The Vernon Police Department is committed to using the Community Oriented
Policing (COP) approach within the business environment. It is important
to recognize that even within the business community, law enforcement
must meet the same needs and demands and provide many of the same services
as those provided in more residential areas. However, they must also
be trained to respond to the special needs and concerns of the businesses.
The COP approach allows us to do just that by focusing on the specific
needs of the community. Each officer receives specialized training in
Community Policing concepts and is assigned to a COP Team that is given
responsibility for a particular part of the City. These teams work with
the various businesses to address local concerns or those that may be
specific to a particular company.
Companies are surveyed to identify issues of importance and plans are
developed to respond to those issues. Officers have the resources of
the entire Department available to them in order to solve problems that
have been identified and are encouraged to be creative on finding long-term
solutions. Bicycle teams, redeployment of personnel, plain-clothes deployment
and directed patrol efforts are just some of the methods that are used
to address problems. When appropriate, COP Team members will also serve
as the contact point for other City departments or governmental agencies
to bring attention to a problem. As a result of this approach, Team
officers have met with members of the community to address issues such
as graffiti, weed abatement, traffic concerns, bad check identification,
parking problems, and transients.
Officers involved in the COP approach have also been able to help develop
positive relationships with local businesses. As an example, one local
food manufacturing company met with their Team officer. The officer
followed up with a local homeless shelter and as a result, a problem
with having excess product was solved by arranging for the shelter to
receive these goods at no cost. This idea of partnering with individual
companies for the betterment of the community is one example of what
the COP approach is all about. If you would like to contact a member
of your area COP Team, please contact (323) 587-5171 and speak with
the Watch Commander.
