For more than a decade, patrol officers with the Gilroy Police Department have been primarily working four 10-hour shifts a week. According to a recent study of the department’s inner workings, that practice is outdated and doesn’t meet the needs of the burgeoning community—and the Gilroy Police Officers Association and the City have agreed to make a historic change.
All patrol officers, corporals, sergeants and multi-service officers will work three 12-hour shifts a week instead of the traditional 10-hour shifts—if the updated contract is approved by the council at the July 1 meeting.
According to Police Chief Denise Turner, many other police departments use the 12-hour model, and it allows for an increased police presence and provides better overall coverage—and decreases the need for overtime.
“We’re going to have enough people during the hours of the day and the days of the week when we have the most calls for service,” Turner told the Dispatch. “That will improve our response times, improve our workload distribution and will reduce the wait time and the frustration citizens get when officers don’t show up right away.”
The Ohio-based consulting firm, the Novak Consulting Group, studied the long-term impacts if the GPD continues the practice of having officers work four 10-hour shifts a week. During the six-month study, the number of officers out on patrol ranged between three and six, the report reads.
“What we found was that the number of teams, and the way (the department) is staffed really doesn’t provide enough officers during the daylight hours to handle calls, much less allow for proactive policing,” said Julia Novak, president of the consulting group.
“If we stayed on (that) schedule and added staff to fit our demand profile, we would have to hire 15 officers,” Turner added. “There’s no way we could afford that. By going to the 12-hour schedule, we’ll only need three to four officers to meet the same goal, which is to make sure we build in at least 33 percent of the officer’s day to be free to do proactive policing.”
With a different work schedule, Turner said the department will need fewer officers to maximize the amount of time they are proactively preventing crime, from following up on leads to patrolling crime hotspots.
As a carrot to encourage sworn GPD employees to adopt new schedules soon, the City is a one-time bonus of $1,000 to officers who switch their schedules before Sept. 1, Human Resources Director LeeAnn McPhillips said.
Both the GPOA and the IAFF Local 2805, representing Gilroy’s firefighters, negotiated a two-percent salary increase scheduled to take effect July 1, if approved by the council. Additionally, police and fire employees are expected to receive another two-percent pay raise in July 2015, the memorandums of understanding reads.
As of press time, Turner said police officers have been receptive to the upcoming changes, from embracing the new scheduling to the implementation of other recommendations by Novak Consulting.
“We’re getting everybody signed up for their new shifts, and we’ll implement it just after the Garlic Festival, which is the first week of August,” Turner said. “We’re going to make sure we have people to do animal control and parking enforcement (because the consultants) suggested we have more coverage by changing their schedules.”
Turner explained the schedule change is an adaptation to the changing crime trends, from most crime occurring at night to shifting, typically, during daylight hours. And as Gilroy grows, so will the GPD.
On June 20, the City applied for a grant through the Department of Justice to pay for between three and four new police officers to support the growing demand of the community, Turner said, adding that the DOJ will inform the City whether the grant was approved by October, and if approved, the move will require the approval of the council.
“Now that we’ve done the study, we can see clearly how our workload patterns have changed, and we need to adjust our staffing accordingly,” she added.
Gilroy Fire
-Two percent pay raise July 1
-Another 2 percent pay raise July 2015
-Department costs rise by $141,000 in fiscal year 2015
-Costs rise again by $158,000 in fiscal year 2016
Gilroy Police
-Two-percent pay raise July 1
-Another 2 percent pay raise July 2015
-Officers get $1,000 bonus for signing up for 12-hour shift
-Department costs rise by $277,000 in FY 2015
-Additional costs expected to be $248,000
Source: Memorandums of understanding for IAFF Local 2805, Gilroy Police Officers Assoc.
