licing program will never be truly successful, nor reach its full potential, unless Community Policing is thoroughly incorporated within all ranks of an organization. Community Policing needs to grow into a working philosophy that is deeply rooted within an agency and it begins with planting seeds early on.
As with many agencies today, Modesto experienced a large exodus of officers due to retirements, injuries and lateral opportunities. As a result, we have been hiring an enormous amount of new officers, which has equated to nearly 30 % of our sworn staff having less than two years of law enforcement experience. Although many will see this staffing evolution as a challenge, we have seen this as a Golden Opportunity. Our command staff and supervisors have used this as an opportunity to develop a culture within our organization that goes beyond building partnerships; more importantly one that focuses on building relationships with the community. Relationships that are based on trust and open lines of communication.
Our officers have been engrained that Community Policing is expected in their daily routine. Our newer officers have been exposed to this philosophy from day one. It begins with the Chief and works down to our command staff, field supervisors, field training officers, academy instructors, as well as all our professional staff. In essence, we have realized that our Golden Opportunity is being able to develop a true culture of Community Policing for the next 20 years, based on the practices and beliefs we are instilling in our new officers today.
We have been fortunate to see the fruits of our organization’ s efforts begin to blossom. Our community has begun to rally in support of our public safety and our community. Recent events such as, Pray for Police, United We Stand, National Night Out, Love Modesto and events at our local churches, such as, Unity Matters and Blue Mass are all examples of our community members’ efforts of becoming more active and doing their part in making our community a safer place. The public’ s efforts have in turn, reaffirmed to our officers the importance of building trust
with those they serve. All too often, our officers progress through their careers and become callous in their views, feelings and beliefs, because they are often seeing the evils of our society. It is important for officers to understand and see firsthand that an overwhelming majority of the community they serve, respect and support law enforcement. Community members are more inclined to show support and be more active with police and community activities, such as neighborhood watch, citizen police academies and volunteering, when they have trust and believe in their public safety.
We have found that Smart Policing is about community trust through positive engagement. By building trust and developing relationships, we are empowering our community members to take more of an active role in addressing crime, safety and quality of life issues. In Modesto, we have a long road ahead of us. A comparison of 2014 staffing levels to FBI Uniform Report( UCR) Part I crime showed among the 25 most populous cities in California, Modesto Police Department had the highest work load. During the same year, Modesto was ranked as the 5th most violent city( per capita) in California.
Just like with other challenges, we see opportunities. In our case, we look forward to working in partnership with our community. Even without desperately needed staffing or additional funding, we will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with those we serve, as we strive to make our community a safe place to live, work and visit. ■
About The Author: Rick Armendariz is currently the Assistant Chief for the Modesto Police Department, which embraces both community engagement and intelligence-led policing. The Modesto Police Department has 219 sworn officers and 78 professional staff and serves a city of 209,000 residents.
Rick has over 20 years in law enforcement and has earned a Bachelor’ s Degree in Criminal Justice from Chapman University and a Master’ s Degree in Emergency Management from CSU Long Beach. He is also a graduate of the FBI National Academy class # 254.
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