Initial Staffing Level for Our PSA Set at 40 Officers

On February 23, the D.C. Police Department released its preliminary data on officer staffing levels for all of the 43 newly proposed Police Service Areas (PSAs). On Feb. 27, I spoke with Anne Grant, the police analyst at the police department who has been one of the chief architects for the new PSA proposal. I asked her about how the staffing decision would affect our own PSA — which will be PSA 103. The staffing table is posted on police department's Web site, http://mpdc.dc.gov. Ms. Grant can be reached at 727-0915 or acgrant@mpdc.org.

First of all, Ms. Grant, the staffing table on your Web site shows two sets of numbers for each PSA. Can you explain the difference?

Yes. The first set of numbers, under "At the time of the roll-out," shows the staffing level as of May 1, this year, which is when the new PSA boundaries are to take effect. The second set, under "Authorized at 3,800," shows the staffing level when the whole D.C. police force reaches 3,800, as approved by DC Council. The Council wanted to see the staffing level for each PSA as of Sept. 30, 2004, the end of the fiscal year, when the City expects to get 3,800 police officers.

So, what is the staffing level proposed for our PSA 103?

PSA 103 will get 40 officers, 5 sergeants and 1 lieutenant at the time of the roll-out, and hopefully will get 45 officers, 6 sergeants and 1 lieutenant by the end of the fiscal year 2004.

How did you come up with the numbers of police officers who would be assigned to each PSA?

They are based on the new PSA boundary map released on Dec. 9, 2003, and based on the police workload experienced in 2003 in each PSA area. We have also made some changes based on what happened at various hearings. They have not been approved yet, but that is the latest staffing level.

These numbers are based on only one year?

This is only an estimate. We had to do estimate, because everyone in the police department and general public wanted to see some numbers, but we can't do official staffing analysts until after May, when final new PSA boundaries take effect. Most people want to know how many officers will be assigned right now, but we can't do our formal analysis until after the maps are finalized, and things are set in place.

So these numbers can change after the maps are finalized?

Yes, but hopefully not by much.

What can citizens do at this point if they have concerns about the staffing level?

People are still e-mailing me, but most of them are about the new boundaries, which is what we are trying to finalize. But if they have an opinion about the staffing level, they can certainly do the same thing.

Would that make a difference?

Well, I am not sure if the chief's office is open to more opinion about the staffing level. Because it is not something we have made official yet. We have not done a formal analysis yet. So until we come out with that, it is hard to say whether people should be commenting or worrying about it. But if citizens have comments, I will be happy to forward them to the chief. But again, it is not our priority right now. Our priority right now is to make sure the boundaries are right by the end of the 60-day period, which is the middle of March. Then we are going to worry about all the rest of it.

You have visited our neighborhood, attended our meetings. You know our neighborhood. Are you comfortable with the staffing level for our PSA?

Yeah, I think 101,102 are more hot-spot areas — especially 101 because it is so huge, and has so much going on. Those are the areas we were most concerned about. But PSA 103 has a good number.

Thanks, Ms. Grant. §