Some thoughts on a vehicle allocation policy of the police force

Nov 07, 2015 Letters

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Dear Editor,
In a country with a population of around 750,000 served by a police force spread throughout the ten administrative regions in seven policing divisions, traditional and non-traditional policing initiatives are being experienced in several communities.  However, among the principal aggravations which communities have complained of over time, is the alleged failure of the police to respond to calls for assistance in what may be considered a timely fashion.  The recently reported unavailability of a police vehicle to pursue armed bandits makes the case at this time for a determination of what acceptable police response times to emergencies should be.
The determination of patrol vehicle allocation traditionally has been based on subjective methods, however when patrols are deployed based upon analysis of workload demands, vehicle acquisition and maintenance costs can be reduced.  Obviously this could have implications for the allocation of additional mobile resources or reallocation of existing resources for improved police services.  To determine how best to adequately provide the police with the optimal numbers and types of vehicles where they are best needed to be, and how best to use them to provide effective and efficient service in protecting communities should be the objective of an operational efficiency audit of police vehicles.  The focus of an efficiency audit could be inter alia determining whether there is an: (i). efficient system in place governing the acquisition of vehicles; (ii). effective repair and maintenance function; (iii). effective system that manages the use of fuel by the fleet; and (iv). effective control mechanism that guides the operations of fleet vehicles.
Editor, if a police service does not prepare regular operational efficiency reports based upon regular evaluation of the operational efficiency of its fleet several things are likely to occur.  The organization will be unable to develop an information system that allows management to readily monitor trends such as: working strength of its fleet; efficiency of repair function; availability of fleet; fleet performance and effectiveness of its repair and maintenance functions.
Therefore, an examination of the internal and external environments of a police force can identify the possible factors that could inhibit or retard the realization of an optimum vehicle strength and allocation for the organisation. Among the internal inhibiting factors are; the absence of an efficient database system, to serve as a monitoring mechanism for the life of each vehicle, the absence of an efficient vehicle utilization system to regulate and administer the use of vehicles, and the absence of an effective vehicle maintenance system to facilitate prompt and efficient vehicle maintenance scheduling.
Achieving optimum vehicle strength and allocation in police forces is also plagued by several external challenges.  The unsuitability of the vehicles for the terrain that they are required to traverse considerably reduces the life of the vehicles.  Coupled with this is the lag in adding to or replenishing the stock of vehicles and the associated cost.  Further, the unpredictability of local economic and political conditions, within the context of similar global conditions, places a considerable amount of restrictions on arriving at a realistic prediction regarding the vehicle situation of an organisation. To meet increased demands upon its services the police are expected to introduce an efficient patrol allocation model that is geared towards minimizing the cost to society and the cost of crime prevention strategies.
The development of a vehicle allocation strategy can better equip the police to provide an improved level of sustainable community service utilizing an organisation-wide efficient vehicle allocation model having regard to the several policy support factors including (i) calls for service including information on the amount of time consumed per call for assistance; (ii) patrol visibility variables including number of times community residents see the patrol to feel safe and to deter criminal activity; (iii) response time variables including targeted response time to calls for assistance based upon specific locality demands; (iv) immediate availability variables give consideration to calls and activities which cannot be preempted and (v) performance measures for monitoring and evaluation including actual against desired patrol intervals and actual and desired types and models of vehicles.  Additionally the formulation of a comprehensive fleet management policy can serve to establish guidelines for the acquisition, disposal, maintenance and general use of police vehicles and drive the implementation of the various functions in the policy.
Patrick E. Mentore

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