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February 1991
PUBLIC SERVICES CONSOLIDATION:
THE ANSWER TO YOUR COMMUNITY'S NEEDS
By
Robert L. Sobba
Chief
Caldwell, Idaho, Police Department
The consolidation of police and fire services is not a new
concept. In fact, the first account of combining public service
functions dates back to 27 B.C. Then, the Roman Emperor Augustus
formed the Vigiles, a group of men armed with batons and short
swords who were responsible for keeping the order and fighting
fires. (1) In the United States, the first public safety
department can be traced back to 1911 in Grosse Point,
Michigan. (2) Yet, even though consolidation of public service
functions has a solid historical base, the concept has not been
readily accepted by police officers and firefighters alike.
This article considers the levels of consolidation that can
be implemented within a community. It then examines the issues,
options, and concerns involved in the consolidation of police
and fire services. But, in the final analysis, whether
consolidation can meet the needs of the community and the
expectation of its citizens rests with the individual
municipality. Only its administrators can decide if
consolidation can work for them.
LEVELS OF CONSOLIDATION
There are five levels of consolidation--full, partial,
selected area, functional, and nominal. (3) Each has been adopted
by individual municipalities throughout the United States as a
means to provide police and fire services to the residents of the
community. (4)
When public services are fully consolidated, police and
firefighting duties are combined under a single agency. Sworn
personnel, who are commonly referred to as public safety
officers, perform both law enforcement and firefighting
functions.
With partial consolidation, the two public service
functions remain separate, except for a designated cadre of
public safety officers who are trained to perform both law
enforcement and firefighting duties. When engaged in police
work, these personnel serve under the command of the police
administrator; when acting as firefighters, they are supervised
by the fire chief.
Selected consolidation occurs when only a certain portion
of a community is serviced by public safety officers. This
level of consolidation usually takes place in areas newly
annexed to the municipality. Except in this limited geographic
area, the police and fire departments remain separate.
Functional consolidation is practiced when separate
departments are maintained, but some duties usually performed by
one department are assigned to another. For example, fire
personnel may help in administering police work or police
officers may assist fire-fighters at the scene by reading gauges
or by hooking up hoses. (5)
With nominal consolidation, the police and fire departments
operate under the administration of a single director, though
the two departments remain completely separate. The public
safety director maintains full authority over all police and
fire services.
There are no nationwide figures that reflect the current
number of each level of consolidation in operation. The various
municipalities across the country that have adopted some form of
consolidation selected the level best suited for them. In
essence, consolidation varies from community to community.
CONSOLIDATION FACTORS
Issues To Be Addressed
The first issue of consolidation concerns efficiency and
productivity. Many city managers believe consolidation to be a
more productive and efficient way to manage employees. For
example, in Morgantown, North Carolina, city leaders conducted a
study to determine if the creation of a public safety department
would benefit their city. As a result of this study, they
discovered that less than 2% of firefighters' time is spent
fighting fires and that 60% of their time was considered
unproductive. In addition, 49% of the calls to the fire
department were either false alarms, nonfire rescues, or to
alert fire-fighters to stand by. Only 15 of the 285 calls
involving actual fires represented losses of more than $500, and
4 of these calls were for car fires. (6)
Another issue involved in the consolidation concept is
saving money, although this is a much-debated point. Opponents
often claim that any anticipated or realized savings are
actually used to pay for increased training and equipment costs.
With consolidation, a public service candidate officer must not
only complete training at the police academy but also the
training necessary to be certified as a firefighter. (7)
For proponents of consolidation, the issue becomes one of
cost avoidance, or more specifically, that consolidation avoids
future costs. An example would be projected city growth figures
that show a city may need five more police officers and five more
firefighters over the next 5 years. By cross-training personnel
in both police and fire duties, the city may need only seven more
employees, thus avoiding the continuing expense of three more
employees on the city's payroll. (8) This same theory can be
applied to equipment and maintenance.
An article entitled "Managing with Less: What Managers Can
Expect" perhaps best sums up the reasons for looking at
consolidation. This article states that city managers faced with
continuing, if not increasing, fiscal constraints can expect the
future to include the following:
1) Unchanged/increased demands for services by the public
2) Calls for hiring freezes from decisionmakers
3) Requests or demands for more specific performance
indicators on what is done
4) Calls for innovative and creative ways for providing
traditional savings. (9)
Yet, whatever the reasons, administrators need to address
many options and concerns before making a final consolidation
decision. Then, before such a program is implemented, they must
weigh them against the advantages and disadvantages that would
be realized. Nevertheless, for cities faced with increased
demands for service, but with dwindling funds to meet those
demands, consolidation may be the appropriate course of
action. (10)
Options To Consider
There is more to consolidation than merely merging two
public service functions. In fact, there are a wide range of
options. For example, what will be the level of consolidation?
Will it entail administrative consolidation only, or will it
combine administrative and support functions, while keeping
command and line support personnel separate? Then, there is the
option of partial consolidation, in which command personnel are
integrated and line personnel are cross-trained, but specialists
are not. Or, all full-time personnel are cross-trained and
responsible for a full range of police-fire duties. The extent
of consolidation depends entirely on the needs of the particular
community involved.
Concerns
With the various consolidation options come independent
concerns. First, and foremost, is the extent of training that
must be provided. Then, there are the perceptions of the public
and department personnel. Acceptance of consolidation by police
and fire personnel, which affects morale and performance, can
affect the viability of the concept before implementation.
Proponents of consolidation contend that consolidation can
have a significant positive impact on the community.
Consolidation can lead to better response time if fire personnel
could act on crimes observed instead of reporting the crime to
the police and then waiting for them to arrive at the scene. (11)
In other words, with consolidation, "police presence" increases.
The same holds true with police officers trained to fight
fires and to perform rescue activities. If the police are the
first to respond to a fire scene and take appropriate action to
contain the blaze, the devastation to property and the extent of
injury to victims could be lessened. (12)
In addition to quicker response times, consolidation
prevents duplication of support services, such as communication,
maintenance, and recordkeeping. It is also a means to eliminate
competition between both public services, promoting a team effort
and cooperation.
The funding issue also comes into play when consolidation is
considered, because both services vie for city funding. Under
the public safety concept, the director is responsible for both
the police and firefighters, and much of the traditional debate
over which service gets the most monies can be averted.
On the other hand, opponents of consolidation cite the
increased training costs of one person as a major reason for
maintaining two distinct service departments. Consolidation
requires an extended time period to recoup the costs of training
an individual to be both a police officer and a firefighter.
Many contend that consolidation destroys the camaraderie
developed within each service. Public service officers display
mixed loyalties, and their allegiance is to neither service,
instead of to one or the other. Other areas that must be
addressed are start-up equipment costs, the effect consolidation
would have on police and fire volunteers, and the acceptance of
or resistance to consolidation by professional associations and
unions.
The pay issue plays a major role in the consolidation
efforts. Obviously, the salaries must be equitable. One
department determined that at the current rate, it would have to
pay an entry-level police public safety officer $2,723 more a
year to make the salary equal to that of a first-year
firefighter. (13)
Esai Berenbaum, former Public Safety Director of Durham,
North Carolina, summed up the resistance in these words:
"Much of the local opposition to a program represents
sincere concern on the part of many that services will
deteriorate, and as a result, lives and property may be
lost. The traditional organized opposition will use these
fears to their advantage and exaggerate the potential
danger. They will report the often-heard fallacies that
those programs are from small towns only, for suburban
communities only, or as a temporary provision for newly
annexed areas. They will emphasize programs that have
failed. They will contend that `one man can't do two
jobs.' " (14)
Efforts to Consolidate
The many factors involved in consolidation must be given
serious attention before any steps are taken to convert to
public safety. The concept must be well thought out and
discussed among city administrators and fire and police
officials. They should thoroughly analyze the community's
police and fire needs and determine if consolidation is really
necessary to meet these needs.
After determining the overall mission of the public safety
concept, administrators should complete a detailed task analysis
to take into consideration what needs to be done, the amount of
time needed to complete the transition, and who will be involved
in the consolidation process. Then, the immediate expense of
the consolidation effort has to be considered.
Many times, while the idea of consolidation appears to be
the solution, administrators fail to recognize what is really
involved in the move toward consolidation. Few look at the cost
of uniforms, weapons, salaries, building remodeling, instructor
development, and recruiting, which may make the effort cost
prohibitive.
CONCLUSION
There is no doubt that public safety programs have
opponents. The concept creates feelings of apprehension on the
part of affected employees and the citizens of the community.
In fact, consolidation efforts have failed in several
communities.
At the same time, support for public service consolidation
exists, and this concept has answered the needs of many
communities. The public safety concept does work when carefully
planned and efficiently administered. It is traditional, yet
new, depending on the particular community involved. And, it may
be the wave of the future as more cities face growing demands for
service but less funds to meet those demands. Only time will
tell.
FOOTNOTES
(1) Richard S. Rubin, "Consolidation of Police and Fire
Services," Journal of Police Science and Administration, vol.
12, 1984, p. 221.
(2) Esai Berebaum, Municipal Public Safety (Springfield,
Illinois: Charles C. Thomas, 1977), p. 3.
(3) Ronald G. Lynch and Vivian Lord, "Public Safety
Programs: Consolidating Police and Fire Services," Popular
Government, Summer 1979, p. 2.
(4) A few cities that have consolidated public service
functions are Twin Falls, Idaho (personal interview with Tom
Courtney, city administrator); Orem, Utah (personal interview
with Ted Peacock, Director of Public Safety); and Texarkana,
Arkansas (Bobby Mixon, "Texarkana's Public Safety Program," FBI
Law Enforcement Bulletin, September 1979, pp. 24-27).
(5) Supra note 3.
(6) Douglas O. Bean, "A Small City Adopts the Public
Safety Concept: Morgantown, North Carolina A Case Study,"
Popular Government, Summer 1979, p. 16.
(7) Recruits in the Public Safety Department in Sunnyvale,
California, must attend an 18-week police academy, then a
12-week fire academy, followed by a field training program
(personal interview with Capt. Regan Williams, Sunnyvale,
California, Public Safety Department).
(8) When the consolidation effort was completed in
Kalamazoo, Michigan, there were 36 fewer positions within the
Public Safety Department than there were when the fire and
police functions were separate (Michigan Association of Chiefs
of Police, The Development and Administration of Consolidated
Fire-Police Departments, Okemos, Michigan, 1985, p. 3).
(9) Daniel E. O'Toole, "Managing With Less: What Managers
Can Expect," Public Management, June 1984, p. 20.
(10) Based on projections for maintaining and improving
the fire and police departments in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the
project committee anticipated the city would save $2 million a
year by starting a consolidated department (Michigan Association
of Chiefs of Police, The Development and Administration of
Consolidated Fire-Police Departments, Okemos, Michigan, 1985, p.
4).
(11) Prior to the Public Safety Officer (PSO) Program in
Texarkana, Arkansas, the city employed 50 policemen and 40
firemen and had an average of 3 patrol vehicles on duty. Both
police and fire response time was about 6 minutes. The city now
employs 73 PSOs and has, on the average, 10 patrol cars
available for patrol duties. Response time is down to 2.8
minutes for police calls and 1.5 minutes for fire calls. The
city also reports a decline in both crime and fire losses over
the years (Bobby C. Mixon, "Texarkana's Public Safety Program,"
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, September 1979, p. 26).
(12) In Oak Park, Michigan, patrolling public safety
officers have extinguished 171 fires without the aid of regular
fire apparatus during a recent 4-year period (Michigan
Association of Chiefs of Police, The Development and
Administration of Consolidated Fire-Police Departments, Okemos,
Michigan, 1985, p. 93).
(13) In Kalamazoo, Michigan, public safety officers were
given pay increases that amounted to over 10 percent for police
and 23 percent for firefighters (Michigan Association of Chiefs
of Police, The Development and Administration of Consolidated
Fire-Police Departments, Okemos, Michigan, p. 4).
(14) Supra note 2, p. 29.