THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 16, 1996 TAG: 9608140093
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY IDA KAY JORDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 73 lines
Neighborhood police officers are literally a phone call away these days.
Thanks to a $40,000 gift from a communications company, each of the city's community police officers has added a cellular phone to the equipment on his belt.
Police Chief Dennis Mook said he approached Kim Brown, a representative of 360 Communications, about providing cell phones for the Neighborhood Enhancement and Action Team (NEAT) program.
``I explained the neighborhood program to her and asked her to get the company to do it as a public service to citizens,'' Mook said. ``She sold it to her corporate headquarters.''
A provision of the gift was that the city pay $35 a month or $420 a year for each of the 23 phones.
That's when the Portsmouth Division of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce stepped up and decided to seek contributions from its members. So far, 12 of the phones have been funded by companies, organizations and individuals.
Because of the major gift from 360 Communications and the support of the Chamber members, the telephones don't ``cost the city a dime,'' Mook said.
``The phones make us more readily accessible,'' Prentis Park NEAT Officer James Lewis said. ``When you start looking for a pay phone to answer a citizen page and it's broken or you can't find one, it takes too long to get back. It's one of the best things that's happened in this program.''
``The phones provide instant communication for the citizens,'' Midtown Officer Matthew Crutcher said. ``It's been taking to long to get back to people who page us.''
The cell phones used by Lewis and Crutcher are two of 10 already on the street. Another 13 will be put into use over the next eight weeks by 360 Communications.
Mary Ann Welch at 360 Communications said the company is donating $37,536 in air time, which amounts to 550 minutes of air time per phone. In addition, the company provided the phones, batteries and chargers and will do the maintenance on the equipment.
Among those Chamber members already committed are B.F.W. Inc.; Bon Secours Maryview Health Corp.; Lieberman and Martin, P.C.; W.G. McGann Corp.; Norfolk Naval Shipyard Portsmouth Association; Pines Residential Treatment Center; Technical Products Corp.; Travel Designers Inc.; Tricare Service Center; WAVY TV-10; and one anonymous individual donor.
The phones not only enable the officers to respond quickly to citizen calls, but they also allow the officers to address interagency problems immediately when they see them.
Thus, an officer who observes a situation that must be addressed by another city agency does not have to wait until he's back in the office to deal with the problem.
Part of the protocol of the NEAT program is working with others, including not only city agencies but also landlords, schools and the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority.
Mook said the NEAT program has ``exceeded my greatest expectations.''
``Portsmouth is very neighborhood oriented, and we've touched a nerve with this idea,'' he said. ``We're targeting quality of life, and it works.''
The response is prompting others to want to get on the bandwagon.
``More and more other city departments want to work with us,'' he said. ``It's a quality of life program that can involve social services, parole and probation, environmental inspections and many others.''
In fact, representatives from a wide variety of city departments are members of a Neighborhood Quality Group chaired by Planning Director Jim Gildea.
``The NEAT program is so good, we hope to build on it,'' Gildea said. ``It's a preliminary to neighborhood-based services.''
For example, representatives of the planning department and inspectors could be out in neighborhoods with NEAT police officers, he said.
Putting people from various departments in contact with citizens would encourage them to become involved, Gildea said.
He added that by forming groups around the NEAT officers, the city could clean up more than crime in the neighborhoods.
``We all have to work together,'' Chief Mook said. by CNB