Community Policing Awards: Finalist - Miramar, Florida Police Department

Category: Agency Serving a Population of 50,001 to 100,000 Residents

The Problem
Centrally located in the heart of south Florida, the City of Miramar has been impacted by the negative effects of the area’s population explosion since the mid 1990s. In response, the department re-organized the patrol division in 2001 and strengthened its commitment to community policing.

In February 2001, the Community Policing Team (CPT), assigned to one of the city’s most densely populated, higher crime areas, implemented the first major community-policing initiative under the department’s new organizational structure. After an in-depth analysis of prior year crime statistics and meetings with key community stakeholders, the Zone 4 CPT identified three distinct themes contributing to the area’s increasing crime trends: a lack of positive youth activities, a lack of community cohesiveness and the existence of declining quality of life perceptions.

During the three-month process of collecting information via community meetings, citizen surveys and crime stat analysis, the Zone 4 Team noted the following predominant issues:

• The existence of unsupervised teenagers frequently “roaming around” and “hanging out” in the community.
• The perception that kids didn’t care about maintaining the quality of the community.
• The perception of community disorganization, due to the lack of coordinated efforts among the various Home Owner’s Associations.
• The existence of negative quality of life issues related to the juvenile delinquency problem and other zone crime trends.
• An inadequate relationship between the youth and police officers.
• A lack of concentrated efforts towards addressing the needs of youth residing in the area.

The Zone Team then combined the six identified issues and prioritized them into three causally interrelated themes:

1. A lack of positive activities and relationships for youth.
2. Resident apathy and a lack of community cohesiveness.
3. The existence of declining quality of life perceptions among residents.

Next, the team reviewed several USDOJ and Florida Juvenile Justice Studies to identify best practices that might aid in addressing the Zone 4 problem. Lastly, the team held a series of meetings with key zone “partners” and formulated a phased implementation plan dubbed “Hangin’ with 5’0.”

The Solution
In response to the problem of increasing crime, the Zone 4 team implemented a two-year, three-phased project designed to reduce juvenile crime, improve community collaboration and lay the groundwork for institutionalization of quality of life improvements. Included among the project’s implementation strategies were the provision of constructive activities for youth, collaboration among key community stakeholders and creation of a neighborhood quality of life improvement plan. This program again was dubbed “Hangin’ with 5’0.”

The goals and expectations for the program are as follows:

• Address the anticipated spike in crime during the summer months of June, July and August 2001.
• Reduce juvenile crime June– August 2001 by 5 percent as compared to same period in 2000.
• Reduce total index crimes for June –August 2001 by 5 percent as compared to same period in 2000.
• Improve juvenile community attachment and coordination between HOAs during a six-month to one-year period.
• Hold a minimum of six meetings, bringing together of.cers, city of.cials, community-based organizations and adult community residents by June 2002.
• Establish measurable improvements in juvenile/police relationships between June 2001 and August 2002.
• Lay the groundwork for community-wide institutionalization of zone improvements over a period of one-plus years.
• Improve quality-of-life issues for zone residents as demonstrated by a 5 percent reduction in total index crimes between June 2001 and June 2002.
• Improve citywide inter-departmental and community-based cooperation to provide positive ongoing activities for 100 - 150 teenage youth by June 2004.

Phase I
The first step toward accomplishing these objectives included getting the word out to teens that delinquent behavior would not be tolerated, and providing teens (11 - 17 years old) with constructive activities tied to an informal “drop-in” program environment.

To kick off these efforts, a two-week intensive multishift bicycle patrol was launched, paying special attention to areas where unsupervised youth often congregated, loitered, committed burglaries and/or wreaked havoc in the community. The purpose of this constant presence was to deter acts of delinquency and to mingle non-threateningly with youth to encourage them to drop by the park to hang out with officers.

Following this patrol, an eight-week informal program was offered free of charge between 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. at Lakeshore Park (the local teen hangout), providing youth with an opportunity to “hang out” with police officers and youth counselors and engage in such activities as bicycle rodeos, free style bike capabilities, video game tournaments, two-three person basketball tournaments, flag football tournaments, fishing lessons and board games.

The department committed one full-time SRO to provide daily project site coordination and the city’s Community Services (Parks & Recreation) Department committed two junior and two senior counselors to assist with daily supervision of youth. Additionally, alternating daily schedules were devised for community police team members from Zones 3, 4 and 5 to free them up to interact with the youth. Overall project management was assigned to the District 1 patrol captain.

Community partners involved in ‘Hangin’ with 5’0" included:

• Miramar Community Services Dept.– Hired/trained counselors and donated recreation equipment.
• Miramar Building & Zoning Dept.– Waived temporary use and other permit fees for activity portables.
• Wal-Mart/ Sam’s Club– Donated video game equipment, snacks and drinks.
• Premiere Beverage Co., Tropicana, Dominos & Antonio’s Pizza – Donated food & drinks.
• Local Appliance Store – Donated a refrigerator.

Phase II
In an effort to build upon the “Hangin’ with 5’0" summer project and continue bringing about improvements in juvenile/police relations, the department brought together officers, city officials, community-based organizations and adult community residents to devise a neighborhood quality of life improvement plan.

Among the activities involved in this plan were the following:

• Holding a series of approximately 12 meetings with various community stakeholders who devised a plan to create long-term focused activities for teen-aged youth in the community.
• Funneling “Hangin’ with 5’0" program participants to police-sponsored Youth Crime Watch of America Clubs and Drug-Free Youth In Town Programs at the neighborhood middle and high schools.
• Improving the 2002 “Hangin’ with 5’0" Summer Program (year two) by replacing youth counselors with six to eight SROs for consistent daily program oversight. SROs led daily activities such as educational field trips and athletic-based team and confidence building exercises.

Phase III
The final step to ensuring a long-term solution to the community’s crime issues involved developing a community framework capable of continuing quality of life improvements in various zones. In order to accomplish this, the department once again brought together officers, city officials, community-based organizations and adult community residents to implement the neighborhood quality of life improvement plan.

Activities involved in the plan included:

• Utilizing a 2,000 square-foot vacant building at the outer perimeter of a community apartment complex and working with the owner to use the space for youth and community-related activities.
• Using the City Building & Zoning Department to design space, issue renovation permits and solicit renovation assistance from large commercial homebuilders constructing new housing developments in the city.
• Assisting residents to identify other community issues that negatively impacted quality of life (such as neighborhood lighting, code enforcement violations and crumbling sidewalks).
• Writing two grants for funding to provide delinquency and gun violence prevention activities for the community.
• Co-sponsoring landscaping grants to improve neighborhood aesthetics.

Evaluation
In August 2001 and August 2002, the team developed written reports detailing the status of Phases I and II of the Zone 4 project. After each project phase, the team not only highlighted the successes achieved, but also offered recommendations for improvements and noted unanticipated benefits. Highlights from the results detailed in the Phase I and II reports include:

• Bike patrol officers foiled a strong-arm robbery and arrested a suspect; identified locations where juveniles were loitering; made contacts with more than 50 youths; promoted the 5’0 Program; and made several marijuana possession arrests.
• “Hangin’ with 5’0" attracted 34 registered youth to the program in 2001, and had an average daily attendance of 24.
• Zone 4 burglaries for June 2001 decreased by 77 percent compared to June 2000 totals and, by 85 percent compared to May 2001.
• Total Zone 4 index crimes decreased by 24 percent (from 164 to 127) during the same period in 2000.

The above are just a few of the many successes attributed to the “Hangin’ with 5’0" program. In addition to these examples, surveys of youths involved in the program and a door-to-door survey of adults showed great community support and appreciation for the efforts of the department and its community partners.

Overall results included: significant reductions in burglaries, thefts and overall index crimes during a one-year period; decreases in youth loitering and nuisance calls for service; improvements in police/juvenile relationships; juvenile community attachment and juvenile self-esteem increases; increased resident interest in addressing additional aesthetic quality of life issues; receipt of gun violence prevention and landscaping beautification grant funds; corporate contributions; support from community-based partners; and the donation of a vacant building for use as a year-round communitybased youth organization program site and police workstation.

The purpose of Phases I and II of the “Hangin’ with 5’0" project were to form the foundation for longterm changes within Miramar’s Zone 4. The primary goal of Phase III was to make the transition toward community-wide ownership and institutionalization of the quality of life improvements jump-started by the Zone 4 Team. Based on the objectives and unanticipated results achieved through this project, the department has recognized the Hangin’ with 5’0 project as an outstanding example of systematic implementation of the basic tenants of community policing.

The successes developed through this project have been well-documented by the Zone 4 Team and have received recognition from residents, city officials and the local media. The primary lessons learned during this process include: utilizing multiple data sources; data collection methods and analysis techniques; engaging all sectors of the community in devising and implementing solutions; organizing activities in realistic and manageable phases; and evaluating and re-aligning strategies throughout the project process.