tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8984215788964782472.post5394144554340561758..comments2024-03-13T08:32:53.348-06:00Comments on SafeGrowth: What's happening to our police? Part 2GSavillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17000359367472580777noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8984215788964782472.post-37595735969794644372014-10-13T00:50:39.008-06:002014-10-13T00:50:39.008-06:00Thanks Anonymous for the thoughtful comment. I agr...Thanks Anonymous for the thoughtful comment. I agree. I once heard George Kelling quip that a way to re-introduce community policing was to "sell the cars". I wonder sometimes if, even in jest, he was right!GSavillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17000359367472580777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8984215788964782472.post-27279100096292748562014-09-22T00:55:55.047-06:002014-09-22T00:55:55.047-06:00Some kinds of technology will continue to reinforc...Some kinds of technology will continue to reinforce a kind of social distancing moving policing further from the community just like the expanding role of automobiles replaced the era of the friendly foot patrol officer. The development of rapid telephone contact with police through 911 systems allowed police to respond quickly to crimes but answering the overwhelming number of calls for service, however, left police little time to prevent crimes from occurring making the system call responsive and reactive, not proactive. Add to this the advent of computers and we have created another tool that now requires that police stay in their vehicles even more creating a virtual office not just a mode of transportation from point A to point B. Personal tools have gone from a sidearm and a pair of cuffs to duty belts with every square inch of space taken up by equipment that the public fears and knows little about.<br />The job of the police should be to prevent crime, reduce the fear of crime, and improve the quality of life in the neighborhoods they patrol. Call responsive policing doesn’t address these issues. Having intimate knowledge and a dialog with the people in the community from the children to the grandparents, to the community leaders fosters cross communication between law enforcement and the people they are paid to protect. We have become crime managers, returning to the same problems over and over again looking to technology to solve the problems that technology has created.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com