Consolidating Agencies (3)

[me again]

The Wave of the Future: Regional Policing
In Pennsylvania, three different police departments consolidated to become one agency. The three police chiefs became captains and a new chief was hired after an extensive search. If you want to read more about it, then click here.

[FlaLaw]

I am not sure if this is the best way to Police. What happens is like what is happening in south florida serveral cities in Broward County have contracted with the sheriff for police service. The cops normally like it, bigger agency, more opportunities, and a take home car. but the cities loose the "personal" police service. Cops assigned in one district get pulled to other areas and crime occurs while they are gone. A cop wont leave his city unless it is a major thing. But once you're county wide they leave for minor calls or get pulled which leaves the contracting city holding the bag. In the case you described I was unable to view the news report but, from your post I noticed they are hiring a chief looks like they're already increasing the budget because I know down here a chief can be the salary or 2 or 3 cops.

[me again]

Yeaa, you make some valid points. The small town cop is usually very faithful to his small jurisdiction. When we become a large agency, we lose that unique small town amtosphere. From what the article said, they will save about $100,000 per year, even with the hiring of the chief.

As America becomes urbanized, policing will continue to change. In the old days, when you left the city limit, you were suddenly in the woods or were in a rural area that was under populated. Things are changing today and in many places, when you leave the city limit, you can't tell because the unincorporated area is built-out. This is very different than 50 years ago.

While my father and many others are in favor of the small-town police department, I do not think that they are the wave of the future. Rather, I think that they are a luxury of the present and the past.

The wave of the future will probably be regional policing in geographical areas consisting of several counties. Regional agencies currently do not exist in the United States. In the interim, you'll continue to see more countywide consolidations. It's something to think about.


[This message has been edited by me again (edited 06-24-2001).]

[Delta_V]

From the point of view of a future applicant, I will say that larger departments are much more appealing to me. While I'm sure that the small agencies will still get applicants, but for someone who has ambition, the advancement opportunities in larger departments make them more desireable. I also would like the opportunity to be on special units and task forces that smaller departments don't have.

Take Metro Vegas PD as an example. They have a jurisdiction of over 2000 square miles (roughly the size of Rhode Island). With over 2600 sworn personnel, you have the opportunity to do many things in that department that you couldn't do in a 5 man agency.

I guess different people want different things in LE jobs, so for some a small department is ideal. It's not for me though.