Many of these progressive programs and policies that the department has employed for decades also are recommended by the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing Report, which was finalized in 2015.

The core Community-Oriented Policing philosophy was first enacted more than 20 years ago under the direction of then-Police Chief Steve Belcher.

“We wanted to work with the community more. The department should be an open book,” said Belcher, who helped institute a proactive problem-solving response to neighborhood issues that emphasized community partnerships.

Up until that point, SCPD had been a traditional police department focused on response times and making arrests. But rising crime rates coupled with tensions locally — shootings, immigration raids, out-of-control beach parties — and around the country, including the 1992 L.A. riots, led Belcher and SCPD to reassess their policing model.

SCPD initiated Community-Oriented Policing by realigning the strategies and practices of its officers to engage and collaborate with residents and business owners to reduce and prevent crime, build trust and create mutual respect.

Community-Oriented Policing also brought focus to the root cause of issues. Rather than repeatedly dealing with the same call for service, officers gave new attention to problem solving in order to prevent the issues from reoccurring.

“Officers became responsible not just for responding to calls, but for solving the problems the calls reported,” Belcher said. “It was an evolutionary process.”

Early Community-Oriented Policing initiatives in Santa Cruz included:

• Specifically assigned beats for officers so they could get to know neighborhoods and residents could become familiar with them.
• Launching the first Citizen Police Academy classes to offer transparency about how policing works in Santa Cruz.
• Installing dashcams in patrol cars to record police work.
• Establishing civilian oversight for enhanced accountability.
• Partnering with other agencies — such as the City Parks and Recreation Department, State Parks, the state department of Alcohol Beverage Control and more — to find creative solutions to problems.
• Starting Neighborhood Watch programs, led by the Community Policing Coordinator, who was Officer Jim Howes.

“We had to close that missing link,” Belcher said. “It sounds very simple but it was revolutionary and it paid dividends.”

Santa Cruz Police Department’s Community-Oriented Policing Provides Transparency and Accountability.

The nation and the Santa Cruz community are going through a historic and needed process of examining the relationship between police officers and those they serve and protect. Events at both the national and local levels continue to drive the discussion. The Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) aims to help move the discussion forward by re-emphasizing the benefits of community-oriented policing, a proven strategy that focuses on building trust and strengthening the relationship between police officers and community members.

Establishing a culture of transparency and accountability among peace officers and the community they serve is the guiding principle of Community-Oriented Policing. This helps ensure that decision making is understood and follows policy.

The annual Neighborhood Block Parties program is one of the most visible activities SCPD does as part of its Community-Oriented Policing program. SCPD worked with Santa Cruz Neighbors to develop and launch the annual program. The event has grown to 48 organized neighborhood gatherings in 2016 promoting community safety, getting to know your neighbors and access to city staff including police officers, firefighters and city management.

SCPD programs extend well beyond Neighborhood Block Parties. For nearly two decades, SCPD has invited community members into the department for the Citizens Police Academy, an inside look at local law enforcement through lectures, demonstrations and discussion. Dr. William Christie, a dentist in Santa Cruz, was a member of the first Academy class in 1998. “It was enlightening,” Christie said. “It’s a nice introduction to law enforcement. It kind of takes down the mystery of law enforcement.”

The 11-week program, offered in English or Spanish, covers patrol, traffic, police investigations, gang culture, narcotics, use of force and arrest tactics, the court system and more. Over 640 community members have graduated from the Academy since it began.

Christie recalls community members who entered the program with a negative attitude toward law enforcement but who left with an understanding and respect of the complexities of the role. “That’s what it’s about, letting the public see there is not a blue curtain,” Christie said.

The academy also has helped officers. Christie recalled an early class where an officer described going “code 3 to a 211” for several minutes before a student interrupted to ask what the police jargon meant — driving fast with lights and sirens on to a report of a robbery.

For future talks, officers did more to explain topics in laypeople terms. A community’s willingness to cooperate with law enforcement is born out of the level of trust, respect and support they have for their police. “It pulls down barriers between the public and the police, and opens channels of communication,” Christie said. “It helps the public to know what resources are available to them.”

SCPD was the first law enforcement agency in Santa Cruz County to have civilian oversight, beginning with the Citizen Police Review Board (CPRB) in the early 1990s. That committee evolved into the Independent Police Auditor model of civilian oversight, previously handled by attorney Robert Aaronson. Unlike the CPRB, Aaronson had full access to the department’s internal affairs (IA) investigations, including personnel files. Currently, Michael Gennaco is the Independent Police Auditor.

The Independent Police Auditor reviews IA investigations within the Santa Cruz Police Department monthly, spending two days reading files, listening to audio recordings and watching videos. The auditor writes reports on all major IA investigations — about seven or eight annually — and makes recommendations. The suggestions range from how the investigations should be conducted to training issues that need to be addressed. The goal of the auditor is to improve these services  “What they do is help people be more effective in their roles.

Additional civilian oversight of SCPD occurs in two ways:

• The City Council appoints three members to the Public Safety Sub-Committee. 

• The City’s Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women provides comments on police response, policy, procedures and investigation of crimes against women with an emphasis on domestic violence and sexual assault.

Citizens also are involved in promoting officers to supervisory and management positions at SCPD. Police officers who have put in for promotions give presentations to a panel of community members and answer questions posed by the panel. Panel members score each candidate and police commanders take the panel’s feedback into account when making promotions.

SCPD’s accountability manifests in other areas as well. The department issued its first annual report in 2015, and dozens of community members volunteer in various roles at SCPD. David Salinas, a 21-year-old from Capitola, became an SCPD volunteer after participating in the Teen Public Safety Academy when he was a junior at Soquel High School.

“It really inspired me,” said Salinas, who has wanted to be a police officer as long as he can remember. Salinas became a mentor in the department’s PRIDE program, completed the Citizens Police Academy and, in January 2015, started volunteering in the records department at SCPD, taking records from police headquarters to the courthouse, city hall and District Attorney’s Office. The volunteer position led to a part time job — Professional Technical Assistant —that utilizes his bilingual skills. The exposure to police work has helped Salinas as he navigates toward a career.

“Doing all that stuff really opened my eyes,” he said. “Being in these programs, you build connections with these officers. I didn’t understand the kind of stress they went through.” Salinas is applying to universities, where he plans to study sociology before applying to become an SCPD officer. He’s also starting his third session as a PRIDE mentor this month.

There are so many different perspectives of our criminal justice system,” Salinas said. “If you go on a ride-along or join the academy, you’ll get a better idea of what these officers are going through.”

The role of the police officer is to do more than just enforce the law and arrest those that break it. Building connections with residents and business owners is a key part of local law enforcement. Ride-alongs are one of SCPD’s most utilized community programs. Citizens get real-time insight into how situations are handled and what police work looks like in Santa Cruz. There were 154 ride-alongs in 2015. Through the end of October, there have been 174 ride-alongs this year.

There’s a problem house in the neighborhood. You know the one. People coming and going at all hours, lots of cars parked out front. Maybe there’s trash in the yard or loud music late at night. On the surface there’s nothing so wrong that a neighbor needs to call 911, but it’s uncomfortable for the rest of the neighborhood and seems like it could be dangerous.

Deborah Elston, founder of Santa Cruz Neighbors, would say, “Call 911.” Not because it’s an emergency, but because Elston’s organization has spent the past 15 years teaching city residents to report suspicious activity, then work with the Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) and other city staff to address neighborhood issues.

Santa Cruz Neighbors, an organization representing a citywide network of neighborhoods dedicated to safer neighborhoods, and now-retired SCPD Community Policing Coordinator Jim Howes, came together in 2002 to address quality-of-life issues like drugs, prostitution, harassment, vehicle camping, graffiti and speeding. While these weren’t major crimes, addressing underlying issues could prevent crime from happening or intervene before the situation got more serious.

“We knew we could tackle all the problems together,” Elston said. “I think neighbors realize they are an instrumental part in being the eyes and ears of the police department. When they make those calls, the bad guys get caught.”

SCPD’s partnership with Santa Cruz Neighbors is just one of the many collaborations the department has created to facilitate Community-Oriented Policing over the last two decades. This policing philosophy looks at the root cause of an issue and focuses on problem solving to prevent the issue from reoccurring, rather than repeatedly deal with the same call for service.

“We worked with other city departments to do that: fire, public works, code enforcement,” Howes explained. “The idea really is community-oriented government.”

Take that problem house described earlier. Through the Community Services Unit, an officer would check any emergency calls to the address and find the name of the property owner. Often, the home would be a rental and the owner didn’t know of any problems at the property. To prevent so many cars from parking at the house, the officer might ask the Public Works Department to take a look at the parking rules for the area. A street light could be installed nearby to deter late-night visits. The city’s Code Enforcement officer could stop by to ensure the living conditions are safe and legal.

“That way, you start sharing, delegating, giving out help,” Howes said. “There was really nothing we couldn’t solve together.”

Should more serious crime be suspected, SCPD’s Neighborhood Enforcement Team (NET) could be brought in to investigate drug sales, prostitution, gang activity and more. NET responds to specific, identifiable problems within Santa Cruz and, in 2015, made 272 arrests and issued 246 citations.

Another SCPD partnership exists with Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency’s Mental Health Services and the Maintaining Ongoing Stability through Treatment Team (MOST) program. SCPD was the first law enforcement agency in the county to implement the pilot program in October 2014.

MOST brings together Probation, Behavioral Health, courts and law enforcement staff to improve mental health counseling, employment and other services to clients, including those in the criminal justice system. The MOST liaison assists with calls involving potential mental health issues and provides mental health intervention and assessment services. In 2015, the MOST liaison made 1,349 contacts and referrals, and 691 mental health assessments while out in the field with SCPD officers.

The Bob Lee Community Partnership for Accountability, Connection and Treatment (PACT) brings together county District Attorney, Probation, Public Defender and Health Services staff, along with Santa Cruz police officers and city attorney staff, to focus on chronic, low-level offenders in Downtown Santa Cruz. In the first 12 months of the program, which started in 2014, 70 clients saw their arrests drop by 70 percent and their ambulance runs drop 80 percent. PACT has proven so successful at reducing recidivism, the program has been expanded to reach clients city-wide.

Another SCPD program integral to its Community-Oriented Policing goals is the Parks Unit, which marks 10 years in existence in 2016. Created to provide dedicated patrols in neighborhood parks, open spaces and waterways to ensure a safer environment, the unit also coordinates and participates in several cleanups throughout the year. One recent cleanup, where Parks Unit officers and city Park Rangers removed more than 20 illegal campsites at Pogonip, yielded enough trash to fill five train cars.

Phil Kramer, executive director of the Homeless Services Center and former head of the 180/2020 Program (formerly the 180/180 Program), has been impressed with SCPD officers’ ability to work with vulnerable populations. When Kramer and upwards of 100 volunteers took to the streets to survey the homeless in 2012, SCPD offered insight, guidance and support for surveyors. They provided tips as to where people might be sleeping and, in many instances, were there to be the relationship bridge.

“In a way, it was both heartwarming and a little bit surprising that they trusted a relationship with people who were on the street and homeless,” Kramer said. “It helped foster our ability to engage with people.”

Earlier this year, Kramer and his staff identified a need to have a streetlight in front of the Homeless Services Center on Coral Street to enhance safety for clients and staff after-hours. Working with a Lt., the designated Homeless Services Center liaison, the light was installed in October.

“They seem to treat everyone with real compassion and understanding,” Kramer said. “We couldn’t ask for a better partner.”

Taking the time to look at and address what is causing the crime or nuisance problems in a neighborhood has proven successful for SCPD officers. This problem-solving approach – exemplified by Santa Cruz Neighbors, NET, PACT, MOST, the Parks Units and the 180/2020 program – is a key element of Community-Oriented Policing, requires collaboration with other city and county departments, groups that work with vulnerable populations and neighbors.

“It’s worth doing,” Howes said. “There is really never anything we can’t solve over time with people.”

ABOUT SCPD

The Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) is committed to working in partnership with the community to enhance public safety, prevent crime, enforce laws and protect the rights of all people through innovative problem-solving approaches.  A progressive, professional organization, SCPD officers are dedicated to conducting themselves with the highest ethical standards and the department is accountable to the community. SCPD has 94 sworn officers and 29 civilian staff to protect and serve Santa Cruz’s 64,000 residents and millions of annual visitors. Learn more at www.santacruzpolice.com, http://santacruzpolice.blogspot.com, or via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest.

Building trust between youth and police officers can have a preventative effect on juvenile crime and victimization, while improving quality of life in neighborhoods. Creating these relationships with youth has been a focus of Santa Cruz Police Department’s (SCPD) Community-Oriented Policing for years.

More than six years ago, SCPD launched the Personally Responsible Individual Development in Ethics (PRIDE) program in conjunction with Santa Cruz City Schools. The multi-faceted approach to early gang prevention engages with middle school-age kids, usually 11-15 years old, to educate, mentor and guide them in how to make healthy choices.

The program is geared toward middle school teenagers — boys and girls — at risk of joining a gang. The 2016 session began in November with two cohorts of 21 students, one from Mission Hill Middle School, the other from Branciforte Middle School.

“I think this is an unbelievable bridge for the police department because they are forming personal bonds with these kids,” PRIDE volunteer Robert Orrizzi said. “One on one, these kids are great. But they need help, they need to see another way of living.”

Youth ask to be in PRIDE following a police presentation at their school. Their parents also must agree to let the student participate in the free program.

The biweekly classes are geared toward considering good and bad choices. Good choice classes introduce kids to positive activities and show them options for their future, should they stay out of gangs. Field trips to UC Santa Cruz and Google, bowling, horseback riding and a day trip to San Francisco are among the highlights for kids.

Bad choice classes depict a different, darker future. Kids tour San Quentin State Prison, write their own obituaries, visit a cemetery, go through the jail booking process —including handcuffs and shackles — and do volunteer work at Salvation Army.

As part of PRIDE, youth in the class also are paired with a mentor, most of whom are UCSC students. The mentors help keep the kids accountable and encourage them toward pro-social activities.

“Most of these kids are lacking in attention,” said Orrizzi, who has personally mentored five youths since he started volunteering with PRIDE. “They just want someone to know them and be interested in them.”

Around the same time as PRIDE started, BASTA (Broad-Based Apprehension, Suppression,Treatment & Alternatives) expanded from Watsonville into North County. BASTA is a countywide collaborative formed for the purpose of keeping schools and the community safe by reducing and preventing youth gang violence, school truancy, suspensions, expulsions, and alcohol and drug abuse.

The BASTA Operation Team, comprised of law enforcement and school officials, shares information and works together on anti-gang strategies and programs. A second BASTA group engages in case management of at-risk youth who have been identified by school representatives, law enforcement and probation. Their aim is preventing gang involvement before it starts.

BASTA creates a network of support around the youth and works to find the teen a “pro-social” activity, such as joining a sports team or getting a job, as well as working with a mentor. The collaboration works with about 20 kids each year.

“One of the things that works is noticing the first sign – the first drawings on their Pee-Chee folder or wearing gang colors,” said Michael Paynter, student services manager at the County of Office of Education, a BASTA partner. “Connecting them at that point with a sports program can be the simple solution.”

A few years ago, BASTA added a free summer sports camp in partnership with Santa Cruz City Schools that serves about 30 kids, many of whom are also case-managed through BASTA. Participants try out a new sport every week, and practices are led by local high school coaches with help from some of their student athletes who serve as teen mentors for participants. BASTA looks at the needs of the at-risk youth on case-by-case basis. Sometimes an action as simple as paying a sports team fee or buying cleats for a youth is all the intervention needed.

“I think for the right kids that small dose can turn things in the right direction,” Paynter said.

Beyond targeted programs like PRIDE and BASTA, SCPD officers connect with youth through the summer Teen Public Safety Academy. The courses provide teenagers who are considering a career in public safety, or who are interested in learning more about public safety, the opportunity to gain an understanding of what it takes to become a police officer, a firefighter, a 911 dispatcher and other public safety jobs through direct observation and participation.

SCPD also has a dedicated school resource officer who divides time between Harbor and Santa Cruz high schools, and Branciforte and Mission Hill middle schools. The officer presence on campus deters criminal influence while also developing positive relationships and open communication with students and school staff.

Decades ago, the Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) equipped patrol cars with dashboard cameras and installed VCRs in the trunks to record officer interactions during calls. While it sounds archaic now, at the time, this was cutting-edge technology.

Fast forward 20 years and SCPD remains a leader in adopting new technology, in large part because use of technology and social media is a key element of the department’s Community-Oriented Policing. Implementing new technologies gives SCPD the opportunity to engage with residents about their expectations for transparency, accountability and privacy. It also builds community trust and offers police officers additional communication channels to educate residents.

SCPD was the first law enforcement agency in the United States to develop its own branded community engagement mobile app. Launched in March 2011, the app provides access to the police department’s live scanner feed, interactive online crime maps, videos, photos, social media and the police department’s blog.

“Really, their goal was ‘How can we take all of our services and make them available in the way our community wants to access them?’” said Jamieson Johnson, a UC Santa Cruz graduate and Vice President of Business Development at MobilePD, the app developer. “What the application does is centralizes a lot of different important services for the community to access.”

VIDEO message from the app developer, Jamieson Johnson, a UC Santa Cruz graduate and Vice President of Business Development at MobilePD.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UICUX6WHWwA&feature=youtu.be

Since SCPD launched its app, hundreds of law enforcement agencies have created their own mobile platforms.

“But at that time it was unheard of and they were the first ones to do it,” Johnson said.

The department also was the first law enforcement agency in the county to utilize Nixle, an open communication forum that connects the police department with businesses and residents through text, email, a mobile app and more.

SCPD was an early adopter of social media, engaging with residents through multiple platforms to increase community awareness and access to department activities. The department’s current social media platforms include:

Facebook – used to distribute press releases, request the public’s help in solving a case and share other items of community interest.

Twitter – used for real-time updates during urgent situations and to share day-to-day activity with the public. Earlier this year, SCPD tweeted a “virtual ride-along” during a Friday shift to exhibit the scope and pace of a regular workday.

Instagram and Pinterest – used to connect crime victims with their missing property. SCPD posts photos of lost, found and recovered property; proof of ownership is required to claim items.

YouTube – used to share messages about safety with the public and help identify suspects in open cases where video surveillance is available.

SCPD also posts police logs online and shares updates about cases via its blog. Residents appreciate the access to information.

“The blog has been awesome,” said Deb Elston, co-founder of the community networking organization Santa Cruz Neighbors. “People love the blog, especially because neighbors do want to help find the bad guys.”

When crimes occur, SCPD’s online crime reporting portal allows residents to report minor incidents, like car break-ins, online. This saves officer time for more serious incidents and also gives a crime victim the option to file the report when he or she has time to do it and from the comfort of their own home. The SCPD website also accepts public comments and acclamations about officers.

A recent — and well-received — addition to SCPD’s wide range of tech advances has been the development of the online bike registry. This program encourages cyclists to register their bicycles online and tags each registered bike with a blue and white California bike license. The registry, the first in the county, is free and never expires.

Since the online bike registry program began in July 2016, more than 1,200 bicycles have been licensed through SCPD. Many are registered when they are sold at local bike shops, all of which have partnered with the police department to grow the program.

“It’s going great,” said Linda Robinson, a SCPD records technician who leads the program. “It’s nice to see the enthusiasm.”

The hope is the license deters bike thieves. But in creating a record of the bike, which includes the serial number, a registered bike that is stolen and recovered by law enforcement can be returned to its owner.

“Bike theft is just rampant. It’s not just here; it’s all over,” Robinson said. “We have hundreds of bikes out back and we don’t know who they belong to.”

Community-Oriented Policing requires constant adaptation to new needs and changing situations. The Santa Cruz Police Department (SCPD) has embraced innovation since it adopted a community policing philosophy in the early 1990s. Just as then, today’s efforts are about building personal relationships, being proactive in addressing community concerns and working with partners to innovate new approaches to police work.

In this spirit, the department is poised to launch three new or expanded initiatives focused on creating transparency and implementing solutions that produce meaningful results in the community.

The first initiative provides for all Santa Cruz police officers working in the field to be equipped with body cameras starting in 2017.

“Body cameras certainly increase the accountability and the transparency of the police department,” the Chief of Police said. “I think that’s the No. 1 benefit.”

The footage also will provide better evidence documentation, record use of force incidents and encourage good behavior for both police officers who wear them and community members who encounter them.

The department proposed body cameras during the 2016/17 budget planning process, but financial considerations led the city to delay implementation of body cameras. Data storage alone is estimated to cost $100,000 a year.

“This is a pretty costly expenditure for the city,” the Chief said. “One of the things I want to make sure of is we’re very careful and deliberate in the selection of body cameras.”

In addition to choosing the right equipment, developing policies around data retention and storage, when and how to release footage, and how to preserve privacy all will need to be considered as body cameras are implemented. The timeline for rolling out body cameras for officers will be discussed at the Tuesday, Dec. 13, Santa Cruz City Council meeting.

The second initiative begins this month: police officers will carry Naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug. The one-year trial phase of the Overdose Prevention Program, funded through a Santa Cruz County-administered grant, will involve 12 SCPD patrol officers who have volunteered to participate.

“The logic behind law enforcement starting to carry it is on these types of calls we’re the first ones to show up,” SCPD Lt. Warren Barry, who is overseeing the program, said. “Minutes and seconds count when it comes to an overdose death.”

SCPD will be the first law enforcement agency in the county to carry a “rescue” drug. The Naloxone is administered through a nasal mist, which is easier to apply and doesn’t require officers to carry needles. Each participating officer will be issued a kit with two Naloxone doses.

“We are dedicated to helping people,” Barry said. “This is a problem where we can’t arrest our way out of it, so we’re treating it like a disease. This is a compassionate response to a nationwide problem.”

To encourage people to call 911 to seek medical attention for an overdose, California adopted a Good Samaritan law, providing immunity from violations and low-level offenses when a person is either experiencing or observing an opioid-related overdose. People who receive the rescue drug or those with them at the time will be given an outreach card with information about addiction services.

“The hope is they will get help and not use again,” Barry said. “Public safety isn’t just arresting people.”

The third Community-Oriented Policing expanded initiative is the expansion of the Maintaining Ongoing Stability through Treatment Team (MOST) program. The MOST liaison assists with calls involving potential mental health issues and provides mental health intervention and assessment services. Originally a 40-hour-a-week position staffed by one person, the role will grow to include a second half-time liaison working weekends.

Community-Oriented Policing requires constant flexibility to respond to all emerging issues with proactive problem-solving approaches that involve the community as well as police officers.