Community Policing

This article from yesterday’s PDN shows that community policing works. We just need more people to do it.

Yesterday’s article was referring to a 5-acre property on Highway 101 and Brook Street North. With community policing, the county code enforcement manager (Rich Sill) meets with businesses and residents in a high crime area. They come up with ways to make the area less conducive to criminal activity.

Community policing uses the “Fixing Broken Windows” theory: if a neighborhood looks blighted or sleazy (broken windows, garbage on the streets) it will attract petty crimes (loitering, public drinking) which will lead to more serious crimes. By fixing the first broken window that appears in a neighborhood, the problem can be nipped in the bud (so the theory goes).

With thefts and vandalism increasing in the area, we need more community policing.