The Measurement and Variation of Public Safety Consolidation

Abstract

Public safety consolidation of police and fire departments has long existed, but there are no quantitative measures of its implementation. Previous research has suggested a typology ranging from nominal to full consolidation. Our research explores how public safety departments may vary by both command consolidation and cross-training of personnel. Considering both these dimensions is essential to measuring the form and extent of implementation of this service model. To develop a scale for consolidation, we surveyed all known U.S. public safety departments, asking each about its services, administrative structure, and training requirements. Altogether, 74 of the 130 (57%) departments we were able to identify responded to a mail survey with phone follow-up, providing us information on their levels of structural integration and cross-training, among other characteristics. The results showed both some concentration at lower and higher levels of measured consolidation as well as some variation among departments with identical scores. Although our research is limited by a relatively small number of departments, preventing development of more sophisticated measures, use of this additive scale can still yield insights on what influences consolidation, the problems consolidation may ameliorate or produce, and operational characteristics by extent of consolidation.