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.
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Sample Answer Guide:
Increasing morale in the Monowi municipal police force
The Monowi municipal police department is a medium-sized unit with around two corporals and 14 officers. The department was created to improve security, ensure disaster resilience, and provide protection to its citizens. The concept of security is evolving in this domain as improvements are made to fulfill the diverse expectations of the people. As police agencies undergo changes, we face a variety of difficulties that cause officers to lose morale. For example, the fundamental problem with the department is a lack of job satisfaction. This is the primary reason for the low turnover, as most officers leave our department to work in a larger department with greater compensation. Because there aren’t many policemen in our department, they wind up working long hours and becoming agitated. When they are anxious, they lose motivation to work and consider quitting. Working long hours stresses them out, which can lead to car accidents or deadly errors in employing force on ordinary citizens. We just buried one of our members who committed suicide due to stress. As a result, I became a sergeant in the Monowi municipal police department. I’d want to make a recommendation to boost the morale of the officers in the department.
I would propose that we start with an hour of weekly physical fitness provided to officers while they are on duty. The program would attempt to support the officers’ mental health as well as their physical fitness. Team activities, stress reduction classes, and emotional support programs or therapy sessions should all be included in the curriculum (White, P2014). Because most police at work are not open to one another, it would provide them with a forum to air their problems to the therapist. It will fuel them both psychologically and physically.
Because my officers only work a 10-hour shift four days a week between 6 p.m. and 4 a.m. Changing their shifts would compel them to participate in the department’s new activities. It would also allow them adequate time to rest before starting the following shift. I hear that readjusting the patrol shifts will involve three shifts working for less hours with four days off each week. The new patrol shift will provide enough shift overlap for officers to participate in a therapy session and other activities without producing coverage gaps.
Furthermore, officers should be compensated for actively participating in the events. Rewarding the most active officer encourages officers to participate, so improving their well-being. I will also advise that the patrol squads switch shifts once a month to avoid disrupting the sleep routine. Changing shifts relieves weariness and allows them to work easily and without stress. Workplace stress and weariness will thus be handled through implementation strategies.
I would also advise the department to provide facilities for restorative rest while patrolling. This is because the department does not provide cops with rest areas. Yoga classes could be offered in the resting areas. This is because Yoga is proven to promote mental wellbeing in persons suffering from mental illnesses. Yoga is also recognized to contribute significantly to job happiness, hence reducing the number of people. The cost of constructing this facility is approximately $6000. Yoga at the station will boost an officer’s communication skills when dealing with suspects. This is because officers are notorious for being harsh and nasty when dealing with criminals. The cost may be high, but it will boost police officers’ morale and encourage them to work harder and communicate well with one another.
I would also suggest that police officers be trained and educated every three months. The training programs will Help them in solving difficulties, being innovative, and constructively interacting with the community. The surrounding community should also be educated on the necessity of maintaining positive relationships with the authorities. The training program will allow the cops to return to school and learn more, allowing them to become more aware about dealing with the community. Training is crucial since it is well known that untrained police officers can be dangerous to society (Emond et al, 2016). This is seen when officers engage in random shootings or cruelty. Officer training can be accomplished by enlisting community stakeholder organizations to Help with program finance. Because banks and insurance businesses provide limited training to cops, it is critical to fund training initiatives. Another method of sponsoring the training program would be to allocate some monies to the training program. The budget for the 20 cops should be around $505. I believe that training kids helps to shape their character and prepares them for a better position in the future. It is also recognized that educating officers reduces crime rates because they understand criminal strategies and how to catch them (Emond et al, 2016). It is critical to acknowledge the importance of police training and education in satisfying society’s needs.
Because there aren’t enough policemen and corporals in the department, I’d want to see additional police officers hired. This will be crucial when switching shifts. Recruiting more cops and corrals implies that workers will work fewer hours, lowering weariness and stress (Donohue Jr, 2020). I would advocate for the hiring of police officers who are open-minded, imaginative, and well-educated. Because we have limited resources, I would recommend that qualified and certified officers with experience be recruited. I recommend that some of the officers be promoted to the next level during this recruitment process. The officers’ advancement to the next level would leave holes that would need to be filled. Those who are unsuited for the work should be sacked in order to make place for new recruits. To avoid racial imbalances and discrimination, I would recommend that candidates come from a variety of backgrounds. I understand that the recruiting process is difficult since it takes time to find the appropriate applicant, but it is beneficial. Increasing the number of police officers would also mean that crime rates would be reduced because more officers would be patrolling.
Because our department’s wage budget is ordinary in comparison to other departments, it is critical to raise the salaries of the officers. Officers are relocating to larger departments for higher pay due to low wages. Raising officers’ compensation is a means of praising their efforts and acknowledging their community service. The wage increase can be awarded once a year and will be based on an individual’s performance and participation in their community ( Kathawala, Moore, & Elmuti, 2020). Raising employee salary demonstrates that they are valued, as are their contributions to the department. It is also stated that a wage raise raises employee morale and increases job satisfaction. It is stated that even someone who planned to quit can benefit from a tiny rise.
Finally, applying all of these improves officer morale by enhancing job satisfaction and wellbeing. As a result, police will be more committed to their jobs, work together, and collaborate than before (Weakliem, & Frenkel, 2016). High morale in the department promotes teamwork, which leads to improved performance. Employees are more motivated, creative, and efficient when there is a positive culture in the department. It will help strengthen ties between superiors and subordinates. However, adopting any of these solutions is difficult due to the large amount of funds required. Building a rest area in a police station, for example, is expensive. Training every officer in the department is likewise expensive. The recruitment procedure is also lengthy and exhausting while looking for the best candidate for the job. The recruitment procedure would also disrupt the department’s operations. Booting an employee’s salary sometimes comes at a hefty cost, requiring extra funding to be allotted for this operation.
References
R. H. Donohue Jr. (2020). A look at the hiring, recruitment, and selection of female and minority police officers. 1-15 in The Social Science Journal.
B. Emond, M. Maugeais, N. Vinson, K. Saikh, H. Fournier, J. F. Lapointe, and C. Martin (2016). For teaching navy officers, an adaptive training simulation with speech interaction was developed. I/ITSEC (Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference) (pp. 2924-2934).
Y. Kathawala, K. J. Moore, and D. Elmuti (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.
