New Police Unit Cracking Old Barriers
New Police Unit Cracking Old Barriers
Eric Olson, Sharon King, Carol Saul, Sgt. Bobbie King
By Rich Quackenbush
(News Staff Reporter)
The traditional concept of the cop on the beat -- the pavement-pounder who carried his department's good guy image with a smile and a helping hand -- probably is gone forever. But Ann Arbor Police officials are hopeful that they're creating a modern variation of that man and image.
The variation is seven young men and women who are the first recruits of the department's Community Service Officer Program.
These seven -- four women and three men -- hit the streets in January in specially marked cars.
According to the federal grant that made this $100,000 program possible, they carry no weapons and have no power to make arrests.
They wear special uniforms, red blazers and white turtlenecks, and their duties include response to calls involving non-criminal incidents: missing persons, runaways, dog bites, found property and private property accidents.
So, what's important about this police work away from the action?
According to Chief Walter Krasny, the program -- actually a national pilot project -- is "one of the newest moves to relieve sworn police officers from non-enforcement duties," which make up about 72 per cent of the department's calls.
And, according to Capt. Robert Conn, these are the calls that often require the most time and public relations.
Conn, head of the department's Special Services division which oversees the new program, noted that most residents' contacts with the police involve non-criminal activities.
"This is fortunate, but not necessarily for us," Conn said. "Most people will call their police department once in a lifetime when some minor crisis comes up. It's not minor to them, and they're going to judge us on this one call. They'll judge us on promptness in responding, the time we spend with them and the way we help to solve a problem."
Conn stressed that the sworn officer wants to fulfill his role in providing these services, but rising crime rates, tight budgets and lack of manpower hindered his effectiveness.
"That's why we have the Community Service Officers," Conn said. "And they've been a great help. Everyone had the time to do a better job."
Staff Sgt. Bobbie King is the director
of the Community Service Officers unit.
He said he's very impressed with the work after a six-week training period in the department.
"Because this is a pilot project, we didn't really know what to expect," King said "The department made its own guidelines and job descriptions."
There are similar programs in Detroit and New York, but neither appears to give the Community Service Officer as much freedom on the job as the Ann Arbor Program does.
Ann Arbor's new officers -- already called "the social workers of the department" -- are responsible for followup calls and have pursued some counseling in juvenile areas, such as runaways.
Their official list of specific assignments -- either being pursued now or on the drawing board for the future -- include: working with school officers to help resolve and tension in schools and at sporting games; assisting with police-community relations projects; resolving neighborhood disputes; assisting in providing temporary child care in cases of emergency or when a
parent or guardian is arrested or being questioned; and working with officers patroling city recreation facilities.
The recreation beat, King said, is a future assignment that "hopefully" will begin during the summer months.
The officers in the program all have strong social science backgrounds. Six of the seven officers have college degrees. All are in their 20s.
The officers' ages, King notes, make them ideal persons to deal with juveniles.
"It's great to have young people dealing with young people," he said. "The kids will open up to these officers. They'll sometimes tell the Community Service Officers what they would never tell a regular officer: why they ran away."
However, two of the Community Service Officers -- although highly optimistic about their jobs and what they can contribute to the department -- say that even they have had problems tracing runaways.
Officers Charles Altman, 22, and Mary Laux, 24, commented that barriers be-
tween the juvenile and the new officers still exist, despite the seven new officers' impressive record of tracing more than 60 of 70 runaway reports filed with the Ann Arbor Police in March.
"As soon as a kid learns you're with the police, there's an automatic barrier, even though we can't do anything to them or with them," Miss Laux said.
She and Altman agreed that even less uniform could help tear down at least part of the barrier.
"You just don't walk into a campus area place wearing a red blazer and think you're not going to be conspicuous," Miss Laux observed.
Altman noted that looking for runaways is "just plain difficult" because their friends "certainly won't say anything." But, he added, it has been gratifying that some runaways who have been traced by the new officers have returned to them for advice after an initial contact.
The questions and the advice they are asked to give on various subjects often disturb Altman, a graduate of the U-M, and Miss Laux, and Eastern Michigan University graduate.
"Sometimes I feel very inadequate when I get questions on insurance procedures or points of law," Miss Laux said.
Again, Altman agreed and suggested that the six-week training program should be longer and cover more points of law.
"We received an overview," Altman said. "Of course, the knowledge will come with time. But while we're being introduced to the community, it's important that we have answers. Both the regular uniformed officers and the public have been fairly responsive and cooperative with us.
"But there have been citizens who have complained when we show up when they are expecting a uniformed officer. It's times like those when you have to prove you really know your stuff," he said.
These appear to be minor items, but they are the kind of criticisms the department is seeking as it approaches the time for an evaluation of the program.
Police officials hope the first year grant for the program will be extended to August and, based on an evaluation of the first year to be conducted by a Lansing firm, will be offered for a second year.