Personnel management is a complex endeavor, especially for law enforcement agencies, where overtime and similar issues are important considerations for many officers.

These issues can be further complicated by outdated ways of doing things, such as pen-and-paper scheduling practices and the like. Ledgers, forms, folders, and files are all common components of these old systems.

“Managing overtime lists is probably one of the most labor-intensive and one of the most disputed things in an agency,” said Jon Lunsford, a former first responder and project manager for Schedule Express, a personnel management software tool offered by parent company SafeCities (based in Austin, Texas).¹ “A lot of agencies still have paper-based systems and are limited by the number of people who have access to the files. Some systems are overlapping, or they may only be on one computer or local drive. That means there’s a lot of room for error.”

While automating time-tested methods may seem daunting at first, software solutions providers are making it an easy switch—and one that can save significant time and money. There are several leading vendors in this area, with software designed by public safety professionals for public safety professionals.

Schedule Express is one such leader. This web-based software is a one-stop shop for beat and sector assignments, off-duty assignments, and fatigue management to optimize safety—all in alignment with an agency’s rules and protocols.

“There’s no more need to count by hand how many employees you have in a given time or place to see if you’re meeting the needs of staffing,” Lunsford said. “There also are multiple methods of assigning overtime. You can assign by seniority, number of hours worked, amount of overtime they’ve worked, and other metrics. This all really limits the amount of time you spend on staffing.”

Training is also a breeze, with set-up that can configure workflows to individual preferences.

“Supervisors, schedulers, and managers all are using the configurations they prefer, and it’s still putting everything in one place at-a-glance view of the staffing levels,” Lunsford said.

Another solution is InTime, which offers a sweeping array of services in one.

The cloud-based software tool is designed to handle scheduling, timekeeping, event management, and more. It’s specifically built for law enforcement agencies and includes modules for shift bidding, training management, asset management, and court and e-subpoena delivery.

“InTime is unique in this space in terms of completeness and robustness of the offering, ensuring it can enable success and address all the complexities of workforce management for law enforcement agencies,” said Ricky Rhodes, account executive for InTime, which is based in Vancouver, Canada.² “There’s no shortage of scheduling solutions for public safety, but InTime stands out as the solution that can address and automate even the most complex police processes. Our track record for success and happy customers is unparalleled.”

Rhodes, a retired police lieutenant, said customer service is top of mind for InTime, with the company’s experience in law enforcement giving them a strong perspective on the needs and challenges police agencies face each day.

“The result is a highly configurable software offering that supports police department objectives, including better overtime management (both efficiency and reining in excessive costs), departmental efficiencies, risk reduction, and enhanced real-time communication with staff via a rich mobile experience,” Rhodes said. “InTime also understands that it takes far more than software to enable customer success, and this is where InTime really stands out from the pack.”

This also extends to the company’s training services.

“With training services, our experts bring both in-depth knowledge of police agency processes and the software itself,” Rhodes said. “Uniquely, we train our customers on their fully configured system versus a generic or canned environment, ensuring a real-life and more effective training experience.”

There are several ways in which InTime helps agencies become more efficient and effective. The Toledo Police Department in Ohio achieved an 83 percent reduction in daily scheduling time, a 97 percent reduction of time filling overtime, and a 100 percent elimination of negative timebanks. The South San Francisco, California, Police Department reduced its time spent to fill overtime by 60 percent, with a 50 percent reduction in time spent managing overtime.

The system also enhances safety by helping better manage officer fatigue. “Unfortunately, some police departments that don’t use InTime manage extra duty schedules through a separate system or process than their core scheduling, and as a result, they may schedule staff for an overtime shift without being aware the officer has additional extra duty shifts that would not only violate fatigue rules but also put the officer and the public at risk,” Rhodes said. “With senior command being able to access rich reporting and dashboards, they
gain key insights into potential issues with compliance, spending and budgets, and agency risks before they become big problems.”

There are also personnel management solutions that focus on one specific aspect of law enforcement operations. The widely used Acadis Readiness Suite, offered by the Bloomington, Indiana-based Acadis firm, focuses on one of the most critical functions in personnel management in a law enforcement context: training.

“Acadis Readiness Suite is a system for high-stakes, blended training that combines registration, scheduling, training records, online learning, testing, inventory, and compliance tools in one easy-to-use modular system,” said Bob Koenig, executive vice president of sales at Acadis.³ “It allows you to maintain a single, robust record for your personnel that conveniently aggregates everything you need to know. You can track officers from their hire dates to when they decide to retire.”

According to Koenig, in today’s volatile police environment, training can help ensure officers are ready no matter the incident or situation. “An agency can ensure their entire team is ready to respond and lead when the next crisis happens,” he explained. “It ensures that personnel are compliant by managing certifications, expirations, and renewals, and it gives more visibility to the user as they can see, print, and renew their certifications. Less administration work gives agencies more time to focus on effectively training their officers.”

The right personnel workflow can save dollars and hours to the average agency, be it big or small.

As with other areas of personnel management, paper-based systems can create inefficiencies that can have serious real-life consequences. In larger agencies, the cost of manual training compliance paperwork can run into the millions
of dollars.

“One of the biggest challenges we come across in public safety and law enforcement is that agencies are using multiple systems to manage information related to their people,” Koenig said. “They use spreadsheets and siloed or outdated software that doesn’t share information with their other systems. This creates more work for the user because they pull multiple reports and data from different systems to see one big picture.… With the Acadis Readiness Suite, those employees can be managed in one system and streamlined. Reports and data are easy to find, digest, and export for transparency with other stakeholders.”

The right personnel workflow can save dollars and hours to the average agency, be it big or small. Finding the right fit is a snap with any of these user-friendly, highly configurable, and highly effective solutions.

Notes:

¹ Jon Lunsford (project manager, Schedule Express), phone interview, January 18, 2022.

² Ricky Rhodes(account executive, InTime), email interview, January 17, 2022.

³ Bob Koenig(executive vice president of sales, Acadis), email interview, January 21, 2022.