What is community policing?
Community policing is many things to many people. It is a problem-solving partnership between the police and the community that is incorporated throughout a police department's culture and operations. Community officers and neighbors become jointly responsible not just to catch criminals but to help wipe away the community decay that fosters crime. It is the belief that neighbors know their community best, just as beat officers know their beats best, and that the neighbors and officers must work together to share solutions.
In New Haven, we have developed our own unique brand of this world-wide product: a growing series of beats, designed to serve the needs of the city, neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block, neighborhood substations and management teams - and a partnership network to take advantage of the city's resources, to rebuild environments to be proud of. New Haven made the transition to community policing in 1990. To the credit of the many fine, professional police officers who have made that connection with the community, and to the credit of the community which has and continues to actively welcome their presence, we have accomplished a great deal. The department has gone from a traditional, reactive and incident based, 911 driven approach, to a community policing approach which utilizes proactive methods for crime prevention. New Haven police are committed to reducing crime and the fear of crime to improve the quality of life for all people by institutionalizing this policing philosophy and implementing innovative strategies.
Is it a special program? A special unit?
No. It is a new way of thinking. Police others as you would have others police you is one way to describe it. It is what the department's slogan, Pride and Progress means. Every community officer is a professional employee, a 24-hour-a-day representative of the city government; professionalism demands a long-range approach geared toward solving problems, not just shoveling sand against a rising tide of problems.
Who can be a community police officer?
Any officer can be a community police officer. Every officer in the New Haven Department of Police Service is one. The men and women of community policing work in patrol cars, on walking beats, motorcycles, bicycles and mounted beats, in Street Interdiction and Disruption, and in the Training Division. Every job in the police department has a role that can contribute to the community policing mission.
What skills produce a good community police officer?
In selecting leaders and point people for community policing, we consider a variety of attributes, both personal and professional. These criteria are not oriented toward "public relations" or "charisma," they are skills officers need to be participative and progressive.
Integrity. Intellect. Imagination. Analytical aptitude. Attention to detail. These characteristics are indispensable for the community police officer. Those who demonstrate these essentials are screened for flexibility, motivation (Does solving problems give them special satisfaction? Do they have a particular desire for the job?), ability to speak and write clearly, and resourcefulness. And the best community police officers will be hard to frustrate, budget their time well, cooperate with others, learn fast, and be "self-starters.
Are Community Police Officers still accountable, or are they their own bosses?
Community policing increases, not replaces, the accountability of line officers. Patrol personnel remain accountable to their supervisors to enforce the law - and also to promote neighborhood values. In addition, they become accountable to the community. As citizens become more involved in the police process, they lose their reluctance to communicate directly with the police department. Control of police behavior from the "grass roots" is much more effective.
Once the community knows "its own" officers, the beat can belong to the people who live along it. Those neighbors can actually assume some of middle management's supervisory role. We are continually looking at new ways to make the community officer accountable, responsible - but at the same time flexible. We want to know, are patrol officers and sergeants working to make our neighborhoods stronger and safer? Are they making good diagnoses about the overall problems, not just the symptoms?
How does the district manager concept support community policing?
New Haven is currently divided into ten policing districts. Each district has a district manager, a lieutenant or sergeant, who is responsible for police resources and ensuring that community policing objectives are met. What type of support is provided for community officers?
We have and continue to provide our officers with the necessary police work tools: beepers (to increase direct access to citizens), resource manuals (to help officers in their problem-solving efforts make the appropriate referrals), and mobile computers (to have easy access to department and collaborative agencies information, and an inclusive partnership network).
This network includes the Yale Child Study Center, Community Mediation, Inc., Block Watch Association, U.S. Attorney's Office, Chief State's Attorney's Office, State's Attorney's Office, U.S. Marshall's Office, FBI, DEA, ATF, State Police, Juvenile and Adult Probation Departments, Parole Department, and Livable City Initiative, to name a few.
Officer training and education is key to the community policing mission. Our police academy curriculum continues to be eclectic, inclusive and dynamic. Traditional courses in penal code and firearms are complimented by visits to homeless shelters and soup kitchens, studies in bias and hate crimes; violence against women, children who witness violence, domestic violence, sexual harassment, prostitution; HIV and AIDS; alternative dispute mediation and resolution; non-violent management and aggressive behavior; evolving strategies of community policing; race and gender in policing; and living in diverse communities, among others.
What are Neighborhood Substations?
To help provide a permanent police presence in districts, neighborhood substations were established. The substations, some of which are newly constructed facilities and others which are satellite officers, serve as outreach centers. A "substation" is not a precinct house. Records, communications, supervision, and other centralized services are based at our headquarters, One Union Avenue. Instead, the substations are "drop in" or "resource"
centers, places for citizens to meet, speak to city agencies which can target services to their area of concern, and participate in crime prevention activities of all types.
What is the goal of these neighborhood substations?
To help create self-sufficient, empowered neighborhoods which won't tolerate crime and the disorder which brings crime. Not only will the result be a safer New Haven, but the process of community involvement will enhance the quality of life for citizens the department serves. The neighborhood substations provide tangible symbols which support the substation management and district manager concepts. Currently, they are staffed with investigative aides who provide administrative support to community officers.
Who can contribute the most to community policing?
The single individual with the most influence is the neighborhood officer. He or she - not the Chief of Police - exemplifies the community policing philosophy and can make it succeed. The community officer is responsible for intercepting problems before they inundate Central Communications Service with calls for service; to give life to the department's community policing mission; and involve the citizens of New Haven in their neighborhood safety. All those who live and work in the City of New Haven have an important role in the success of community policing. We depend on the willingness of citizens to work with police and establish a network of partnerships to address neighborhood crime and disorder issues.
What is a substation management team?
The decentralization of police services and the establishment of Substation Management Teams in each of New Haven's ten diverse community policing districts has been one of the most important community policing initiatives in New Haven. Community policing has many formal and informal definitions but all of them encompass the concept of a greater role for the average citizen and neighborhood officer in solving problems that contribute to crime and disorder. Community Substation Management Teams have been formed to help identify and examine neighborhood problems and to develop strategies utilizing local resources. The composition of Management Teams varies from neighborhood to neighborhood but are generally comprised of the police supervisor, beat officers, block watch members, alderpersons, representatives of neighborhood based agencies, and any citizen who takes an active interest in neighborhood improvement. The establishment of the Management Teams continues to be an evolutionary process. All of them have elected leadership and by-laws. Participation in Management teams is one way for concerned citizens to have a voice.
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