You are the Officer In Charge of Planning at a suburban police department in Anywhere USA. You have been asked by a citizen's advisory group to review the use of cell phones and texting as one way to reduce accidents

Question

This comes at the wake of a serious fatal accident in which the driver was texting while driving on a busy street in the community.

Answer 1

Main points –
Apply the main factors of the planning process.
1. Recognize and analyze the problem, specifying the need for a plan – is this really an important issue in the community that can be addressed with the resources of the department?
2. Formulate a set of objectives – how can this be addressed in an empirical and quantitative manner to reduce texting incidents?
3. Gather data – how many accidents have taken place? What have been the observations of patrol personnel in terms of vehicle and traffic activity? What does national and statewide data indicate in terms of texting being a problem?
4. Create an operational plan – this could include educational programs, public service announcements, as well as increased patrol efforts at enforcement at certain times and locations.
5. Get the agreement of those involved in the plan – often called obtaining concurrences. This means that other interested stakeholders may need to be involved with operational plans such as patrol and supervisory personnel as well as community relations and media officers. The plan also needs to be approved by the chief and senior command personnel
6. Evaluate – once the plan is approved and underway, how is it working? Will this become a short- or long-range activity for the department? What do the numbers show in terms of enforcement?