OVERVIEW OF LCPD’S COMMUNITY POLICING EFFORTS

The Las Cruces Police Department has embraced Community Policing through its Community Services (Weed and Seed) and School Services Programs (DARE, GREAT), Crime Prevention Programs (Neighborhood Watch, National Night Out) and partnered with the US Attorney’s Office to support the federally funded Project Safe Neighborhoods (this program targets gangs and gun violence in our neighborhoods). In 2003 the Department created a special Community Policing Unit, the Targeting Neighborhood Threats Unit (TNT) which works closely with the community to solve quality of life issues within our neighborhoods and businesses. The philosophy of TNT is: “treat the problem as if you or someone you love lives next to it.”

What Is Community Policing?
Community Policing is a collaborative effort between a police department and community that identifies problems of crime and disorder and involves all elements of the community in the search for solutions to these problems. It is founded on close, mutually beneficial ties between police and community members. At the center of community policing are three essential and complementary core components:

• Partnerships between the police and the community.

• Problem Solving as a method to identify and solve problems of concern to the community.

• Change Management within the police organization to accommodate increased community involvement.

Community Policing is a PHILOSOPHY for doing police work; PROBLEM SOLVING (P.O.P.) is the tactic or strategy used to solve community problems of crime and decay; and PARTNERSHIPS are the tool or means with which the problem solving takes place.

What Is P.O.P.?

P.O.P., or Problem-Oriented Policing is the tactic used to produce long-term solutions to problems of crime or decay in communities. Police, residents, and other agencies or organizations work together to identify and find the causes for neighborhood crime problems, then develop responses to the problems based on the problems' causes. Responses are NOT cookie-cutter, one-response-fits-all. Responses are not 100% police responses. In most cases, the responses developed through P.O.P. are joint police-community actions, which also involve participation by agencies such as parks, code enforcement, youth services, solid waste, and others. Report a neighborhood problem or Praise an action.