Developing an Aggregate Capacity Plan free essay sample

With the rising demands of a successful football pro gram, the campus police chief at Southwestern nun varsity,John Swearing, wants to develop a 2-year plan that involves a request for additional resources. The SSW department currently has 26 sworn off Ceres. The size of the force has not changed over the past 15 years, but the following changes have prompted the chief to seek more resources: ; The size of the athletic program, especially foot ball, has increased. ; The college has expanded geographically, with some new research facilities and laboratories now miles away from the main campus. Traffic and parking problems have increased. ; More portable, expensive computers with high theft potential are dispersed across the campus. ; Alcohol and drug problems have increased . ; The size of the surrounding community has duo bled. ; The police need to spend more time on education and prevention programs. The college is located in Stephanie, Texas, a small town about 30 miles southwest of the Dallas/Forth Worth metronome. During the summer months, the SST dent population is around 5,000. This number swells to 20,000 during fall and spring semesters. Thus demand for police and other services Is significantly lower dour Inning the summer months. Demand for police services also varies by ; ; ; to Time of day (peak time is between 10 P. M. And 2 A. M. ). Day of the week (weekends are the busiest) . Weekend of the year (on football weekends, 50. 000 extra people come campus). Special events (check-Len. Checkout. Commence meet). Football weekends are especially difficult to staff. Extra police services are typically needed from 8:00 A. M. To 5:00 P. M. On five football Saturdays, All 26 officers are called In to work double shifts.Over 40 law enforcement officers from surrounding locations are paid to come in on their own time, and a dozen state police lend a hand free of charge (when available). Twenty-five students and local residents are paid to work traffic and parking. During the last academic year (a 9-month period), overtime payments to campus police officers totaled over $120,000. Other relevant data include the following: ; The average starting salary for a police office is $28,000. ; Work-study and part-time students and local residents who help with traffic and parking are paid $9. 0 an hour. Overtime Is paid to police officers who work over 40 hours a week at the rate of $18 an hour. Extra officers who are hired part time from outside agencies also earn $18. 00 an hour. ; There seems to be an unlimited supply of offices who will work for the college when needed for special events. With days off, vacations, and average sick leave considered, it takes five persons to cover one 24-hour, 7-day-a- week position. , The schedule of officers during fall and spring semesters is: weekdays First shift (7 A.M. -3 P. M. ) second shift (3 p. M. -al P. M. ) Third shift (II p. M. -7 A. M. ) 5 5 6 weekend 4 68 Staffing for football weekends and special events. Addition to the preceding schedule. Summer staffing is on average, half that shown. Swearing thinks that his present staff is stretched to the limit. Fatigued officers are potential problems for the aside for crime prevention. Safety, or health programs. Interactions of police officers with students, faculty, and staff are minimal and usually negative in nature.In light of these problems, the chief would like to request funding for four additional officers, two assigned to new programs and two to alleviate the overload on his current staff. He would also like to begin limiting overtime to 10 hours per week for each officer. Discussion Questions 1 . Which variations in demand for police services should be considered in an aggregate plan for re sources? Which variations can be accomplished with short-ten scheduling adjustments? 2. Evaluate the current staffing plan. What does it cost? Are 26 officers sufficient to handle temporal workload? . What would be the additional cost of the chiefs proposal? How would you suggest that he Justify his request? 4. How much does it currently cost the college to pro vide police services for football games? What would be the pros and cons of completely subcontracting this work to outside law enforcement agencies? 5. Propose other alternatives. THE ANSWER OF CASE STUDY This case provides the student with quantitative information to develop an aggregate capacity plan. But. As often occurs in services, demand is so variable that there are not many viable staffing alternatives.Students may also be frustrated by the lack of detailed data on the nature of service demand and the resources required to meet demand. Even with these drawbacks, the student should be able to gain insight into the aggregate planning problem and help the hive Justify his personnel requests. Students may want to talk with the police department at their own university to see how it handles similar problems. 1. Which variations in demand for police services should be considered in an aggregate plan for resources? Which variations can be handled with short-term scheduling adjustments?An aggregate plan should set full-time staffing levels; estimate pan- time and overtime needs for budget purposes; determine times of the year for training, vacations, and other nonessential duties; and establish an agreed-upon level of police services for the university community (I. . , What role is the police officer to play? What response time to calls for service is appropriate? What services should be provided? ). Short-term scheduling adjustments can be made for different days of the week. , shifts, and special events. 2. Evaluate the current staffing plan. What does it cost? Are 26 officers sufficient to handle the normal workload? In what terms would you define capacity for the department? What additional information do you need to determine capacity requirements? Capacity would probably be expressed in terms of man-hours available. To determine what capacity is required, we need information on the numbers of calls for service. , types of calls, how long it takes to service different types of calls, patrol expectations, and other duties such as escort services.