Proposal

October 26, 2006

To: City of Miami Police Department Personnel Resource Management Chairperson

From:

Subject: Proposal to Write a Report Recommending a Pay Increase to Remedy the Shortage of City of Miami Police Officers

Over the past few years, the nation has faced a "crisis" with the shortage of police officers (Axtman, 2006). It is well known that crime rates increase with the decrease in the number of police officers. Researchers have looked for the cause of such a decline and have identified low pay as a major reason for the deficiency.

Problem

Recent protests by City of Miami Police Officers have captured the attention of Miami-Dade County. Protesters are complaining that very low wages have created a scarce supply of police officers in the City of Miami. Better salaries, protesters say, will prevent officers from leaving to higher paying police departments.

Many examples exist that support the protestors' claims. Also faced with the problem of officer shortages, the police department in McKinney, Texas found that a raise in wages helped "attract and retain qualified officers" (Dallas Morning News, 2006). McKinney, losing officers to neighboring departments, solved the problem with a salary increase. Focusing on a city closer to home, police officers were leaving Opa-Locka as well. Opa-Locka City Commissioner Dorothy "Dottie" Johnson identified that "officer turnover is high due to low starting pay" (Berggren, 2006). She plans to remedy this problem if re-elected to her position on the Board of Commissioners.

As mentioned earlier, there is a correlation between crime rates and the quantity of police officers. A comparison of the City of Miami and the City of Coral Gables illustrates this relationship. The City of Coral Gables pay range for police officers is $42,842 to $68,124 (Coral Gables, 2006). The City of Miami only pays $37,817 to $50,764 (Miami-Police, 2006). Although the difference in starting salary is only $5,000, new recruits consider it when choosing an employer. In addition, the cap differs by almost $18,000, showing that raises are limited. Figure one, right, shows the difference between crime rates per capita in Miami and Coral Gables. Figure two, below shows the exact numbers of the data in the bar graph. It is clear that Miami has significantly more crime than Coral Gables.

Miami Coral Gables

Murder: 17.9 2.3

Forcible Rape: 26.48 23

Robbery: 614.5 133.4

Aggravated Assault: 1018.5 209.3

Burglary: 1442.4 1124.6

Larceny Theft: 3803.9 4213

Vehicle Theft: 1115.6 404.7

Although the shortage of police officers is not the only reason crime rates were higher in Miami, the shortage made a major influence.

The City of Miami faces a problem at hand. Besides having discontent employees, the city suffers high training and recruiting costs. Police turnover requires the City to spend valuable resources on advertising and searching for qualified candidates. In addition, trainings would cost a bundle. Trainer's pay, equipment cost, locale cost, and trainee salary must be paid per training. To prevent such costs, one must increase retention.

The problem is also costly because the city is receiving negative publicity from the protests. The city is portrayed as not caring about its employees, and, ultimately, not concerned about its residents. Such depictions would endanger the position of the city commissioners and that of the mayor. To have happy constituents, the city needs to take immediate action.

It is optimal for the City of Miami to consider a wage increase for police officers, seeing that it has benefited other cities. The wage increase has been found to retain officers, relieving the shortage problem. Because the shortage would be alleviated, crime would decrease. A wage increase would thusly increase officer retention, save capital, attract better-qualified officers, provide a better service to the community, and make constituents content. Lower crime rates would make the city government look great and attract more tourists. More tourism means that more money flows into the city's economy and would have some return on the raise in wages. The salary increases would be advantages for city employees, city residents, and Miami as whole. It is an investment worth diving into.

Feasibility

Because wage increases have been successful in many different cities, it appears probable that police officer turnover and crime rates can decrease. In addition, it is likely that there is room in the city budget to afford such a raise. It does not appear difficult to find the lowest amount of increase that would provide all the benefits mentioned above. If I am unable to find a reasonable amount of increase that fits the city's budget, I would explain the reasons for such an amount and recommend that a professional consulting firm analyze the city's budget. The professional firm can look for places to reduce costs so that more money can be allocated to other departments, including the police department. The firm could also find ways to generate more revenue, something that can fund many programs and help wage raises.

Audience

All of my audiences are knowledgeable about the ideas I will report. Since the report will be basic findings, all of the audiences will understand the information and will not need explanation about any concept. The topics at hand are of great interest to my audiences and I should have no resistance in presenting my results.

My initial audience and gatekeeper is the chairperson of the City of Miami Police Department Personnel Resource Management. The proposal must go to the person in charge of human resources inside the police department. This person would know whether any information is absent or whether any amounts seem unreasonable.

My primary audience is the City of Miami Board of Commissioners. This board handles all city budgets and decides where funds are allocated. They must agree that the increase is beneficial to their individual constituents. The commissioners