Police Staffing Allocation and Managing Workload Demand: A Critical Assessment of Existing Practices

Police agencies take a variety of approaches to determining their staffing allocation needs. Among these are the per-capita, minimum staffing, authorized level, and workload-based methods. Based on a review of the literature, interviews with practitioners representing 20 diverse agencies across the USA and national focus group of 21 staffing experts, this article assesses current trends and experiences in staffing allocation. Additionally, it examines the strengths and weaknesses of alternative approaches to determining staffing need and to managing workload demand in ways that that minimize the use of sworn officers.