02/26/2007 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Search

Community Policing Community outreach, education and cooperation continue to be a priority of the Lino Lakes Police Department. Lino Lakes Police Officers are striving to develop additional components of our Community Policing Philosophy that are based on community needs and building partnerships with the residents. Our successes have been measured in programs like National Night Out, Neighborhood Watch, DARE and Citizens Academy. This year we continued to host the quarterly meetings with the retail and commercial businesses where communication and partnerships can be developed and training can be presented that is pertinent to the businesses and their employees. Crime Free Multi- Housing The Crime Free Multi- Housing program is designed to help owners and managers of rental properties keep drugs and other illegal activities off their property. The purpose of this program is not to SERVE the landlords, but to EDUCATE them and their tenants to improve the livability of the manufactured housing community by reducing crime. This program is honest, direct, solution oriented, and its design has proven to be very effective in reducing crime on rental properties. To ensure the crime prevention goal is attained, the program has three key elements which are management training, security assessments, and tenant training. Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) This program acknowledges that the built environment can influence the citizen's ability to exercise control over their surroundings. Defensible space is concerned with enhancing those design features which support community interaction and good surveillance, while simultaneously denying the criminal anonymity, unhindered access towards targets and easy escape routes. It is natural for humans to take more interest in something they own. Designing an environment which clearly delineates our private space does two things. First, it creates a sense of "ownership" which fosters behavior that challenges abuse of that space or unwanted acts in that space. Owners have a vested interest and are more likely to challenge intruders or report them to the police. Second, the sense of owned space creates an environment where "strangers" or "intruders" stand out and are more easily identified. Natural surveillance is a concept based on the fact that most criminals don't want to be observed while committing crimes. We need to create environments where there is plenty of opportunity for people engaged in their normal behavior to observe the space around them. Areas can be designed so they are more easily observed by yourself and others. It is possible to create, by design, an atmosphere in which the criminal feels uncomfortable and exposed. The Lino Lakes Police Department has a commitment to working with everyone to prevent crime from occurring in our city. Increasing the community awareness on how to be "SAFE BY DESIGN" makes for a happier and more prosperous community to live and work in. Lino Lakes Police Department 2006 Annual Report 10 • • •