Measuring Officer productivity

[HospitalOfc.]

I am trying to devise a system to measure the productivity of our individual Officers, and am struggling to do so without resorting to the dreaded Detex rounds. I am of the firm belief that walking from Detex button to Detex button with a wand for eight hours is not the same as proactively patrolling.

With that said I find myself in desperate need of some sort of metrics that will give me hard numbers to present to our administration to prove that we are actively fulfilling our security function, as well as to determine which Officers are not pulling their own weight.

So far all that I have been able to come up with is a system that each month measures the number of times an Officer uses their ID to enter card accessed areas of the facility, number of incident reports an Officer has written, and number of citations and warnings issued by the Officer. While this system could work, I think that it is far from ideal for several reasons.

Hopefully someone here with a little more experience than I have can give me some suggestions.

[Eric]

How about, breaking your incident reports and other Officer reporting into a few catagories and preparing pie charts ( or whatever graph you like) for managment! Why create more work for yourself if it is not warrented.

A benefit of these monthly graphs is you can look at them by year or quarter and spot trends easier.

Use the language of business where you can to help relate details better.

[Andy Taylor]

I don't like using the number of incident reports/citations etc. to judge officer performance. The officer who works a busier shift will have more reports than the officer who works a quiet shift. Does this mean the officer on the quieter shift is not doing as good a job? In fact depending on circumstances, he/she may be doing a better job because they have made the shift quieter through diligance. The access control cards only perform a partial function, and really wouldn't be that much different then detex, if the officers know it is being used that way.

[N. A. Corbier]

If you're going to use the report gimmick, I suggest pulling the last 3-6 months of reports, if not the last 1-2 years, and developing a baseline for what is "normal" for each shift. Hell, down to each hour.

Then realizing that security is dynamic, and that baseline is subject to flux.

[Bill Warnock]

Somewhere in this thread I've not read anything about THOR or the fact mere SO or PO presence is a deterent in and of itself.
Curtis, John, Nathan, SecTrainer I think we've missed the step regarding prevention. Let us step for a moment of analysis.
If opportunity reduction is reduced through target hardening which in many instances means of an opportunity of human intervention would not the preditor seek prey elsewhere? Would not that avoidance merit some consideration in evaluating a SO or guard's preformance?
Where in this developmental matrix have I missed the intent of this thread?
Enjoy the day,
Bill

[craig333]

You're talking two different things here. Do you want to know they're doing their job or do you just want to be able to show it to the client. Detex and logs might be fine for the client but dont' really show if you're doing more than just the minimum.
Personally, and I understand it depends on what kind of site you have, but I'd like my supervisor to talk to the employees at my site and see what they think of the job I"m doing. Instead of numbers, how about showing the client the statement from the guy who just told me "dang, thats the fourth time I've seen you today, and I've only been here an hour, you sure do get around".

[HospitalOfc.]

How about, breaking your incident reports and other Officer reporting into a few catagories and preparing pie charts ( or whatever graph you like) for managment!

We are already doing this, but unfortunately JCAHO (the organization that grants accreditation to hospitals) requires that we provide some set of hard numbers that demonstrate that we are actively patrolling the facility and fulfilling our security function.

The access control cards only perform a partial function, and really wouldn't be that much different then detex, if the officers know it is being used that way.

Andy, I know it is not a perfect solution, but I was thinking that with over 300 card accessed areas it would be less likely to limit the Officers patrol routes to the quickest path from detex button #1 to detex button #2. I was also not planning on telling the Officers that their card swipes were being monitored.

Personally, and I understand it depends on what kind of site you have, but I'd like my supervisor to talk to the employees at my site and see what they think of the job I"m doing. Instead of numbers, how about showing the client the statement from the guy who just told me "dang, thats the fourth time I've seen you today, and I've only been here an hour, you sure do get around".

Craig, we already do this and I already know which Officers are and are not pulling their own weight, but our Human Resources department demands quantifiable proof that someone is not performing to expectations before it can be addressed. So I am hoping to be able to come up with something that will create a baseline of what an average Officer’s performance should be, and will thereby highlight the deficiencies of several of our Officers.

[HospitalOfc.]

Let us step for a moment of analysis.
If opportunity reduction is reduced through target hardening which in many instances means of an opportunity of human intervention would not the preditor seek prey elsewhere? Would not that avoidance merit some consideration in evaluating a SO or guard's preformance?

I agree wholeheartedly, but how do you quantify prevention. All administrators see is that your numbers of burglaries, assaults, thefts, and other major incidents are down 33% from last year. To them it would then logically follow that if you did 33% less you should also cut your budget by 1/3 from previous levels.

[ValleyOne]

Gonna derail this just a bit...

Whomever it was that decided that a dept used 25% less in it's budget therefore needs 25% less this year/quarter/whatever to operate-should be shot! I may not be a financial wizard, but even I can understand that your budget is a living breathing thing. You try and curb as much cost as you can and still stay alive because of the unknowns out there; OT, Equipement break downs, and ETC. IT DOES NOT MEAN you can do the same next year/quarter/whatever... I have seen agencies like fire depts intentially trash brand new saw or other equipment because they are short that amount in their budgets and "If they don't use it, they don't need it."

AARGH!!

OK, Sorry about that.

I think of something productive to the thread...

[Eric]

unfortunately JCAHO (the organization that grants accreditation to hospitals) requires that we provide some set of hard numbers that demonstrate that we are actively patrolling the facility and fulfilling our security function.

I was also not planning on telling the Officers that their card swipes were being monitored.

.

1. Can you work backwards from what is expected to how to get there?

2. I do not have a problem with not being told cards are being tracked / monitored. Today, there are records electronically for every keystroke on a computer or banking machine, cameras are everywhere too.

3. I understand the need for documenting under performers, I had one working for me a few years back. I talked with him, assigned him 2 days of training (he had been doing the job for 2 years) with another Officer, and it did not help. I had our company owner talk with him and that did not help, different shifts, no change. This was all documented and even telling him that this was his last week at this post did nothing. I love people.

[Chimpie]

Do you have many calls for service? For example: to unlock doors? Escort employees out? Handle this or that?

I would hope in a hospital setting that you have a security office/dispatch center staffed 24/7. If so, maybe having a CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) system that tracks calls for service, time it took to handle the calls, etc.

PPM2000 has one called Dispatch Log.

Chimp

[UtahProtectionForce]

Pies, charts and numbers, management like these things, however they can become a tasking job to produce, my i suggest a service code response log ? by having this it will produce numbers, since your in a hosptial you can say

service codes

100- Responded to Assist Ambulance
110- Responded to Assist Nurse Staff
120- Responded to Assist Pysch Staff
200- Issued Verbal warning
210- Issued Parking Violation
220- Issued Citation
230- Issued Tresspass Notifaction
300- Intoxicated individual
310- Noise complaint
320- Biohazard

Create your own codes, then every time an officer "responds" to some thing pull out the tally chart,(chart where you will tally the number of times some on responded to xxxxx service code) then after you do that have the supervisor count it up at end of day (you pick time 2300hr/0000hr/0700hr) or whatever you like, then you store that on a weekly sheet :P where you will tally the number of incidents responded to weekly, then you do a monthly chart, this is where the fun begins you can now show that for the day,week and month, i know its more paperwork, but hey it shows, you can do a simple form in excel, or word using a basic table for this, this will be "hard copy" as to what was responded to.

[SecTrainer]

1. The first principle is that you must establish organizational objectives to which performance metrics can be tied. These objectives, in turn, should be tied to JCAHO requirements, particularly those described in the "Environment of Care" (EC) standards. There are also other regulations, etc. that must be considered in establishing objectives, such as OSHA, fire codes, etc., etc. The hospital is also very likely a participant in the local Emergency Management system, which will add further expectations.

Obviously, hospitals are very complex security venues with a maze of regulations, a high number of vulnerabilities, and many "stakeholders" to be served.

EC standards require the hospital to have a number of Management Plans in place, including:
* Safety Management Plan
* Security Management Plan
* Hazardous Materials Management Plan
* Emergency Management/Disaster Plan
* Fire Safety Plan
...and some others.

The role of Security should be identified as may be relevant to each of these plans in terms of the objectives to be achieved, how this achievement is to be measured, the specific activities to be performed by the Security Department to meet the objectives, and the resources, manpower and knowledge or skills required.

2. Officer activities referable to specific EC standards (EC 1.0 - Safety, 2.0 - Security, etc.) can be coded and it would make sense to incorporate the EC numbers into the coding scheme:

All codes beginning 1.xxx are related to the Safety Standards.
All codes beginning 2.xxx are related to the Security Standards, etc...
.....
All codes beginning 4.xxx are related to the Hazmat Safety Standards
All codes beginning 5.xxx are related to the Fire Safety Standards.

I can't remember exactly which number corresponds with which of the EC sections, but you would match them up.

Activities would include, but need not be limited to, "responses" to calls for service. They can also be officer-initiated or supervisor-assigned tasks, AND CAN INCLUDE TRAINING ACTIVITIES TIED TO THESE STANDARDS. For instance:

1.0 Safety Standards Activities:
1.001 Report of Unsafe Conditions
.....
1.999 Safety Training Class

2.0 Security Standards Activities:
2.001 Employee Escort
2.002 Parking Structure Patrol
.....
2.999 Security-Related Training

3.0 HazMat Standards Activities:
3.001 Report of Biohazard Violation
.....
3.999 Hazmat Training Class

4.0 Emergency Management Activities:
4.001 Severe Weather Incident
.....
4.999 EM Procedure Drill

5.0 Fire Safety Activities:
5.001 Report of Fire Hazard Condition
5.002 Fire Extinguisher Inspection
....
5.999 Fire and Evacuation Drill

...etc.

Every activity is documented, and can be identified by a unique combination of officer ID, activity code, date and time. If necessary, multiple codes can be assigned to a complex situation involving more than one activity type.

In this way, your objectives, your activities and your reporting system is tied directly to the JCAHO EC standards. OSHA, local fire and other requirements can be intermixed easily with these.

Bottom line: Dig into the JCAHO EC standards, OSHA, and the HEIC program for healthcare emergency management, at the very least.. Establish the objectives implied by these programs. Decide how objectives will be measured. Translate objectives into activities. Document all activities, at least by logging them. Now, measure objectives as previously determined.

[UtahProtectionForce]

SecTrainer you are a god with words, you said it better then i could have! Serivce codes are always indicators of the service you provided :P My current company doesnt use them, but my last company did, they worked great when management would say we are paying you xxxxxx dollars and we dont ever see the guards on property, we in turn could say well on this date the officer repsonded to or had xxx number of service calls, durning these hours. then management would look it over and say oh ok, nevermind. as they were able to see how busy the officers are/were.

[HospitalOfc.]

Do you have many calls for service? For example: to unlock doors? Escort employees out? Handle this or that?

I would hope in a hospital setting that you have a security office/dispatch center staffed 24/7. If so, maybe having a CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) system that tracks calls for service, time it took to handle the calls, etc.

PPM2000 has one called Dispatch Log.

Chimp

We average a little over 1,300 calls for service a month.

I agree that CAD would be the all around best solution to our problem and we have put in a bugetary request for ReportExec's dispatch module. Unfortuately we upset some people in our IT department a while back by limiting their access into our security systems and questioning the security of some vital portions of our network, so to repay us they have now sucessfully tied up our request in red tape for the last year and a half.