1. Limitations & Future Research
Civilianization of Crime Scene Investigation Units: a Canadian Perspective
By: Latia Watson
Abstract
Results Cont.
The use of civilian personnel within police departments has slowly been increasing over the years. However, there are police departments that both support and reject the idea of sharing the workload with civilians. This paper discusses the importance of civilianization within Crime Scene Investigation units (CSI) in accordance to the service delivery and cost effectiveness of police departments. The division of labour and salary between both civilian and sworn officers within CSI units is discussed by analysing previous research. The need for more sworn officers and the lack of value for civilian personnel are also discussed with reference to statistics to support the hypothesis. Job design theory is used to address certain limitations and successes that may occur when assessing job satisfaction within the workplace between civilian and sworn officers, as well as job allocation for optimizing job proficiency. 
Theory
Efficiency:
In 2014, York Regional Police began the hiring process of civilian investigators, with eight civilian forensic identification personnel being hired into their forensic unit, and another eight becoming forensic identification assistants (YRP, 2014). According to the York Regional annual report this strategy is proving to be more efficient because it allows the civilian investigators “to assume the responsibilities previously held by scenes of crimes officers, freeing up officer resources” (YRP, p. 46).
Cost:
Civilians are said to be more cost efficient because they received less pay than their sworn counterparts, took less time to train, and received fewer benefits while working more hours (McCarty et al., p. 68).
Civilians in AFIS classify as Grade level F 1(WRP, 2016) and earn $67, $79, 109 annually 2(WRP, 2016), whereas First Class constables automatically make $90, 348 annually for the same position 3(WRP, 2016). The same rules apply for civilian Search Technologists who earn between $53,008 to $64,491 in Canada 1(GOC, 2016).
Job Design Theory:
Taylorism – Scientific Management
Standard methods
Selective hiring criteria
Provide effective training
Worker support
Specific task assignments
Allowing civilians to function within their own sectors of investigation
Resource allocation
Identify and structure jobs in a way that uses the company's resources efficiently
The theory promotes the use of specific task assignment, allowing civilians and sworn personnel within police services to work in their own respected sectors of investigation without blurred lines of division (Stojkovic, et al., 2015). Lastly, Job Design Theory focuses on resource allocation, which would allow police services to identify and structure jobs within the investigation units in a way that uses the company's resources efficiently (Stojkovic, et al., 2015).
Introduction
Civilianization within police departments has been a work in progress since the 80s in countries like England that tend to set the standard for certain parts of the world (Houghton, p. 191). Little research has been conducted to determine whether or not there is a great difference in effectiveness between sworn officers and civilian Crime Scene Investigators (CSI). There is speculation that many police departments, such as the Toronto Police Service and Oklahoma Police Department etc., are attempting to make transitions that would result in the civilianization of Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) units, leaving sworn officers to perform duties that are strictly related to law enforcement (Manwarren, 2013). It has not yet been empirically supported if one of these two groups performs more efficient work than the other, and little reasoning has been officially provided for the decision.
Limitations & Future Research
Results
Limited amount of research
Articles discussing the perspective of civilian members within police forces.
Limitation in statistics that address the variances in cost between civilians and sworn officers within CSI units
Specifications between pay grades between different police departments
In the future, research that analyses the position of civilian members in police agencies needs to look into the justification of pay variances between members who have the same level of education and training.
Objective
The goal of this paper is to find evidence confirming that;
civilian CSIs are more qualified than sworn CSI officers, and
that civilian CSIs perform higher levels of accurate and efficient work with crime scene investigations than sworn officers.
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the difference between uniform and civilian crime scene investigators, as well as the effectiveness and efficiency of the two groups. This critical literature review hopes to show that sworn officers should be phased out of Crime Scene Investigation units due to civilian CSIs providing more focus and efficiency to the field. Ultimately the focus is to show that there is a much higher need for civilian CSIs than sworn CSIs.
References
Training:
McCarty et al., (2012) conducted a study of 12 U.S law enforcement agencies, which housed more than 2,000 uniform officers, and nearly 500 civilian personnel. The findings showed that over a twenty year span, from 1987 to 2007, the numbers of civilians within police departments increased by 47%, and sworn officers by 30% (McCarty et al., p. 68). Within the study 40% of the civilian population had a bachelor’s degree or higher, whereas of 50% of the sworn personnel possessed at least a bachelor’s degree (McCarty et al., p. 71).
1Government of Canada. (2016). Job. Forensic Search Technologist- Biology. Retrieved from:
Houghton, John. (2012). Safer Communities. The "Not So New" Plans To Privatise Policing. Vol. 11, Issue 4. pp. 191 – 194. DOI /
McCarty, William P.; Skogan, Wesley G. (2012). Sage Publications. Job-Related Burnout Among Civilian and Sworn Police Personnel. Vol. 16, Issue 1. pp DOI: /
Manwarren, Leighanne. (2013). The Oklahoman. Civilians Join Crime Investigators At Oklahoma City Police Department. Retrieved from: /article/
Stojkovic, Stan; Kalinich, David; Klofas, John. (2015). Criminal Justice Organizations: Administration and Management: Sixth Edition. United States Print. Cengage Learning.
1Waterloo Regional Police. (2016). Civilian Job Description. Retrieved from:
2Waterloo Regional Police. (2016). Civilian Job Description: AFIS Forensic Server Imaging Specialist Retrieved from:
3Waterloo Regional Police. (2016). Employee Salary and Benefits. Retrieved from:
York Regional Police (2014). York Regional Police Annual Report. pp Retrieved from: