170 / 260
Police Operations and Data Analysis Report, Morgan Hill, California
32
are some spikes that break the 60 percent threshold, the large majority of the days and times
feature manageable workloads.
In its totality, however, the patrol shift schedule in the MHPD should be sound. Officers should be
given the opportunity to enjoy extended periods of time on a particular shift. Given the availability
of resources, the other elements of the current schedule, including time off each cycle, are sound
and appear to meet the needs of the department. Alternatives can be developed to accommodate
training needs (discussed in the training section of this report) without dismantling the current
shift plan.
Recommendations:
Empanel a calls for service (CFS) committee to evaluate service demands and attempt to
reduce and/or eliminate the number of nonemergency responses.
Maintain the current patrol shift schedule and continue to utilize 12-hour tours for patrol.
Examine the reasons for, and seek to minimize, the excessive time spent by patrol officers
on out-of-service tasks.
Add one sergeant position to Field Operations for coordinating administrative and planning
efforts.
Spatial Representation of CFS Demand
The figures presented previously (Figures 3-1 through 3-8) provide a thorough examination of the
service demands placed on the Morgan Hill Police Department during different times of the day and
week. In addition to these “temporal” demands, it is also possible to illustrate the “spatial” demands
on the MHPD. An examination of the spatial demands permits the exploration of where incidents
are occurring.
As can be seen in Figures 3-9 and 3-10, there are several distinct incident “hot spots” in Morgan Hill.
It is clear that retail, commercial, and traffic conditions along a central corridor command a great
deal of attention from the MHPD. There are numerous discernable hot spots in this area, as well as
sizeable concentrations of CFS in other retail and commercial locations throughout the city. This
comes as no surprise, as these areas are vibrant and well-traveled part of the community and
presumably would demand a large share of attention from the police department.
Each one of the actual “hot spots” in the community should be the focus of a specific and targeted
strategy that aims to eliminate, or drastically reduce, the conditions contributing to police service
demands present at those locations. Undoubtedly, these locations receive the lion’s share of
attention from patrol officers in the department, and consideration should be given to formulating a
deliberate plan to deal with these locations in a proactive fashion. For example, the MHPD could
work with private security at shopping centers to minimize theft, which would minimize the
demand placed on patrol resources. Similarly, the department could work with the commercial
establishments in the city to regulate activities more aggressively. Also, consideration should be
given to deploying personnel, or some other specified resource, to deal specifically with CFS