Law Enforcement Risk Management Groups Explained
Law enforcement risk management groups are specialized entities within law enforcement agencies and police departments. These groups are primarily responsible for identifying, assessing, and mitigating a broad range of risks that may be faced by law enforcement professionals on the job and off the job. Law enforcement risk management groups can take a number of different forms, depending on the specific needs of the agency or department that they serve. For example, in some cases law enforcement risk management groups may function independently of the agency or department that they exist within , while in other cases law enforcement risk management groups will operate as an arm of the agency/department itself.
The common thread linking law enforcement risk management groups is that they exist to help promote the safety and efficiency of law enforcement professionals. By helping to manage the risks that law enforcement professionals are likely to encounter, they can significantly reduce the chance that these risks will lead to unfortunate consequences, such as serious injury or death. In particular, these groups help to manage both recognized risks (such as the risks presented by dangerous calls or high-crime areas) that law enforcement professionals may face on the job, and also to manage the associated risks that they may face when off the job.
The Functions of Risk Management Groups
The core functions of risk management groups in the law enforcement industry are critical to the prevention, evaluation, mitigation, and response to risks that may lead to legal actions against law enforcement agencies, their employees, and the citizens they serve. Outlined below is a list of these functions by category: Legal Standards: Law enforcement agencies are inherently public entities and must operate within the provisions of country-specific or localized laws based on agency jurisdiction. Liability Prevention: The provision of timely, consistent, and reliable information can avoid legal action, or at least clarify the factual basis for a complaint or allegation. Incident Response Training: Risk management groups establish and iterate the policies and procedures for responding to risks and incidents that are at the core of the tort liability action. Institution-wide Training: Risk management groups establish institution-wide training programs for agency employees to cover policies, procedures, and incident response protocols. Policy, Procedures, and Guidelines Implementation: Risk management groups develop and implement policies and procedures that represent best in class practices for the industry and comply with domestic and state-specific legal standards. Risk Exposure and Assessment: Risk management groups are responsible for coordinating the risk exposure and assessment procedures for the agency. Investigation: Risk management groups coordinate with investigations teams (internal or external) in the collection and storage of evidence and fact-finding during the investigation. Corrective Action: Risk management groups are tasked with coordinating the corrective action procedures and actions for employee issues or vulnerabilities that can lead to risk exposure. Response Procedure Coordination: Risk management groups are tasked with coordinating response procedures on behalf of the law enforcement agency for potential legal actions.
The Importance of Risk Management
As law enforcement agencies increasingly employ risk management strategies, the benefits of such practical approaches become clearer. Reduced liability stemming from the consistent application of risk management best practices often tops the list, as such efforts can mean the difference between significant taxpayer payouts and win by summary judgment of cases where risk management efforts were effectively employed. Beyond such substantial financial benefits are less tangible, albeit equally important, benefits such as improved decision making at every level of the force and a more efficiently run department. The marriage of risk management with the detailed decision matrices inherent in sound policy development is a huge step toward ensuring decisions are not made on an ad hoc basis. This approach also provides administrative and line-level officers with a better sense of the reason for and purpose of each detail of broad policies and fine-tunes the critical intersection of policy and law. In a word, effective risk management improves and standardizes policy decision making. The more efficient the operation of an agency, the less the likelihood an officer or department will act outside the lines of robust, well-formed policies. Risk management is not an excuse to avoid officer discretion and law enforcement officers, by and large, are loath to operate without a high degree of discretion. However, sound risk management efforts offer officers the tool of greater certainty and security in daily decision making provided by well-reasoned policies and procedures.
Risk Management Groups on Effective Strategies
Despite the invaluable work they offer, law enforcement risk management groups still face challenges in protecting their communities. For one, Dwyer said there aren’t enough resources to keep up with the ever changing world of risks. "The law enforcement organization must be dynamic and nimble due to the nature of the threats we face," he said.
Unfortunately, the perception many organizations still have about legal risk management groups is that they’re only necessary for civil lawsuits, when the truth is they really do more than that, explained Dwyer, including streamlining practices that could be applied throughout an organization rather than just through the department’s risk manager.
"In the process of finding ways to manage risk, it is natural to identify efficiencies that can be shared across functional areas. This has been particularly true as we expanded our insurance and procurement resources," he said.
Of course everyone knows that "if you haven’t been sued, then you haven’t’ done anything important," Dwyer says with a chuckle. However, Dwyer also pointed out that it is often challenging to get departments to come together in groups and support their risk management efforts, since many people believe they can deal with all those problems on their own.
"With very complex, massive workforces, the notion exists that individuals can and should have total autonomy over their operations. The nature of legal risk management requires that we work collaboratively, not only with our peers in the department but also collaborate externally with vendors, prosecutors, courts and community stakeholders to ensure that our legal risk management goals are achieved," he explained.
"The integration of legal risk management into the day-to-day operations can also be challenging in larger law enforcement organizations, to whom the concept of integrating that change may not be so visible. The integration of this practice into everyday processes often happens unintentionally while managing complex, interrelated organizations. Our current understanding is that legal risk management works best when implemented organically rather than trying to implement it from the outside," Dwyer said.
Common Challenges in Risk Management Groups
Law enforcement agencies utilize a range of risk management strategies to identify, assess, and reduce potential risks or claims against the agency. These risk management strategies include technological tools, training programs, and policy development on top of proactive risk prevention efforts.
For example, risk management groups often use software tools to identify and report on risks across an agency. The popular software Firearms Analytics Technology (FAT) is used to track firearms from all angles and assist with crime scene investigations. This technology helps ensure that firearms can be tracked by the law enforcement agency, and can also be used by victims and their attorneys to establish liability against potentially responsible parties. Other technologies include ShotSpotter , which allows police to manage calls for gunfire, and PredictiveAnalytics, which uses data of past crimes to predict where future crimes will happen.
Training programs are also a common component of many risk management groups. These programs are used to help police officers identify potential risks and understand how to avoid liability. Some specific training programs include:
Common policies are often developed by risk management groups for use in law enforcement. The development of these agency-specific policies may be used to resolve legal disputes, determine liability, and identify third parties who may have been responsible for the risks experienced by plaintiffs. For example, a number of law enforcement agencies have implemented policies related to the use of deadly force.
Risk Management Strategies Used by Law Enforcement
To illustrate the potential benefits of risk management groups, consider the following examples:
1. Community Policing Enhancements
The Smiths Falls Police Service, in Ontario Canada, selected Community Policing as its policing model for the long-term future. Community Policing is a long-term approach, and as a pillar of its implementation, the service undertook an environmental scan of the community. The survey revealed that certain segments of the community had a theft problem. Officers provided public education, improved enforcement and effected the arrest of several individuals. In the end, theft from a person decreased 13%.
2. Evidence-Based Recruitment
The Nashville Metropolitan Police Department had a long-standing history and reputation for hiring high caliber recruits. As part of a normal review, they analyzed officer arrests that led to internal investigations and civil lawsuits. They examined the factors leading up to the arrests and those who were arrested.
The analysis led to the pragmatic realization that quality applicants were not the problem. Instead they identified the problem as less than stellar training. In another example, a small agency ran stats on its officers involved in use of force incidents over a five-year period. They discovered that the same small number of offenders were the repeat criminals. The agency then reviewed its fines and detention and realized that if they increased the fines, it would have a chilling effect on crime. Essentially, their new philosophy was that if they catch someone stealing a car, it won’t do them much good if the person is back on the street within hours. They raised fines and increased detention time. Their crime rate went down.
3. Improved Officer Health
The West Valley City (Utah) police created a health & wellness committee focusing on elements that harmed officers at no cost to the city or department. Over the years, they reviewed everything from national recommendations to what officers in their department were experiencing. They have developed numerous programs to address stress management, increased resilience, suicide prevention, retirement counseling and health and wellness objectives for officers and their families. They saw the greatest percentage of their officers retire in good health. Disease and disability rates were below average, and run and fitness results greatly improved.
4. Performance-Based Promotions and Accountability
The Skylark Police Agency in California had a non-existent wage and promotion scale. Over two years, they spent hundreds of hours reinventing their self-assessment program. Their new program addressed performance-based promotions and evaluates each employee to assure that everyone is treated equally. Based on their position classification and pay levels, employees are assigned a series of worksheets, covering things such as years of service, knowledge, skills and abilities. The program eliminates subjectivity because it’s based on facts and ability. Performance is thoroughly evaluated by an evaluation committee, and a corridor of point values is given to each level. For example:
The evaluation is intended to offer an accurate picture of the employee. This evaluation is linked to the identification of required training opportunities to assist employees in developing their proficiency for future promotions.
Case Studies on Successful Implementation of Risk Management
In the future, law enforcement risk management Groups will leverage future technology-driven trends to facilitate better decision-making and community engagement. A key area of focus will likely be on data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). Technological advancements will allow these groups to analyze a wealth of data to identify trends, areas of high risk, and strategies that reduce liability. AI will also help in predicting future risks by using historical data to establish patterns.
Another element may be the increased use of community-focused risk management strategies. These strategies will likely focus on transparency and building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve. Risk management Group programs may involve public interface components encouraging community input in establishing priorities and identifying risks .
A third element that is likely to become vital to the risk management Group’s role is the development of virtual and augmented reality training components to supplement live training. Virtual reality enables training scenarios to be easily repeated and updated to reflect current events. This minimizes the likelihood that officers will confront situations on the street that they are not fully prepared to face.
Finally, to improve their effectiveness, law enforcement entities are likely to increasingly collaborate with risk management Group. These partnerships will help both sides understand their responsibilities while also sharing in the analysis of risks. Through collective efforts, the Groups and law enforcement entities can make more fully informed decisions on risk management.
