Case Study: TCU Police Department

TCU Police Department Sees Improved Efficiency and Substantial Time Savings With Off-Duty Management Solution

The Texas Christian University (TCU) Police Department has nearly 40 full-time sworn law enforcement officers with additional part-time officers, as well. The department is responsible for protecting and serving a 295-acre campus with well over 10,000 students plus faculty and staff. 

“It [RollKall] saves me about 8 hours of work a week - a whole day of work.” -  Corporal Gary Jeandron, TCU Police Department  

In addition to the education process, a major component of the university experience are the campus events and activities. These functions – athletic games, concerts, student union events, rallies, and more – call for onsite off-duty officers to help maintain order. Larger events, like football games, often require the need to utilize officers from neighboring departments to staff 180 or more officers. This type of heavy workload demand and complex scheduling needs make efficient coordination of officers and jobs of the utmost importance.

Like many police departments nationwide, TCU was accustomed to running their off-duty program manually. This meant individually taking calls for job requests, working out the job details, contacting officers through texts or calls to get the jobs staffed, following up with each officer to make sure they showed up for the jobs, managing invoicing, and ensuring proper payment processing. Needless to say, this was very time consuming and inefficient, particularly if they had to coordinate and reach out to other department officers.

In an effort to help streamline the process of scheduling extra-duty jobs, tracking clock-in and clock-out times, monitoring who is working which shifts, and other nuances that go into running an extra-duty and secondary employment program, TCU Police Department turned to RollKall.

Utilizing a Trusted Provider

Cpl. Gary Jeandron of the TCU Police Department has many years of experience running off-duty programs for law enforcement agencies. Prior to starting with TCU, Jeandron helped coordinate extra-duty work at a police department of nearly 1,600 officers, initially without the help of a software solution. Eventually that department started using RollKall, but for a long time it was much more difficult and less efficient for Jeandron. “I was using a notepad, a number 2 pencil, and spreadsheets,” Jeandron says. “It took up a lot of my time.”

It was then that he realized he needed to find some relief from his administrative burden, and he soon after discovered RollKall. 

Jeandron eventually retired from that department and became the TCU Police Department’s coordinator for off-duty work. He quickly knew he had to approach his new department about utilizing RollKall for more reasons than just a streamlined workload.

Built-In Accountability & Transparency

“The reason I really wanted RollKall was for accountability,” he says. “Officers have to clock-in and clock-out so I’m able to see if they were really there and working.”

Jobs on the RollKall app can be set up to require officers to clock-in when they begin working, and the app automatically utilizes GPS-tracking while clocked-in, so both police departments and businesses can ensure the officers are on-site and working the shift. Reports can then be instantly generated to show hours worked, location data, and more, as soon as the officer clocks out.

This functionality has proven to be very useful for Jeandron in situations where he needs to get officers paid for their work. “I’ve had times where the athletic department wasn't sure which officer was at the job, and I’m able to run a report on RollKall that shows who was actually working.”

Jeandron says this has helped settle disputes quickly, and the athletic department was impressed with the reporting capabilities. “Overall, the chief of police, pretty much everyone, has nothing but positive things to say about it.”

Advice to Police Departments

For departments considering using RollKall for their extra-duty programs, Jeandron says he  strongly suggests they give it a try, even if for only a handful of jobs. It can help them evaluate  if it’s the right fit for them.  

Jeandron says the time savings alone is reason enough to test it out. “I never have to make phone calls, send texts; I simply post the job and someone will grab it. I’d say it saves me about eight hours of work a week - a whole day of work.”  

RollKall’s unmatched customer service is also a reason Jeandron believes other law enforcement agencies should give it a try. “I can always get in touch with our Customer Experience Manager, Randa. She is super responsive. I’ve never had that kind of customer service.”  

Throughout his years of experience working with RollKall, Jeandron says updates and industry-leading functionality continue to be added to the platform. Moving forward, he believes this will continue. “Everything is running smoothly with it, I’ve got a good product that I’m happy with.”

By utilizing RollKall, the TCU Police Department was able to efficiently find, schedule, position, and communicate with off-duty officers. It allowed them to obtain and work with the officers they needed while ensuring its partner agencies received the visibility and policy compliance they needed.