1996-Annual Town Report - Laserfiche WebLink

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are continuing to explore better ways of providing this Report of the liaison service to the community. Police Department Our very successful "Citizens Police Academy" graduated its third, fourth and fifth classes of partici- To the Honorable Board of Selectmen and pants who will assist us in refining community part- the Citizens of the Town of Mashpee: nerships. We will continue to seek funding to allow us I am very pleased to submit to the Board of Select- to offer this informational program to more Town res- men and the citizens, my third annual report as Chief idents during the coming year. of Police. Despite decreasing funds available to us through MISSION: The mission of the Mashpee Police grants, we expanded one of our most successful pro- Department has been to provide the Town of Mashpee grams, the Drug Abuse Resistance Program, Or with the highest quality of professional police services "DARE",by adding our third DARE Officer in Mash- to effectively address the incident of criminal activity pee's schools. We hope to continue to deliver strong and service needs of the total community; to encour- messages to our youth to resist both drugs and vio- age interaction between the citizens of Mashpee and lence through this nationally-known program. The the personnel of the Mashpee Police Department, program is now in its sixth year and nearly 1,300 of thereby promoting a cohesive environment designed our children have graduated from the 17-week basic to counteract the negative social influences that con- DARE course. Considering other activities in the tribute to an apathetic setting where criminal and other schools, our DARE Officers interact with over 1,000 antisocial behavior is propagated. Mashpee youngsters each school year. COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES: The department and In the years to come,we will continue to strengthen the citizens of Mashpee accepted the implementation our partnerships with Mashpee's citizens that result in of a "Community Policing" philosophy as a goal in the most effective delivery of services in the true spir- 1992 and 1993.That philosophy,which can be defined it of "Community Policing". During the forthcoming as bringing police and citizens closer together by year we will continue to refine successful programs establishing partnerships which lead to more effective and examine any new ones that will allow us to facili- working relationships with neighborhood groups, tate the best possible professional working relation- schools, and businesses within the Town. ship with those we serve. The Police Department continued development CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES: 1996 was another busy toward that goal in 1996 with continued refinement of year for the Police Department,as evidenced by a con- key programs to strengthen our commitment to a part- tinual increase in calls for service. Overall Calls for nership with the community. "Park and Walk" brings Service have increased about 30% and encouraging officers into closer contact with citizens when officers decreases were noted in important crime categories park their cruisers and walk through targeted high- such as Domestic Violence and Breaking and Enter- density population areas, interacting with the citizens. ing. We are exploring new grant opportunities to These opportunities to interact lead to a positive impact the rate of Domestic Violence in our commu- exchange of information and views between citizens nity, which is still too high. After a decrease last year, and the police, resulting in the improved service by Larceny and Vandalism have both increased, but that police to the community. Virtually every day during may be a reflection of closer partnerships with the the past year, our officers performed great numbers of police and our citizens. In improved partnerships, citi- "Park and Walk" assignments that are of continuing zens are then inclined to report matters that they pre- benefit to all of us. viously may have felt insignificant to warrant a call to the police. By-Law violations and the Other Incidents The new"Liaison Officer Program"assigns an offi- categories may be reflective of this trend as well.I was cer to each neighborhood association and community encouraged by many cases of effective partnerships in organization with the goal of having that officers work the community that I saw during the past year which with residents on solving non-emergency problems of resulted in a number of criminal investigations being mutual concern that pose a threat to public peace and successfully closed by our officers. safety.To many of us, this program is reminiscent of having your neighborhood "cop on the beat" many We noted decreases in total Traffic Citations after Years ago that proved successful in building familiari- we moved much of our traffic enforcement from main tY and mutual confidence between citizens and police highways to high accident locations and association which helped solve issues of mutual concern in the areas where citizens asked for our help. Even though community.Although officers have been assigned, we the volume of our citations has decreased, we feel that 81