Virtual County Police Department

Virtual County Police Department

Purpose of the Paper

In this paper, several aspects of the Virtual County Police department are analyzed. The most significant problems faced by the department are discussed, along with the historical developments that were responsible. Some of the lapses in the organization and the administration of the department are identified, and ways are suggested to rectify them. The workforce of the department is not a correct representation of the population, which points to some of the wrong practices of the department. Culture of any organization has deep impacts on the performance and overall efficiency of any organization. Some of the problems, which are rising to due to bad cultural practices are also identified and discussed. The crime statistics of the police department is analyzed, and the factors, which may improve prosecution and criminal apprehension, are also discussed.

Agency and Administration

The Virtual County police department consists of two units, namely the Operations and Administration, and the Commands. A deputy chief runs each of the above mentioned units. The operations unit is very large as compared to the administration department. Captains lead the bureaus, and Lieutenants lead the divisions. The police department is not very old, and it has only been 20 years since it has emerged as a primary police institution. There are eight chiefs in total, and the department consists of more than 400 officers and 170 civilians, acting as support staff.

Critical Issues

The first most crucial problem is the unavailability of experienced officers in command and supervisory positions. The problem arose after the retirement of senior officers after completing their term of 25 years. This problem escalated after the hiring of new officers declined, and the migrating out of officers continued with the same pace. As the officers continued to retire, inexperienced members were promoted, who were less qualified for the required tasks. The city council miss-calculated the benefit and cost analysis, and as a result, the deferred retirement plan was not implemented.

The other problem, which needs consideration, is the hiring of people only from inside the department. Only one chief was hired from outside by the Executive, who retired along with the County Executive. This denotes that officers outside the department are not preferred, and the environment is biased in this regard. Most of the officers are white males, which is not a correct representation of the county population. Majority of the commanding officers belong to the same race, and diversity is low. These statistics refer to the fact that hiring and promotions are not conducted on an equal basis, and a culture of favoritism prevails.

Majority of the officers and civilian staff members is young, due to which the police department is facing some difficulties. More than 60% of the current serving and civilian staff were hired in the last 5 years. As a result, the number of complaints lodged increased; supervision performance deteriorated, and the number of crimes solved and persecuted declined. The feeling of comradeship is not present, and the ...