Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout3.5 PresenComunityPolicing CITY CLERK File# 580-10 AGENDA STATEMENT CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: October 7, 2003 SUBJECT: Presentation by Police Services on Community Policing Report Prepared by Gary L. Thuman, Police Chief ATTACHMENTS: None RECOMMENDATION:~ FINANCIAL. STATEMENT: Receive and Accept Police Services Staff Presentation None DESCRIPTION: The City of Dublin Police Services is committed to Community Policing and the philosophy of working with the community to enhance services provided. Staff has prepared a presentation on Dublin Police Services and Community Policing. Community Policing is a philosophy, a management style, and organizational design that promotes police-community partnerships and proactive problem-solving strategies. The focus is on building and sustaining healthy communities that provide a comprehensive and creative approach to policing. Priorities are coordinated through community/police needs assessments; collecting and analyzing information concerning the problem in a thorough manner; developing or facilitating responses that are innovative and tailor-made with the potential of eliminating or reducing the problem and evaluating the response to determine its effectiveness and modifying it as necessary. Dublin Police Services utilizes patrol, investigative staff, and specialized position assignments to identify problems and develop solutions. Our school resource officer is an example of a specialized position assignment. The school resource officer supports all schools within the Dublin Unified School District with particular emphasis on the middle and high schools. The officer routinely works with schOol administration, teachers, parents, and students to discuss problems and identify solutions. Additionally, the City's crime prevention officer teaches grades K-12 in public and private schools with emphasis on "Stranger Danger" in the lower grades and drug and alcohol resistance education in the upper grades. The position also works closely with Dublin's two (2) community safety assistants. The community safety assistants are often the first contact a citizen has when contacting the police for assistance with an ongoing problem. Community safety assistants schedule meetings with concerned citizens and officers to facilitate the development of solutions for issues of a mutual concern. ~ 'l-l lr.~..f'n~.melee,rleefmf COPIES TO: ITEM NO. The Crime Prevention Unit has formed over 281 active Neighborhood Watch groups within the city and meet on a regular basis to reduce or remove the potential of criminality from their neighborhoods. The Unit has also fostered the growth of the City's Business Alert program where it has now expanded to 410 businesses that actively participate. Police Services has also parmered with public utilities and other service providers to develop the Eyes on Crime program, which has trained its employees to report unusual or suspicious activity. Police personnel assigned to Dublin Police Services receive ongoing training in Community Policing and Collaborative Problem Solving and just recently completed eight (8) hours of update training, which followed an additional eight (8) training component staff received in April of this year. This training for all patrol and investigative officers focused on two aspects: (1) defining the roles and relationships between the police and the community to require shared ownership, shared decision making and shared accountability; and (2) developing effective interpersonal skills to allow those relationships with community members to be positive. The two (2) officers assigned to Hacienda Crossings work with the businesses to identify problems and formulate solutions to reduce incidents of fraud and theft. These businesses know the assigned officers and have the officer's cellular telephone numbers, facilitating direct contact. This immediate and direct relationship enhances the delivery of police services and helps to forge strong partnerships. Technology is an element of Community Policing and the Traffic Division utilizes technology to solicit information concerning traffic problems. A web link, on the City Web Site, connects members of the community with the Traffic Sergeant allowing them to post a non emergency problem 24 hours a day 7 days a week. The sergeant contacts the person and advises them of potential solutions or that the problem has been rectified. It is recommended that the City Council receive and accept the presentation from Police Services Staff.