textfiles/law/fbijun05.law

June 1990                                   
                                                                 
           FACILITY PLANNING IN COLORADO:  FORM VS.FUNCTION                  

                                 By
 
                           James D. Munger
               Chief, Colorado Springs Police Department
                      Colorado Springs, Colorado
                                and
                         Edward Spivey, Ph.D.
             Supervisor, Research and Development Section
                  Colorado Springs Police Department
                      Colorado Springs, Colorado
                                 
                                                                 
     What determines the manner in which a police department 
operates--form or function?  Surprisingly, this question appears 
in any number of contexts in any department--policy formulation, 
equipment selection, values orientation, or the design of the 
training curriculum.  Whatever the case, the form/function issue 
influences decisively the nature of the organization and the 
agency's mission and goals.                                       

     The Colorado Springs, Colorado, Police Department wrestled 
with this form/function question during the past few years in a 
number of ways, but particularly with regard to police 
facilities.  This article will discuss how this police department 
recognized the relationship between its physical accommodations 
and its role in the community and how the department has been 
changed in the process.  Of course, this process is not unique to 
this department, but examining it may help other agencies 
involved in self-assessment and future planning.                  

THE PROBLEM
                                                       
     Until the end of World War II, Colorado Springs was a rather 
sleepy, small town whose major claims to fame were its 
spectacular setting and its reputation as a health resort.  But, 
the establishment of several permanent military facilities after 
the war led to rapid community growth.  By the early 1960s, the 
police department outgrew its accommodations in the basement of 
city hall.  A separate police headquarters was built next door, 
but agency functions remained relatively unchanged.               

     As often happens with municipal facilities, budgetary 
constraints limited construction to immediate needs.  And, no one 
was forewarned of the rapid population growth and the fourfold 
increase in area size that would take place within the next 3 
decades.  Within 6 years after it was built, the police building  
could no longer house the police department.  Leasing and 
occupying portions of several city-owned structures gained  
additional space in a piecemeal fashion.                          

     The physical fragmentation of the police department caused 
problems in communications and led to diffused supervisory 
responsibilities.  At this time, form determined function.  As a 
result, ``turf'' issues began to interfere with operational 
effectiveness, while the department's operating budget eroded  
because duplicate equipment needed to be purchased or additional  
support personnel had to be hired for units in remote locations.  

     By the early 1980s, it became clear that organizational 
effectiveness could only be preserved by adequate facilities.  
The relocation of patrol services in temporary facilities on 
opposite sides of town alleviated the most pressing problems. 
This made it possible to reallocate office and parking space at 
headquarters.  Patrol officers and sergeants were moved to the 
two ``outpost'' stations but continued to report to a single 
command structure at headquarters.                                

     Administrators recognized that this fragmentation posed 
organizational problems.  Numerous attempts were made to 
reorganize the existing facilities and to redefine operational 
responsibilities more functionally.  Planning for new facilities 
continued, and by 1984, the department was committed to the  
construction of permanent patrol substations.  Up to this point, 
any recommended changes were consistent with the department's 
mission and remained within the department's traditional 
centralized structure.                                          

THE PROCESS OF CHANGE                                            

     The appointment of a new chief of police in 1985 coincided 
with the national awakening of interest in redefining law 
enforcement missions in terms of community involvement.  The 
department's new administration began an assessment of all agency 
divisions.  Task forces, composed of civilians and officers, 
evaluated all aspects of the department both structurally and 
functionally in light of these new ideas.                         

     After approximately 3 months of study, the task forces 
recommended a major reconfiguration of the department, along with 
a schedule to phase in the changes.  An essential element of the 
reconfiguration was to decentralize line operations through three 
divisional substations, while keeping a centralized component for 
citywide functions, such as major crime investigations and 
support services.                                                 

     After city authorities accepted the concept, the department 
initiated major planning efforts on several fronts.  Budgeting 
was, of course, the first priority.  In the past, the department 
made few funding requests for capital improvements; therefore, 
the municipal authorities were more easily persuaded of the need 
for major investments in police facilities.  Because of 
additional appropriations and departmental economizing measures, 
the construction of two substations began.  The long-range 
strategy was to put these substations into operation, coordinate 
new service delivery methods with a strong emphasis on community 
policing, and then propose a bond referendum to finance a police  
operations center that would include a third substation.  During 
the interim, the third patrol division occupied temporary 
quarters that became available when the new substations were 
opened.                                                           

     Simultaneously, the department created another captain 
position to serve as station commander, thus permitting the 
reassignment of an experienced captain as a full-time facilities 
planner.  The facilities planner and the department's civilian 
Director of Management Services shared the overall responsibility 
of the project, but worked under the direction of the Deputy 
Chief of Administration.                                          

     Early in the process, the department contracted for services 
with an architectural and engineering firm experienced in 
designing law enforcement facilities.  The resulting combination 
of operational experience, conceptual innovation, fiscal 
prudence, and technical expertise proved beneficial.  
Departmental planners also took care to coordinate closely with 
the city's administrators and technical agencies to ensure that 
all processes worked smoothly.                      

COMMUNITY-ORIENTED OPERATIONS                                     

     New facilities were the glamorous part of the process, but 
laying the groundwork for a decentralized and community-oriented 
operational mode proved more arduous.  Computer programs and 
hardware had to be modified so that the transition could be 
smooth.  Months before the physical relocation, reporting systems 
were reconfigured to the new geographical patterns.  This allowed 
employees to become familiar with the new technical foundations. 
This ``camping out'' period was sometimes hectic and required 
patience from operations personnel and administrators alike, but 
its inconveniences were repaid by the smooth physical transition 
that resulted.                                                    

     With the advent of community-oriented policing and 
decentralized service delivery, the department's written 
directives had to be thoroughly revised.  The need to redesign 
policies and procedures had become critical because the 
department had also made a philosophical commitment to seek 
national accreditation.  Now, facing a complete restructuring, 
this process could not be avoided.  Therefore, considerable 
effort was devoted not only to revising manuals for policies and 
procedures but also to reviewing the process for ensuring 
accountability.  A task force went through existing directives 
line by line to check for accuracy and adequacy, removing 
obsolete passages and outlining items to be added.  The manual 
was then rewritten to bring it into accord with accreditation 
standards and to express policies and procedures more logically. 
Matters that were strictly procedural and subject to frequent 
change were removed from the manual entirely and given to a task 
force of patrol officers, who developed a code of standard 
operating procedures tailored to the new functional 
configuration.  By doing so, authority for revising this type of 
directive was moved closer to the operating level.              

THE FINAL PHASE                                                   

     Actual construction of the stations began in 1988, after 
exhaustive planning that involved not only administrators and the 
consulting firm but also task forces of patrol officers who would 
be using the new facility.  In March 1989, the new stations were 
opened and public tours were conducted for several days.  Each 
station contained a large community room, which was open to the 
public for scout meetings, homeowners' association meetings, and 
similar events.  Opening the stations to nonpolice activities 
helped to quickly integrate the stations into the neighborhoods, 
and this nonthreatening contact between citizens and officers 
improved significantly the public's view of law enforcement.  
More surprisingly, officers welcomed this contact with 
law-abiding citizens as a healthy influence on their 
perspectives.                                                     

     During the final months of construction, the department 
prepared a bond issue proposal to build a police operations 
center, which was approved by the city council for a referendum. 
A ``Police Bond Action Plan'' was developed to saturate the 
community with facts about the importance of the operations 
center to the delivery of effective police services.  The plan 
included a comprehensive media awareness effort, coordinating 
presentations to the general public and to community service 
groups, and the development of a citizens' support group, which 
added ideas and raised money for campaign publicity.           

THE RESULTS                                                       

     The results of the police department's movement toward 
community policing became evident when a better than two-to-one 
majority of voters approved the police operations center bond. 
The department interpreted these results to be a resounding 
endorsement of a winning combination:  Good service delivery, 
thorough and innovative planning, and a strong effort to 
recognize and satisfy the needs of citizens.                      

     The Colorado Springs Police Department is now moving toward 
developing the operations center.  As with the substation 
development, a task force approach again has been adopted and an 
experienced architectural consulting group has been retained. 
This close involvement during the design and construction stages, 
as well as continued involvement by other branches of municipal 
government, provides facilities and services that foster other 
program innovations.                                              

     The most difficult part was not putting the bricks and beams 
into place but initiating the operating structure.  Although the 
new facilities and operations services have been shaped, the 
human and organizational engineering will never be completed.  
The department's role in the community has already changed to 
such an extent not believed possible several years ago, and it is 
anticipated that this change will continue as a result of 
intensified community involvement.  This process has brought 
about new ways of thinking, acting, and achieving the 
department's mission and goals among all levels of personnel.  
New programs have been implemented, and more are on the way  a 
number of them arising from the line units.  Having worked 
through the fear and discomfort of escaping traditional molds, 
the department has found a dynamic concept of police work that is 
both stimulating and enjoyable.                                   

     Indeed, the focus must be on function rather than form. As 
long as a police agency is locked into traditional molds, 
innovation is limited to merely rearranging things.  Law 
enforcement will always be tasked with necessary chores, such as 
manpower scheduling and allocating vehicles, from which there is 
no escape.  And, although a certain sort of creativity is 
involved in these activities, focusing on the overall mission 
brings much more into play.  It is essential, however, that the 
definition of mission be derived from the interaction of the 
agency with the community.  A definition arising completely from 
within a department is usually less comprehensive.                

     Finally, the process can be done only through action.  
References to planning have been made often in this article and 
with good reason.  In one sense, everything is a part of 
planning.  However, planning consists of much more than academic 
exercises.  It must include proper execution, as well as 
reintegrating the results of execution.                           

CONCLUSION                                                        

     What the Colorado Springs Police Department has learned 
throughout the last few years was certainly aided by research.  
But learning came more by putting the results of the research 
into practice.  This requires an organization to work toward a 
major goal.                                                       

     This department's goal was to develop more adequate police 
facilities, but other goals would serve as well, providing that 
they are challenging and can involve the whole organization or at 
least a major part of it.  The elements within this department 
that benefited most from this reorganization were patrol and 
planning personnel.                                               
 
    Form and function, product and process, are dull and rather 
abstract terms that are certainly not the everyday topics of 
police discourse.  Even though there is no guarantee that another 
agency would reap the same rewards and benefits, enormous gains 
can be made, even at the cost of some psychological and physical 
comfort.  The Colorado Springs, Colorado, Police Department has 
shaped its new facilities and will shape those to come.  More 
importantly, however, it is also shaping itself in the process.