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TO: Mayor Thomas J. Weisner
FROM: Daniel Barreiro, Chief Community Services Officer
DATE: June 4, 2015
SUBJECT:
Approval of a resolution authorizing the creation of a pilot Neighborhood Support Program.
PURPOSE:
To provide additional resources for the establishment of a Neighborhood Group Support Program.
BACKGROUND:
Earlier this year, the Mayor's Office challenged all City Departments to propose strategies that could be responsive to this year's uptick in shootings. While overall crime continues to drop, one of the major issues when it comes to rapidly responding to neighborhood shootings has been the lack of active neighborhood groups in the most impacted areas of the City.
The Aurora Police Department's "Community Forums" (discussed below) which were organized in conjunction with the Mayor's Office, were part of the APD's proposed response, but they represent just the beginning of a broader, ongoing initiative. In the same way, this memo outlines only the beginning of how the Community Services Department can support the creation of more Neighborhood Groups that can become valuable points of contact within the APD's Community Oriented Policing strategy.
The Aurora Police Department has had tremendous success collaborating with citizen/neighborhood groups where they have historically existed. More recently, the APD has recognized that neighborhood involvement (specifically Neighborhood Watch Groups) were drawing dismal attendance and residents were gathering in social media forums to report crimes rather than calling 9-1-1. In addition, misinformation was being "posted" online and rumors and conjecture were causing citizens to be unnecessarily alarmed.
Simultaneously, the Police Department was coming up with internal strategies to combat the increase in gang-related shootings and even with the operational plans, it became apparent that the community needed to be included in the strategy.
Thus, the "Community Forums" we...
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