Historical March 1981 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
A recent article in the Post-Dispatch reported that the outgoing Board of Police Commissioners had decided to discontinue Team Policing, effective May 1, 1981. Team Policing, which has been in operation in the Seventh District since 1976, has in the minds of many neighborhood residents been chiefly responsible for the dramatic decline in this area’s crime rate during the late 1970’s. (Between 1975 and 1978 crime declined by 62% in the Skinker-DeBaliviere Neighborhood).
As it turns out, the aforementioned newspaper article incorrectly depicted the fate of Team Policing. Suzanne Hart indicated to me that the current Police Board had actually deferred any decision on the fate of Team Policing to its successors. Consequently, the “jury is still out” on what will happen to Team Policing in the Seventh District.
The central issue in determining what will happen to Team Policing revolves around the question of how this innovative law enforcement technique should be evaluated. Suzanne Hart is hopeful that the new Police Board will insist on as objective and independent evaluation as possible.
The unspoken inference is that heretofore “downtown judgments” on Team Policing have been less than totally objective and independent. Suzanne has been joined in her efforts to lobby for an objective evaluation of Team Policing by the Editorial Staff of the PostDispatch (see “What Score for Team Policing”).
In addition, the opportunity also exists for residents and organizations in the Skinker-DeBaliviere Neighborhood to express their support for Team Policing.
But there is one other thing this neighborhood can do.
We need to more positively support our Team One officers with such “time honored” crime prevention tactics as organizing block-watcher units and promoting effective security precautions.
These efforts have worked in this neighborhood in the past, as demonstrated by the previously mentioned decline in crime during the late 1970’s. Crime continues to be a major concern for all neighborhoods located in major metropolitan areas.
While we have recently heard complaints in our neighborhood about the effects of cutbacks in the City’s Police Department and “perceived’ increases in crime, it must, nevertheless, be noted that the actual incidence of crime remains considerably below what it was in the early 1970’s.
We have learned to effectively deal with this problem and we can continue to control it by utilizing crime prevention measures and demonstrating our support for Team Policing.
Editor’s note: Skip Coburn is the Executive Director of the Skinker-DeBaliviere Community Council.
Originally published in The Paper, March 1981.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1981_03.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
