READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN

APRIL 2006
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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN

• CHANGING and FOCUSING
• Strategy
• Structure
• Systems
• On CRIME REDUCTION

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Need Involvement from All Concerned
Citizens Plans include Prevention Visibility Enf
orcement Accountability Education

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Objectives

• Increase police enforcement at every level.
• Insure the timely delivery of police services.
• Make the police more visible.
• Prevent, deter, or solve crimes and incidents at
  the patrol level more frequently.
• Refocus specialty units and outside agencies on
  supporting efforts of the patrol officers.
• Identify persons and properties causing recurring
  problems more quickly and devise plans of actions
  to abate their impact on the community.
• Engage the community in crime and disorder
  reduction efforts.

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Crime is Concentrated
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Offenders account for 55 of crimes.
Victims account for 42 of victimization.
Locations account for 60 of the police calls
for service.
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Crime Triangle
Crime Triangle
Victim
Offender
Location
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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN

• One of the police officers objectives should be
  to eliminate at least one of the elements of the
  crime triangle each and every day, over and over
  again, by employing crime fighting strategies.
• OFFENDER
• LOCATION
• VICTIM

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
What works?

• Increased directed patrol
• Proactive field interviews and investigations
• Aggressive and continuous investigations of
  serious crime
• Proactive traffic enforcement
• Dealing with community priorities
• Low tolerance of disorder and quality of life
  issues-(Broken Windows Policing)
• Courteous and professional police response
• (from research of Dr. Lawrence Sherman and Dr.
  George Kelling)

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Less Effective Strategies?

• Unfocused community policing initiatives
• Random patrols
• Neighborhood Crime Watch programs that lack
  police interaction and only organize around crime
  issues.
• Response to interest groups rather than the
  community
• Incident driven, rapid response strategies

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving
(COPPS)

• WHAT WE NEED FROM OFFICERS
• Ownership of Police Patrol Districts
• Problem- Solving Plans and Actions
• Crime Prevention Techniques
• Tailored for Each Neighborhood

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Patrol Officers

• Officers will adopt low tolerance enforcement
  policies on all violations, especially quality of
  life violations.
• Arrests and citations will be necessary to stop,
  identify, and charge persons. Those that dont
  respond to summonses and citations will get
  warrants issued against them.
• These warrants will be an additional tool to take
  action to remove part of the crime triangle.
• Officers will concentrate on known suspects and
  problem persons, hot spot locations, and problem
  properties, such as houses where police are
  frequently called to quell disturbances and bars
  where incidents frequently occur inside and/or
  outside the premises.

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Patrol Officers

• Every Case is a Big Case
• Dont always be looking for the big arrest and
  forsake the little ones.
• All arrests, including citations for nuisance
  crimes, help to deter crime and slow predator
  activity.
• Disrupting the business of the drug trade and
  other criminal enterprises is an effective crime
  suppression method.
• If crime doesnt pay well in Reading and the risk
  of continuing illicit activity is high, criminals
  will move on.

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN

• Patrol Emphasis on
• Quality of Life Enforcement increase the ratio
  of citations to warnings.
• Problem solving Evictions, Problem Bars,
  Problem People, Interrupt Drug Trade, Make
  Positive Contacts with people.
• Hot Spot Policing Maintain high visibility in
  problem areas.

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Steps Include

• Making crime and disorder reduction the central
  focus of the police department and increasing
  communication and accountability at every level
  of the department.
• Imparting responsibility for crime and disorder
  abatement to teams of patrol officers,
  investigators, and supervisors working in
  specific geographical areas.
• Empowering police officers to take action without
  unnecessary bureaucratic interference.

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Steps Include

• Identifying specific locations and persons who
  account for a disproportionate amount of police
  attention, either by repeat calls for service or
  by acts of crime and disorder.
• Using problem-solving skills to eradicate,
  diminish, mitigate, and move problems from
  neighborhoods.
• Partnering with a large number of organizations,
  agencies, and citizens to set priorities and
  increase the network of active crime-fighters.

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Steps Include

• Fostering better police-community relations by
  creating a shared vision for safety and security,
  providing education and training, and constantly
  engaging in dialogue to identify problems and
  challenges and possible solutions.
• Maximizing the percentage of police officers
  actively engaged in street level crime and
  reduction activities.

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Steps Include

• Applying technology to make downtown Reading and
  neighborhoods a harder target for criminals.
• Increasing resources by seeking non-traditional
  funding, such as alliances with the business
  community, neighborhood associations, private
  foundations, and other government entities.

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Management and Supervision

• City is divided into Quadrants
• A Platoon Lieutenant is responsible for crime and
  disorder abatement in one assigned quadrant

• Through periodic crime status meetings
• commanders also become more aware of
• crime trends the in entire city.

• The number of Patrol Districts
• expanded to 14 for more
• visibility and coverage

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Criminal Investigators

• VIPER Violent and Pattern Crime Reduction
• Consists of a team of criminal investigators,
  vice detectives and patrol officers who will
  specifically target the violent criminals who
  commit crime after crime.
• Will alter their hours and tactics as necessary.
• Will use crime analysis and intelligence
  information to determine targets.
• Will be more proactive instead of waiting for
  crimes to occur.

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Our strategy is the best of

• TRADITIONAL POLICING
• Directed patrol
• Hot spot policing
• Low tolerance
• Field interviews/contacts
• Criminal investigation by Patrol and CID
• COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING
• Problem solving
• Crime prevention
• Community partnerships

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Examples of Problem-Solving
Rental House - Used a variety of nuisance laws
against tenants. Also evicted through back rent
and destruction of property. Speakeasy - In
addition to issuing citations, officer called
Philly landlord at 400 AM several times after
witnessing noise and disorder coming from
property. Quick eviction after the phone
calls. Mini Mart - High call load due to fights,
curfew, thefts, loitering, etc.. Calls reduced
as a result of increased signage, lighting,
cameras, removal of pay phone.
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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN

• Public Safety Advisory Committee
• An umbrella advisory group to study and research
  crime and disorder issues.
• Advise Mayor and police department and help
  involve all facets of the community.
• Reviews and advises on city crime reduction plans
  and initiatives.

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN

• CAMERAS

TECHNOLOGY

• Design and implement a camera
• safety system in downtown
• and surrounding neighborhoods.
• Provide paid and volunteer
• monitoring center
• Equip officers with cell phones with direct
  connect capabilities to safety center.

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
Best Practices in Law Enforcement

• Public Safety Research Coalition
• ALBRIGHT
• ALVERNIA
• KUTZTOWN
• PENN STATE
• READING AREA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN
How do we judge success?
At the basic level solve or prevent one
problem or crime at a time In a broad scope
reduction of crime and disorder safer
community
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READING CRIME REDUCTION PLAN

• YOUR COOPERATION AND SUPPORT ARE NEEDED FOR
  SUCCESS!