Community Policing Exchange, March/April 1995. Introduction to Community Policing Article One Community Policing Strategies Offer Promise of Improved Public Safety The time is ripe for change--within policing, within government, within our communities. Violent crime rates are soaring. Inner cities continue to deteriorate. Suburbs, once havens from the harsh realities of urban decay, can no longer claim that privilege. And citizens in many areas of the country are increasingly frustrated and in many cases alienated from the police. In the search for solutions, the concept of community policing surfaces with ever more regularity. There have been escalating demands for change throughout the criminal justice system. Nowhere within that system has the need for a new approach been more apparent than in law enforcement. In addition to calls for better laws and tougher enforcement, have been those for a different style of policing, one focused on prevention as well as on apprehension. The clear winner thus far has been community policing. But for all the recent attention given to the concept--by academics, the media, politicians, civic leaders--community policing is not a proven panacea. Indeed, police experts say that many questions remain not only about how the community policing strategy will be implemented on a grand scale, but about the results expected from such a program. This is largely why the Bureau of Justice Assistance has established the Community Policing Consortium (CPC). Led in conjunction with BJA by four national police organizations-- the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs' Association, the Police Executive Research Forum, and the Police Foundation--the consortium was established to help the nation's police plan and implement community policing strategies in their respective communities. The passage of the new crime bill reinforces the federal government's commitment to that change. But it is the police who will be at the cutting edge. They, in essence, are being called upon to provide leadership in the quest to safeguard and revitalize our communities. So they must ask the question, "What is community policing and what will it do for my department and the community it serves?" Community policing is an evolutionary, rather than a revolutionary idea. Since the late 1970s, it has cropped up as a police strategy in various ways, in various places, under various names, including team policing, problem oriented policing, and community oriented policing. While programs in most instances could hardly be called identical, they all had one common element. The police were supposed to get out of their patrol cars and into their neighborhoods. For decades prior, conventional wisdom had held that omnipresent motor patrol would deter crime. Research in the early 1970s proved that assumption to be false. It also showed empirically that there were benefits to turning to a style of policing reminiscent of that described by T.A. Critchley writing of the establishment of the London Metropolitan Police in 1929. In A History of Police in England and Wales, Critchley writes that "From the start, the police was to be a homogeneous and democratic body, in tune with the people, belonging to the people, and drawing its strength from the people." England's Home Secretary Robert Peel made certain that included in instructions to the new force would be the following: "It should be understood at the outset, that the object to be attained is the prevention of crime. To this great end every effort of the police is to be directed. The security of person and property and the preservation of a police establishment will thus be better effected than by the detection and punishment of the offender after he has succeeded in committing crime..." Research done on early community policing strategies clearly show that they made residents feel more secure, increased trust between the police and the citizens, and enhanced citizen perception of police services. Al these, of course, are desirable goals and their attainment is necessary for community policing to be a successful strategy. Often drawn from the research findings are conclusions that Robert Peel might have found unsurprising, i.e., that the increased contact between citizens and the police will result in a police force more aware of the criminal activity in a given community and more able to collect and analyze information that will contribute to prevention of crime as well as apprehension of criminals. Although these conclusions do appeal to logic, however, crime control has yet to be indisputably proven as a benefit of community policing. But the potential for this strategy is clearly there. According to the eminent criminal justice scholar, James Q. Wilson, community policing is based upon the following principles: preventing crime is as important as arresting criminals; preventing disorder is as important as preventing crime; and reducing both crime and disorder requires that police work cooperatively with people in neighborhoods to (1) identify their concerns, (2) solicit their help, and (3) solve their problems. What the Community Policing Consortium intends to do is to lend assistance to the nation's police as they incorporate these principles in their operational plans. It will not be an easy task. Organization-wide implementation of community policing has significant implications for the police culture, which has traditionally been a top-down, hierarchal organization, centrally controlled. Police officers will need the skills and the authority to interact with citizens and make decisions on their behalf, all in the name of solving community problems and deterring criminality. Also mitigating against the quick fix, is the fact that community policing has been shown effective in some communities and ineffective in others. Determining why this is so and devising alternate strategies that will be effective will not be accomplished overnight. Moreover, it will take time to evaluate a wide range of community policing and sort out what works and what doesn't. What is cost-effective and what isn't. How police and citizen roles will be defined. And how will the ideal community policing officer be recruited and trained. With these challenges clearly before them, the U.S. Department of Justice, the parent organization of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the partners in the BJA consortium hope to bring about a quantum but considered change in policing that will contribute to solutions to problems now plaguing the nation. BJA Consortium Executive Director Stephen Gaffigan says, "We want this to work and will do whatever it takes. As with most endeavors, communication is crucial to success. We want to hear from police in the field. We want to know their concerns and how we can help them. We, in turn, will do our best to make certain the resources they need to succeed are available." Article Two-Professional Profile The View From BJA's Dick Ward Exchange editors recently interviewed Richard Ward, director of BJA's Discretionary Grant Programs Division, which funds the development and administration of promising programs to combat crime. Q.What sparked your interest in community policing? A.Throughout my years of involvement with law enforcement, I heard a recurring theme from enlightened police officials: "We can't do the job ourselves." They were overwhelmed by the tremendous increase in crime and felt a widening gap between themselves and the people they serve. In 1988, BJA began exploring ways to bring police and communities together to solve mutual problems. A series of community partnership programs explored how more community cooperation can help police cope with problems. We worked with the Police Executive Research Forum on the notion of police officers as problem-solvers. Goldstein and others were also investigating ways to move away from the policing model that basically just put a cop in a car and sent him out in response to a dispatch. They wondered, "All right, we engage the community, but then what do we do?" About that time, Darrel Stephens in Newport News was experimenting with problem- solving and the two concepts got married in the minds of researchers. You engage the community in a way that helps you solve problems. The notion of police officers as change agents and catalysts for solving neighborhood problems began to emerge. It didn't gain a lot of acceptance initially because it was perceived as soft on crime. The idea kept resurfacing, however. By the early '90s, law enforcement realized many problems with community policing were definitional. Nobody knew exactly what it meant. To some it implied social work. Others thought it moved away from professionalism and wouldn't work. When I asked chiefs what they meant by community policing, I'd get a different answer each time. "I've got a foot patrol officer in one of my high-crime districts." "We're doing some crime prevention work." Until we got beyond the hurdle of defining community policing, we couldn't convince practitioners that's what they needed to do. BJA believed that if the largest professional organizations could get together, everybody might eventually start reading off the same sheet of music. The idea behind the Community Policing Consortium was to establish some fundamental definitions. We started with a theoretical model that scared everybody, went to a prototype, and finally developed a framework that effectively describes the umbrella concept. Now we can plug in the technical assistance and training that support the conceptual framework. The Consortium will be operating on a much larger scale to support our $150 million demonstration site commitment and programs like Cops on the Beat, slated to go from $1.3 billion in FY95 to $8.8 billion in FY2000. Q.Changes in society, government, schools, military, churches, and other societal institutions have caused police leaders to search for better ways to deliver services. How will community policing affect other services? A.Fully implemented, jurisdictionalized community policing that has the support of political decision-makers, appropriators, chiefs, line supervisors and patrol officers will force private and public service agencies to re-examine the way they deliver services. Front-line officers in immediate contact with problems become catalysts for improving and coordinating service delivery. Col. Potter, Portland's former police chief, said that once he implemented community policing and showed some benefits to citizens and political decision-makers, his appropriations started going up. Suddenly all the other service agencies started buying into the concept. Q.The people in southern Hillsboro County give their new community policing program high ratings. Despite this, there's still a problem with drug importation. Is community policing really a feasible way to curb crime? A.Yes, I think it clearly is. If drugs are identified as both a police and community problem, community members can help pinpoint where problems occur so police can implement task forces or whatever traditional methods are necessary. As much as we think police know where the problems are, it's not necessarily the case. When community policing works effectively, the community becomes this vast intelligence network. They inform the police where the crack houses are, who's bringing the drugs in. This allows police to address the problem in an efficient, timely way. Q.What are the most formidable obstacles within and outside the police agency to implementing community policing? A.Internally, and politically, the biggest obstacle is that some still see community policing as soft on crime. They don't understand that effective community policing actually promotes more effective traditional policing. Officers who join the police department because they view it as a paramilitary organization resent any organizational changes. Where departments try to institute community policing as a separate program, participating officers are looked down on by their peers until problems get solved. Effective community policing needs the buy-in of the rank and file. And, you've got to train all organizational levels. Mid-level managers tend to have difficulty because they're relinquishing some control of officers. Training, time, and success will facilitate understanding. Externally, the community must understand it has to give up something to get results. Call dispatch is going to be modified. Slower response time can make for attention-grabbing newspaper headlines. But, again, if you do it effectively, community members slowly buy into it. They say, "Okay, my house was burglarized, and it took 15 minutes rather than five for somebody to get there. But the immediate outcome was no different. If I give up a little response time to help police find out if there's been a series of neighborhood burglaries, that will help the police catch the perpetrator. Then we solve the problem." You have to make community members understand that community policing takes time and their active participation. It's difficult for them to understand how it works until they see some results. Once they do, I think you get over the obstacles. Q.What is your long-term vision for community policing? A.Because I'm so strongly committed to partnership and problem solving, I believe that ultimately every jurisdiction in the country will have some form of community policing. A problem in one community is not necessarily a problem in another. Effective responses also differ, and the long-term goal is to achieve the appropriate diversity. The prognosis is good. This administration is putting huge dollars behind its commitment and bringing in additional officers required by statute to engage in community policing. The longer we work at this, the more success stories we'll have. And the better we can make people understand that this is a more effective way to get services from the police. I think there's going to be a very broad acceptance of community policing. We're building the critical mass; everybody will be involved at some point. It's going to achieve needed changes to the police culture. Q.If you could say one thing to police chiefs and sheriffs who are considering community policing, what would it be? A.Community policing has proved it can work in other jurisdictions. If the police commit to it, they will ultimately do their jobs much more effectively. Article Three-Community Profile Community policing strategies can vary depending on the community in question. Inner cities and rural counties, for instance, may share some common crime problems, but they are set in an entirely different environment, may be of entirely different magnitude, and could require markedly different approaches. This section of the Exchange attempts to describe communities in the process of implementing community policing programs and how strategies are being developed to address their particular problems. Exchange editors welcome suggestions for "Community Profile" stories. Rural Wimauma Adopts Community Policing To Reverse Mounting Crime Problem Community policing is a strategy that can work in small communities as well as large ones. Take Wimauma, Florida, for instance. Wimauma, an unincorporated community in southern Hillsborough County near Tampa, Florida, includes blacks, whites, and Hispanics among its few thousand residents. Hillsborough County Deputy Sheriff J.D. Carlton has worked in Wimauma for four years and is now its full-time community policing officer. Carlton, who initially recognized and encouraged residents' willingness to help tackle burgeoning crime problems, was among those assigned by the sheriff's office to develop an agency-wide community policing program. The resulting Community Resource Deputy (CRD) program helps deputies solve long- and short-term community problems. Armed with an understanding of resident concerns gained from attending community meetings, Carlton began to address local problems, aided by the Eastern Hillsborough County Street Crimes Unit, as well as patrol, traffic, and other specialized units. In the summer of 1993, Wimauma became one of two sites in Hillsborough County and the nation's only rural area to obtain a Bureau of Justice Assistance grant for a community policing substation. The concept had strong backing from the community, the sheriff's office, the county commission, and other county agencies. In February of 1994, a committee of concerned residents, county, school, and church officials held its first meeting. Sheriff Cal Henderson and Major Larry Terry, BJA project coordinator and district commander, personally thanked members for their participation. Sheriff Henderson, Community Policing Coordinator Captain Gene Stokes, and Deputy Carlton explained community policing's problem-solving approach and outlined the important role of residents. Monthly meetings continue, and the group is putting together a community newsletter to keep all residents apprised of its activities. In an effort to accurately identify community problems, the University of South Florida surveyed Wimauma residents. The survey found that residents were most concerned about a lack of adequate street lighting, drug-dealing, speeding vehicles, graffiti, abandoned/rundown property, and gunfire in farm labor camps. Deputy Carlton subsequently worked with a gang unit on a "paint-out" project to eliminate graffiti. The Street Crime Unit, tackling the drug problem, made a drug raid the night before the substation opening. Young people were targeted for services that might in the long run help prevent crime. For instance, former college football star Cornelius Bobo began working with the Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation Department and teaches archery and other activities to Wimauma youth while serving as a positive role model for his young admirers. When residents complained that county highway motorists habitually ignored school-zone speed signs, Deputy Carlton talked to school officials, determined that the zones needed better definition and helped county staff develop more effective signs. Assisting Deputy Carlton are civilian community service officers Gustavo Jimenez and Cheryl Browen. Both are bilingual-an asset in an area more than 50 percent Hispanic. The two believe the substation, which opened last summer, has had a positive impact on the community. They say that residents are more forthcoming in reporting crimes and making complaints. They stop by the station, open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., to ask questions or visit. Patrol deputies use the station increasingly to write reports, use phones, and meet with citizens. Many residents say they feel safer since the substation opening. They believe it allows deputies to answer complaints in a more timely manner and discourages drug dealers and other criminals. Deputies reinforce the impression of greater cooperation from the sheriff's office and increased security by going door-to-door to talk with residents. Community policing has brought about unprecedented cooperation among residents, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, the Community Action and Planning Agency and the Board of County Commissioners. All participated in last summer's Wimauma Public Forum, which addressed such issues as crime, minority representation, segregated bussing, recreational facilities, a bar opening, and a school suspension policy. Local media publicized the forum, and the County Community Action and Planning Agency provided free transportation. Because Wimauma youths were intimidated by the sheriff's officers' uniforms and some families interacted with deputies only when a relative was arrested, Deputy Carlton and Cornelius Bobo helped put together a Family Fun Day, aimed at generating community harmony. Softball and volleyball games and a tug-of-war between sheriff's deputies and residents helped build bridges of communication and trust that should serve the community well. Celia Post, director of the Wimauma Child Care Development Center, sees many positive changes since the CRD program was established. "Officer Carlton has done a wonderful job engaging our youth in useful community projects and making Wimauma more secure." Other Indications of the Success of Wimauma's Team Approach The Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation Department hosted consortium meetings during substation construction and is making park facilities available for programs and gatherings. The Community Action and Planning Agency helps present crime prevention programs. Code Enforcement helps address housing code violations and related problems. The Good Samaritan and Beth-El Missions provide clothing, emergency shelter, and legal services for local migrant workers. Local newspapers and TV stations cover substation activities and other newsworthycommunity policing programs. The Hillsborough County Administration and County Commission actively support Wimauma's community policing efforts. Article Four-Community Partnerships A successful community policing strategy includes the development of partnerships between the police and various community institutions and civic leaders. Exchange will carry columns describing such partnerships and their effect on crime control and public safety. Editors welcome story ideas for "Community Partnerships." Taking It To The Streets Success Story in Hayward, California Helps Residents Curb Drug Trafficking Hayward, Calif. Before July of 1991 when the Hayward (CA) Police Department began its community policing program, there were few calls for service in the South Garden area the city had annexed the previous year. As officers began community policing efforts in the neighborhood, we learned of the significant drug problem at a local shopping center. Much of the property, which included a liquor store and Laundromat, was run down. Nearby residents felt trapped in their own homes, afraid to walk outside. Calls for service skyrocketed as the new program got underway and trust between the officers and community grew. Officers George Torres and Mayse Taylor led the South Garden Project, organizing regular meetings and encouraging community members to express their concerns. They also involved other officers in assisting with narcotics enforcement and other neighborhood clean-up and improvement efforts. Budding partnerships with the community were reinforced when officers showed up on their days off to help paint out graffiti in the neighborhood. Several months into the project, area citizens joined forces with the police to publicly express their opposition to local drug activity. Formation of a citizen patrol for South Garden was discussed at a meeting attended by about 25 concerned apartment managers, property owners, and business people. We explained that citizens would not be expected to patrol without an officer present or to take enforcement actions. They were to accompany the police, functioning as extra eyes and ears, and make drug-dealing in the area as difficult and uncomfortable as possible. The meeting culminated in a march to protest drugs. Taking place at the same time as the South Garden citizens meeting was a city-wide Neighborhood Alert meeting. When these attendees learned of the proposed march, they offered to participate. The protest began at the liquor store. Neighbors cheered and applauded the 40 marchers as they moved through the streets chanting, No More Drugs. Residents began to join in, and the number of participants grew to about 75. The event was so successful that Officers Taylor and Torres organized three additional marches, one of which included 250 citizens who carried homemade banners and signs. It became obvious that the community was united in its determination to take the neighborhood back from the drug dealers. The successful citizen patrols continued for about six months until the problems decreased to the point that the patrols were felt unnecessary. Residents still hold marches periodically to reinforce their stance against drugs in their community. While some problems persist and new concerns occasionally arise, South Gardens is a much different neighborhood than it was several years ago. Neighborhood leaders are currently organized and ready to deal with new problems. It was extremely gratifying to hear a resident say that the area had improved so much that she was no longer afraid to take her young children for a walk. Community policing has ultimately proved to be an extremely effective means of addressing problems in this neighborhood. By Lieutenant Dennis Houghtelling For more information, contact Lieutenant Dennis Houghtelling, Hayward Police Department, 300 W. Winton Ave., Hayward, CA 94544-1137. Phone: (510) 294-7056. Article Five Community Policing on Wheels Austin, Texas The Austin Police Department has a secret weapon--Mobocop, a 38-foot-long, 8-foot- wide mobile substation that travels up to 60 miles per hour and costs $100,000. Mobocop is community policing on wheels. It's designed to be a positive, visible presence in distressed neighborhoods and help residents identify and solve crime-related and quality of life problems. Serving as Mobocop's primary staff are Senior Police Officer Bruce Thompson, City Services Coordinator Lolita Slagle and Victim Services Counselor Mary Lieberman. "Anything you could do in an office, we can do here," Senior Police Officer Bruce Thompson said. He emphasizes that although this is indeed a division of the police department, it is really a joint effort between the Austin P.D. and all other city departments. Mary Lieberman joined the Mobocop team from the city's victim Services Division. She is trying to lower the chances of people becoming victims of violent crimes. Community education she believes, is crucial to this effort. "I am trying to get away from this crisis intervention and get more into prevention," Lieberman says. Lolita Slagle's job is to put neighborhood residents who have identified community problems in touch with the appropriate city department. Officer Thompson says, "People call 911 for everything--to fix potholes, to fix street lights." With Lolita here, the number of calls to 911 are reduced. Slagle, along with the rest of the staff, works to educate communities about how to make government agencies work for them and reminds them that they don't need to accept what may seem like intractable problems as the facts of life. The Mobocop staff also includes patrol officers from a targeted neighborhood. Mobocop personnel have foot, bicycle and mounted patrols working with them in each targeted area. Patrol officer Melissa McGrath says that the mobile substation has a positive influence on her beat. McGrath says that, thanks to Mobocop, she knows "not only the bad guys, but the good guys of the community, too." With the substation in the area, the people of the community see that the "police are not doing something to them, they are doing something for them," McGrath said. The mobile substation stays for a minimum of one month in each targeted neighborhood. Much ground work takes place, however, before Mobocop settles into a new territory. The Mobocop team searches police crime reports to isolate problems in a targeted area. Once the team has this information they sweep the area, going door to door to meet the residents. That serves a couple of purposes. First, it provides residents with an opportunity to express concerns, and, second, it allows resident surveys to be distributed. Only after the information has been collected and assessed, a plan is developed. Officers may find that what crime reports indicate to be an area's primary problem differs from what residents perceive to be their biggest problem. Officer Thompson says that the purpose of this program is to "go into a community and help it become self-reliant and build self-esteem." Mobocop stays until community-driven solutions to problems have taken root. "We don't want to go in and just put a band-aid on the problem," Thompson said. "We want to leave knowing that what we started will continue working when we are gone." "We want to be more community oriented and be there for the community and citizens," says Thompson. "Achieving peace and harmony is our main goal." By Vanessa Slagle, student, University of Texas at Austin For more information, contact Ann Taylor, Austin Police Department, 715 E. Eighth St., Austin, TX 78701-3397. Phone:(512) 480-5000. Article Six-Community Solutions Problem solving is one of the chief components of community policing. Policing in the last several decades has been response driven. Community policing's approach encourages officers to cooperate with citizens to identify and solve problems in the community. This section of Exchange features community policing programs that exemplify the problem-solving approach. Editors encourage those who know of such programs to contact Exchange and provide documentation. Getting the Bad Guys and Improving the Neighborhood Hayward, Calif. My department, in Hayward, California was in the infant stages of our evolution toward a community policing. I was quite skeptical about this approach, but desperate, since measures I was employing were not successful. The department was in the process of actively opening its doors to the community and sharing our new problem solving philosophy. Many citizens expressed interest and were eager to share their knowledge and opinions. I was truly amazed at the amount of information I was able to gather from these enthusiastic citizens. My lieutenant approached me with a plan to begin addressing the problems in the distressed South Hayward neighborhood. A four-officer team was charged with identifying problems in the neighborhood, prioritizing them, and then developing a plan to eradicate them. Our team surveillance discovered that there were literally dozens of crack cocaine dealers operating in front of two four-plexes. People in seven of these eight apartments were found to be directly involved in drug-dealing operations. We decided to advise the property owner. I obtained a property file from a realtor with an interest in the community and learned that the owner had just completed a scam of his own. He convinced two retired women to invest over $30,000 each in his apartments. The owner then fled the state with a lien of more than $51,000 remaining on the property. I met with the two ladies and apprised them of their grim situation. They looked to the police for guidance and help. We lacked expertise in this area, so I reached out to our citizenry for assistance. This help came to us by way of the Rental Housing Owners Association (RHO) of the Greater East Bay, a private organization designed to keep property owners up to date on landlord-tenant issues. In the interest of serving the community, RHO immediately responded by by providing information and eviction forms free of charge. Tom Silva, the president, offered his expertise and acted as an agent for the women. Our team provided security while Mr. Silva served eviction notices on seven tenants based on their involvement with drugs. My next step was to notify the City Building Inspection Department of the poor condition of the property. This resulted in a swift inspection which revealed numerous health and safety violations. The building inspector gave the property owner 30 days to rectify the violations or face condemnation of the buildings. With the police department, other city departments, and community members effectively applying pressure from different angles, the tenants became anxious and three vacated immediately. My team and a crew of city workers boarded up these vacated apartments with the permission and assistance of the owners. The remaining tenants responded to the eviction notices with the assistance of County Legal Aide and forced the eviction process into court. The judge ordered that they be removed from the premises. A building inspector was sent out and posted the property uninhabitable. I had a work crew standing by, and they immediately boarded up the building. The project began on September 25, and we gained control on March 20, six months later. Since then the properties have been sold to a church group active in the neighborhood. The group applied for and received low-interest loans and will use the money to bring the buildings back up to code. The renovated properties are targeted to provide low-income housing for senior citizens. In the end, many people and various agencies put forth effort to achieve a successful outcome, and, despite my first impressions about community policing, I now realize effectiveness in law enforcement can only be enhanced through partnerships with our communities. By Officer Bernie Licata For more information, contact Officer Bernie Licata, Hayward Police Department, 300 W. Winton Ave., Hayward, CA 94544-1137. Phone: (510) 293-7000. Fax: (510) 293-7183. Article Seven Greenville County Sheriff's Office Reorganizes Greenville County, S.C. The Greenville County, S.C., Sheriff's Office has decentralized to provide law enforcement services through a North, South, and Central command structure. "Greenville County is growing," said Sheriff Johnny Mack Brown. "We have to plan for the 21st century, and this is the next logical step for our community policing program." With 294 deputies, the Sheriff provides full law enforcement services to about 220,000 of the country's 328,000 residents. The restructuring took effect in September. Most law enforcement services are now provided through the North and South area commands. This includes uniformed patrol, burglary and robbery investigations, traffic enforcement, and street level drug enforcement. Services that remain centralized include court security, prisoner transportation, criminal and civil processes, and some specialized investigations, such as homicide and sex crimes. The new North and South command areas are each subdivided into two districts, headed by a lieutenant. "The four district lieutenants will be the key people in developing this concept," said Brown. "They are responsible for identifying problems in their areas and working with residents to develop strategies and solutions." Under the former system, Uniform Patrol supervisors were responsible for the entire county during their eight-hour duty shifts. The new command structure makes supervisors responsible for specific geographic areas so that they can get to know the people, learn more about community problems, and focus attention where needed. Since patrol deputies and most investigators were already assigned to areas, restructuring was primarily a management change. The Sheriff hopes the end results of the reorganization will be more teamwork and improved information exchange among deputies, investigators, supervisors, and residents in each district. That would translate into higher quality investigations and a tighter focus on community problems. The Sheriff's Office first began Community Policing in 1989 and started getting good results within months. The worst neighborhoods were the first to be targeted, and dramatic improvements were produced. "By getting the residents involved and working together, we were able to reclaim areas where whole neighborhoods had been taken over by drug dealers," says Brown. Community policing has proven its value, states Brown, who believes it holds the key to the future of law enforcement in America. "We've seen it work," he says. "The challenge now is to find ways to make it work even better." By Lieutenant Samuel C. Simmons For more information, contact Lieutenant Samuel C. Simmons, 4 McGee St., Greenville, SC 29601-2297. Phone: (803) 467-5280. Fax: (803) 467-5299. New Publication Provides Overview of Community Policing A just-published monograph, Understanding Community Policing: A Framework for Action, is available at no cost to interested law enforcement practitioners and community leaders. The 70-page Framework, published by the Community Policing Consortium, combines an introduction to community policing with practical implementation suggestions useful to both novices and those with more experience in community policing. It briefly describes how community policing came about, sets forth the core components of community policing, and discusses basic implementation issues. The Framework is the first in a series of planned monographs on community policing. To order your copy of Understanding Community Policing: A Framework for Action, write or call the Community Policing Consortium at 1726 M St. NW, Suite 801, Washington, DC 20036. Phone: (202) 833-3305.