New Chief Fallon will build upon community policing foundation

On September 19, 2014, in Latest News, by The Somerville Times

mayor_webBy Joseph A. Curtatone

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

David Fallon is officially Somerville’s new Chief of Police, after the Board of Aldermen confirmed his appointment last week, and we are on the brink of an exciting time in our city. A born and raised Somervillian, Fallon has spent the past 16 years helping advance the reforms that have turned our Police Department into a model for other communities. Now he will lead the department and expand those reforms, by instilling the philosophy of community policing and layering crime data analysis at every level of the department.

Community policing is a phrase used frequently in departments across the country. The only problem is that many police departments don’t truly understand what it means. This is about more than having a community-oriented program or two in a police department. It’s not only about officers meeting and talking to people within the community. A true community policing model must involve two-way communication that fully engages our community members and groups.

With community policing, residents and local business owners don’t merely report information to the police—although that’s important—and otherwise remain outside the problem solving process. Instead, the community helps our law enforcement officials identify those problems that deserve attention, draw the connections between issues we face, and help assess how effective the police response is to each problem. This model is not merely community involvement, but community collaboration that challenges assumptions, builds consensus and trust, and leads to better outcomes.

We’ve seen this approach work through Teen Empowerment, which started in Somerville 10 years ago during an epidemic of juvenile crime, overdoses and suicides. Teens and police started talking to one another. Each group gained a mutual understanding of one another and built trusting relationships. An evaluation of the program by Dr. Russell Schutt from UMass Boston found that Teen Empowerment was responsible for a 50 percent decrease in juvenile crime in Somerville’s highest crime neighborhoods, and that youth who worked at Teen Empowerment, compared to their peers, have higher levels of employability, greatly improved self-esteem and are more civically engaged.

In short: When the police and community talk with one another, understand one another and build strong relationships, we can have an effective, collaborative approach to the problems that we face. We have learned that if we’re serious about reducing crime, we can’t be reactionary. We can’t simply put more police officers on the street. We must go to the root of the problem, supporting strong family units, education and a collaborative approach.

We know that effective community policing requires problem solving through identifying issues, understanding them and making the connections to other issues, and then assessing our response. This is where crime data analysis is so important, and it can’t only happen at the command level. Every officer walking a beat must take a problem solving approach—not passively reacting to incidents as they happen, but proactively identifying issues and analyzing with the help of the community, responding and then assessing the outcome. This takes critical self-awareness. Just as collaborations with the community will challenge assumptions, each member of the department must be able to challenge his or her own assumptions. This is already part of the culture of the Somerville Police Department, thanks to the reforms made over the past decade, and under Fallon I know we will see it continue.

Chief Fallon has helped lay the foundation for this model over the past 16 years in the Somerville Police Department. As Chief of Police, he will build upon that progress, beginning immediately with a transition plan that includes meeting one-on-one with every officer in the department to discuss community policing and problem solving. New policies will make it clear that every officer is accountable for data collection that will be used to keep the community and officers alike safe, while maximizing the department’s resources.

Of course, part of what makes this an effective policing model is the engagement of our community. As Chief Fallon takes the reins of the Somerville Police Department, I hope that you will become involved or stay involved. Attend your neighborhood’s ResiStat meetings, where crime stats are shared and issues are discussed. Work through our schools, Recreation Department, Teen Empowerment or one of the many organizations and groups that work directly with the Police Department. We have already seen what we can do when we work collaboratively to solve the issues we face as a community. With Chief Fallon at the helm, I hope we can continue and expand upon that success.

 

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