Sgt. Joe Friday is a no-nonsense, by the book kind of cop.  He can be calm at times and other times he is viewed as a little rigid, cold, and a fast talker.  Imagine Sgt. Friday’s dismay when he is partnered with a lively, unscrupulous, irresponsible and foot loose partner named Pep Streebeck.  At their first meeting Friday says his new partner “I don’t care what undercover rock you crawled out from, there’s a dress code for detectives in Robbery-Homicide under section 3-605. 10. 20. 22. 24. 26. 50. 70. 80.  It specifies a clean shirt, short hair, tie, pressed trousers, sports jacket or suit, and leather shoes, preferably with a high shine on them.”  Their first assignment is to investigate Jerry Caesar a criminal  who traffics pornographic magazines.  Strait-laced Sgt. Friday said to Streebeck, “There are two things that clearly differentiate the human species from animals. One, we use cutlery. Two, we’re capable of controlling our sexual urges. Now, you might be an exception Streebeck, but don’t drag me down into your private Hell.”   Their investigation into Ceaser has a connection to a series of random crimes by a P.A.G.A.N., a criminal cult.  Friday and Streebeck realize they must go undercover to rescue the Virgin Connie Swail, a woman who is about to be sacrificed.  Swail agrees to testify against the leader corrupt Reverend Whirley.  Shortly thereafter Friday begins a romance with Virgin Connie Swail which could hinder his police work.  Want to know the rest of the story then you need to watch the 1987 hit movie Dragnet that topped the box office.

There is a general theme in most cop movies which is it is important that police departments have the staff and resources needed to protect and serve residents.  During the recent 2023 mayoral election, “staffing” of our public safety departments was a topic raised over and over.  In fact, Matt Sapp, President of the Frisco Fire Fighters Association stood in front of our city council in January 2023 and asked a simple question, “Will we as a city add firefighters to the budget this year?”  You can read more about how our FD falls below the national staffing standard by reading Where There Is Smoke (part 1), and There is Fire (part 2).   The city has repeatedly denied our Fire Department is understaffed and very own Mayor, Jeff Cheney, said he is happy with the staffing levels, and the departments have everything they need.  At one of the debates Mayoral Candidate Mark Piland mentioned a “police study” the city had done sometime in 2020 / 2021 and how it stated our police department is understaffed.  My wife and I looked at each other and said is it possible that both of our public safety departments are currently understaffed? 

A PIR was filed for a copy of the study, but we were told it was only available for viewing at city hall because the documents are subject to copyright.  That is truly the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard as an excuse.  Whether or not something is copyrighted should not matter or be a reason you withhold it from the public.  If you go to Barnes and Noble most, if not all, the items in the store are copyrighted by the authors.   Shockingly they are on the shelves, available for viewing and for you to buy. In fact, a simple google search of the organization who did the study pulls up several other studies they have done for other nearby local agencies for example Sachse PD.  Imagine our SURPRISE to discover most of those studies are available for full view online.  Where is the copyright issue?  We also found that Collin County Sherriff’s Office contracted a study for a 5-year plan in February 2022 and Murphy Police Department 2020 Racial Profiling Analysis online.  Why does Frisco act like they are special or have the right to withhold information?  Why would they tell us we have to come in to view the study – what makes it any different than any other study in other cities?  What is in the study that the city does not want us to know?  No worries, we have the staffing study in full because Shady Shit does not give up that easily. 

Who conducted the study?  In 2020, Frisco PD with the help of federal grant money contracted with Justice Research Consultants, LLC, and its principal researcher Mr. Fritsch for the development of a three-year strategic staffing study.  Fritsch has done studies both nationally and internationally and is considered a leading expert on police staffing, patrol allocation and deployment strategies.  He has conducted staffing assessments in several Texas cities including Allen, Prosper, and Richardson.  Fritsch also developed a propriety software called Model for the Allocation of Patrol Personnel (MAPP) which is one of the only models in existence today and the only one that has been stringently validated.  Lastly, he has taught graduate level research methods for over 20 years at a university and is a published author.  He appears to be more than qualified to conduct the study and to produce accurate results.

The study which was done in 2020 pulled most the of the baseline from 2019 due to covid and how that affected certain indicators.  It started with interviews with Frisco PD personnel and the research team conducted a comprehensive analysis of several different factors to validate and project patrol staffing needs.  The report is structured into six primary sections and the summary had 27 recommendations for staffing improvements which are listed below:     

Recommendation #1: Based on the results, it is recommended by the end of FY 24 that 42 additional patrol officers be added above the current authorized patrol officer and corporal allocation.  Implementation Timeframe of Officers: FY 22 – Add 14 patrol officers, FY 23 – Add 14 patrol officers and FY 24 – Add 14 patrol officers.

Recommendation #2: It is recommended that four new patrol Sergeants should be assigned to serve as supervisors for special shifts.   Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 2 patrol sergeants and FY 23 – Add 2 patrol sergeants.

Recommendation #3: It is recommended that a deployment team of one Sergeant and three officers be added for each of the next three years.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 1 sergeant and 3 officers, FY 23 – Add 1 sergeant and 3 officers, FY 24 – Add 1 sergeant and 3 officers.

Recommendation #4: It is recommended that one new Sergeant should be assigned to the Traffic Unit.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 1 traffic sergeant.

Recommendation #5: It is recommended that two new traffic officers should be assigned to the Traffic Unit. Based on the needs of the unit, it is expected these additional traffic officers will be deployed in vehicles. Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 traffic officer, FY 24 – Add 1 traffic officer.

Recommendation #6: Add 3 school resource officers to the School Resource Officer Unit.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 school resource officer and FY 24 – Add 2 school resource officers.

Recommendation #7: Add 2 criminalists to the Crime Scene Unit.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 criminalist and FY 24 – Add 1 criminalist.

Recommendation #8: Add 1 property & evidence technician to the Property & Evidence Unit.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 24 – Add 1 property & evidence technician.

Recommendation #9: Add 2 digital media technicians to the Investigations Division.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 2 digital media technicians.

Recommendation #10: Add 3 civilian investigative assistants to the Investigations Division.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 2 civilian investigative assistants and FY 24 – Add 1 civilian investigative assistant.

Recommendation #11: Add 1 Office Manager to the Investigations Division.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 office manager.

Recommendation #12:  Within the Crimes Against Children Unit, add 1 internet crimes against children investigator, 1 digital forensic analyst (non-sworn), and 1 crimes against children investigator.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 1 internet crimes against children investigator and FY 23 – Add 1 digital forensic analyst (non-sworn) and 1 crimes against children investigator.

Recommendation #13: Add 2 investigators to the Crimes Against Persons Unit.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 investigator and FY 24 – Add 1 investigator.

Recommendation #14: Add 1 investigator to the Property Crimes Unit to investigate economic/white collar crimes.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 24 – Add 1 investigator to investigate economic/white collar crimes.

Recommendation #15: Add 2 Community Service Officers to the Community Services Division. One of the officers should have the primary responsibility of working with businesses while the other officer should primarily work with hotels/motels.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 1 Community Service Officer and FY 24 – Add 1 Community Service Officer

Recommendation #16: Add 4 Detention Officers to the Detention Division. One Detention Officer should be assigned to each of the four shifts. Implementation Timeframe: FY 24 – Add 4 Detention Officers

Recommendation #17: Add 2 Records Clerks to the Records Division. One Records Clerk should focus on open record requests while the other Records Clerk should focus on digital media requests.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 Records Clerk and FY 24 – Add 1 Records Clerk

Recommendation #18: Add 3 Communications Officers to the Communications Division.  These officers can be utilized to provide coverage of the new second Frisco PD radio channel which is expected to be operational in FY 22.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 23– Add 3 Communications Officers.

Recommendation #19: Add 1 Communications Supervisor to the Communications Division and develop a fourth shift in communications.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 Communications Supervisor.

Recommendation #20: Add 2 Radio Technicians to the Radio System Division.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 2 Radio Technicians.

Recommendation #21: Add 1 Public Service Officer to the Radio System Division to assist with fleet maintenance.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 Public Service Officer.

Recommendation #22: Add 1 Office Manager to the Radio System Division.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 1 Office Manager.

Recommendation #23: Add 1 Deputy Chief of Police to supervise the Services Bureau.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 1 Deputy Chief of Police.

Recommendation #24: Add 2 background investigators to the Professional Standards Unit. One of the background investigators can be a non-sworn employee who handles the background investigations for non-sworn applicants.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 2 background investigators (one sworn and one non-sworn).

Recommendation #25: Add 3 training officers to the Training Unit.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 22 – Add 2 training officers and FY 24 – Add 1 training officer.

Recommendation #26: Add 1 administrative assistant to the Training Unit.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 administrative assistant.

Recommendation #27: Add 2 intelligence analysts to the Crime Analysis Unit.  Implementation Timeframe: FY 23 – Add 1 intelligence analyst and FY 24 – Add 1 intelligence analyst.

Iris Murdoch once said, “We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion.  The great task in life is to find reality.”  Every day that I live in Frisco I feel like we live in a fantasy world.  The illusion is whatever the city wants to buy or has shoved down our throats.   Based on the way the city tried to deny us the staffing report it is clear they did not want us to learn the study had a total of 27…yes 27 recommendations for more staff.  Ask yourself, why does the city want to withhold a study that several other cities have published online?  The studies recommendations were to be completed by 2023 or 24 so how many of the 27 recommendations has the city followed through on?   During the Universal council meetings, it was Chief Shilson who said he has no concerns about what potential crime Universal could or would bring.  The city loves to tout here and there Frisco is the SAFEST CITY, but I am wondering if those that determined that would have the same opinion if they read the staffing study and how “UNDERSTAFFED” we are.  Why are we understaffed with life-saving personnel?  In my opinion our growth rate is out of control.  We have a current population of 227,446 residents and we are growing rapidly with more residents moving here every day.  We are growing so fast the city can’t keep up with its own infrastructure.  As residents we see it every day with traffic, our roadways, parks and more.  However, we don’t see behind the red curtains of city hall every day to realize that our growth is happening faster than we can hire and train more police officers and fire fighters.  That means we are now being reactive instead of being proactive years ago, which could have helped us avoid the current situation.   Secondly, we have city leaders and management who don’t want to slow growth.  They refuse to say no to anything development related so as we continue to bring in big events like PGA golf tournaments, the ACM Awards, and don’t forget a theme park all while we are putting at risk our understaffed departments and residents.  It begs the question, why is Frisco and our City Manager Wes Pierson hiring two more Assistant City Managers (and what are their salaries) but we are not working towards hiring more life-saving personnel in the Fire Department or Police Department?  Instead, we have a new city manager with a GOD complex and a clear disdain for First Responders. 

In our next blog we will dive into some interesting points in the study but for now we leave you to ponder a simple question.  Now that we are in 2023 how many of the 27 recommendations can the city mark off the list as completed?