Posted on February 18, 2016 by Kevin Deeley-Graham & Rob Coleman

Police forces could be “sleepwalking” back to an old model of policing where they are “isolated from communities”, an Inspector of Constabulary has said.   Zoe Billingham said officers in England and Wales were being taken off the beat to man front counters, do desk work in stations and guard crime scenes.  BBC News, 18th February 2016

Field operations are a great example of supply and demand but with a control challenge.  Having visibility of field operations is a problem faced by many industries including policing.   Managing field operations is intrinsically more difficult than typical operational environments.  There is a mix of planned and reactive work and the work is based in several locations, often interspersed with challenging geography, roadworks, weather and other factors making efficiency extremely difficult.

Recent news reports suggesting that a significant proportion of neighbourhood policing is not spent on the perceived priorities should not be surprising.  Field operatives typically only spend 20 – 50% time on ‘productive’ work. Travel, bad scheduling and duplication in activities eat into available capacity, often unseen.  Leaders of field operations need better information and insight into the supply and use of resources and the demands in their operations.  Making decisions without visibility will always lead to less than optimal results.

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