Perry Township

Community Oriented Policing  (C.O.P.)

Community policing has been around for many years now.  It’s been adopted by numerous police agencies throughout the country and the world, and has proven to be an effective way to help keep our communities safe.  The basic concept of community policing is to establish a partnership between the police and the community to work together to help keep our community a safe place to live.  It allows police to work with the residents, business organizations (both public and private), schools, social service agencies, citizen groups etc. to address local concerns and move toward long-term solutions to crime related problems.  By having the community involved gives us more eyes and ears out there to help keep us informed of problems or concerns.

We at the Perry Township Police Department believe strongly in the community policing concept and are committed to making Perry Township the safest community possible for everyone to live, play, work and enjoy their lives.  We have implemented a program that involves every officer in the department.  The officers have been assigned to a specific neighborhood in Perry Township and their responsibility is to work closely with their residents or businesses to address any complaints or concerns they may have.  The officers must set up a crime watch meeting two times per year.  Topics to be covered in the meeting will include but not be limit to; home and away safety tips, identity theft, crime trends in your neighborhood, neighborhood complaints, updates on police matters and any other topics you wish to discuss.

Goals of Community Policing

A major strategy proposed by the plan to meet the goals is to establish a community policing program in Perry Township.  We believe this approach will best serve the public safety needs of the Perry Township community and make it a safe place for people to live, work, play and go to school.  Our plan for an effective community policing program is as follows:

• - Empower the people of Perry Township to resist crime and unsafe conditions, resolve the root issues underlying social ills, and create a safe community that is well informed on public safety issues. 
• - Provide an adequate response to “quality of life” complaints in the community  without reducing the  department’s capability to continue to respond appropriately to  emergencies.
• - Establish partnerships with schools, social service agencies, citizen groups, etc., for the purpose of  developing effective prevention strategies.
• - Reduce the demand for future police, fire and emergency medical services by working closely with the  people to address the causes of public safety concerns
• - Reduce the fear of crime.
• - Increase the capacity of the department to engage citizens and community groups in day-to-day problem-  solving and prevention activities, while maintaining full response capabilities and relieving certified      personnel from tasks not requiring their particular training or expertise.
• - Furnish the township with a group of the most highly trained, professional, courteous and respectful  employees who are committed to serving and protecting the constitutional rights, lives and property of  everyone who lives, works, plays and attends school in Perry Township.