Takoma Park PD Holds First Community Outreach Meeting

The Takoma Park Police Department made its initial effort to introduce its “Community Outreach Program” (COP) at a meeting Thursday evening at the Community Center that attracted a small number of residents.

The police department is bringing back community outreach and “making it a focus within our department,” said Officer Carla Magnaye, who has been charged with overseeing COP and who led the meeting. Magnaye has been with the department for four years and during that period she has learned the importance of “being in touch with the community.”

However, Office Magnaya did not always believe in the need to engage the citizens, she said. When she started as a police officer she avoided “contact with the citizens” because all she “wanted to do was go out there and deal with bad guys and lock them up.” Four years later she “learned the importance of getting to know the community…of being friendly with the community.”

The mission of the COP “is to create a safer neighborhood and to reduce the risk of crime to members of the community,” Magnaye said. “We’re going to do this by promoting a positive relationship between the officers of the police department and members of the community.” 

Currently, the COP is a pilot project, meaning it is temporary and will run until the end of 2011, at which point it will be evaluated by Police Chief Ronald Ricucci and by the City Council, she said. “They’re going to decide whether it’s going to be a permanent part of the police department or not,” she added.

There are three stages of the pilot project, they are: initiation, implementation and maintenance. Initiation involves getting the program up and running, and to do that, Magnaye has been meeting with representatives of different departments of Takoma Park government and its advisors to “see what they need from this program.” For example, she meet with members of the Recreation Committee, who suggest members of the police department engage in basketball games with youth.

In addition, implementation is “whatever we’ve decide to do, we’re going to implement it,” and maintenance would occur after everything is implemented to ensure the programs are all running smoothly, Magnaye said.

Because COP is still a pilot project, “we’re feeling out what the community wants,” she said. The police department does know the community has wanted an outreach program, but it is also trying to determine what services are needed. Therefore, the department is working on finding out what specific program the community wants, because it is not going provide services that residents do not care for, she added. “We want to focus on things people do want.” Therefore, ideas, comments and feedback from the community are “highly encouraged,” Magnaye said.

Upcoming outreach events include a “youth barbeque” put on by the police department for the youth of the community sometime this summer, Magnaye said.

A free bicycle registration with the National Bike Registry in which bicycle owners register the bike, so if it is stolen the serial number on file with the registry is added to the police department’s database of stolen items. If a stolen bicycle is recovered, it is easier to return it to its rightful owner, she said.

A “skate talk” with skate boarding youth covering safety and city-wide rules for skateboarding will be held by a police officer who was a skate-boarder.

The police department also plans to hold a Citizens’ Police Academy to increase awareness of the function of the police department by educating participants on topics relative to the role of a police officer.