Historical December 1981 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Based upon a study done by the Governmental Research Institute, the Board of Police Commissioners voted to end the experiment in the 7th District called “team policing.” The Board, in a public meeting held Nov. 4, 1981, commended Captain Gay Carraway and the officers of the 7th District for carrying out the assignment and working diligently with the program.
The Board of Police Commissioners also voted that the following ideas, having proved their worth during the experiment, should now be implemented city-wide:
(1) The establishment of a district training officer to instruct in such matters as report writing, defensive tactics, First Aid, use of Canine, etc.
This would be ongoing in-service training at the district station.
(2) Follow-up investigations by uniform officers to encourage complete quality preliminary investigations.
(3) The number of categories for which reports are taken via the phone should be expanded.
This may necessitate increasing the number of complaint evaluators.
(4) Permanent beat assignments, as much as practical.
(5) An enhanced role in management of the district by watch commanders, particularly in such areas as training coordination, participation in public affairs matters, traffic enforcement, planning and patrol strategies and tactics.
(6) Promoting more active police cornmunity relations by developing programs that encourage interaction between officers and the community.
(7) Expansion of certain aspects of ICAP.
The design of such a program to include the opportunity for officers to have input into crime problems, as well as other problems confronting the district.
(8) Permit uniform officers to work with detectives on a regular rotating basis.
This practice establishes rapport between uniform officers and detectives, encourages free exchange of information and builds experience and knowledge for all involved persons.
(9) Expand present practice of prioritizing calls for service and stacking during peak periods. Team Policing in the 7th District led to experimentation with a number of innovations which have already been adopted outside the 7th.
Some of these innovations are: crisis intervention, formal reward or recognition of officers at the district level, practice of Sergeants rotating with their squads, and elimination of certain types of services traditionally performed by police officers. Obviously, team policing has provided a good degree of flexibility for experimentation.
It has allowed a district to develop and test alternative methods, comparing new concepts with traditional ones.
Congratulations are in order for those who enabled this experiment to be successfully concluded.
Originally published in The Paper, December 1981.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1981_12.pdf, printed page(s) 1; PDF page(s) 1.
