Recently, I had the privilege of presenting to a medium size county sheriff office’s command retreat. At this retreat, they were discussing the revising of their mission statement, core values and projecting the next year's budget. What was particularly refreshing were their sergeants, lieutenants, captains and majors present. Each major division and representatives of specialized units had a seat at the table. So, what was so refreshing about this? All too often some command staffs just create these products and send them down from the mountain without any injects or insights from those who are delivering the services and doing the real work.
Many years ago, there was always talk of vertical staff meetings and even the horizontal staff meetings and for those of you unfamiliar with these, I will explain. The typical horizontal staff meeting would be those of same rank from across all the divisions for instance all the division heads or precinct head would be present. Many years ago, some people started the idea of vertical staff meetings of having representatives of each rank represented within the agency. So, a corporal could set into table with the majors. Now due to the size of operations and the number of people in the meeting sometimes this got limited or people were hand selected and oftentimes the vertical ones did not work well. But the concept of having division leaders and all the supervisors within those units represented for this type of work was particularly interesting. Because oftentimes a commander does not know what forensics, canine operations, jail management, versus courtroom security does daily. No, it is not necessary for a commander to understand the finer intricacies of every job description. But having those who are there performing it daily is particularly helpful. I have often said, those who are closest to the problem will know the solution. There is no way a chief of police can sit in their ivory tower and tell a patrol officer how to deal with a particular issue. Those that work that beat every day will know and understand what it is going to take.
What I found particularly interesting was the review of the budget. There is not a section chief worth their salt that does not want the latest gadget or accessory for their unit. But so oftentimes they do not understand the bigger picture of where this is going to fit in. Oftentimes we do not know the longevity of a product. We all know a data terminal, police fleets and even firearms have life spans. But before you replace the outdated item, are there any projections on updated versions of it? A better widget out there? When we walked away that afternoon, we had a better understanding of what everybody was doing and what their “wants versus needs” were.
One of the biggest items that impact a police budget is personnel. I asked them to tell me how much it's going to cost to recruit, hire, train, equip and finally make a deputy roadworthy? This process can often take up to two years. So, when we talked about recruiting and retention strategies it was couched a different way. I ask the tactical team leaders if there were any new items that they felt that their tactical team should need? Of course, they had a laundry list of everything that was nicky-neat, painted tactical black, and very tactical-cool. However, it would not fit into the budget. I then asked of all of them, do they do their due diligence in maintaining retention of quality employees rather than letting one walk off? They had to see that lack of retention and turnover of staff creates a deficit spending. There are savings here which affords the new and improved tools.
While revisiting their mission statement and their core values, I only asked one question of them. Does their core values and mission statement mention the word employees? As I read these plaques on the wall, I always say that they are responding to the citizens and businesses and sometimes even the political entity itself, but there is no mention of the employee. I offered them Richard Branson’s quote of "Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients." After them reading this slide, I encouraged them to include themselves in the mission statement and core values.
So why was staff attending a budget meeting this important? My next question was regarding how many were eligible for retirement within the next three years? There were several hands going up. And then I asked within five years, and finally, 10 years? By then, the entire entourage had their hands in the air. That day, they were setting the course for this agency for the next 5 to 10 years. Having the newest promoted sergeant present, who within probably five years will be the next lieutenant or maybe even higher, it was important for them to help build the foundation for the future. Years ago, I was attending a budgeting class where we were told to prepare a budget for the next three years, then from that prepare for the next five years. Everybody looked and said we cannot produce this, but there are some things you can produce. There will always be certain reoccurring costs. You can program, predict, and prepare for replacing the fleet and technology. So, you know three years from now this is going to be a foreseeable expenditure, even though you do not know what the price may be, you add it in. We always tend to plan to the end of the current budget. We need to be open to planning into the future. Learn from our historical and current budgets in preparing for the future budgets. The budget of the future needs to be adaptive because tax dollar income and demands are ever changing. As a chief or sheriff, you are defending your budget before your respective legislative body, those who hold the purse strings. It will be refreshing for them to know that this agency is planning into the future. Take the lead! For I will tell you many other municipal government sections, be it personnel, highways or water treatment often do not. They plan the way they have always done it, the yearly cycle. Your department’s future planning insurers that you are ready. To me this exemplifies that you know how to be the guardian of public money.
About the Author
William L. "Bill" Harvey is a U.S. Army Military Police Corps veteran. He has a BA in criminology from St. Leo University and is a graduate of the Southern Police Institute of the University of Louisville (103rd AOC). Harvey served for over 23 years with the Savannah (GA) Police Department in field operations, investigations and completed his career as the director of training. Served as the chief of police of the Lebanon City Police Dept (PA) for over seven years and then ten years as Chief of Police for the Ephrata Police Dept (PA). He continues to publish for professional periodicals and train. He is on the advisory board of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association.
William L. Harvey | Chief
William L. "Bill" Harvey is a U.S. Army Military Police Corps veteran. He has a BA in criminology from St. Leo University and is a graduate of the Southern Police Institute of the University of Louisville (103rd AOC). Harvey served for over 23 years with the Savannah (GA) Police Department in field operations, investigations and completed his career as the director of training. Served as the chief of police of the Lebanon City Police Dept (PA) for over seven years and then ten years as Chief of Police for the Ephrata Police Dept (PA). In retirement he continues to publish for professional periodicals and train.
