Sunny Grove Case Study

Assume you are the new police chief of Sunny Grove a suburban community of 40,000 people. The previous chief was fired by the City Council because of several operational problems in the department. You have previously been police chief in a much smaller community in a different part of the state. There are 110 officers in the department who provide the full range of police services to the community.

The problems of the last few years include:

two officers were accused by the state police of involvement in string of thefts from local businesses. They resigned, but were not convicted of the crimes.

the traffic court clerk was convicted of stealing money for the traffic fines

an audit by the state attorney general's office found that the record keeping system in the department was seriously deficient

the latest FBI crime report found that the percent of crimes solved by the department was the lowest of any department its size in the state

the fiscal audit of the department by the City Finance Director shows that the department overspent its allocated funds by 10% last year. Money had to be taken from other departments to pay police officers for the last two months of the fiscal year.

The Mayor and City Council made it clear in your final interview for the job that they expect you to quickly solve the problems that have existed in the department. In your case analysis indicate what principles of management control you would apply to solve the problems of the department.

As with other cases the goal is not to have you respond with just your instincts or off the top of your head. How ought the principles of control found in the readings be systematically applied to this situation?