THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 1, 1996 TAG: 9602010304
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
You can grab the monster's tail, wrestle it to the ground and try to slay it.
Or you can crush it before it leaves its shell.
That's the theory of Manteo police officers who believe that by working with community leaders and citizens, they may be able to starve the breeding grounds of crime before a big problem hatches in this small town.
``Nobody has a better interest in their neighborhood than the people who live there,'' said Tommy Edwards, an instructor with the state Justice Academy in Salemburg. ``The community and the police must work together.''
A coordinator for the academy's ``community policing'' program, Edwards spoke Wednesday at a meeting about the philosophies and strategies the Manteo Police Department plans to implement this year.
Community policing encourages police and residents to work closely together to prevent and solve problems associated with crime, neighborhood decay and social disorder, according to the academy.
Based on a proactive, rather than reactive, approach to law enforcement, Edwards said the new concepts eventually will change the way all police are trained in North Carolina. Traditionally, he said, American crime fighting has been reactionary - gunslingers, posses, lynch mobs and paramilitary citizen squads.
But with prisons bulging beyond capacity, with fear of crime a growing concern in every pocket of the country, police need to get back in touch with the communities they are paid to protect, Edwards said.
To do so, he said, the public must get involved with their own protection.
Manteo resident Joe Willis, one of the two private citizens at Wednesday's meeting at the town hall, said his neighborhood is safe because its residents are eyes and ears for law enforcers.
``There are some things that any amount of policing is not going to solve,'' Willis said. ``We can get on top of it. But it's going to take more than a police officer sitting in his car.''
While supporting the ideals of the proposed police changes, former Manteo Mayor Luther Daniels pointed to frequent citizen complaints about unavailability of the police and haphazard enforcement of local ordinances.
``Obviously, they can't be there all the time,'' Daniels said. ``But they can certainly circulate around instead of sitting on their butts not doing anything.''
Gail Hutchison, a sexual assault counselor and youth liason for Outer Banks Hotline, said effective change must incorporate mutual cooperation.
``It's a policeman's job to enforce the law. But he needs the community to at least call the police,'' Hutchison said. ``The community has to be more involved with the issues at hand.''
As part of a management study, a five-page survey seeking public input on the police department was recently mailed out with water bills to all Manteo residents. Results are expected within the next month or two, Edwards said.
Town Police Chief James Ray Flowers said Manteo's six full-time police officers will be attending four days of training sessions conducted by the Justice Academy sometime in April. Flowers also said several other area police departments have expressed an interest in the community policing program.
Although Flowers said he has not asked yet, he expects the Sheriff's Department will cover for Manteo while all of the town's officers are in class.
The management study will help the department set long-term goals, compare its management style with others' in the state, determine if staffing is adequate for the needs of the community and teach the officers how to interact with citizens and to encourage their input, said academy supervisor Chet Jernigan.
The program will cost Manteo about $2,800, Jernigan said.
KEYWORDS: COMMUNITY POLICING by CNB