The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
PUBLIC POLICING
NPD holds operations management meeting in community forum
NORRISTOWN » Ever wondered why there seems to be more police patrols around a certain block, what happened after officers canvased your neighborhood about a burglary or what the crime statistics are where you live, this year compared to last?
If so, then the Montgomery County Intermediate Center in Norristown was the place to be Wednesday evening as the Norristown Police Department held its public Compstat meeting.
Compstat is an operations management meeting in which members of the department’s leadership team report on the criminal activities going on their districts, what they are doing to eliminate the problems, and ultimately, what worked, what didn’t, and why.
More comprehensive than the department’s daily briefings, it’s a conversation the police have every other week. And Police Chief Mark Talbot Sr. has decided to conduct the meeting in public several times a year, giving residents a chance to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the inner workings of the department and ask questions.
At the meeting’s outset, Deputy Chief Capt. Richard Clowser told the audience of about 30 residents that the idea of what goes on at Compstat meetings
has decided to conduct the meeting in public several times a year, giving residents a chance to get a behind-thescenes glimpse at the inner workings of the department and ask questions.
At the meeting’s outset, Deputy Chief Capt. Richard Clowser told the audience of about 30 residents that the idea of what goes on at Compstat meetings might be familiar to them from television cop dramas where police department brass grills command staff in heated, often contentious fashion.
Clowser explained that NPD’s Compstat meetings are essentially the same format but without all the yelling. The meetings are no less intense but conducted in a calm and constructive manner conducive to producing results.
Talbot and Clowser also pointed out that public Compstat meetings are part of the transparency aspect of the department’s crime reduction strategy; laying out the raw data of crime statistics and investigatory outcomes in a public forum, open to scrutiny, to engage with the community in a way that encourages collaborative action and citizen leadership: What Talbot calls, “Getting everybody into the game.”
The meetings also serve as a way to hold officers accountable.
“Think about when you go out to eat or when you go shopping,” Clowser said. “You expect a certain type of service. When you don’t get that, you speak up, you ask to talk to the manager ... That’s the same thing within our police department. If we have issues with our officers we want them to be addressed so that we’re doing what our strategy says, which is to treat people fairly and with dignity and respect. That’s the only way we’re going to build trust within the community. That’s the only way we’re going to make that partnership stronger.”
After a round of introductions and a brief primer on the geographic regions of Norristown delineated by shifts and patrol coverage, the meeting began in earnest with a “report card” of Norristown crime statistics projected on a screen at the front of the room.
Commanders from each platoon presented an overall snapshot of crime under their purview and reported on major incidents and the steps officers have taken to address them.
Some of the more noteworthy instances included; a spate of burglaries — mostly of vacant properties — in the West End that began last year; an investigation into the activities of a suspected drug dealer who had allegedly set up shop in a neighborhood bar; a strong arm robbery at Lafayette and McKinley streets; an assault in the 600 block of DeKalb Street; and an armed robbery at a business on East Main Street.
Platoon leaders described each crime in detail before laying out their plans of action and reporting on the results.
In the case of the vacant building burglaries, officers looked to identify known criminals with a similar m.o. in that area and found that the burglaries dropped significantly after the arrest of a suspect who eventually admitted to some of them.
Police stepped up directed patrols and walk-throughs at the bar and worked with ownership and patrons to give the drug dealer the message to cease and desist.
There was a lengthy discussion about working with businesses to increase the presence of surveillance cameras in the area where the robbery took place.
And after some investigative work, it was determined that the man who claimed to be the victim of the DeKalb Street assault, was in fact, the aggressor in that incident, and was probably injured by someone defending themselves.
In what turned out to be the most fascinating investigation; the case of the armed robbery, officers used facial recognition technology to positively identify two of the five suspects.
Special Operations Commander, Lt. Todd Dillon explained the classifications for clearing cases; arrests, exceptional means (no prosecution); unfounded claims; and inactive (cold case) and Talbot explained the reasoning behind some of the techniques and procedures used in criminal investigations and the jargon the department uses to describe them.
Impact players are essentially the bad guys, the people with a known history of victimization who the department keeps constant tabs on.
Directed patrols are the increased police presence in the areas where a crime has occurred. In conjunction with canvassing and the filing of victims’ incident reports, directed patrols help investigations by getting police out of their cars and into the community to engage with the public and find out more about what’s happening. Even community oriented engagements like “Water Ice with a Cop” are strategically located at hotspots throughout the community.
Custom notifications are discussions department personnel has with the family and loved ones of impact players and other people who may have a propensity or motive to commit a violent crime. These conversations often center around intervention and the offering of resources so the violence can be averted. The department’s chaplains, made up of neighborhood clergy, can play an integral role in such notifications.
Contrary to intuition, all good news is not necessarily good at Compstat. A precipitous drop in property crimes has become a concern for the department precisely because it seems too good to be true.
“We had a spike last year in property crimes, so we knew we would be looking at a decrease this year,” explained Talbot. “We were not going to tolerate that same craziness we went through last year, so we knew we’d have a decrease...But the decrease we’re having right now is troubling in the sense that it feels like something else is going on (perhaps under-reporting of incidents) and we still have to pin that down.”
Whether it’s tracking down suspects using cutting edge technology, conducting custom notifications to head off violent crime, or analyzing positive trends to see if there’s anything they may have missed, the meticulous nature of the Compstat meeting and the department’s crime reduction strategy in general is to make this “the safest summer ever” in the words of Captain Clowser, who said the department is All numbers unofficial until validated. “well on our way.”
“During Chief Talbot’s tenure, since he’s been here at the end of October or the beginning of November 2013, we’ve reduced violent crime by 46 percent, that’s 383 less people that have experienced a violent crime such as a robbery or an aggravated assault. So we’re not going to stop there,” Clowser said.
“You’re not going to find a more professional and dedicated group of people,” Talbot said, praising his department at the end of the meeting. “This team continues to rise to the challenge.” Online: Check out the lottery Master’s blog HTTPS://KARLSLOTTERYBLOG.BLOGSPOT.COM