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Jon M. Shane
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Updated material by Jon Shane:

What is police performance? What does it look like? How would a police executive know if “good performance” existed? Police performance has been debated for years. However, advances in research have brought us closer to a meaningful definition, one that practitioners can understand and operationalize with relative ease.

 

This application guide should be used with What Every Chief Executive Should Know...and assumes familiarity with that text. The guide forges ahead by exploring the six drivers of performance management that government and business can use to manage results. The intent is to synthesize the broad concepts of performance measurement discussed in the primary text with a comprehensible and useful management framework.

 

The component parts of the model illustrated in this guide fit together to form a conceptual framework that police administrators can follow as they build a management structure that will produce measurable improvements, regardless of agency size. This guide outlines the sequential steps necessary to develop a performance management model.

What Every Chief Executive Should Know: Using Data to Measure Police Performance, (Looseleaf Law Publications, 2007) by Captain Jon M. Shane (ret.), was selected as the 2008 Police-Writers.com Book of the Year.  In December 1985, Jon Shane Joined the Newark Police Department (New Jersey) and was assigned to the South Police District.  During his 20 year law enforcement career, he worked a variety of assignments and worked his way through the ranks of detective, sergeant and lieutenant, eventually reaching the rank of Captain.

 

Jon Shane’s book stood out among the entrants because it significantly advances management decision making in the field of law enforcement.  The book provides models and mathematical approaches to management questions like: “How many officers do we need? Are we efficiently using the ones we have? Is there a relationship between the number of officers we have and our crime rate? What is the status of our patrol car fleet? Are citizens satisfied with our work? What is the cost of our special programs and what are the actual benefits?” 

 

One Police-Writers.com judge noted that Jon Shane’s book “took a daunting subject and broke it down into pieces that anyone could understand and put to use.  Not only did he give simple and easy to understand explanations, he also provides examples of types of data and how to work with that data to make intelligent decisions.  Plus, he provides a CD with ready-to-use Excel spreadsheets for an executive to use right away.”   A second judge noted, “Shane’s book goes beyond the use of math to solve management questions in policing.  The hidden value in the work may be that it demonstrates new ways of thinking about crime.  Potentially, it could help put the word “analysis” back into “crime analysis.”

About the Newark Police Department

The Newark Police Department has two primary divisions and several important bureaus.  The Patrol Division and the Detective Division are the largest organizational entities within the Newark Police Department.  The Patrol Division, the largest, is organized into four police district commands and a Tactical Patrol Bureau.

 

The Detective Division of the Newark Police Department is organized into four components: Major Crimes Bureau; General Investigations; Narcotics; and the Property and Evidence Bureau.  The Bureaus of the Newark Police Department include: Records and Communications Bureau; Special Operations Bureau, Youth and Community Services Bureau; and, the Internal Affairs Bureau.

In December 1985, Jon M. Shane Joined the Newark Police Department (New Jersey) and was assigned to the South Police District.  During his 20 year law enforcement career, he worked a variety of assignments and worked his way through the ranks of detective, sergeant and lieutenant, eventually reaching the rank of Captain. His last active duty assignment was in the Command Operations Center which provides command rank supervision to the Department during non-business hours. The Command Operations Center personnel monitor significant planned or spontaneous events, inspect Department-wide operations including field deployment, operational readiness, and administrative procedures. The Command Operations Center also provides control of resources to address prevailing service demands, command level presence and oversight at the scene of unusual incidents.

 

Captain Jon Shane (ret.) has a BA and Masters in criminal justice; and, is currently working on his Doctorate in Criminal Justice.  Captain Jon Shane (ret.) is the author of What Every Chief Executive Should Know.

 

According to the book description of What Every Chief Executive Should Know, “How many officers do we need? Are we efficiently using the ones we have? Is there a relationship between the number of officers we have and our crime rate? What s the status of our patrol car fleet? Are citizens satisfied with our work? What s the cost of our special programs and what are the actual benefits? Big questions that demand solid answers! This book will help you provide them! Easy to understand and designed to help top administrators use actual current information and calculations to make the kinds of informed decisions that make agencies run smoothly, efficiently and economically. You ll get step-by-step guidance on: Evaluating whether overtime is necessary and effective Drafting and maintaining a realistic, successful budget Creating smart, efficient workload distributions Analyzing cost effectiveness of special departmental programs Learning to forecast crime...and prepare to combat it.”

 

Howard Safir, NYPD Police Commissioner (Ret.), said of What Every Chief Executive Should Know, “This is a well thought out academic and technical review of the use of data to increase effective policing and crime reduction. It would be worthwhile reading for any police executive”

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