to the Sheriff’s Office by the issuance of the first land development permit. By the issuance of the 5000th Certificate of Occupancy (CO), the developer will have constructed a building shell to co-locate both the Sheriff’s Office substation and the Fire Department substa-tion. Given the 5000th CO is when the developers would turnover the facility to the County; this project should also be placed on the Capital Improvement Plan. In the mean time, as the project and area develops, deputies will respond to any calls for service generated by Kitson & Partners’ contractors. The Sheriff’s Office will continue to meet with Kitson & Partners so it is aware of the progress to-wards the 5000th CO.

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Capital Improvement and Equipment Needs

Equipment Computer-Aided Dispatch System and Radios By maintaining an equipment and property list with depreciation and life expectancy estimates, the Sheriff’s Office properly plans the purchase of new equipment on an annual basis. At a recent meeting with Public Safety stakeholders, the group identified and agreed that aging technology and equipment are both a weakness and threat as defined under the “Public Safety” Strategic Focus Area. Both the Fire/EMS Department and the Sheriff’s Office agree that upgrading the existing CAD system rather than purchasing from a new vendor is cost-effective and benefits each stakeholder. The Sheriff’s Office has plans to upgrade its radios to P25 Next-Generation ra-dios which allow first responders to network with external units in the event of a natural or man-made disaster.

The following is a list of items which fall under replacement cycles. Please keep in mind this is not an exhaustive list but one that high-lights major annual expenditures:

Upgrades to existing Information Technologies

Computer Equipment

Vehicles

Weapons

Bulletproof Vests

Radios

Office Equipment

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References and Endnotes

Bureau of Economic and Business Research. (2012). Florida statistical abstract 2012. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida.

Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office. (April 15, 2015). Authorized budgeted positions report. Punta Gorda, FL: CCSO.

Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigations. (2004). Crime in the United States 2004. Retrieved on April 29, 2008 from http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius_04/law_enforcement_personnel/index.html.

Florida Sheriffs Association. (January 1, 2008). Florida model jail standards. Retrieved on May 1, 2008, from http://www.flsheriffs.org/content/44/File/FMJS_-_0101087.pdf.

Harris, D. (2002). You can’t fight crime if you don’t have time. In Bair, S., Boba, R., Fritz, N., Helms, D., & Hick, S. (Eds.), Advanced crime mapping topics: Results of the first invitational advanced crime mapping topics symposium (pp. 96- 103). Denver, CO: National Law Enforcement & Corrections Technology Center.

International City/County Management Association. (1984). Local economic development: A strategic approach. Washington, D.C.: ICMA.

Lane, T. (2006). Span of control for law enforcement agencies. The Police Chief, October, 74-83.

Liebert, D. R. and Miller, R. (2003). Staffing analysis workbook for jails (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Corrections.

Office of Economic and Demographic Research. (April 1, 2014). Florida population for counties and municipalities. Retrieved on April 6, 2015, from edr.state.fl.us/Content/population-demographics/data/2014_Pop_Estimates.pdf.

Shane, J. M. (2007). What every police executive should know: Using data to measure police performance. Flushing, NY: Looseleaf Law Publications.

1. Data derived from the Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR) estimates of Charlotte County’s population. Based on actual reported population estimates, EDR publishes projected populations through 2030. The anticipated growth rate was calculated by taking the average percent change from 2006 to 2020. This value may change based on the actual recorded popula-tions estimates EDR reports annually.

2. The three PSAPs are located in the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, the Punta Gorda Police Department, and the Charlotte Coun-ty Emergency Operations Center, which also serves as a back-up site.

3. Staffing as of April 30, 2013.

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