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R_O ]3L]I I O F LENTED P O LICENG. <br />Sergeant B. J. Stepan <br />During 2009, the Centennial Lakes Police Department has continued <br />utilizing Problem Oriented Policing (POP) as an approach to improving <br />citizens' quality of life. <br />For many years CLPD has been serving its communities using philosophies <br />and approaches consistent with Community Oriented Policing (COP). The <br />ideas behind COP were to, once again, make the individual officer a part of <br />-the community. _ Rather -than pimply responding to calls, _off cers are <br />encouraged to broaden their scope of duties through activities as simple as <br />chatting with a community member over a cup of coffee to organizing <br />community projects and meetings. POP can be described as a part of a COP <br />philosophy, which provides a more structured approach to individual <br />problems within the community. <br />POP projects focus on anything which may be considered a "community <br />problem," not just a police or law enforcement problem. POP projects can <br />be as simple as addressing a single residence which may have had multiple <br />police calls in a short amount of time, to something as broad as addressing <br />snowmobile safety concerns across the jurisdiction. All officers within the <br />department are expected to have an ongoing POP project at all times. Once <br />an officer completes a POP project, they research statistics and/or solicit <br />community input to create and initiate a new project to address a new <br />problem within the communities. POP projects are information - driven. <br />Many projects are a result of calls to the department for assistance. POP <br />projects often develop out of a simple conversation with an officer, pointing <br />out a citizen's concern. <br />I encourage citizens to contact the department with any concerns they may <br />have regarding quality of life issues within their neighborhoods. Feel free to <br />flag down an officer on patrol, call the department, or even just share your <br />concerns over a cup of coffee. In order for POP to be effective, we need the <br />assistance of the community so we know what the primary concerns of the <br />residents truly are. Look for community meeting notices and please come <br />and tell us what you are most concerned about. <br />44 <br />63 <br />