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Building the Future of Public Safety in San Marcos, Texas

The City of San Marcos engaged Matrix Consulting Group to conduct a comprehensive workload and staffing analysis of the San Marcos Police Department (SMPD). This assessment provided a data-driven foundation for current staffing decisions and long-range planning as the city continues to grow.

Challenge

San Marcos is a dynamic and rapidly growing Texas city, home to Texas State University and positioned along one of the state’s most active transportation corridors. The presence of a large university population and the downtown entertainment district surrounding it creates a complex, high-demand public safety environment that places unique pressure on police resources. SMPD handled more than 26,000 community-generated calls for service in 2024, with early 2025 data showing a 14% increase in reported crime—further underscoring the urgency of the assessment.

While core patrol operations demonstrated sufficient capacity—achieving 58.5% proactive time (the share of officers’ time available for community engagement and preventive patrol), exceeding the 50% benchmark—the analysis revealed that operational and administrative support functions had not kept pace with growth. Investigative units across multiple bureaus faced mounting caseloads, digital forensics was managing a significant backlog, 911 Operations was operating well below the staffing needed to meet peak call volumes, and administrative functions such as records, training, and internal affairs lacked the capacity to support a department of SMPD’s size and complexity.

Solution

Matrix Consulting Group completed a six-month engagement combining a full-year analysis of computer-aided dispatch (CAD) data, detailed investigative caseload modeling, five community input sessions, and interviews with department personnel at all levels. The project team developed a data-driven staffing model for patrol, applied caseload-based staffing models across every investigations unit, and produced a 10-year staffing projection tied to San Marcos’s population and service demand forecasts.

Key recommendations included:

  • Creating an Enhanced Downtown Business Patrol Unit to proactively address safety and quality-of-life issues in the university corridor during high-demand evening and overnight hours.
  • Expanding the Mental Health Unit by two officers and adding staffing across multiple investigations units where caseload hours exceeded the capacity of current positions.
  • Increasing 911 Operations by 11 telecommunication operators to meet peak hourly call demand and strengthening administrative support functions across records, training, and internal affairs.
  • Developing a 10-year staffing projection identifying the need for 74.5 additional sworn positions and 39 additional civilian staff by 2036 to maintain service levels as the city grows.

Outcomes

The assessment provides the San Marcos Police Department and City leadership a unit-by-unit staffing roadmap built on actual workload data. By quantifying both current deficiencies and long-range growth impacts, Matrix provided the analytical foundation for justified, transparent staffing and budget decisions—and a framework to communicate those needs to the community.

The report positions SMPD to proactively manage the demands of a growing university city while maintaining accountability, responsiveness, and public trust.