07-14-14 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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reducing crime, fear, and disorder. Lino Lakes consistently enjoys the lowest combined crime rate and highest clearance rate of any city in Anoka County (Uniform Crime Report, 2012). While the philosophy of the Lino Lakes Police Department is undisputedly effective, it does demand more of employees than a traditional reactive policing philosophy. Officers are expected to spend a considerable amount of time engaged with the community and participating in problem solving activities. Department Structure The structure of the Lino Lakes Police Department allows administrators to shift resources to an area of need in a way that other departments cannot. Labor contracts, hiring regulations, training and licensing requirements, and the random nature of some crime make short-term changes in staffing nearly impossible. Ideally, a business can plan and adjust staffing for periods of high demand. The Lino Lakes Police Department has taken the idea of short term resource allocation and applied it to full time law enforcement staffing. By cross training patrol officers as Investigators, by rotating investigator assignments, and rotating the area of responsibility for sergeants, the LLPD can shift internal resources to issues and problems as they arise. For example, when a pro -longed and complicated investigation consumes the time of the investigators, some duties can be shifted to patrol officers to allow for continuity of service levels. In most departments, patrol officers do not have the skill or ability to take a felony case from start to finish including search warrants, interviews, and evidence collection. Lino Lakes patrol officers routinely take cases from call to completion without the assistance of the investigative division. When an incident consumes patrol resources, investigators are trained and equipped to assist as needed. Investigators assist in the field on warrants, evidence collection, and responding to calls for service when patrol officers are tied up on other calls or duties. Sergeants are assigned areas of responsibility on a rotating basis. This rotation allows for sergeants to have a holistic understanding of the functions of the police department and allocate resources accordingly. When the LLPD had an authorized strength of 27 officers, patrol officers were assigned to a Problem Response Team (PRT). Officers who volunteered for this assignment did not receive investigator pay and were allowed to shift their schedules outside of the normal labor agreement. This team allowed for a cost effective way to address problems in a patrol or investigative capacity. Current staffing levels do not allow for officers to be used in this capacity. While our policing philosophy and department structure have allowed the Lino Lakes Police Department to be successful in the past, the increasing complexity of crime, increasing population, and development plans that increase Lino Lakes' exposure are pushing current resources to a tipping point where investment will have to be made in either overtime or additional personnel.