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Community Policing; Stopping Nuisance Crime

Community Policing; Stopping Nuisance Crime

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Discerning how to effectively police a community is of the utmost importance. People want to feel safe in their homes. People want to feel safe enough to let their kids play outside or go for a walk as a family. An enormous contributor to feeling safe in a community is an actual visible presence of law and order. A study conducted by the Police Foundation in Newark and Houston showed the citizen interaction with police officers on a regular and informal basis plays a huge role in quenching the fear of a community. It is from this very experiment that the “broken window” theory is derived, which posits that when disorder seems apparent in a community, the apparent disorder often leads to an increase in actual crime. However, when police officers are regularly visiting a community, it portrays an air of order, security and trust.

This business of maintaining an appearance of order and security is crucial for police because people often fear crime more than they need to. If people fear crime to a disproportionately high degree, the commercial activity in neighborhoods will stagnate, residents will be isolated from each other, and the streets will be abandoned. When community activity diminishes, the vacuum is often replaced with criminal activity.

To prevent communities from falling prey to the causal chain of crime brought about by disorderly perception, police should do two key things. First, police should develop trust and relationships with their citizens. This can be done through community outreach, friendly interaction in the neighborhoods, and surveys. This not only gives the community a sense of presence, it gives the community a sense of trust. Two, police should employ crime deterrent cameras. Crime Deterrent Cameras are different from traditional surveillance cameras as they are designed to not only capture evidence, they are designed to deter crime before it occurs.  This is an effective way to build and maintain the police presence established. Crime Deterrent Cameras give the presence needed to stop nuisance crimes.

#publicworks #deterrence #security #CommunitySafety

Public water

Protect Public Water Facilities from Vandalism

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If water storage chambers, pumps, or valves are vandalized, even if it is a childish prank, it is an act that compromises the water treatment facility.  To ensure the safety of the public, The Department of Public Works will need to sanitize the water and pass the water inspections of State and Federal standards, because vandalizing or any outside contact with the water treatment process may cause an imbalance in the treatment facility’s bionetwork.

The cost involved in bringing back the integrity of the water in the storage chambers involves treating the water a second time with the entire treatment process, in order to sanitize it.  Water reservation and services are supposed to be kept as cheap as possible, however, when the water storage is disturbed by outside contaminates from vandalism, this causes the Water Department to raise their budget in order to sanitize the polluted water.

It is mandatory, therefore, to maintain the efficiency of water equipment in prestige condition.  The Water Utility Operations must guard the equipment from corrosion, and protect its infrastructure of the water facilities.  A damaged water-treatment system compromises the water of the entire community, causing public schools and other organizations to shut down until the water system is repaired and properly treated.

Preventing vandalism within water department perimeters is essential. Some water treatment plants have installed walls and gates with barbed wire to deter trespassing.  However, persistent vandals overcome these barriers, therefore other deterrents are required. Other tools to consider are crime deterrent cameras using a motion sensor that will illuminate the area approached and will capture and help identify the trespassers.   Since crime deterrent cameras are self-contained and require no electricity, they can be placed in even the most remote areas of the water treatment plant.

The public water system is a process that is important to protect, and it is essential to guard its equipment from vandals.  Ensuring the entire community is drinking safe water cannot be compromised.  Protect the water treatment plant and use as many resources as possible to prevent vandalism.

Community Policing and Nuisance Crimes

Community Policing and Nuisance Crimes

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What are nuisance crimes, and is the community responsible for curbing these types of crimes?

 

Some people think of a nuisance as something annoying that can be tolerated to a point. The definition of nuisance according to Dictionary.com is “something offensive or annoying to individuals or the community, especially in violation of their legal rights.” People should know that in most cases there are laws against public irritations. Therefore, committing an act of a public nuisance is a crime. Examples of criminal acts of public annoyance are vandalism, graffiti and illegal dumping.

 

Definitions according to Dictionary.com

 

Vandalism is “deliberately mischievous or malicious destruction or damage of property.”

 

Graffiti is “markings, as initials, slogans, or drawings, written, spray-painted, or sketched on a sidewalk, wall of a building, public restroom or the like.”

 

Illegal is “forbidden by law or statute.” Dumping is “to unload or empty out (a container), as by tilting or overturning.

 

Most people would agree the examples above are annoying and in some cases downright oppressive, depriving the community of health and happiness. If the community does not take responsibly the problem will remain.  When a community takes ownership and decides to do something, Community Policing is born.

 

Community Policing is where individuals or organized groups work with Law enforcement to solve a problem that is tasking the community. The people and businesses who reside and work within neighborhoods partner with city officials and the police to change the atmosphere of their city. The U.S. Department of Justice has identified key players in Community Policing as “Government Agencies, Community Members/Groups, Nonprofits/Service Providers, Private Businesses and the Media.” Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) has provided a useful tool in implementing Community Policing in your neighborhood. All parties who care about their city  should read this and begin to solve the problems their city is facing.

 

Parks- Prevent Illegal Activity at the Pool

Parks- Prevent Illegal Activity at the Pool

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Spring is in the air, and summer is just around the corner.  Is your Parks and Recreation Center ready for the influx of pool attendees of the newly remodeled pool?  What about after hours?  Does the pool area have adequate protections, such as fencing and alarms, to keep mischief away before it turns into a tragedy?

According to the Red Cross, “over 200 young children drown in backyard swimming pools each year.”  And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states, “Every day, about ten people die from unintentional drowning.”, CDCP also states, “non fatal drowning injuries can cause severe brain damage.” Every death and accident is a tragedy but even more so if it could have been prevented.

When summer heat is upon us, everybody will be heading to the pool.  And when the crowd goes home, the teens find their way back, still looking for relief from the summer heat.  They will be jumping the fences and thinking it is an adventure to swim in the dark of the shadows.  Sometimes this illegal trespassing activity will include alcohol, which will most likely increase the chance that someone will get hurt.

Some protections that will help include:

  • Signs: Warnings posted that trespassing is illegal
  • Fencing: High enough that will deter most intruders
  • Lighting: To expose the illegal activity
  • Alarms: To scare the intruder away and bring awareness to the illegal activity
  • Cameras: To capture the intruders on film to deter the illegal activity or if needed prosecute

 

  • The deterrent features should change the behavior of anyone seeking adventure, making the illegal activity not so “fun”.

What safety deterrent features does your pool have?  Is your pool ready for the summer rush? Don’t let the illegal trespassing risk ruin your summer.  Learn what you can do to Protect your Pool and prevent illegal activity.