While community policing may have several different definitions depending on who you ask, there is one thing some members of the community agreed upon - it involves forming relationships with residents while ensuring safety.
During last month's community and listening sessions hosted by Central Missouri Chapter of Empower Missouri, several attendees said they appreciated the police's presence in their neighborhoods but also wanted to see more community policing.
Community policing in Jefferson City
Some define community policing as officers "walking the beat" or stopping to talk to walkers they drive by, but the Jefferson City Police Department views community policing as an "organization-wide approach to policing" that involves everyone from police officers to detectives to communications operators, Police Chief Roger Schroeder said.
"It's a matter of working together to improve the community, to make people feel safer and to actually provide a safer environment," Schroeder said.
Forming these relationships helps create trust between community members and officers, Schroeder and Capt. Rob Clark said.
Capt. Eric Wilde said the department also must keep the lines of communication open when policing. This means not only receiving information from residents but providing information to the community.
Missouri NAACP Rod Chapel described "community policing" as police officers having relationships with community members, adding this could mean officers being involved in local activities, community events, schools or partnerships. He noted it's about "building community" while also keeping people safe from violent crimes or dangerous behaviors.
Community policing is not a new concept at JCPD, Clark said. In the early 1990s, the department formed the Community Policing Team, now called the Community Action Team.
Since CAT is not call-driven, Clark said, they can go to different neighborhoods where there are issues and devote time to those problems. CAT could work with neighborhoods regarding anything from shootings to code enforcement violations to neighborhood watch programs, among other items.
Along with CAT, the police department also offers programs like foot patrols, neighborhood watches, Citizen Police Academy and Crime Stoppers, among many other programs.
But community policing is not limited to those programs, Schroeder said.
"The goal is to present an image that we are more than a uniform or a speeding patrol car," Schroeder said. "We must present a demeanor of legitimate concern, devote the necessary time to resolve their problems and do so with a respectful and friendly attitude. That's the informal community policing that extends much beyond the formal community policing programs. Both are equally important and achieve the same critical goal."
Community policing excellence
Chapel said he thought Jefferson City's community policing is "head and shoulders above other cities in Missouri."
JCPD has been accessible to community members and critics, Chapel said, adding officers regularly attend meetings and events of the Missouri NAACP and other local organizations. If residents have questions, he added, they can speak with the police department or organizations that have a working relationship with JCPD.
"I know from time to time, people have approached the police department and whether or not they were happy with the resolution or complaint, they were heard," Chapel said. "You go to the police department and (you) feel like someone is listening to you, understanding their story and reporting back to them to say, 'Hey, this is what I found out about that.' But in some other communities, if you complain to the police department, then all of a sudden you're getting on somebody's bad list. We don't have that here that I know of, at all."
Chapel, Schroeder, Wilde and Clark said police officers also partner with local organizations - including the Missouri NAACP.
Chapel added the police and community relationship has improved even in the last five years, referencing the Medicaid23 protest in 2014.
More than 300 demonstrators, led by clergy, rallied in the Missouri State Capitol Rotunda before going to the Senate's upper gallery to urge legislators to expand Medicaid assistance to poor Missourians. Police officers arrested 23 of the protesters after their singing, praying and chanting became loud enough where senators stopped their debate because they couldn't hear. Chapel represented many of those individuals when they went to court.
"That whole thing, the officers that were in charge of and who made the decision to cite these folks, the prosecutor who made the decision that we're going to prosecute these folks, that's a situation where Jefferson City got it wrong," Chapel said. "The Poor People's Campaign is when we got it right."
With the Poor People's Campaign, hundreds of protesters used non-violent action to bring attention to issues impacting poor individuals. Members of the group sat in a street after the rallies until police officers arrested them, citing the protesters with failing to obey officers who told them to leave the street.
When "white supremacists" have protested in Jefferson City, Chapel said, the NAACP and JCPD have worked together to keep protesters, anti-protesters, visitors and residents safe.
"People expected something stupid to happen like (the police) to arrest everyone, to fine them, to prosecute them like the county prosecutor that prosecuted the 23 clergies who protested in the State Capitol," he said. "None of that happened, and it's so good because the idea is people ought to be able to express themselves in the Capital City. They're going to come, and they need to say what they need to say, do it in a safe way, and at the end of the day, everyone goes home."
Prospering relationships with the community comes from not only the partnerships and officer training, but also the hiring process, said Schroeder, Wilde and Clark. Schroeder added the hiring process is an "integral part of community interactions that we promote and maintain."
"There are mistakes of the mind and mistakes of the heart," Schroeder said. "We all make mistakes of the mind. However, we don't like nor will we accept mistakes of the heart. You got to be a good person, and you've got to do the right thing."
Improvements
While Jefferson City is "still doing better than a lot of places in Missouri," Chapel said, there is room for improvements.
Chapel's main improvement suggestion is requiring JCPD officers to wear body cameras, adding that would both protect officers and residents, as well as encourage individuals to "be on their best behavior."
"Where we find modern technology as being a valuable resource, I think the city has an obligation to provide its citizens and officers with that," Chapel said. "For Jeff City or any city to say they simply don't have the money, I don't think is fair for the officers or the citizens."
Schroeder said JCPD is "satisfied with our efforts" regarding community policing and "do not plan to expand our community policing efforts," especially given the finite resources. While it would be nice to have additional officers, he added, there is a cost associated with getting more officers.
"No, I don't know there is a lot we intend to initiate given the finite resources that we have, but we're pretty happy with what we've been able to achieve," he said.
However, Schroeder said, JCPD "accepts the fact that improvement is always possible." He added JCPD has recently redirected some of its resources to bring back its bicycle patrol.
Several residents during the community and police listening sessions said they wanted to see more officers outside their patrol cars and "walking the beat." In 2018, Schroeder said, officers left their patrol cars to conduct security patrols about 13 times each day throughout Jefferson City.
"Most citizens won't see those walking patrols, but that doesn't mean they're not happening," Schroeder said.
However, Schroeder added, one problem is it may impact response times because the farther the officer is from the patrol car, the farther he or she was to walk or run before he or she can respond to a call. The department has about 65,000 calls for service each year.
"The delayed response time might cost a life," Schroeder said. "Much can happen in 30 seconds."
For community policing to really succeed, it must be a team effort.
"We are only as good as our community allows us to be," Schroeder said. "We have to work together. We have to develop a mutual trust and respect, interest in everybody's problems - their problems are our problems, our problems are their problems."