Formed just two months ago, the Roanoke City Police Department Community Response Team is already credited with helping to nab several suspects in break-ins and robberies. It’s a new community policing effort that involves working more closely with residents, analyzing crime data for trends, and calling in criminal investigation teams or patrol officers as needed.
There are about 42 officers current assigned to the CRT. Lt. Daniel Hartman calls it a, “reorganization within the department.” Patrol officers are more focused on first response calls, handling traffic and complaints, while with the CRT, “we try to be more focused on quality of life issues, crime concerns, trends, any street level [issues] that wouldn’t be based on the 9-1-1 response system.” Hartman calls that the best of both worlds.
The CRT officers can go anywhere as needed but being focused on a particular sector in Roanoke helps them forge relationships with leaders in that community. A crime analysis division known as “I-Star” helps narrow down trouble spots for crime sprees and where trends appear to be taking place.
“We’ll focus our efforts on the information provided,” said Hartman; “it’s all data driven.” Information supplied by the local community is part of the data analysis process. “What’s the intel from the street?” asks Hartman. Roanoke City officers attend civic league meetings and community picnics whenever they can as well, keeping their ears to the ground, looking for clues that can mean a better quality of life overall – and less work for them in the long run.
“Community policing is about working together with the community…to collectively resolve the issues,” notes Hartman. That intel is shared with the other divisions – patrol and criminal investigations – when warranted. “Everyone’s got a piece of the pie,” said Hartman, “to effectively address the issue.”
Hartman said the police department already enjoys a good relationship with many neighborhoods and business groups in the city, but working to “further that trust,” always helps. It’s been a goal for Chief Chris Perkins since he took over the department from former Chief Joe Gaskins as well. The CRT adds Hartman, “is just another way to be able to respond to those concerns in a little bit quicker fashion than we may have been able to do in the past….maximizing those resources.”
Hartman said there have been good results early on, with several suspects being picked up in burglaries or copper thefts (sold to scrap metal dealers), by “collectively working as a team throughout the department. It’s about being able to deploy in the right areas at the right time.” The CRT approach said Hartman is making that deployment more efficient. “It’s early but we are seeing some positive effects.”
By Gene Marrano
