I am in the first phase of developing a new public safety master plan. The old one was done in 1987 and never updated. The old plan established a standard of 115 sq. ft. per officer as a way to determine the need for a new police station. Are there any up-to-date planning standards available to determine the need for additonal police stations. Our police operate on a district level organization, we presently have 6 districts and 1300 officers.
Police planning standards
- Thread starter chrisinmd
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Chet
Cyburbian Emeritus
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Most level of service standards I've seen are population base - to # offiers or incident base- to # offiers, not sq ft of safety building per officer. I doubt you'll find a one size fits all approach here.
That said, there are two noteworthy examples I know of on the web. Check out:
Missoula Montana
and
Issaqua Washington
Let us know what else you find!
That said, there are two noteworthy examples I know of on the web. Check out:
Missoula Montana
and
Issaqua Washington
Let us know what else you find!
Cardinal
Cyburbian
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I'd agree with Chet's approach. Base it on population (and population characteristics) or on incidents. With innovative approaches to policing and various design solutions, a square foot approach just isn't very efficient. That said, our planning is budget-based. How much can we continue to cut the city's budget before having to lay off police officers?
Is that 6-stations, 1300-officer figure for the whole of PG County? And I'm going to chime in my agreement with Chet and Cardinal that population and incidents/crime rate--in short, need for more officers--is a much more sensible basis for deciding on whether to build new stations than crowding at existing stations.
Replys
These standards were developed 15 years ago and no one has done anything since. We have two new stations in the county, both have ample space. We also have some serious crime problems in certain parts of the county, so there is an unequal distribution of offiers here, with more being assigned to those areas with the most problems. We also do APF for police based on station space, which has nothing to do with how the service is being provided. This plan is looking at Districts, beats and how best to assign personnel in the county, as well as the existing facilities and what new facilities are necessary.
These standards were developed 15 years ago and no one has done anything since. We have two new stations in the county, both have ample space. We also have some serious crime problems in certain parts of the county, so there is an unequal distribution of offiers here, with more being assigned to those areas with the most problems. We also do APF for police based on station space, which has nothing to do with how the service is being provided. This plan is looking at Districts, beats and how best to assign personnel in the county, as well as the existing facilities and what new facilities are necessary.