The Allocation Model for Patrol (AMP) software program

1. Projects the total number of officers needed for efficient patrol operations
2. Considers 28 variables to determine that number (13 dictated by the department's goals and policies)
3. Provides a defensible argument for patrol staffing levels based on objective, quantified analysis of the 28 variables
4. Allows for multiple projected scenarios by varying target measurements such as response time and patrol visibility
5. Is based in user-friendly MS Excel^©

 

 

Imagine a software program that can tell you how many officers you need to get a 3 minute response time for Priority 1 calls.  Imagine a software program that can tell you how many officers are required for a given level of proactive patrol.  Imagine AMP, an easy-to-use system that provides you with the ability to calculate these factors, plus dozens more, for your department based on your performance goals.  Imagine using AMP tomorrow for your City Council meeting next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AMP Overview

History and Concept

Variables Used in AMP

Policy Decisions

The Allocation Model for Patrol (AMP) determines the number of officers you need to assign to patrol based on your performance objectives. AMP first determines the number of officers needed to answer calls for service and then builds upon that to ensure that enough officers are assigned to guarantee you meet performance objectives.  There are four primary performance objectives in this model:

 

• Visibility of officers – The public, as they carry out their daily activities, like to see police officers.  It is important for the police to be visible in order to make citizens feel safe and deter potential criminal activity. Therefore, AMP sets visibility objectives for patrol and determines how many officers need to be assigned to patrol to meet them.
  
  
• Meeting response time goals for Priority 1 calls – It is crucial for officers to be able to respond quickly to a Priority 1 call.  Therefore, AMP takes into account the number of officers that need to be assigned to patrol in order to meet the department’s response time goal for Priority 1 calls.
  
  
• Meeting response time goals for Priority 2 calls – It is also important for officers to be able to respond to Priority 2 calls in a timely manner to prevent the situation from escalating and to maintain citizen satisfaction. Therefore, AMP takes into account the number of officers needed to meet response time goals for Priority 2 calls.
  
  
• Having an officer immediately available for Priority 1 calls – You must have officers immediately available who can respond to a Priority 1 call for service.  If all on-duty officers are busy on other calls for service and activities, then responses to Priority 1 calls are delayed. Therefore, a performance objective is set in AMP for the percentage of Priority 1 calls where there should be at least one officer available to respond.

 

This model also takes into account additional performance objectives that are set by you.  First, officers are expected to spend a certain percentage of their on-duty time performing self-initiated or directed patrol activities such as enforcing traffic violations, stopping suspicious persons, and patrolling locations known for criminal activity.  Second, officers spend a certain percentage of their time on administrative activities: training, court time, meal breaks, and tending to their patrol vehicles.  The model takes these additional activities performed by officers into account when determining the number of officers that need to be assigned to patrol.

 

AMP is derived from the Patrol Allocation Model (PAM), created in 1993 by The Traffic Institute – Northwestern University for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  Prior to publication, AMP was field tested in the following 12 cities:

 

 

The PAM model takes into account multiple variables.  Models that look at only one or a few variables such as police-citizen ratios are too simplistic to get an accurate prediction of the number of officers required.  A state of the art model accounts for variables such as calls for service, officer-initiated activities, expectations for time to handle call, and leave rate (vacation, training, sick time, etc.).  It also adds additional variables in the calculations such as roadway miles, average patrol speed, patrol interval performance objective, and frequency of 2 officer units.  PAM is the most recently published model on patrol allocation.  The majority of allocation models used in patrol allocation were developed in the 1960s and 1970s.  However, the model was not “computerized”.

 

In computerizing PAM, Justex utilized data from the Fort Worth Police Department, as well as data from the field test cities used in 1993 for the model’s development.  Data used from FWPD was obtained in 1999.  AMP was used to develop patrol staffing levels for all four Fort Worth PD field operations divisions.

 

  

AMP Overview

History and Concept

Variables Used in AMP

Policy Decisions

There are 26 variables that are taken into account in this model.  The following variables are used in the model:

 

Calls for Service

1. Total number of calls for service handled by each division
2. Average service time (hours) per call for service (includes back-up units)
3. Total number of days in the workload sample period (in this case, one year)
4. Shift length

Performance Objectives

1. Patrol interval performance objective (hours), arterial roadways – Policy Decision
2. Patrol interval performance objective (hours), residential roadways – Policy Decision
3. Response time objective for Priority 1 calls – Policy Decision
4. Response time objective for Priority 2 calls – Policy Decision
5. Percentage of Priority 1 calls for which there will be at least one officer available – Policy Decision

Patrol Visibility Variables

1. Number of miles, arterial roadways by division
2. Average patrol speed (MPH), arterial roadways
3. Number of miles, residential roadways by division
4. Average patrol speed (MPH), residential roadways

 

Response Time Variables

1. Area (square miles) by division
2. Average response speed (MPH) for emergency activities
3. Average response speed (MPH) for non-emergency activities

 

Immediate Availability Variables

1. Percentage of calls for service that cannot be preempted – Policy Decision
2. Percentage of administrative activities that cannot be preempted – Policy Decision
3. Percentage of self-initiated/directed patrol activities that cannot be preempted – Policy Decision

Additional Variables

1. Weights assigned to patrol visibility and response times – Policy Decision
2. Administrative time in minutes per hour per officer – Policy Decision
3. Self-initiated/directed patrol time in minutes per hour per officer – Policy Decision
4. Unrecoverable patrol time in minutes per hour per officer
5. Percentage of time patrol units are staffed with two officers
6. Average work week (hours)
7. Leave rate per officer (vacations, holidays, sick leave, training)

 

 

AMP Overview

History and Concept

Variables Used in AMP

Policy Decisions

Policy Decisions Used in the Allocation Model for Patrol

 

Out of the 26 variables used in the model, 13 can be considered policy decisions.  Administrators set values for these variables for use in the model, and they can be modified as policies change.

 

1)      Patrol interval performance objective (hours), arterial roadways-

This policy decision is based on the answer to the question, how often should a patrol officer pass any given point on an arterial roadway?  Basically, if a person was to stand on an arterial roadway, how often should they see a patrol officer? 

 

2)      Patrol interval performance objective (hours), residential roadways-  

This policy decision is based on the answer to the question, how often should a patrol officer pass any given point on a residential roadway?  Basically, if a person was to stand on a residential roadway, how often should they see a patrol officer? 

 

3)      Response time objective for Priority 1 calls-

The response time goal for Priority 1 calls is set by the police department.  For illustration in the tables, the Police Department has set its response time goal for Priority 1 calls at 6.5 minutes.

 

4)      Response time objective for Priority 2 calls-

The response time goal for Priority 2 calls is also set by the police department.  For illustration in the tables, the Police Department has set its response time goal for Priority 2 calls at 15 minutes.

 

5)      Percentage of Priority 1 calls for which there will be at least one officer available-

This policy decision is based on the answer to the question, for what percentage of Priority 1 calls should there be at least one officer available to respond?  Since Priority 1 calls are potentially life-threatening emergencies, the percentage set for this policy decision is typically high.

 

6)      Percentage of calls for service that cannot be preempted-

It is assumed that there are occasions when an officer who is on another call for service can clear that call and respond to a Priority 1 call.  When the officer is finished responding to the Priority 1 call, then the officer can return to the previous call.  Therefore, a certain percentage of calls for service can be preempted if an officer is needed to respond to a Priority 1 call for service.  On the other hand, it is argued that some calls for service cannot or should not be preempted because of the severity of the call for service or because of citizen satisfaction reasons.  Therefore, the percentage of calls for service that cannot be preempted is generally set fairly high. This is a policy decision that needs to be made by the police department. 

 

7)      Percentage of administrative activities that cannot be preempted-

Likewise, it is assumed that many administrative activities can be preempted in order to respond to a Priority 1 call for service.  Administrative activities generally include meal breaks, other breaks, vehicle maintenance, and court time.  Therefore, the percentage of administrative activities that cannot be preempted is generally set fairly low.  This is a policy decision that needs to be made by the police department. 

 

8)      Percentage of self-initiated/directed patrol activities that cannot be preempted-  

In addition, it is assumed that a certain percentage of self-initiated/directed patrol activities can be preempted if an officer is needed to respond to a Priority 1 call for service. 

 

9)      Weights assigned to patrol visibility and response times-

This model focuses on four primary performance objectives: visibility of officers, ability to meet response time goals for Priority 1 calls, ability to meet response time goals for Priority 2 calls, and availability of an officer to immediately respond to a Priority 1 call.  By weighting the performance objectives, policymakers can decide which of the performance objectives is most important.  For example, a policymaker could decide that meeting response time goals for priority 1 calls is the most important performance objective in their jurisdiction.  The policymaker could then weight this performance objective higher than the others.  As an example, the policymaker could weight the performance objective on response time to priority 1 calls as 0.7 and the other three objectives at 0.1 each.  If this occurs, then response time to priority 1 calls holds more weight in determining the number of officers that need to be assigned to patrol.  In another jurisdiction, a policymaker could decide that each of the performance objectives is equally important and thus should carry the same weight in determining the number of officers that need to be assigned to patrol (0.25 each).

 

10)    Administrative time in minutes per hour per officer-

Administrative time can include meal breaks, other breaks, vehicle maintenance, court time, as well as other administrative activities.  This policy decision is based on the answer to the question, how many minutes per hour should an officer spend on administrative activities? 

 

11)    Self-initiated/directed patrol time in minutes per hour per officer-

The self-initiated/directed patrol time includes time in which an officer can target “hot spots”, stop suspicious individuals, make traffic stops, as well as other activities.  This policy decision is based on the answer to the question, how many minutes per hour should an officer spend on self-initiated/directed patrol activities? 

 

12)    Unrecoverable patrol time in minutes per hour per officer-

AMP recognizes that some patrol time is unrecoverable. In other words, the time period is too short to increase visibility, to perform a directed patrol activity, or to conduct an administrative activity. This includes short periods of time between the clearing of one call and the receiving of another.   For example, it is common for an officer to clear a call and receive another within a few minutes.  In this example, there is not enough time between calls for the officer to have time to meet the performance objectives set.  This objective also includes occasions such as when an officer is stuck in traffic.

 

13)     Percentage of time patrol units are staffed with two officers-

AMP makes an adjustment for the percentage of time patrol units are staffed with two officers.  Two officer units do reduce the need for back-up units to certain calls for service, but two officer units are not twice as capable of meeting the performance objectives as one officer units (for example, officer visibility or response time). The value set for this variable is a policy decision because the department can set the percentage of time it is acceptable to have two officer units.  Note that even in agencies that deploy 100% one officer units, there will often be two officer units deployed for field training of recruits.

 

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