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March 1991
POLICE PRACTICES:
COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAM
In an effort to improve police-community relations, the City
of Delray Beach, Florida, Police Department created the
Community Outreach Program (COP). This program allows police
officers to be active in police-community relations. It not
only facilitates the effective performance of the department but
it also encourages citizen involvement. The specific goals of
the program are to solicit citizen support in dealing with
community problems, listen to the concerns of the citizens, and
promote goodwill toward the department.
THE PROGRAM
COP officers initiate positive, unsolicited contact with
residents. Uniformed officers meet regularly with both
residents and merchants to inform them that officers are in the
neighborhood to make the community both safe and drug free.
Officers ask citizens to relay information about suspicious or
illegal activity and give the citizens an information guide that
answers frequently asked questions. Some of the questions
addressed include:
* Why are citizens who call in to make a complaint asked
multiple questions?
* What are the citizens' responsibilities to report
criminal or suspicious activity?
* How can citizens give information anonymously by calling
a TIPS hotline?
* How can residents help reduce crime in their
neighborhoods through Crime Watch groups?
The guide also includes information on home security and crime
prevention, as well as other relevant topics.
COP officers contact citizens and merchants only during
daytime hours--the 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. shift and the early
hours of the 4:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. shift. Officers working
these shifts are required to make two unsolicited contacts with
residents, as time permits. The visits usually last no more
than 20 minutes; the goal is to open the lines of communication
between police officers and citizens.
LOG BOOKS
In order to reduce the chance of duplicating citizen
contacts, officers list their contacts in log books that are
provided for each patrol zone. Shift supervisors assign the log
books to patrol officers at daily briefings. When the shift
ends, the log books are returned to the supervisor, who reviews
the officers' contacts.
RESULTS
During the first 3 1/2 months of the Community Outreach
Program, approximately 5,500 contacts were made with local
residents and merchants. Initially, citizens were surprised to
find an officer at their doors. Now, they are getting to know
police officers, and as a result, officers are given valuable
information that may have been disregarded or forgotten had
positive contacts not been made.
This program has also resulted in positive media attention
for the department. It has built citizen trust and confidence
in the police, and most importantly, it has built positive
police-community relations citywide.
_______________
Information for this column was obtained from Sgt. Ross
Licata, Delray Beach, Florida, Police Department.