The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
SMALL TOWN FEEL
Chief sees police as one with community
Avon Police Chief Richard Bosley said he came to the city because he liked working for a small-town police force.
“Avon, at the time, was about 11,000 population; less than half of what it is now,” said Bosley, 45, of Pittsfield Township. “I’d worked in Grafton a total of four years and I liked the form of policing where everyone knew each other. The police knew the people in the town, the town knew the policemen.”
It is this form of policing that Bosley has tried to bring to the Avon community.
“I’m a firm believer that law enforcement is local, from the standpoint of we’re here to serve the people’s wishes,” he said. “We have to operate within the Constitution, the confines of law, but our jobs as police officers are to be involved in the community; to be one with the community.”
Bosley said as Avon grows, he sees that teamwork between the police and the community as an integral part of keeping residents safe.
“If we have five guys out, that’s 10 eyes looking for things,” he said. “If we’re one with the community and we can talk to the community about crime, or things that are going on, we can turn those five sets of eyes into 1,500 sets of eyes, so we can all work together.”
According to Bosley, his philosophy of policing is built on the concept of keeping crime out of the community rather than weeding it out once it is there.
“Compare it to cancer,” he said. “It’s better to do the preventative things so you don’t get cancer, hopefully, than to have to go to the oncologist and try to find a way out.”
While police officers swear an oath to the Constitution that they will uphold all state and federal laws, Bosley believes the specific job of a police officer depends on the community they serve.
“Everything’s local,” he said. “The other things we do, the community service, the quality of life, the crime prevention, those things are dictated by the communities we serve, and every community is a little different.”
According to Bosley, the close connection between his department and the community helps his officers to properly serve the residents in the way that is needed most.
While Bosley speaks of small towns and community, the city of 11,000 where he started as a police officer 18 years ago is now one of the fastest growing in the county. He admits this growth is becoming a bit of a problem for the city.
“As our town grows, some people are coming in and they have different expectations,” he said. “We’re always trying to explore new services, and new ways of doing things.”
Bosley said his department holds ‘Coffee With a Cop’ sessions to ensure they keep an open line of communication with those they serve.
“The responses from ‘Coffee With a Cop’ have been good,” he said. “The very first person who came in (for the program) didn’t live come in and express his displeasure in Avon, but he wanted to with law enforcement in general, but we had a good conversation.”
According to Bosley, the man raised legitimate points, but also kept an open mind to what the chief had to say.
“Even though it wasn’t our community, I was glad to hear those kinds of concerns from people because we could do things, at times, that people can view as unfavorable,” Bosley said.
While this particular man wasn’t an Avon resident, when members of the community have similar grievances Bosley still wants to hear them out.
“The first thing we can do is listen,” he said. ”It could be anything from a complaint against an officer, a complaint against the way we do something, a complaint against the way we’re spending money I think the first thing to do as a city and police department is listen to the complaint and have a conversation about it.”