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WATCHDOG
By: Police Department
September 1, 2009 3:55PM EST
The purpose of the Nashville Police Department’s community services policy is to direct, monitor, and ensure that the relationships with the community are not only protected, but expanded and improved. One of the main focuses of the Nashville Police Department's Community Services Program is to increase interaction with the citizens that it serves. This year, the Nashville Police Department introduces a new program to accelerate the growth and development of the relationship between the police and the public, called Project Watchdog.
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PURPOSE
The Nashville Police Department derives much of its ability to investigate, solve, and prevent crime through its relationships with the community that it serves. The need to improve those relationships has been realized throughout the nation in recent years through such programs as Crime Prevention, Community Watch, Crime-stoppers, and America’s Most Wanted. The future of the Nashville Police Department’s abilities are, in part, reliant on its relationship with the community. The Watchdog Program is designed to relate officers to particular communities, to familiarize citizens with a particular officer, and to help officers develop contacts in particular areas.
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ZONES
The basic structure of the community services project starts at the patrol officer’s level. Each patrol officer will be assigned to a specific geographic area of the Town of Nashville. The officer will be personally responsible for several aspects of the community services project in his assigned “Zone”. This will allow the officer to become vested in the community and relate on a more personal level. The zones will be developed and assigned by the Community Services Officer. Zones will be designed based on population, number of businesses, and geographic size. Officers will, of course, will respond to calls in the entire town, they will simply focus more community based policing in the assigned area. Officers will be responsible for advertising the WATCHDOG Program to residents in their Zone thru the use of flyers, word of mouth, and other methods. They will also be responsible for attending the Zone meeting for which they are assigned.
Click this thumbnail to see a larger view of the WATCHDOG Community Safety Zones. |
SAFETY MEETINGS
The Safety Meeting will set a forum for the exchange of information between the police department and its citizens. It will allow the community to voice its concerns and seek reassurance from its police officers. It will also give police the opportunity to seek information, educate citizens about safety and crime prevention, advertise about community watch, and expand their relationship with their Zone members. The patrol officer will be responsible for taking advantage of every opportunity to notify citizens in their Zone about upcoming Community Safety meetings.
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SUMMARY
The overall goals of the “WATCHDOG” project include the following:
- Strengthen the relationship between the police and the community
- Increase public opinion and support of the Police Department
- Initiate a special interest of patrol officers in particular communities
- Utilization of patrol officers in investigations
- Solicit comments and concerns of citizens
- Solicit information about previous crimes
- Develop Community Safety Meetings
- Increase crime prevention awareness
- Encourage Community Watch participation
- Encourage the community to grow closer through participation in “Watchdog”
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- WATCHDOG Meeting Schedule
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