Police Assistant is the position that staffs the front desk of the Police Department.  They are often the first point of contact for citizens to the Police Department.  They answer telephone calls from the public, take police reports, complete follow up on police reports, run the Senior Phone Patrol program which has 40 members, and answer questions.  On average the Police Assistants take approximately 25% of all the police reports for the department.  Police Assistants took 2,736 police reports in 2018, in addition to other duties and citizen contacts.  This is a significant total considering the Department is staffed with five Police Assistants.

Historically, the Police Department had seven Police Assistant positions.  The reduction of force decreased the hours and days the front desk is open to the public and removed the field or “road” Police Assistant function.  If a Police Assistant is away from work for any reason, the front desk hours are forced to be reduced even more.  Prior to the staffing reductions, Police Assistants worked outside of the building and responded to lower priority calls or “cold” calls.  They would take reports where no suspect was on scene, handled quality of life issues such as graffiti reports and parking issues, and assist officers in traffic control on accidents.  This assisted in eliminating the blight of abandoned cars, both in the residential and industrial areas of Sparks, helped in the removal of graffiti and reduced the number of officers needed at minor accident scenes.  Having the field Police Assistants additionally freed up police officer time to address higher priority calls and/or complete follow-up on cases assigned which the Police Assistants cannot handle.

Adding two Police Assistants positions to the complement would allow the Police Department to re-institute the field or “road” Police Assistant and extend the hours of the front desk.  This would provide report taking outside of the building to free up police officer time.  Additionally, the Police Assistants could handle lower level quality of life issues such as abandoned cars.  Currently the front desk closes at 6 p.m. on weekdays, 4 p.m. on Saturdays and it is closed on Sundays.  The two additional positions would allow for the front desk to be open seven days a week and provide field coverage 5 days a week.

Below is the proposed complement:

This cost is not currently in this year’s budget.  The estimated cost to the General fund for Fiscal Year 19 is $30,000, FY20 is $186,000 and FY21 is $198,000.

1. The City Council may approve the personnel complement changes as presented.
2. The City Council may not approve the personnel complement changes as presented.
3. The City Council may choose not to approve the personnel complement changes but provide other direction to the City Manager.

Move to approve the complement changes in the Police Department adding two Police Assistants as presented by staff.