« Charter

The Public Safety Citizens Advisory Committee was established by the Takoma Park City Council, as a standing committee, in late 1996 and started operation in May, 1997. The City Council asked the PSCAC to act as the conduit between the City administration and the citizenry, and to participate in the development of public safety plans and policies. The Committee is to report their findings once a year.

PSCAC is charged to act as a conduit between Takoma Park residents, the Takoma Park Police Department, and the City Council. The PSCAC is to solicit and convey information regarding the community needs and expectations, long range vision and specific goals, problems or any specific incident that may arise.

The committee is also charged to be an active participant in a continuous process of advising the Council and the Police Department regarding the design and implementation of policies, plans and programs for Community Oriented Policing, neighborhood watch and other neighborhood crime prevention activities.

« History

One of the major concerns investigated in the beginning of the committee's existence was the inter-jurisdictional interaction of the neighboring police departments. These concerns arose following the successful, but transient campaign of "Operation Linkage" which succeeded in eliminating one local gang that terrorized Takoma, DC and Takoma Park, MD. The arrest of these gang members by a combined effort of many police agencies improved safety by reducing street crime significantly.

The committee met with representatives from the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police, Fourth District, with the METRO Transit Police and the City of Takoma Park Police Department. The committee did determine that there was indeed very little interaction between major police departments, in spite of great willingness to have better interaction. The committee found that philosophy and approach to crime fighting were vastly different in the adjoining police departments. It was also determined that the procedures to allow inter-jurisdictional communication are cumbersome and ineffective for fast police action. The committee was surprised that the technology to support effective interagency cooperation is not available. Limitations on the police work, such as this, create opportunities for criminals.

« Goals

The goal of the PSCAC is to increase public safety in the City of Takoma Park and the abutting neighborhoods. It is clear that such efforts in public safety have to be accomplished in a partnership between law enforcement and the community. A successful approach to this type of partnership is called Community Oriented Policing. The City Council has directed the PSCAC to participate in designing and implementing policies, plans and programs for Community Oriented Policing.

The PSCAC is also interested in the outcome of safety measures. Only through the tracking of these measures can the Committee continue to foster actions that work and eliminate those which do not meet the goals.

The PSCAC conducts focus groups on public safety and the police. The safety committee develops action plans, based on the data from this citywide review. These action plans will draw on citizen groups, residents, agencies, the police and other City Departments to solve recognized problems which pose a threat to public safety.