Police Relations and Services in Town-Gown Cities are Changing in a Positive Way Throughout America

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.

By Roger Kemp
February 12, 2018

The public services provided by Police Departments to citizens and students in our nation’s town-gown cities are changing rapidly. This is due to the changing ethnic composition of our cities, the national enhancement of police services, the greater use of new technologies by our Police Departments and the increasing diversity of Police Departments that is taking place to reflect the citizens and students served by their services.

Some of these evolving best town-gown police practices are described below. Depending upon the nature of these service changes, the funds needed to implement them and the staffing required to do so, many of these changes can be implemented directly by the Chief of Police, while other changing services might require approval of the City Manager, and possibly the city’s elected officials, especially if additional funding is required. The evolving best service practices of Police Departments in America’s town-gown cities are highlighted below.

Increasing public outreach to citizens and students by Police Officers is rapidly taking place via social media, video applications and other digital technologies.
Police Departments are developing Police-to-Citizen (P2C) websites to empower citizens and students with information about their community’s police services. This information is made available for citizens and students to access 24-hours a day, every day of the year, on their personal computers.
Police Departments are starting to use the nation’s “Wireless Emergency Alert System” (WEAS) to solicit feedback on recent crime incidents, and to encourage citizens and students to help facilitate the location of the person(s) that caused them.
The increased use of Domain Awareness Systems (DAS), primarily surveillance cameras used to monitor school entrances and selected downtown intersections, as well as other important locations, is on the increase.
Police Departments are developing “Coffee with a Cop” or “Pizza with the Police” programs, to provide citizens and students with the opportunity to get to meet their local Police Officers at a local coffee shop or pizza parlor, and to personally get to know them.
The improved diversity of many Police Departments’ is taking place in cities throughout our nation so that their workforce can properly reflect the evolving ethnic composition of their citizens and students in their respective communities.
More Police Departments are requiring their Police Officers to wear and to use body cameras so that they can take instant video pictures of crime incidents. Citizens and students can also videotape such incidents on their cell phones for immediate transmission and dissemination.
Many Police Departments are increasingly holding Police-Community Forums (PCF) for the first time ever to help educate their citizens and students about the services that their local Police Officers provide, and to answer any questions that they may have about their police services.
Some cities with public linear trails have a “Hike with a Cop” Program so that their citizens and students can have an opportunity to informally meet with, and to personally get to know, their Police Officers.
Many Police Departments are requiring their Police Officers to use non-lethal weapons when they respond to selected crime scenes. The type of weapons that they have available depends upon the type of crime that is being responded to. These Police Officer weapon guidelines are usually called “Use of Force Policies” (UFP).
School Resource Officers (SRO’s), only a few years ago, were primarily assigned to high schools. Now SRO’s are being assigned to all local public schools — primarily elementary, middle, as well as high schools. Some of these SRO’s also frequent local college campuses. Students throughout a community personally benefit from such police service programs.
Police Officers, typically SRO’s, in their city’s schools, are increasingly providing anti-drug and proper-use-of alcohol educational programs and services to the students. Such programs, which are also sponsored by a school’s administration and its faculty, have been on the increase in recent years in town-gown cities throughout America.
Many Police Departments are also holding workshops for school officials, citizens, and students, on the use of social media so they can instruct and guide them on the appropriate use of available internet resources. Some departments are even holding Social Media Awareness Nights (SMAN) to facilitate this educational process.
More and more Police Departments have “Ride with a Cop” Programs, to help educate citizens and students on the types of police services that are being provided to them by their Police Officers. Citizens and students also get to know their Police Officers.
More and more Police Departments are also conducting a Citizens Police Academy (CAP) to properly educate their citizens and students on the types of police services that are being provided to them in their community.
There is an increase in the number of Neighborhood Police Officers (NPO’s) that are assigned to work with citizens and students to help reduce crime in their city’s town-gown neighborhoods. The number of neighborhood associations in town-gown cities is on the increase, as well as are the number of Police Officers that are being assigned to work with them.
Police Departments are also increasingly forming Neighborhood Initiative Units (NIU), so their Police Officers can get to know the citizens and students that they serve. This program facilitates the formation of NIU’s, which are similar to neighborhood associations in other communities.
There are an increasing number of Police Department neighborhood sub-stations in town-gown cities everywhere to help deal with and resolve neighborhood police issues, and to work with local citizens and students to help accomplish this goal.
Many Police Departments are holding annual Public Safety Festivals (PSF) in municipal parks and open spaces to help educate their citizens and students about their police services, as well as how they can access and use these services throughout the year.
There are more Police Bike Patrols (PBP) and Police Walking Patrols (PWP) in downtown neighborhood areas in town-gown cities throughout the country. Such services make Police Officers more visible to local citizens and students in these areas.
Some Police Departments have created “Safe Exchange Zones” where citizens and students can pick-up items that are purchased online from a stranger in the area. Many Police Departments are making portions of their parking lots available for this purpose, because Police Officers are present, the parking lots are illuminated, and citizens and students can feel safe during such a pick-up process.
Many Police Department, especially in town-gown cities, are working with local merchants and business persons to ensure that alcoholic drinks and liquor are properly sold to young people. There are more such young people, and alcoholic purchases, in town-gown cities, because of their student population. The legal age, and proper behavior, however, must be enforced.

These state-of-the-art best Police Department practices for citizens and students represent many new and evolving police services that are being developed and implemented by Police Departments in town-gown cities throughout America in recent years. Police Chiefs, as well as their respective administrative staffs, and their Police Officers, are continually working together to build an improved town-gown network to assist them in relating to, educating, and receive information from, the citizens and students that are receiving their services. Their goal is to improve the type of police services that they are providing to the citizens and students.

National internet resources are listed below that contain additional and advanced information about these dynamic and evolving town-gown police services for citizens and students.

Police and Community Service Organizations

– International Internet Resources –

International Association of Chiefs of Police – IACP (www.theiacp.org/)
International City/County Management Association – ICMA (www.icma.org/)
International Town and Gown Association – ITGA (www.itga.org/)
National Association of Counties – IACO (www.naco.org/)
National Association of Police Organizations – NAPO (www.napo.org/)
National Association of School Resource Officers – NASRO (www.nasro.org/)
National Association of School Safety & Law Enforcement Officials – NASSLEO (www.nassleo.org/)
National Crime Prevention Council -NCPC (www.ncpc.org/)
National Criminal Justice Association – NCJA (www.ncja.org/)

Author: Roger L. Kemp, MPA, MBA, PhD, ICMA-CM, is a career city manager having worked in and managed the largest council-manager government cities in CA, CT, and NJ – on both coasts of the US during his public service career. Dr. Kemp is a Professional in Residence at the University of New Haven, and a Distinguished Adjunct Professor at Golden Gate University. Roger is also a professional speaker, and can be reached at <[email protected]>.

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