Lost Property Vandalism Vandalism of a Vehicle Auto Burglary Telephone Harassment In our view APD could do more to increase the use on citizen self reports. First, the department should ensure that the web-based system mirrors the TRU. Second, the department should examine the policy and procedure that is used to screen TRU calls. We were informed by a number of members of the organization that TRU call takers often refuse to take a report claiming they cannot take a report when the suspect is known. This occurs even when the victim provides the scantest of suspect information. Ironically, the criteria for this parameter for self-reporting on-line is “You know who committed the crime.” This is a much more reasonable standard. One additional advantage to the on-line approach is that the victim receives a report number immediately and prints a copy of a report. This is better for citizens and reduces demand on the records division. We recommend that the department transition away from a telephone system to a web-based system. Operations Support Staffing This section of the report examines the assignment and utilization of resources currently committed to specialized within the department. When analyzing the staffing for specialized or support units, it is important to note that there is no universally accepted “one size fits all” formula for police departments. Rather, the evaluation must be based on a number of factors such as: The agency’s policing philosophy The agency’s policies and procedures defining the roles and responsibilities of support units The availability of alternative resources to provide equivalent services currently being provided by the support and specialized units The effectiveness of the support and specialized Community expectations City and police department budgets and resources Collective bargaining agreements Investigative Bureau A deputy leads the investigative bureau. There are five divisions in the bureau: Special Investigations
original offense report and all related documents to the assigned detective by the end of shift.” During our interviews several senior level managers gave differing interpretations of which unit (Investigative Bureau of Area Commands) had the primary responsibility for follow-up. It is interesting to note that the decision about who will be assigned to follow up a case lies with FSB, and that it is incumbent upon FSB to forward cases to the appropriate unit for follow-up. We were told that on occasion this does not occur in a timely manner. That is, sometimes a case has not been forwarded to investigators and they only learn about it later when they are reviewing cases in the information management system. Not only is there some uncertainty about how cases are assigned to specialized units, there is no policy that describes how cases are assigned to detectives for follow-up, nor is there any policy or procedure to manage the timely completion of investigations. The department does not use a formal system of case management based on solvability or seriousness, a strategy widely employed in agencies across the country. Another remarkable aspect of the Investigative Bureau is that a very small fraction of the detectives work at night or weekends. Moreover, there is relatively little use of detectives assigned to one division to support the work of another. Special Investigation Division The SID has sections each headed by a lieutenant: Career Criminal Section Gangs (1 sergeant, detectives) Criminal Intelligence Unit (1 sergeant, 3 detectives) Joint Terrorism Task Force (1 detective) Investigative Support (1 sergeant, 5 detectives) Narcotics Central Narcotics (1 sergeant, 7 detectives) Meth Unit (1 csa., 1 detectives) Vice (1 sergeant, 3 detectives) Air Support (1 sergeant, 4 police officers) HIDTA FBI Safe Streets (2 detectives) DEA Task Force (3 detectives) HIDTA Region 1 (3 (non-sworn) HIS Task Force (1 sergeant, 3 K-9 officers Most of the activity performed by these units is proactive in nature, and is based either on intelligence information, citizen complaints, or projects conducted in cooperation with area commands. There is a high degree of cooperation and collaboration with federal law enforcement agencies.