March 1991 POLICE PRACTICES: COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAM In an effort to improve police-community relations, the City of Delray Beach, Florida, Police Department created the Community Outreach Program (COP). This program allows police officers to be active in police-community relations. It not only facilitates the effective performance of the department but it also encourages citizen involvement. The specific goals of the program are to solicit citizen support in dealing with community problems, listen to the concerns of the citizens, and promote goodwill toward the department. THE PROGRAM COP officers initiate positive, unsolicited contact with residents. Uniformed officers meet regularly with both residents and merchants to inform them that officers are in the neighborhood to make the community both safe and drug free. Officers ask citizens to relay information about suspicious or illegal activity and give the citizens an information guide that answers frequently asked questions. Some of the questions addressed include: * Why are citizens who call in to make a complaint asked multiple questions? * What are the citizens' responsibilities to report criminal or suspicious activity? * How can citizens give information anonymously by calling a TIPS hotline? * How can residents help reduce crime in their neighborhoods through Crime Watch groups? The guide also includes information on home security and crime prevention, as well as other relevant topics. COP officers contact citizens and merchants only during daytime hours--the 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. shift and the early hours of the 4:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. shift. Officers working these shifts are required to make two unsolicited contacts with residents, as time permits. The visits usually last no more than 20 minutes; the goal is to open the lines of communication between police officers and citizens. LOG BOOKS In order to reduce the chance of duplicating citizen contacts, officers list their contacts in log books that are provided for each patrol zone. Shift supervisors assign the log books to patrol officers at daily briefings. When the shift ends, the log books are returned to the supervisor, who reviews the officers' contacts. RESULTS During the first 3 1/2 months of the Community Outreach Program, approximately 5,500 contacts were made with local residents and merchants. Initially, citizens were surprised to find an officer at their doors. Now, they are getting to know police officers, and as a result, officers are given valuable information that may have been disregarded or forgotten had positive contacts not been made. This program has also resulted in positive media attention for the department. It has built citizen trust and confidence in the police, and most importantly, it has built positive police-community relations citywide. _______________ Information for this column was obtained from Sgt. Ross Licata, Delray Beach, Florida, Police Department.