Fear Reduction Initiative: Chief Hurtt says not to worry!
Police chief Harold Hurtt wants citizens in dangerous parts of town to feel better about crime.
Here's the HPD press release:
HPD Seeks to Reassure Public Through Fear Reduction Initiative
March 7, 2006 -- In an effort to reduce the level of fear reported by residents living in areas affected by recent crimes, Chief Harold Hurtt turned to his Community Relations Unit (CRU) to implement a Fear Reduction Initiative.With a reduction in personnel and limited resources, law enforcement agencies often become more keenly focused on addressing actual crimes while monitoring the fear of crime. However, "our perception of crime and the fear it produces can significantly impact our quality of life," says Sergeant Babb, who leads the CRU. "Fear of crime has the potential to impact our lives more than crime itself," says Babb. "While a violent crime may directly affect one individual, the resulting fear can be quite substantial and affect an entire community's day-to-day activities by causing some people to think twice before allowing their kids to play in the park, or walk to the corner store or school" said Babb.
We can't wait to hear what Chris Baker thinks of those first two paragraphs.
In fairness, this "initiative" mostly seems like making sure cops are getting out of their squad cars and getting into neighborhoods:
The CRU began their effort in those parts of the city experiencing an increase of crime. To date, officers have visited approximately 200 families. They focus on making personal contact with crime victims followed by door-to-door visits with others to hear their concerns and offer assistance when appropriate. Many of their visits are conducted in plain-clothes; however, they always display their law enforcement identification and badges.
It's not clear why Chief Hurtt is promoting this as yet another "initiative," since Chief and then Mayor Lee P. Brown was a major proponent of "neighborhood oriented policing" in the first place. Chief Hurtt really needs to come up with a better acronym and marketing plan for this one, though. The "fear reduction" psychobabble just comes off as... well, psychobabble. And psychobabble is no substitute for cops on the street engaging in a crime reduction initiative!
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 03/07/06 10:56 PM | Print |
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