Captain Jones is responsible for preparing the budget for the Greenfield Police Department. The new chief has asked her to review the entire budget and find long-term and short-term cost reductions. He wants to shift some resources to community policing projects and would like to create an undercover drug unit. He encourages her to be creative and bold because he does not anticipate any increases in the budget during the next few years.

The Greenfield Police Department is a medium-sized suburban department. Three neighboring cities have comparable departments performing similar functions. Each of the four departments has its own booking and short-term holding facility and its own dispatch center. The county sheriff’s department operates a detention center for felons and long-term prisoners. Arresting officers transport their prisoners to the county facility and are often out of service for several hours during this process.

Each city has its own special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team. The teams’ equipment was purchased through a federal grant, but the personnel costs are each department’s responsibility. The teams train frequently, but the cities do not often have incidents that require a SWAT response. The county sheriff’s department also has a SWAT team that responds when requested by local police departments. None of the departments have an undercover drug unit. They refer drug cases to state and federal agencies, but those agencies are often too busy for a timely response.

A review of the Greenfield Police Department activity logs reveals that officers spend considerable time standing by for vehicle tows, directing traffic at civic functions, and delivering documents to city council members.

How should Captain Jones begin the process of preparing a new budget?