Management Plan for New South Wales State Police Force - Case Study Example

Strategic Human Resources Management Plan Student's Name: Course Name and Number: Instructor's Name: Date Submitted: Paper outline 1. Introduction 2. Current and short term labor demand and supply of the NSW (New South Wales) State Police Force 3. Predicted areas of NSW State Police Force growth 4. An analysis of the existing workforce of the NSW State Police Force 5. An analysis of the NSW State Police Force workforce capacity to meet current and predicted demands for business goods and services 6. Current and predicted external labor supply data, and demographic and economic data, to forecast human resources supply for the NSW State Police Force 7. Conclusion 8. Recommendations for work force planning for the organization 9. References Introduction In the modern business panorama, workforce planning has become a critical aspect. Research shows that failing organizations do not bother to manage their talents. A successful organization, on the other hand, manages its talents by preparing them to respond well to certain occurrences. Workforce planning is concerned with enhancing staff capacity to respond well to incidences that arise within the firm. To shed light on workforce planning, the following report focuses on NSW State Police Force (NSW). NSW Police force started in 1862 with few workers and have expanded over the years to become the principal law enforce organization in the New South Wales, Australia. Among the duties of NSW police force includes stopping, uncovering and probing crime, enhancing road safety, enhancing peaceful coexistence amongst individuals and carrying out rescue and emergency operations (Greenberg, Ronald & Colin, 1983, pp, 375-394). Currently there are more than 20,000 employees who serve in NSW police force. In its organizational structure, the force is headed by the commission charged with the duty of the day to day governance of the force. The commissioner is answerable to the minister for police to whom he updates on the performance and other issues concerning the force. In addition, the commissioner chairs the Commissioners Executive Team (CET) which is the force top decision making organ. Amongst other responsibilities, CET develops strategic plans for the force, develops and implements strategic direction for the force, measure and monitors the force corporate plan against corporate plan expectations and targets, manages organizational reforms and eventually updates the government on the overall direction of the force. Based on such planning, the force is able to achieve both its short term and long term objectives since in the course on measuring and monitoring its strategic plans, it carries out corrective measures where necessary. Current and short term labor demand and supply of the NSW State Police Force The Human Resources Command has the role of identifying the vacant positions in the NSW police force. Labor demand and supply within the NSW police force, changes frequently due to such aspects as retirements, deaths, resignations and recruitment of new members. Also, the number of NSW police on duty changes every day due to such aspects as monthly leave, maternity leave, exceptional operations like disasters, and schooling among others. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012), there are 19, 832 employees in the NSW police force. The number of police officers in NSW Police Force is 15,943 whereas that of subordinate staff is 3,889. There are more than 500 police stations in all the six police regions with each region serving approximately 1,500,000 people. Despite all these officers, crime in New South Wales State has risen over the last few years. Research suggests that the increase in crime rate can be attributed to a chronic shortage of police officers. In the light of the current shortage of police officers, the force has come up with creative methods of filling the job openings. First, the force has incorporated the use of independent professional interpreters for non- English speaking people. As such, a consensus entered into with the community relations commission allows the force to book interpreters for cases involving first appearance and mentioning and also in family and other domestic cases. To cope with the current labor shortages, the force is also considering the services of volunteers in policing program (Hakim, Uriel & Weinblatt, 1984, pp 719-734). For instance, there are 495 volunteers providing valuable assistance to the force. Previous research works suggests volunteers in policing (VIPs) dedicated approximately 1.7 million man hours to community policing service. Traditionally the duty of providing all policing services rested on sworn in police officers. However, with the civilization of the NSW police force, unsworn individuals or external contracted service providers are being engaged by the force as a way to cover up the huge workforce deficit. For instance, as suggested by the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002-2005, the Australian police service comprised of 45,201 sworn police officers and 12,966 unsworn civilian force employees. NSW has overtime provided extensive mentoring and training for its senior officers and sergeants to harness their conflict management and leadership capabilities. For instance, the sergeants and duty officers were enrolled in safety science programs to improve their human resource management skills. Moreover, the force introduced well being assessments mostly conducted annually to support their commanders in their key roles. Nonetheless, the force has introduced favorable terms such as new workers compensation insurer that serve to ensure a speedy return to work for the injured officers. Notably improved work arrangement and effective work policies have seen a considerable increase in both police and administrative staff within the police force. Staff can now take full time leave without pay while the sick leave management policy has improved management of non-work related sick leave. More importantly, the force has enhanced affirmative action by drafting a strategic plan in women policing to ensure recruitment and retention of women in the police force (Greenwood & Walter, 1973, pp, 138-132). To enhance their potential pool and also in readiness of both current and future policing challenges, the force has introduced programs that ensure employment opportunities for both people with disabilities and those from indigenous communities. For instance, by the end of year 2011, aboriginal people comprised of 2.3% of the entire workforce. Inclusion of members of culturally diverse communities has improved both cultural understanding and language skills within the police force. To achieve this, the force launched an advertising campaign through social media, posters and local press, targeting members of different communities. As required by the Community Relations Commission, the NSW police force established Multicultural Policies and Services (MPSP) forward plan that extends from year 2011 to 2014. This plan enhances the force capacity to operate effectively in a diverse religious, cultural and linguistic environment. Moreover, the force is encouraging its local commands in conjunction with local community and other governmental and nongovernmental organizations to establish multicultural programs that can respond to local issues that could arise. Nonetheless, the NSW police forces is working hard to and remains the employer of choice by providing opportunities and positive experiences for its staff such as skill and professional development and diverse career pathways for its dedicated staff. Nonetheless, to retain the current workforce, the force is offering an attractive benefits package to its officers. For instance, officers living within the cities are now allowed to visit their homes using their patrol cars. In addition, the starting salary for new recruits has been doubled, and the force has also agreed to pay the tuition fee for the staffs who wish to continue with their education (Hakim, 1980, pp. 267). To trigger labor supply that can meet the force increased demand, little more goodies such as changing the officers’ boots twice a year and additional new patrol cars are also offered. Predicted areas of NSW State Police Force growth With the increased levels of different kinds of crime rate, the force is bound to see improved growth in terms of numbers of officers and modernization to meet the current policing demands. Moreover, the force also needs to improve on its relations with the general public, a strategy that have been successful in fighting crime in other countries. For instance; a new strategy known as community based policing has been introduced that focuses on sensitizing the community on their policing role in NSW State. Seemingly, with implementation of the new policy, the force close association with the community is bound to grow tremendously (Hakim, Uriel & Weinblatt, 1984, pp, 320-330). Moreover, implementation of community based policing will be helpful input to the police force in fighting crime. For many years, police credibility has been put into question, and the new administration policy seeks to introduce unified methods to policing that aims at establishing high codes of conduct within the NSW police force. An analysis of the existing workforce of the NSW State Police Force Despite, the need for more officers and call for modernization of the police force, the current existing workforce can be said to effective as shown through its evaluation criteria for 2008-2012 strategic plans. The force has been able to respond within lesser time to urgent calls, 80% adequacy of police officers available for duty; the force is also seen to maintain mandatory training for its force, which has seen it use the modern skills in detecting and fighting crime. .Nonetheless, the force can also be praised its ability to contain the staff turnover to a national average level thus preventing personnel from leaving the force in massive numbers. Interestingly, such efforts by the force have witnessed significant reduction of crime in the recent past for instance property offences and murder crime. However, domestic violence cases seemed to be on the rise thus probably needing more officers to contain the problem (Fox, 1978, pp, 15). Moreover, despite the reduction of some categories of crime, the force need to train more officers and provide them with modern facilities to detect and fight crime in order to curb ever rising cases of crime that have proved to be dynamic. An analysis of the NSW State Police Force workforce capacity to meet current and predicted demands for services required With the rise in population growth, the force continues to train and hire additional officers to match the service demand. For instance in the financial year 2010-2011, 1n202 student graduated from NSW police academy and were absorbed in the force. In addition, the government has overtime been increasing its funding for NSW police force for the purpose of modernization efforts. This has seen purchase of modern facilities to fight crime while at the same time affording the police officer better salaries that match the industry averages. From data derived from 2011financial statements, the government funding to the NSW police force improved from $2.6 to $ 2.9 between 2010 and 2011. With the identification of crime hotspot such as George Street between Liverpool and Market streets, Darlinghurst Road, Oxford Street, Glebe point Road and the periods within which the crime rates are at the pick, the police has responded to this by ensuring reduced number of hours spent at the courts, by enhancing police accessibility through improved communication enhanced by computer systems. Further, the force also ensures speedy replacement of officers who leave the force to avoid chronic shortages of personnel. Notably, the force has been rated at 82% in terms of police deployment in crime hotspot areas, a move that is highly applauded. The force is also working with other arms of the government and other institutions such as Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) that carries out research on crime and criminal justice. As such the institute has been instrumental in providing the police force with statistic of crimes such as homicide, cases of fire arms theft, armed robbery, fraud and money laundering crimes, human trafficking among many others. This information is vital as it helps the police to identify the hotspots of various kinds of crime after which the necessary measures are taken. Current and predicted external labor supply data, and demographic and economic data, to forecast human resources supply for the NSW State Police Force. With the current population of 7,272,200 people, the force is operating eighty command centers with four hundred twenty six police stations all having a total of 15,943 police officers. However, the number of police officers is still considering to less considering those leaving the force. To meet the labor demands, the force is continuously training more officers at the police academy. For instance, in the financial year 2010-2011, the force hired 1,202 students who graduated from NSW police academy. In addition with the emergence of new forms of crime such as corporate crime and fraud, cyber crime, transnational crime, the force has braced for this by specially training its officers to meet such demands. Identified areas with unacceptable high staff turnover In NSW police force, there is high staff turnover occasioned by failure of police minister failure to pay the young recruits. The higher ranking experience police officers are retiring decreasing the number of Australian experience police officers. Regrettably, the police minister for NSW has embarked on outsourcing labor for policing services from other common wealth countries such as Canada, Britain and New-Zealand which is worrying considering the big numbers of young police officers who are leaving the force due to the inability of meeting their financial commitments. Recruitment of foreigners into the police force goes against the government spirit of keeping jobs in Australia as there is no any justified reason of outsourcing the policing serves while there are qualified local personnel. Developing workforce objectives and strategies As a strategy to attract and retain the current workforce, the force is offering an attractive benefits package to its officers. For instance, officers living within the cities are now allowed to drive home the patrol cars. In addition, the force is keen to implement the recommendations of remuneration taskforce, which will not only lead to attractive packages for the junior officers, but also for other officers. More interestingly, the force has also agreed to pay the tuition fee for the staffs who would wish to sharpen their skills through further education (Hakim, 1980, pp. 267). Little more goodies such as changing the officers’ boots twice a year and additional new patrol cars are also offered. As aforementioned, it is the responsibility of the commissioner and the Commissioner’s executive team to communicate to the government through the Minister for police on all matters relating to the force. Nevertheless, the media, which acts as the public eye, scrutinizes the force on all fronts including its performance, highhandedness, corruption among others. The sole financier of NSW is the NSW government. For instance in its 2010-11 NSW police force budget, the government financed the force to a tune of $ 2.9 which was an increase from the previous financial period $ 2.6. Other than policing services, the force has also been participating in contingencies such as earthquakes and floods occurring in interstates or other foreign countries. An excellent example is 2011 flooding that affected Southern, Northern and Western regions of South Wales where the force sent 150 officers to assist Queensland police service. More so, the force offers support to agencies such as NSW Rural Fire service responsible for fighting fire in rural areas. Implementation of initiatives to support workforce planning objectives The Commissioner’s Executive Team (CET) oversees implementation of all force objectives. It is the prerogative of the team to decide the staffing needs, need for training, redeployment and firing where necessary. The force has well established code of conduct which guides the conduct of the officers. To remain the employer of choice in the industry, the force not only offers a competitive package, but also has some other attractive terms such as financing staffs who wish to pursue further studies. Interestingly, the force not only allows the staffs to go for their annual leaves, but also accepts leave applications for those officers who feel the need to take a break from their usual work. Lastly, in a bid to retain their resourceful workers, the force has implemented a program that ensures continuous training of its officers to equip them with necessary managerial skills. Monitoring and evaluation of workforce trends According to Australia Bureau of statistics (2002-05), the total police staffing was 12,966 compared to the current 15,943. This increase is attributable to increase in population. However, such increase could also be attributed to increased crime rates in various hotspot areas and increased complexity of crimes. These factors have also led the force to hiring skilled workforce from other countries to help in fighting crime. To achieve its objectives, NSW first recognizes its workforce by ensuring that the staffs are satisfied as it’s only after having a satisfied workforce that the organizational goal can be achieved. As such, the force has witnessed a reduction in crime rates leading to people’s satisfaction with its work. Recommendations for work force planning for the organization With the rise and complexity of modern crime, it is highly recommendable that NSW force web hire skilled personnel with the capability to use web based technology that can improve services to service seekers and improved customer consultations. In addition, the force should also consider expanding the roles and the numbers of sworn in officers to assist the frontline officers. To eliminate the problem of police shortage, the force should consider privatization or complete allocation of prisoner escort duties to the department of collective services. Taking note of the top force official who are about to retire, the force should introduce a program aimed at training the middle level commanders and other relevant officers to gain administration skills for possible takeover in the event of vacancy due to retirement of old top commanders. Lastly, in consultation of industry experts, the NSW police force should come up with work allocation model that can yield 90% operational strength and flexibility in officer deployment options. Nevertheless, the ever changing demographic profile, varying work expectation and critical shortage of skilled staff has led to fierce competition for the limited available. For matter highly skilled staffs are targeted by private companies by offering them more attractive terms. To counter this, the force has formed a task force to review the terms of its skilled workforce to ensure that it is in line with the current market rates. This will not only serve to retain the current work force, but will also encourage the best skills within the market to join the force. References Fox, J. 1978. Forecasting Crime Data: An Econometric Analysis. Massachusetts: Lexington Books. Greenberg, D., Ronald, C., & Colin, L. 1983. The Effect of Police employment on Crime. Criminology, 21(3):375-394. Greenwood, J. & Walter J. 1973. Crime Rates and Public Expenditures For Police Protection: Their Interaction. Review of Social Economy, 31:138-152. Hakim, S. 1980. The Attraction of Property Crimes to Suburban Localities: A Revised Economic Model. Urban Studies, 17:265-276. Hakim, S., Uriel S., & Weinblatt, J. (1984). Substitution, Size Effects, and the composition of Property Crime. Social Science Quarterly, 65:719-734. Read More