What do we know about the
Crestwood Police Department circa 1960? We know it had a fat chief
who involved himself in day-to-day operations, an aging sergeant, and some
officers. We know it had a small jail. But overall, Jimmy does
not give us a lot of insight into the department. In this series of
treatises, I intend to "deduce" (that is the wrong word but it
sounds quite Brainsian) certain aspects about Crestwood PD, such as
staffing levels, organizational structure, shift deployment, fleet
composition, radio communications system, and anything else I can make up-er,
deduce. But I may need your help because I might not remember all the
details that Jimmy does provide, or I may get them wrong. Feel free to add
comments so we can paint an accurate picture of CPD.
At any rate, by the time we are finished you will know such details as how
many officers CPD had, how many were scheduled for duty on a given day or
night of the week, what their radio call signs were, what kind of radio
was in their car, and stuff like that there. Now for the first
installment:
Staffing Level
One method used by municipalities to determine police staffing levels is
to staff X number of officers per 1000 residents. That ratio varies
greatly for police departments across the country. Depending on whose
figures you use, the national average is 2 to 2.5 officers per 1000. If
memory serves me correctly, 2 per 1000 was about average in the early
'60s. Large cities tend to have a higher ratio, small cities a lower one.
Related factors include workload and funding capability of the
jurisdiction in question. Obviously, the more crime and calls for service
a department has to handle, the more officers it needs. So determining the
ratio for a town like Crestwood is the key.
My guess is that being a small, Midwestern college town, Crestwood PD
circa 1960 faced just a minor crime problem and a relatively light
workload. Jimmy's complaints of "long time no crime" seem to
attest to this. Moreover, it seems there was ample to time to play
checkers in the evenings at the station house. All in all Crestwood seems
to be a peaceful town that would require a staffing level well below the
national average.
Another factor to Consider: From SD, we know that CPD ran its own small
jail. How does this effect the workload and possible need for additional
personnel?
Or did CPD need full-time jail coverage or just when they had an
occasional prisoner? I get the impression that they didn't have prisoners
all that often. I'm going to assume jail duties were infrequent and
were absorbed by patrol officers as needed. Nevertheless, this is an
additional workload burden that has to be considered. (I'm surprised that
little Crestwood would even support a jail. It is very expensive in terms
of building a police station, staffing it, feeding prisoners, providing
medical needs for prisoners, transporting prisoners to and from court,
records keeping, and so on..)
Also, Jimmy makes no mention of lieutenants or other middle management
types. The chief's hands-on involvement in operations seems to back
this up.
Conclusion:
Based on the light workload, the apparent lack of mid-management, the
population, and the city's apparent financial situation, I'm going to put
the ratio at 1.1 officers per 1000 residents. This puts it at the low end,
but more officers would mean a more complex organization which would not
be consistent with what we know from Jimmy.
Crestwood had17 thousand residents (rounded down from 17,438-cities always
seem to round down for these kinds of calculations to save money).
1.1 X 17 = 18.7 = 18 officers total
(Cops, always looking to get more cops, would argue that 18.7 means 19
officers, since you can't have ".7" officers. But here again,
cities tend to round down, not really caring what the cops want. Mayor
Worthington was probably of the same frame of mind.)