Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 25, 1994 TAG: 9401250162
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Police Chief M. David Hooper said Monday the areas were selected after evaluating such items as calls for service, neighborhood fear, racial tensions and the potential for success.
COPE officials met with neighborhood leaders throughout the city to better identify neighborhood needs before selecting the new areas of concentration.
Hooper said the COPE program can be expanded because City Council authorized hiring eight additional officers and two supervisors in 1992.
He said a COPE unit will continue to work in Northwest Roanoke in Lincoln Terrace, Hunt Avenue and Hurt Park.
The first COPE unit began work in Lincoln Terrace and Hunt Avenue in August 1991. The eight-member unit, plus one sergeant, was initially formed from existing resources in the department. It expanded into Hurt Park in October 1991.
Since council authorized the hiring of additional officers for the COPE unit, new recruits were hired, trained and passed through the probationary period, which allowed existing officers to be assigned to the COPE unit.
COPE officers try to identify residents' fears caused by crime and to use techniques to alleviate the fears. They work closely with neighborhood residents on projects varying from neighborhood cleanups to reducing drug use and crime.
Hooper said the COPE unit has been successful, with a 56 percent reduction in calls for service in the Lincoln Terrace neighborhood four months after police began working there.
"But some of the most significant results cannot be documented statistically," he said.
"When fears are reduced, when citizens take part in clean-up activities, when children can play outdoors safely and people can feel safe sitting on their porches at night, we know we've made a real difference," he said.
Hooper also told City Council on Monday that COPE techniques are being incorporated throughout the Police Department. They are now part of the basic training in the Police Academy and taught to existing officers through in-service training. In addition, of the 16 officers in the COPE unit, four are temporary, three-month assignments.
"Our focus is to allow officers from throughout the department to be part of the COPE unit and then take many of those concepts back to their regular assignments," Hooper said.
George Snead, director of public safety, said the COPE philosophy has become a "new way of thinking" in the Police Department.
"You focus on solving problems and improving the quality of life in neighborhoods," Snead said.
Praising Hooper and top city officials for the success of the COPE unit, council members said it has been well worth the cost.
by CNB