LMPD :: Louisville Metro Police Department
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273 Comments

Indianapolis police shootings highlight balance between safety, cost

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RE: Indianapolis police shootings highlight balance between safety...

September 29th, 2013 @ 11:09PM (10 years ago)

Who are you referring to?? Just curious

RE: Indianapolis police shootings highlight balance between safety...

September 30th, 2013 @ 9:37PM (10 years ago)

LMPD would be a lot better off learning from better run departments in other cities than academics. Learning in the ivory tower is fine, but it gives a lot of theory that doesn't give the latest and greatest. When someone is quoting theories from the 1960's university professors it's not going to help as much in 2013 as real-world experiences in better departments.

RE: Indianapolis police shootings highlight balance between safety...

October 1st, 2013 @ 11:25AM (10 years ago)

5-7 is the span of control, could certainly be stretched to cover a full platoon for a shift so long as nothing crazy is going on. But the lieutenant isn't supervising that many officers, the lieutenant is supervising the sergeant. That's the problem, there are lieutenants effectively supervising only a couple of people.

However, if, for example, a sergeant gets hung up supervising a particular situation, then someone else needs to be assigned to serve as the temporary supervisor for everyone not involved in that situation.

But here's the question - who is running the department at night? One thing that shocks me is that Louisville doesn't have a "night chief" position.

RE: Indianapolis police shootings highlight balance between safety...

October 4th, 2013 @ 9:30AM (10 years ago)

You are partially correct. The 5-7 span of control figure is what is desired for optimal supervision during a dynamic or critical incident. Yes, most are capable of supervising as many as 25-30 for a normal patrol shift, but during an incident where the officers are geographically spread out (perimeters, etc...) than it should "optimally" be no more than 5-7 per supervisor.

They are not teaching that 5-7 span for normal duties. I realize there is a difference between what we really do and what is on paper, but on paper most Sergeants are not assigned more than 10-15 (and in many cases less as our staffing is so low)since the platoons are divided between two Sergeants.