Editor’s Note: Police1 recently launched a new series, “First Person,” where P1 columnists and members candidly share their own unique cop’s-eye-view of the world, from personal nsights on issues confronting cops today to observations and advice on living life behind the thin blue line. This week’s feature is written by Lieutenant Wade Derby of the Pitsburg (Calif.) Police Department. Do you want to share your own “First Person” perspective with other P1 Members? Email us.
By Lieutenant Wade J. Derby
Pittsburg (Calif.) Police Department
In the late 1980s and early 1990s we learned a new term “Community Policing” which served as a catalyst for police to assume (in part at least) non-traditional law enforcement roles as a way to demonstrate their commitment and partnership with the community. Because Community Policing had few parameters, when a non-traditional program resulted in something positive, it got labeled “Community Policing.” Now in the early years of 21st Century, Community Policing continues to evolve. The public still demands non-traditional police involvement (ranging from specialized community programs to police officers combating weeds and rubbish in the neighbor’s yard) and wants to place that one convenient phone call or email and receive immediate service for their problem, even if it goes far beyond the scope of what we think police service should be.
In June 2007, I attended in service training where we discussed a program in Baltimore County designed to reduce the public’s fear of crime in their community. In essence, specialized teams were deployed to areas that had suffered from violent crimes. They were to go door-to-door, offering support to the citizens.
I drew a correlation between that line of thinking to something my unit had been practicing on a smaller scale within our own community – we called it Total Policing. Though the intended mission was different, our model supported the use of teams going door-to-door in the community to build positive relationships.
How it Works
Total Policing is where we bring all community resources to bear not only to solve problems, but to address community needs using all levels of the local government, with police officers being the enablers. Depending upon your jurisdiction this may be your city services or county services. The goal of Total Policing is a long-term and lasting solution of not only eliminating the problem, but seeing to it the problem goes away, and what is left is properly maintained. Historically this is where special operations programs, street teams, selected enforcement and the like, end up falling short of the mark. For example: we bring all resources to bear on a neighborhood struggling with drugs and successfully incarcerate the dealers and users. After saturating the area, things return to a state of normalcy and in a couple of weeks we move on to the next problem neighborhood, victorious; right? Clearly, we were victorious in the above effort, but how long before the problem returns and the neighborhood is back to living in fear of those very dealers we locked up?
In the Total Policing concept we are going to send in those high profile teams and incarcerate offenders using sound and perfectly acceptable proactive policing tactics, but we are going to add a few twists. Not only are we going to attack the dealers, we are going to go to where they live and hide and conduct search warrants, consent searches, parole or probation searches and so on. Once at the dealer’s house we may find they are receiving subsidized housing for example. If so, we will contact the housing authority to have their housing vouchers revoked as a tool to get the undesirable people permanently out of the neighborhood. We will notify the property owners of the drug related arrest of their tenants and request their eviction and hold the property owners accountable, if they knowingly allow illegal activity to occur at their home.
While we are at the offender’s house we utilize code enforcement and building officials to write up internal and external issues of blight in order to remove substandard housing in the area and to further hold those who contribute to the overall deterioration of a neighborhood accountable. These write ups have monetary fines and potential tax liens offenders must deal with.
Putting the Plan in Motion
Using this concept in its fledgling phases two years ago my unit was able to take a small sector of the city plagued with strong arm robbery and juvenile offenses and in a matter of a few weeks close down businesses that were contributing to the problem, and locate the source supplying the juvenile criminals who were committing those robberies. In this case we had a group home that sprung up in the area, a barbershop of questionable ownership, a convenience store selling singles of alcohol, and an apartment complex under weak management.
Clearly, police officers are masters at getting things done. They can cut through red tape better than any other group I know. They are also in a unique position of authority to direct resources at any given time. These qualities are key essentials in the Total Policing concept.
So, in this example two sworn Community Resource Officers and two non-sworn Code Enforcement Specialists were assigned to combat this problem. This group quickly identified the contributing factors already noted and very tactfully garnered the help of patrol operations, the building department, apartment management, the city attorney, Alcohol Beverage Control, community planning, state child services and consumer affairs to create a positive domino effect on the problem.
The barber shop was inspected and closed down for multiple code violations. The group home was immediately restructured due to lack of a supervisor and too many children under the existing license; it ultimately closed its doors. Two youths from the group home were arrested and charged with multiple counts of robbery and theft. The store shut down after not being allowed to sell single cans of alcohol.
Plus, the apartment complex at our urging retired the manager, hired security and brought in an aggressive management team who began evicting problem tenants. The crime rate in this area plummeted literally to zero and for the most part remains that way today. The Community Resource Officers as part of their regular duties keep a close eye on the area to ensure it does not revert back to the state it was in. This example served as a building block for my organization to try this method of policing in other target areas within the community. Each added attempt proved to be successful.
Total Policing may sound similar to something you are doing in your own agency, but in researching numerous cities I found no programs in place that covered the whole Total Policing philosophy. These are not new ideas by any stretch; we are simply building upon existing creative ideas, involving key personnel, and encouraging departments to work collaboratively both internally behind the scenes and externally in the field to create a new start in these problem areas. What makes Total Policing unique is really who we involve, and how many of us have to shed our traditional hats and trust one another to wear a new hat for the mission at hand.
I am not prepared to say these methods are some revolutionary way of policing, but it is clearly a departure from the way most of us in law enforcement conduct business and it works.
Using police officers to ensure municipal code compliance or to write ordinances enacting new police authority to exercise input on things like special events, or construction of high density residential dwellings are all parts of the Total Policing effort. It requires vigilance, constant involvement, assertiveness, leadership and the ability to influence positive change. It also requires the right personnel, in the right positions to get the job done.
Total Policing Gains Momentum
Due to these early successes we expanded our Total Policing efforts to a larger target area to a 16 block radius in our downtown area which was plagued for at least two decades with drugs, gangs, prostitution, abandoned cars, substandard housing and overall blight.
A team of subject matter experts was formed to become the Neighborhood Policing Team (NPT), and their focus was to take back this area and deal with all issues from unlicensed pit bulls to cars parked on lawns, as well those traditional police problems like gangs and visible drug dealing.
The team consisted of a supervisor, a patrol officer, a narcotics detective, a robbery detective, a sworn officer with an expertise in code enforcement, a civilian building official, and a civilian code compliance specialist. Their mission was to literally go door-to-door in the target area and use a systemic approach to enforcement by identifying who the criminal elements were in the area, plus determine who was on parole, probation, who was a registered sex offender, and who had warrants for their arrest.
While going door-to-door they were to interact with the community and make their presence felt in a positive way by communicating their mission, and to put pressure on those elements we needed to rid the neighborhood of. The code enforcement specialists piggybacked on the sworn officers efforts by writing up abandoned houses for abatement or board up. They made property owners aware that substandard housing would not be tolerated. This group literally had the carte blanche to use the municipal code, penal code, building code, planning commission and city attorney for assistance. Again, they were to leave no stone unturned.
Within 90 days of the creation of the NPT using the Total Policing concept violent crime was 84 percent below the three year historic levels, and overall crime was reduced 73 percent for the same time period. One surprising statistic was a 400 percent reduction in commercial burglaries, which was an unanticipated pleasure. This approach further demonstrated the value of Total Policing, but how did the community like it?
Beyond the Numbers
The outpouring of support from the community was outstanding and almost universal from rotary to the chamber of commerce. Community groups and the citizens in the target area have embraced the NPT and our mission of Total Policing. Other parts of the community want to see the NPT deployed in their neighborhoods. Other local communities have been in contact, asking us to share with them how we have been successfully using these tools to improve our community. The NPT is now a permanent team within the department.
The concept of Total Policing is growing in my organization, and the officers who rotate through the NPT take that mindset with them back to the street. They are using these new found tools to bring the concept to new neighborhoods in their beat and to creatively solve problems they see each day. They are creating a new culture and perspective to problem solving and community service along the way.
Conclusion
Total Policing works. It requires creative thinking, an openness to learning, the right personnel to put the concept in motion, and a city government that supports its police department to take on a leadership role in the community’s well being and planning for the future. The sooner we all work together as a community team the sooner these results can be realized. The key is to maintain the progress in those areas we make the investment in. With dwindling budgets and resources everywhere we cannot afford to go back and fix the problem temporarily again and again. Total Policing provides the opportunity to make a lasting change, we all can take pride in. Total Policing in my community remains a work in progress.
References
1. Crime and Delinquency Volume 33, No.1, Eck, J., Who Ya Gonna Call? The Police as Problem Busters 1987, Sage Publications
2. Police Executive Research Forum, Senior Management Institute for Police, June 2007, Wexler, C., Discussion
3. Crime Statistics: Pittsburg Police Department Records 2005-2008
Lieutenant Wade Derby is a 21-year veteran of the Pittsburg Police Department He is currently assigned to the Support Services Division overseeing specialized policing units as well as training and recruiting. Lieutenant Derby has a B.S. in Business Management and an M.A. in Leadership from Saint Mary’s College. Lieutenant Derby has also attended the Supervisory Leadership Institute, Command College, Executive Development and the Senior Management Institute for Police.
