HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC AG PKT 2005-02-14 #P AGENDA REPORT
DATE: February 14, 2005
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
THRU: John B. Bahorski, City Manager
FROM: Michael F. Sellers, Chief of Police
SUBJECT: Upgrade of Existing Sworn Position to Police Sergeant
SUMMARY OF REQUEST:
It is requested that Council authorize upgrading of an existing peace officer position to the
rank of sergeant in order to assign an experienced sergeant to the existing Operations
Administrative position currently designated for Corporals.
BACKGROUND:
On June 26, 2004 the City Council adopted the recommendations made by Organization
Effectiveness Consulting (O.E.C.) regarding the Police Services Study. The study
recommended assigning a Corporal to Operations to assist the Police Captain. After careful
review of the scope of this assignment, it is recommended that this position be changed to a
Police Sergeant.
The individual assigned to this position will be working on sensitive administrative matters
such as citizen complaints, Civil Service Commission liaison and special event
coordination. A Sergeant would be better prepared than ,a Corporal to represent the City in
these matters.
Additionally, over the next several years our disaster response planning will be
incorporating components of local, state and federal Urban Security Initiative issues which
Lieutenants typically handle in most police agencies. Since there is no longer a Lieutenant
classification, this responsibility should fall to an experienced Sergeant.
Assigning an experienced Sergeant to this capacity will provide additional flexibility during
major incidents. Examples of such need occurring within the past year include: five fatal
traffic accident scenes, an air crash into a residential area and multiple crime scenes in Old
Town surrounding the most recent gang shooting. Each of these incident required the
involvement of more than one Sergeant. Add to this, the absence of management oversight
due to both division commander vacancies and the need to assign a Sergeant becomes more
apparent.
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Agenda Item /
Agenda Report - 2 - February 14, 2005
Upgrade of Existing Sworn Position to Police Sergeant
Over the past three years, the Department reduced the available Sergeants from seven to
five, but the supervision responsibilities related to technology implementation, coordination
of mandated and essential training for all personnel, review of citizen complaints, special
problems, staffing and recruitment oversight have not diminished. Seal Beach Police
Department is still expected to liaise with local and federal programs involving the
coordination of terrorism response preparation. The rank of Corporal serving in this
capacity simply does not have the necessary position power, skill sets or echelon access to
effectively accomplish the tasks asked of this assignment.
Finally, the Police Services Study noted that if the Fire Authority does not offer local
emergency service coordination, then this responsibility should be placed in the Police
Department. Staff recently learned that the Fire Authority is limited to assisting in the first
response of disasters, but not the coordination of such programs. Thus such responsibility
will be supervised by Police operations employees assigned to this position.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The estimated cost increase for this request will range between $22,873 and $32,892
annually depending on the current rank of the individual promoted to backfill the
experienced Sergeant assigned to the Operations Administrative position.
RECOMMENDATION:
Without increasing the number of sworn personnel, upgrade an existing swom position to
the rank of Sergeant and authorize the Police Department to assign an experienced field
Sergeant to the Operations Administrative position previously designated for the rank of
Corporal.
7' (1
Michael F. Sellers, Chief of Police
N • ED a D APPR D:
1 ,
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John 1 B. orski, City Manager