Memphis Hires Accounting Firm to Track How Officers Spend Time on Job

After several studies suggested Memphis needs more police officers, the city hired an international accounting firm to analyze how the Memphis Police Department's existing workforce uses its time. 

The Nashville-area office of Deloitte will receive $230,000 for analyzing how MPD uses its time, according to city of Memphis human resources chief Alex Smith and city documents. The consulting contract follows widespread debate among public officials as to how many police officers Memphis needs and what they need to be doing, the Commercial Appeal reports.

"They're gonna take a look at the time and time efficiency of officers and then present to us where there [are] opportunities for us to make changes," Smith said in an interview last week. “Janikowski made his assessment around what is the appropriate complement. But that made some assumptions around time utilization and so now the question is, ‘Can we be more efficient around the time utilization?’”

The study Smith referenced comes from Richard Janikowski of Strategic City Solutions, which the city of Memphis released this summer.

Janikowski's study advocated 2,800 officers because Memphis' officers per square mile lagged peer cities. Such a high staffing level would also give the department the ability to engage in community policing, the study argued. 

That same study also recommended that police officers spend their time a certain way — 30% going to calls for service, 30% on administrative tasks and 30% on community policing with 10% left in reserve.