Mayor Walling talks about the new police foot patrol

The city announced a $1,150,000 grant from the C.S. Mott Foundation to initiate the 21st Century Community Policing effort in March.

However, the March 10 start date on the grant has long passed and these officers have not yet been trained and established as a presence in the wards.

"Patrol officers have been assigned to community policing but it's been a challenge for them to schedule time for foot patrol due to the high volume of 911 calls," Mayor Dayne Walling said. Scheduling changes in the department have further delayed the progress of the community policing effort, as officers' shifts have changed from eight hours to 12 hours, and now back to eight.

"Folks haven't had a chance to develop relationships with the officers," Walling said.

He said officers will be assigned this month and the community policing effort will be fully implemented.

Plans for implementing the grant include assigning two officers to each of the city's nine wards — an officer for first shift and an officer for second shift. The 18 officers will be pulled from the city's existing force. There are no plans to hire back any of the 46 officers laid off in March.

"But the grant reduced the number of lay-offs necessary at the end of March," Walling said.

Each officer will be based at a mini station in each ward. There are six mini-stations open. Stations for Ward 2, Ward 3 and Ward 5 will be opened this month. Blue Badge training sessions will be held in July and August to train those willing to join the volunteer corps that will assist in the mini-stations and running neighborhood crime watches.

"The officers will proactively identify issues with youth, emerging gangs and drug-related crime. Over time, the relationship officers build with residents makes it more likely people will share information and crimes will be solved," Walling said.

He said the officers will also work with blight elimination.

The community policing effort involves technological assistance from MSU's School of Criminal Justice Department. New software, Citystat, will enable officers to track and map data, thus spotting trends and providing detailed information for allocating resources.

Community policing is not a new concept for Flint. In the 1970s and 1980s a foot patrol ran as a separate division. An officer was assigned a beat to walk each day.

Flint's new community policing program, Mayor Walling said, is a "21st century update to the traditional model. It's more flexible, uses technology and is more about community problem solving."

The idea to return to the community policing model, Walling said, came from "many conversations with residents about what they believed they needed. That need was confirmed through the Neighborhood Action sessions." Discussion with the C. S. Mott Foundation began in August 2009.

Some skepticism still surrounds the community policing effort.

Councilman Dale Weighill (Ward 7) said he had the impression "the police department still is not entirely sure how this is going to work."

Weighill said Police Chief Alvern Lock recently addressed the Flint City Council. Lock said in addition to the foot patrol, community policing officers will be responsible for 911 calls. If that's the case, Weighill said, given the backlog of 911 calls, he does not understand how a door-to-door engagement with people could be possible.

"Our priority needs to be responding to 911 calls. This is diverting our resources from emergency response," Weighill said.

Walling confirmed that foot patrol officers will have to respond to 911 calls and said he recognizes the concern emergencies will overwhelm community policing.

"The volume of 911 calls will occasionally overwhelm the foot patrol, based on the priority of 911 calls. The important thing is officers start to get dedicated time to reduce crime and build relationships," he said.

Walling added that residents will be encouraged to call their mini-station with non-emergency concerns where no suspect can be identified, thus reducing the call volume to 911.

Weighill said the council has requested the officers introduce themselves to council. This has yet to happen. Communication between the police department and council has been poor, he said.

Residents can expect to find information about their assigned officers and mini-stations in the coming month. Residents are encouraged to check with their block clubs and neighborhood associations for information — and to keep checking the city web site.