Patrol Boundaries Shift as Police Phase in Neighborhood Oriented Policing


GREENSBORO – Beginning April 29th, the Greensboro Police Department will re-align patrol boundaries as it systematically moves towards fully implementing Neighborhood Oriented Policing.
            The shift in patrol boundaries is designed to align workload and improve response time. The new boundary lines and the transition to NOP are the result of extensive data analysis and policy reviews that spanned more than two years and involved the help of two nationally-recognized experts.
            “Revising patrol boundaries is a common practice in policing,” said Police Chief Wayne Scott. “Districts and zones are typically re-drawn about seven to ten years to keep up with changes that naturally occur within a city over time.”
            The last major shift in patrol boundaries occurred in 2003. Smaller revisions took place in 2008.
            “However, re-aligning our patrol zones is just one aspect of Neighborhood Oriented Policing,” explained Scott. “The other – and more important part – of NOP is our full commitment to working alongside community members to solve problems as part of our police services.”
How, when, and where police services are delivered will be based on two primary factors: community concerns and actionable crime analysis data.
Some Community Resource Officers began their assignments in their new zones on April 1st. “We needed to get the CROs in their new communities as soon as possible so they could begin to meet people and listen to their ideas and concerns,” said Scott. “Remember that community involvement is critical to the success of NOP. Everybody has a role in making Greensboro safer.”
The other important factor in NOP is applying police resources and crime prevention methods when and where they are needed.
“Over the past three years, we have greatly enhanced our ability to analyze crime,” said Scott. “We have hired top-notch crime analysts and invested in state-of-the-art software that helps us generate data we can act on. This allows us to predict and disrupt crime. Combine this technology with our officers’ skills and partnership from community members, and we have a great formula for making our city safer.”
Evaluation of NOP will be an on-going process. “We have a lot of data to look at in order to measure the impact and effectiveness of NOP,” explained Scott. “That data includes both measuring our performance against our goals and getting feedback from the people we serve.”
To find out what patrol zone your communities is in, and to read about your community officers, go to http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/ourcommunities


MEASUREABLE GOALS FOR NOP

Priority 1 Calls for Service will have an average response time of no more than seven minutes – regardless of time of day or day of week. This would improve upon the current citywide average of 8.2 minutes. Priority 1 calls include violent crimes and crimes in progress.
Priority 2 Calls for Service will have an average response time of no more than 12 minutes - minutes – regardless of time of day or day of week. This would be more consistent than the current citywide average of 11 minutes.
Every patrol officer should have 24 minutes (or 40% of patrol time) of proactive time each hour of the day on each day of week in every district.
Have at least one patrol unit free at all times in each of the four districts to be available to take a call or respond as a backup.
And finally to minimize cross- zone dispatching so that officers spend more time in their assigned areas of responsibility. 

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