Is There a Valid Way to Rate Local Police Departments?

 

There are so many points on which a police department can be rated that it's difficult to fairly weigh them all and then pronounce the best and worst. We can say that in the number of complaints this blog has received concerning various forces, Russellville has been the worst offender over the years, followed by Cherokee, and then Sheffield. All these complaints have mentioned impaired officers working shifts, sex trysts on city time, and racial profiling.

In our last blog, we offered the comment that Muscle Shoals has a better force than Sheffield. Many disagreed. That is certainly their prerogative since so much is subjective.

We're going to repost some 2018 comments here from the Midnight Rider concerning the City of Sheffield Police Department:

We all know that the City of Sheffield cannot retain employees in its various Departments. Basically the City of Sheffield is a training ground for other cities. 

First let’s look at the Police Department. In the month of December, they lost three Police Officers. Two of them had less than a year on the job. The third had about 2 years on the job. So the two short timers basically went through the Police Academy which is 3 months long and then left shortly thereafter. Now the Police Department has to replace and train these Offices. I noticed in the Times Daily Newspaper that the City Council had approved to start a list for the Police Department. I hope it is long they way they are losing officers. 

No, a higher turnover rate doesn't necessarily mean a less effective force, but it's certainly a prime indicator that the department is not all that it should or could be.