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From March 31-April 7, PERF asked its members to complete a questionnaire about the changes they have made in their departments over the past year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether some of these changes will continue after the pandemic is over. Key Takeaways Working remotely: 88% of responding agencies had employees working remotely at some point during the pandemic. Working remotely was especially common among professional (civilian) staff, followed by command staff and detectives. Most agencies have now brought almost all of their staff back into the office. Hybrid schedules: Two-thirds of agencies said they will not allow employees to work a hybrid schedule (some days in the office, some days working remotely) after the pandemic is over. Changes in reporting of crimes: Some agencies said they shifted to telephone or online reporting of low-level crimes and less important calls because of COVID-19, and they found that more productive and will continue it after the pandemic is over. Virtual meetings: Some agencies reported success in using online platforms to conduct virtual meetings, including community meetings, internal department meetings, court arraignments, and officer training. Technology: Agencies reported improvements in their use of technology during the COVID pandemic, such as providing personnel with laptop computers or smartphones so they can work from various locations. One agency reported eliminating all paperwork flows and handling all documents electronically. Some reported having technology such as Microsoft Teams, but never using it to its full potential until the pandemic happened.
138 agencies from 35 U.S. states and one Canadian province responded to the PERF survey. 33% of responses came from agencies with fewer than 50 sworn personnel, 39% came from agencies with 50-249 sworn personnel, 12% from agencies with 250-499 sworn personnel, and 16% from agencies with more than 500 sworn personnel. WORKING REMOTELY A large majority of responding agencies (88%) had people working remotely at some point during the pandemic. 12% said they did not have staff working remotely at any point. Of the 121 agencies that said they had staff working remotely at some point, -- 96% said their remote workers included professional staff, Agencies have largely brought staff who were working remotely back into the office. 56% reported they have brought all their staff back into the office; 13% said they have brought more than half back; 8% said they have brought about half back; 8% said they have brought less than half back; and 6% said they have not brought anyone back yet. 9% never had staff working remotely.
HYBRID SCHEDULES About two-thirds of agencies said they will not permanently have any employees on a hybrid schedule (some days in the office, some days working remotely). 14% said they plan to have some employees on a hybrid schedule, and 20% said they might have employees on a hybrid schedule. Of the agencies that said they might or will have some employees working a hybrid schedule, 30 said that would include professional staff, 9 said that would include command staff, and 8 said that would include detectives. Almost no responding agencies expected to have employees working a full-time remote schedule. 2% said they plan to have some staff working remotely full-time, and 7% said they might have some staff working remotely full time. The remainder (91%) said they do not plan to have any staff working a full-time remote schedule. Of the agencies that said they might or will have some employees working a full-time remote schedule, 4 said that would include professional staff, and 1 said that would include command staff. PERF also asked agencies about other changes they expect to maintain after the pandemic. Common responses included: TELEPHONE/ONLINE REPORTING OF CRIMES Several agencies reported that they will maintain some of the additional online and telephone reporting options they implemented during the pandemic. -- A chief from a small Northeastern agency said: “We stopped responding to certain calls like minor property damage where there are no suspects or leads and the report is for documentation purposes only. We are taking those calls over the phone and having the complainant email pictures to be included in the report. This is being done to reduce unnecessary contact with people and mitigate risk. That practice has made us more efficient, and it saved fuel. We will continue this into the future.” -- A chief from a medium-sized Western agency reported: “During the pandemic, we stopped sending officers to certain misdemeanor crimes, and required citizens to use a phone-in reporting system. Since then, we have purchased self-reporting online software for these types of crime, and we still direct citizens to use phone reporting. We will keep this in place.” -- A chief from a medium-sized Midwestern agency told PERF: “We pushed to more online reporting. We may continue doing this to free officers to respond to more important calls. We continue to struggle with hiring and retaining officers. With the cap on numbers due to the unrest from last summer, online reporting is becoming more important.” -- A chief from a small Northeastern agency said he is using lessons learned during the pandemic as part of a larger reevaluation of how the department operates: “We are becoming more thoughtful about the calls for service we actually go to in person. At a time when society questions why police respond to any number of situations, we have seized this as an opportunity to assess what our community truly expects in terms of in person response.”
VIRTUAL MEETINGS Some agencies said they will maintain virtual meetings for several different purposes, including community meetings, internal meetings, court arraignments, and officer training. Several agencies will keep some of the new ways they found to connect with the community. -- A chief of a medium-sized Northeastern agency reported: “Because community engagement was difficult, we used social media, specifically Facebook Live, to provide up-to-date discussions. This format allowed for a wider audience and immediate feedback via Q and A.” -- A chief of a medium-sized Western agency said: “We will do more virtual community meetings to engage with community members who don’t usually show up to meetings or events in person.” Departments are planning to continue holding some internal meetings virtually to reduce employees’ travel time. -- A chief of a small Midwestern department said: “More staff meetings are being done via Zoom. It actually is more accommodating, given varying schedules and shifts assignments.” -- The head of a medium-sized Midwest agency responded: “We are continuing our reliance upon virtual meeting platforms for internal meetings, especially those involving personnel in different offices.” Some agencies found virtual court appearances to be easier. -- A commander from a medium-sized Western agency said: “Video court arraignments are likely to continue, as they are both cost-effective and efficient.” Agencies may also conduct more training remotely than they did before the pandemic. -- A chief of a medium-sized Northeastern department said: “Training became mostly virtual, and officers were permitted to do it from home. That will continue for some of the yearly training.”
TECHNOLOGY UPDATES Some agencies said the pandemic demonstrated the need for technology improvements. -- A police chief from a medium-sized Midwestern agency said: “We replaced all of our computers for our support staff (school resource officers, detectives, and command staff) with laptops with remote capabilities. We will continue with that, so that we can be more nimble about where we work from.” -- A chief from a medium-sized Midwestern department reported: “We added cell phones to all of our patrol cars, so officers could do some follow-up in the field by phone, as opposed to face-to-face.” -- Some found it difficult to make technology updates while dealing with budget cuts. As a chief from a small Midwestern agency put it, “COVID severely impacted our budget, and enhancing technology will be a challenge.”
UTILIZING EXISTING TECHNOLOGY TO ITS FULL POTENTIAL During the pandemic, some agencies realized they were not using their existing technology to its full potential. -- An assistant chief from a large Southern agency said: “We have eliminated all paperwork flows, so everything is done on email or shared drives. Everyone has an electronic signature option. Now there are zero workflows that require paper and traditional signatures.” -- A chief from a small Northeastern agency reported: “We are actually using the capabilities of the Microsoft 365 platform, including Teams.” A captain from a medium-sized Western department responded: “We utilized Teams and will continue to do so after we get through this pandemic.” -- Similarly, an assistant chief from a medium-sized Southern agency said: “We had Teams, but hadn't previously used it to the extent that we did during COVID."
The PERF Critical Issues Report is part of the Critical Issues in Policing project, supported by the Motorola Solutions Foundation.
PERF also is grateful to the Howard G. Buffett Foundation for supporting this work.
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