What Happened?
Jersey City rolled out a plan to consolidate its police and fire departments, which promises to cut costs and make public services more efficient. By eliminating duplicate services and other waste, the city aims to save close to $350,000 annually through the merging of departments.
So What?
Under the new strategy, fire and police departments will be managed together as the Department of Public Safety. By merging the teams, the city can eliminate one director role, cut administrative costs nearly in half and increase collaboration between the departments so as to respond to emergencies better in the community. With the police and fire departments working through the same management system, communication could be enhanced and public safety improved.
Furthermore, Jersey City is considering combining its Division of Architecture and Division of Engineering, Traffic and Transportation to be managed under the Department of Public Works. The department may also create a new Division of Sanitation to take on specific tasks currently in demand throughout the community for more efficient delivery and management. Just as merging the police and fire departments is expected to reduce costs, so too is the restructuring plan for the Department of Public Works.
Looking At Both Sides
The International Association of Fire Fighters recently analyzed the planning and implementation processes of consolidating police and fire departments. As many municipalities are considering mergers to help increase savings and efficiency, the association identified the pros and cons to such an undertaking that leaders should take into account. The association explained:
PROS
- Collaboration makes better use of firefighter time
- Reduce department budgets through dual role positions
- Easy to merge the departments as they already share similar goals
- Higher standard of service and reduced cost
- Improve training for both police and fire
CONS
- Quality of service can suffer if resources are stretched thin
- Lack of total fire safety program
- Low support from department employees
- Elimination of team mentality in each department
- Role conflicts when all staff have similar training and duties
- Potential increase in costs initially
If a city opts to launch a pilot program to test out a potential merger, the association recommends taking certain steps to determine the best route to consolidation. Municipality leaders should conduct feasibility studies, gather departmental feedback, outline the current costs and compare against potential savings, and present the findings to the public.
Merger In Action
The fire and police departments in Bay City, Michigan, recently launched a consolidation effort that includes cross-training employees while cutting costs significantly. The city has laid off 10 workers while increasing efficiency of services to generate $1.8 million in operating costs savings by 2017. The newly created Public Safety Department will house 80 employees including 38 police officers, 28 firefighters and 11 officers cross-trained for both police and fire duties. Bay City will be one of 50 cities in Michigan embracing a consolidation strategy to enhance police and fire department efficiency.
Consolidation Trending
Gov1 has reported on several mergers of public departments to increase savings as well as research analyzing such strategies.