Posted: July 1st, 2022

Boosting morale in Monowi municipal police department

Boosting morale in Monowi municipal police department

BCJ 3309 – First Line Supervision
Research Paper Instructions
The Research Paper is a course long project that should be worked on each week. The final
product is due at the end of Week 7 and will be submitted as a Word document in the submission
link of Blackboard. The paper should be 5 pages minimum and in APA format. The title page
and abstract do not count as fulfillment of the 5 page minimum, but your Resources page will
count. You should have a minimum of 5 valid resources as a result of your research and
presentation listed on your Resources page. References must be shown in your paper using
proper formatting. (Wikipedia does not count as a valid resource) Your paper will be double
spaced, Times New Roman 12 point font, and normal 1 inch margins. Be sure to check your
paper for proper spelling and grammar before submission.
Here is the scenario you are to work with:
You are a first line supervisor (Sergeant) in a mid-sized municipal police department. You
supervise a shift of one Corporal and 7 Officers working a 10 hour – 4 day per week shift. Your
team covers the entire city from Sunday through Wednesday between the hours of 6 PM and 4
AM. As one of several suburbs of a much larger city, your city has moderate crime statistics and
is diverse in racial, income level, residential, and commercial properties. Because of a good
school system and the proximity to your neighboring large city, your city is growing and is
attracting many families choosing to move to your area. Your department appears to be viewed
by the public as proactive and community oriented. Your agency budget is average when
compared to surrounding suburban departments with salary, equipment, and training rated as
average when compared to the same departments. There is a moderate rate of turnover in your
department with most officers that leave moving to larger departments with better pay.
The Chief has assigned each of the 4 Sergeants (you are one of them) to develop a suggestion
that will improve morale among the officers working within the department. The suggestion
must include information about the issue that is being addressed, an explanation of why it is
needed, a plan to implement the suggestion in the department, and anticipated results and/or
problems that may come with implementation of the suggestion. If the implementation of the
suggestion will impose additional cost to the department budget, this must be justified and ideas
on how to justify the request for additional funding should be included.
Your research paper will be the presentation of your research, ideas, suggestions, justification,
implementation, and anticipated results. This should be a program/idea that will increase the
morale of your entire agency and in turn should help the city you serve with better service and
better community relations. You must sell this not only to your officers and administration, but
also the elected officials and the public.
You may base your presentation on a particular department or the average department described
above. When pulling data it will probably be much more beneficial to you if you have at least
one actual department from which to base your existing standards.

Your completed paper must be submitted as a Word document in the Blackboard submission link
no later than the end of Week 7. Late submissions will result in point deductions.

Boosting morale in Monowi municipal police department
Monowi municipal police department is a mid-sized department that has about two corporals and 14 officers. The department was designed to enhance security, ensure resilience to disasters, and provide security to its people. In this department, the concept of security is evolving as changes are made to meet the various demands of the people. As there are adjustments in the police departments, we are affected by various challenges, making the officer lose morale. For instance, the main issue with the department is that there are low levels of job satisfaction. This is the main reason why there is a low turnover whereby most officers are leaving our department and moving to a more extensive department with better pay. Since we are not many in our department, the officers end up working for long hours, thus becoming more stressed. When stressed, they lose the morale to work hence contemplate leaving the job. Working for long hours leaves them stressed, which can lead to vehicle accidents or deadly errors of using force towards the ordinary citizen. Just the other day, we buried one of our as he committed suicide due to being stressed. Therefore, as a sergeant at the Monowi municipal police department. I would like to develop a suggestion to improve the morale of the officers working in the department.
I would suggest we begin with an hour of weekly physical fitness made available to the officers while on duty. The program will aim at supporting the officer’s wellness in mind as well as making them become physically fit. The program should be made voluntarily and include team activities, stress reduction classes, and emotional support programs or therapy sessions (White, P2014). Since most officers at work are not open to each other, it would give them a platform to express their grievances to the therapist. It will help them nourish mentally and physically.
Since my officers only work a 10 hour – 4 days per week shift from 6 PM and 4
AM. Changing their shifts would make them participate in the programs introduced in the department. It would also give them enough time to rest well while preparing to work for the next shift. I understand that readjusting the patrol shifts will consist of three shifts working for lesser hours with four days off each weak. The new patrol shift will give enough shift overlap to allow the officers in duty to participate in a therapy session and other activities without causing gaps in the coverage.
On top of that, officers should be rewarded to actively participating in the activities. Rewarding the most active one will encourage the officers to participate, thus building their wellbeing. I will also suggest the patrol teams exchange their shifts monthly as it is less disruptive to the sleep pattern. Changing shifts reduce exhaustion and allow them to work comfortably without being pressured. The issues of stress at work and fatigue will be addressed through, thus, methods of implementation.
I would also encourage the department to install facilities for restorative rest while they are on patrol. This is because the department does not have resting facilities for the officers. The resting facilities could have activities such as Yoga. This is because Yoga is known to create mental wellness among people with mental issues. It is also known that Yoga contributes a lot to job satisfaction, thus reducing the number of people. The cost of building this facility is about $6000. Yoga in the place station will help improve an officer’s communication when they are handling suspects. This is because officers are known to be very harsh and rude when dealing with culprits. The cost might be expensive, but it will give the police officers the morale to work harder and interact well with one another.
I would also recommend the police to be trained and educated every three months. The training programs will help them solve the problems, be creative, and interact with the community positively. The neighboring community also needs to train on the importance of maintaining a good relationship with the officers. The training program will allow the officers to go back to school and study more, thus becoming more knowledgeable about how to deal with the community. Training is critical as it is known that police officers who are not adequately trained could be dangerous to society (Emond et al, 2016). Such can be seen when the officers are involved in random shooting or brutality. Training of the officers can be done by engaging stakeholder groups from the community to help with the programs’ funding. Since banks and insurance companies offer reduced training to the police, it would be vital to support the training programs. Another way of funding for the training program could be through by allocating some funds towards the training program. The budget should be about $505 for the 20 officers. I believe that training them prepares them for a better position tomorrow and molds their character. It is also known that training the officers reduces the crime rates as they know the criminal’s tactics and how to capture them(Emond et al, 2016). It is essential to recognize that police training and education are crucial in meeting the needs of society.
Since there are few numbers of officers and corporals in the department, I would encourage the recruitments of more police officers. This will be key when it comes to changing shifts. Recruiting more police officers and corrals means that the workers will work for fewer hours hence reducing fatigue and stress (Donohue Jr, 2020). I would recommend the recruitment of police officers who are open-minded, innovative, and educated. Since we have limited resources, I would encourage recruiting qualified and certified officers with experience. During this recruitment process, I recommend that some of the officers be promoted to the next level. Promoting the officers to the next level would create gaps that need to be filled. More so, those unfit for the job should be fired to give rooms for the incoming recruits. I would encourage that the recruits be from various backgrounds to avoid racial disparities and discrimination. I understand the recruiting process is challenging since it takes time to find the right candidate, but it is advantageous. Increasing the number of police officers would also mean that the crime rates are minimized since more police officers are patrolling.
Since the salary budget in our department is average compared to other surroundings, it is crucial to increase the officers’ salaries. Low wage is the main reason why officers are moving to larger department for better pay. Raising pay for the officers is a way of rewarding their handwork and appreciating their efforts of serving the community. The pay raise can be given per year which will be based on individuals’ performance and their participation in their community( Kathawala, Moore, & Elmuti, 2020). Raising the pay of the employees means that they are valued, and their contributions to the department are valued as well. It is also said that a pay raise boosts the morale of the employee and increases their job satisfaction. It is said that a small raise can make a positive impact even for someone who wanted to quit.
Lastly, implementing all these improve the morale of the officers by increasing their job satisfaction and wellbeing. As a result, officers will become inclined to their work than before, work together, and collaborate (Weakliem, & Frenkel, 2016). High morale in the department will increase teamwork, thus leading to better performance. High morale also leads to a positive culture in the department where employees are more motivated, creative, and efficient. it will also build relationships between the superior and the subordinates. However, implementing all these strategies since a lot of funding is needed. For instance, it is costly to build a resting facility in the police station. It is also costly to train every officer in the department. The recruitments process is also long and very tiresome while trying to look for the fit one for the job. The recruitment process would also interrupt the activities of the department. Booting the employees’ salary often comes with a high price, meaning more budget will need to be allocated for this process.

References
Donohue Jr, R. H. (2020). Shades of Blue: A review of the hiring, recruitment, and selection of female and minority police officers. The Social Science Journal, 1-15.
Emond, B., Maugeais, M., Vinson, N., Saikh, K., Fournier, H., Lapointe, J. F., & Martin, C. (2016). Adaptive training simulation using speech interaction for training navy officers. In Interservice/industry training, simulation, and education conference (I/ITSEC) (pp. 2924-2934).
Kathawala, Y., Moore, K. J., & Elmuti, D. (2020). Preference between salary or job security increase. International Journal of Manpower.
Weakliem, D. L., & Frenkel, S. J. (2016). Morale and workplace performance. Work and occupations, 33(3), 335-361.
White, P. (2014). Improving staff morale through authentic appreciation. Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal.

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