Santa Cruz Patch Highlights Community Policing and Problem Solving Efforts by SCPD

Click here to read this great article written by Santa Cruz Patch Editor Brad Kava about the innovative approaches being taken by Santa Cruz Police officers Forrest Crowell, Travis Ahlers and Steve Pendleton toward furthering the Santa Cruz Police Department's community policing and problem solving efforts.

Neighborhood Porfolio Exercise: Ocean Street Motels

In the last week we've been presenting some of our recent Neighborhood Portfolio Exercises (NPE). We are proud of this capstone requirement, which focus on community-oriented, problem-solving policing approaches. Today we look at Officer Steve Pendleton's NPE; which looks at the relationship between improvements to the motel stock, rental units and crime. Specifically, Officer Pendleton looked at the Ocean Street corridor.

Officer Pendleton noted that some of the local motels that have the worst reviews by travel review sites, the most code violations and/or the worst physical appearance, also tend to have higher instances of crime than other motels. Working with motel owners, property owners, local residents, Economic and Redevelopment officials and other cities that have looked into this issue, Officer Pendleton came up with the following suggestions for improving these motels and apartments:

• Increased code enforcement
• Rehabilitation grants (external and internal rehabilitation)
• Conversion into newer housing stock
• Loans and grants for painting, historic preservation and improvements
• Neighborhood clean-up grants

In speaking with other cities that have done this, like San Jose, Officer Pendelton felt the model could work well in Santa Cruz - and ultimately reduce crime.

Neighborhood Porfolio Exercise: Managing Theft from Businesses

Neighborhood Portfolio Exercises (NPE) are an essential capstone project for new officers. They afford new officers an ability to explore community-oriented policing; problem solving at a higher and more critical level. Today we are going to look at Officer Travis Ahlers' NPE.

Officer Ahlers noticed that, even with the creation of our online crime reporting system, a significant amount of time is dedicated to dealing with reports of theft from businesses. Specifically, Officer Ahlers looked at three businesses in town that have experienced high theft levels in the last few years. Officer Ahlers presented a model to deal with this issue that he called TRAP - the Theft Reduction Action Program.

What is TRAP?

• A program designed to streamline the report and arrest procedure of shoplifters
• A business empowerment tool
• A way to reduce criminal activity near and in businesses

How does it work?

• The key feature is to allow businesses to directly report these crimes (similar to our current online crime reporting system - letting you fill out the details at a time convenient to you)

Officer Ahlers spoke to other police departments that have initiated similar programs and found that the agencies and businesses found it to be successful. In addition, he spoke with the national organization for problem-oriented policing - a model that focuses on root causes for reducing crime. Just how much time might it save for a police officer? Based on times dedicated to theft reports at these three businesses, it could save approximately 600 hours of police time (travel time, interview time and report writing time) per year! This time could be dedicated to more proactive patrol time in and around the areas that are experiencing these thefts.

The department is currently looking into how the model could be implemented locally.

Neighborhood Portfolio Exercise: Ocean Street Businesses

The other day we introduced the Neighborhood Portfolio Exercise (NPE) – an essential element in our community-oriented policing model. Four officers recently presented NPEs as a capstone to their training program. Today we look at Officer Forrest Crowell’s NPE.

Officer Crowell focused on issues that face some businesses on Ocean Street but not others. Specifically, Officer Crowell had heard from residents that some businesses seem to have issues of loitering, drug dealing/use and trespassing but that these problems are not universal. Officer Crowell sought to answer a simple question: why do some businesses suffer from these problems while others don’t? What can we learn from the successful businesses to apply to those that aren’t as successful?

Steps Officer Crowell took to reach a conclusion:

·         Met with residents, business owners, elected officials, employees and neighborhood groups to learn about problem

·         Obtained calls-for-service and crime data at two problematic locations and three control locations

·         Held community meeting with residents and business owners to start a dialogue about the issues facing their area

From these meetings and through analyzing the crime data, Officer Crowell found that successful businesses were consistent. What does this mean? The successful businesses had employee training on what to do if they saw problems, these businesses consistently called police when issues arose and set policies (and enforced these policies) for trespassing/loitering.  

Solutions:

·         Have employee training meeting

·         Created Business Packet

o   Packet contains training materials for employees – what to do? Who do I call? What are my rights as an employee or business to deal with these problems? What is against the law? Example No Trespass/Loitering language

Results:

·         One of the two businesses that were experiencing problems has already greatly altered their approach

·         The business owner and manager experienced the problems firsthand with Officer Crowell and worked with employees on training and signage

·         The second business is now being worked on by neighbors, police and other city officials to be a part of the solution

What are Neighborhood Portfolio Exercises?

The Santa Cruz Police Department prides itself on focusing on community-oriented policing (COPS). In fact, the Department of Justice has awarded our agency funding based on our success in the COPS model. Within the last few years we've initiated a requirement for new officers (as part of their training program) to complete a community-based problem-solving project.

The Neighborhood Portfolio Exercise (NPE) is an important tool to culminate and gauge the effectiveness of our training program.  The role of the police department has evolved over the years requiring individuals who can engage critical thinking skills outside of traditional “law enforcement” solutions into a “problem solving” approach.  This skill and operational philosophy is taught and emphasized throughout the training program. 

By completing an NPE, trainees actually walk through the process of identifying core issues that lead to problematic behaviors in the community.  The trainee is then challenged to identify critical resources and partnerships that can work collaboratively to address the core issue.  In doing so, the police department forges strong relationships with the community and includes them in the problem solving for long term solutions.

Over the coming days we will be presenting recent NPEs that our new officers completed. All of these projects were the idea of the new officer - and they worked to complete them during the time of their training. We think you'll appreciate how these brand new officers are approaching issues. As always, if you have questions or suggestions you can drop me a line.