172536_CPCA_2020_Spring Magazine - Final | Page 39

unprecedented measures to control the spread of the COVID-19
virus were put into place, community concern flowed to the City
Council and City Manager’s Office to express concern for the city’s
vulnerable members. This was not a new concern, since the City
Council had made services and supportive programs a community
priority for the last several years, but the urgency to assist those who
became abruptly impacted was a critical priority amid the isolation
from employment and basic services, alongside real fear with viral
contagion in the community. With significant restrictions in place
to limit the potential for COVID-19 exposure for essential workers,
a focus on mission-essential services for emergency response, and
requirements to abide by public health orders, the capability to be
proactive while providing support for impoverished people was in
question. Limited resources and capacity could have been a hamper
to the ability for the City to respond.
Without a special program or specific call for direction, the collaborative
relationships forged with years of success during times
of non-crisis, became an integral and proactive part of a community-wide
response to serving those in need. Early into the
state-of-emergency and shelter-in-place directives, police department
operations were modified to relax enforcement of 72-hour parking
limits. Coordination with CSA resulted in the donation of hundreds
of hygiene kits with basic essentials and personal protection masks.
Local churches actively coordinated assembling the kits. The Public
Safety Foundation secured thousands of dollars of donated gift cards
to local grocery stores. Volunteers from local churches and members
of non-profit organizations were able to complete assembly in a
matter of days, and the police department took the lead to distribute
300 disposable masks, 380 hygiene kits, and 170 grocery store gift
cards in one afternoon. This first effort has served as momentum
for more to follow.
From the police department’s perspective, officers are typically
engaged in enforcement-centric operations for seeking compliance
with a variety of laws and regulations to mitigate the community
impacts created with people living in vehicles or living on the streets.
While there is always a proactive approach by officers to offer
services, the primary caregivers are more typically social service
organizations. In this time of crisis, that paradigm had to shift.
Officers are on the front line of ensuring the safety and well-being
of people in the community, and through pre-existing partnerships,
were able to provide help. Behind facemasks and wearing gloves,
officers shared several emotional moments as the team moved from
vehicle to vehicle. They were able to connect and speak with so many
people, some of whom shed tears of joy when they saw what the
team brought to them.
This example of promptly serving a vulnerable group in need
was the result of pre-existing collaborative leadership amongst
various organizations that serve a common cause but with different
missions, and who intrinsically came together without ego or politics
during unprecedented times. This approach, undoubtedly modeled
in other communities, is a demonstrative example for the value of
community policing, which extends beyond the “normal” day-to-day
police department goals for preventing crime and protecting life and
property to establishing authentic trust that allows for forging rapid
response capabilities in crucible moments for the sole purpose of
mustering the generosity of community spirit, and taking action to
help those most in need.
SPRING 2020 | CALIFORNIA POLICE CHIEF 39