Grant Brings Community Policing to Inglewood

The Inglewood Police Department is going back to school to get reacquainted with the city’s neighborhoods.

Using $1 million from a federal grant, the city hired nine police officers to spearhead a community policing program based in the city’s elementary schools. The first of four public safety centers opened Saturday at Oak Street Elementary School.

The program is designed to complement and enforce neighborhood watch programs, said Councilman Jose Fernandez.

“These guys are going to find out what’s going on in the neighborhoods,” Fernandez said. “We are dealing with vigilance and with the police knowing the area, not just driving by.”

The four-officer team works out of a converted classroom equipped with computers connected to police headquarters, fax machines and two-way radios. They will patrol the campus and surrounding 10-block area on foot.

The school centers serve as a local branch of the police department, where residents can report crimes or have children fingerprinted. Local community service programs such as food distribution for the needy can also be coordinated there, said Herb Aguirre, the lead officer at the Oak Street center. Officials said the centers will not be used as a detention facility for suspects unless a suspect is apprehended on the school campus.

“The object (of the program) is to get people to be comfortable in dealing with the police,” Aguirre said.

In addition to the lead officer, the centers are staffed by a second patrol officer, a Drug Abuse and Resistance Education (DARE) officer, and several volunteers, Aguirre said. The department is training neighborhood residents interested in volunteering their time to handle phone calls and to help visitors.

The three other centers are scheduled to open in the coming months, he said.

The Oak Street center opened with a 2K run and fingerprinting drive that drew nearly 500 children, parents, police officials, teachers and school administrators, said Oak Street’s principal, Yolanda Mendoza.

Mendoza said the program is well-suited to be run in the elementary schools. “It’s a good building place for (officer-child) relationships. We’re building respect here and the kids are getting familiar with the officers,” she said.

The $1-million grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice last year, is used primarily for salaries and benefits for the officers and will expire after three years. But Aguirre said the city will pick up the tab when the grant runs out.