What is "COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING AND PROBLEM SOLVING?"

Strictly speaking, community oriented policing means forging a partnership & relationship between the police & the community to control crime. Problem oriented policing means focusing on a problem & devising a strategy that brings available resources to bear to arrive at a long-term solution.

It means empowering officers at the line level to interact as problem-solvers with those we serve. Management becomes support staff for the efforts of those individuals who are collaborating with residential & business community members to solve problems.

Community Oriented Policing:

• Is a community-based oriented philosophy
• Promotes & requires partnership & two-way communication
• Is proactive
• Encourages problem-solving as a tactic
• Attacks the causes, not symptoms of crime & disorder
• Stresses community participation & empowerment
• Provides police officers opportunity to be valued for their worth, not their rank
• Provides a broader role for line officers to be problem-solvers
• Promotes the development of trust

Community Oriented Policing is not a "program." It is a philosophy about how to do business in a more efficient, productive, & user-friendly way; one that permeates every level of our organization & city government.

Community Oriented Policing strategies & methodologies are designed in such a way as to effectively address those crime trends that our community is experiencing.