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Police Operations and Data Analysis Report, Morgan Hill, California
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Section 4. Special Operations Division
Special Operations
The Special Operations Division is charged with the investigation of major crime as well as other
cases as determined by their specialization. The Special Operations Division does an excellent job
and should be commended for its efforts. Several opportunities for improvement are offered to
improve an already high-performing unit.
The unit is staffed with one sergeant, one corporal, six detectives, and one school resource officer.
Three of the detectives are assigned to regional task forces (see below), the corporal is assigned as
the liaison with the hotel/motel industry and as well as handles property crimes; one detective is
responsible for “person” crime investigations (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault); one
detective is assigned to investigate domestic violence cases; and one detective is assigned as the
street crime/gang investigator. Personnel are assigned to work various combinations of shifts,
generally covering Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Given the small number of
personnel and the scope of crime in Morgan Hill, this appears to be an appropriate work schedule
for this unit.
Case management in the MHPD is unique. The department relies on an integrated approach relying
on both patrol officers and detectives to investigate crime occurrences. Crimes are first reported to
officers on patrol. Patrol officers are encouraged and responsible for conducting follow-up
investigations on a wide variety of complaints. If the case is too complex or requires additional time
and personnel, the case is assigned to an investigator. This determination is made on a case-by-case
basis, usually through conferral between patrol and detectives, as well as formal case review by the
detective sergeant. It is estimated that more than three-quarters of all criminal investigations are
handled by patrol or closed without needing any follow-up.
Cases forwarded to the Special Operations Division for investigation are first evaluated by the
sergeant. If the sergeant determines the case is appropriate for investigation by the Special
Operations Division detectives the case will be assigned generally by specialty (DV to the DV
detective, property crime to the property crime detective, etc.). There is no formal use of
“solvability” factors and no rigorous tracking of caseloads or assignments. Generally, the lack of
these two basic measures of case management would be problematic, and the department would
experience low clearance rates and high crime. Neither of these situations exists.
The MHPD enjoys high clearance rates for reported crimes. The clearance rate is the relationship
between reported crimes and persons arrested for those crimes. It is an important measure of the
overall effectiveness of a police department and an important measure of the performance of an
investigative unit in a police department. According to the FBI UCR program, a law enforcement
agency reports that an offense is cleared by arrest or solved for crime-reporting purposes when
three specific conditions have been met: 1) at least one person has been arrested, 2) the person has
been charged with the commission of the offense, and 3) the person has been turned over to the
court for prosecution (whether following arrest, court summons, or police notice).