The Fight Against Crime: Notes From the Front : Forging the Police Patrols of the Future

How far has the Los Angeles Police Department come and where will it be in five years?

Believe it or not, there’s one man whose job it is to find an answer to that overwhelming question and, according to him, community policing plays a major role in his department now and will continue to do so in the future.

“Some people think community-based policing is a fad and that it’s going to go away,” said Cmdr. Garrett Zimmon. “But I think they’re wrong. I think it’s the wave of the future.”

And Zimmon should know.

Zimmon heads an administrative group that oversees a $379,000 grant used to hire consultants and take other steps to implement community policing in the San Fernando Valley and across the city.

Since receiving the grant from the National Institute of Justice in 1992, the LAPD has taken a three-step approach to building public confidence in the LAPD by forming new partnerships between officers and residents, realigning the department’s divisions and devising a long-term strategy for policing the city, Zimmon said.

To improve relationships with residents, Community Police Advisory Boards were established last year, composed of residents who meet monthly with the commanding officer at each of the LAPD’s 18 police divisions.

The residents and officers have begun discussing issues affecting their communities. The efforts of the new partnerships were highlighted last month in two ways, Zimmon said.

First, the LAPD invited hundreds of advisory board members from across the city to an all-day summit, which featured workshops on community policing.

Later, the department released its State of the Community reports, which identified some of the most troubling problems plaguing neighborhoods from the residents’ perspective.

The reports included a list of solutions that will bring together residents and police to work on specific problems.

In the Valley, for example, gangs scaring families in public parks, prostitutes roaming along commercial streets and continual graffiti were among the issues of greatest concern to residents.

To solve some of the problems, officers have established foot patrols in crime-ridden Valley neighborhoods and residents hope to work with police on an “Adopt-a-Wall” program to reduce graffiti.

Another step taken to further develop the partnership between officers and residents is an ambitious realignment of the Police Department.

Division boundaries were redrawn in January and patrol cars were added to certain areas, increasing the visibility of officers in the field and allowing senior lead officers to work with small and cohesive communities, Zimmon said.

The realignment plan, which seeks to improve service throughout the city, also paves the way for the eventual addition of two new police stations with corresponding divisions, including one in the northeast Valley.

The department also sought input from residents for a strategic plan that is now being developed to help guide the Police Department through the next five years, Zimmon says.

Residents who participated in focus groups last year let it be known that they wanted more officers on the streets and that they wanted to better get to know the officers who patrol their neighborhoods.

The residents’ wishes will be taken into consideration along with officers’ input, Zimmon says.

The feedback is being used by command staff members who are working on a five-year plan. The plan is due out later this year, and will include strategies for staffing, funding, community policing and five other areas.

“Anytime you try to change the culture of an organization it’s a very difficult thing to do,” Zimmon said. “This whole process was designed to open up the LAPD to the citizens we serve and to get officers to work in a closer relationship with the community.”