Residents of Crescent Hall and Fifeville want more police officers patrolling their neighborhood during the day and night, especially in Tonsler Park. For several years, concerns over community policing, in which officers are assigned to specific neighborhoods, have been persistent at both sites. But last Wednesday night, during an open meeting with City Council members at the Crescent Hall public housing project, residents put their calls for improved law enforcement ahead of numerous maintenance issues, from broken elevators to overflowing toilets.
/aerials-1oct09-0329.jpg) Residents of Crescent Hall (pictured), the second largest public housing site in the city, told Council members last week that they wanted improved community policing around their home as well as Tonsler Park, which saw more than 100 drug violations within a half-mile radius in the last year. |
While Tonsler Park is finally undergoing improvements, some residents said they don’t feel comfortable sending their children to play in an area they claim is known for drug problems. (An eighth grade student from Buford Middle School confirmed the sentiment.) The park, part of the Fifeville neighborhood, is only a half-mile walk from Crescent Hall, but that half-mile is enough for some parents to keep their children indoors. The city’s CrimeView website lists 106 drug violations within a half-mile radius of the park in the last year. Narrowed to within 1,000′ of the park, the search produced 26 drug violations.
Officer Harvey Finkel told residents that the best way to protect a community investment is to alert police to suspicious activity. Residents replied that police officers are in the vicinity at odd times, and it would perhaps be beneficial to have a few stationed on-site permanently.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think the city has the resources from any department to put someone down there all day, every day to watch the park,” said Finkel.
According to Finkel, the Charlottesville Police Department has six community police officers dispatched in three different city neighborhoods: two on Prospect Avenue (south of Tonsler), two for Hardy Drive in the Westhaven public housing project, and two for Fifeville.
Lieutenant Ronnie Roberts tells C-VILLE that the two officers who are assigned to Fifeville have been there for the past two years. They work in the park during the day and regular police officers take over at night, until 1am or 2am. Putting a full-time officer at the park day and night would not be “cost-effective,” and the struggling economy has strained the department’s resources.
“We are providing police services to the area, not only from the community policing unit, but we are also utilizing staff from field operations…to also police the area,” says Roberts. “It’s what we call a collaborative effort.”
Roberts says the patrolling has yielded some results. “We have seen a dramatic drop in calls for service there at the park,” he says. “We staffed it with police officers during the evenings and the officers have been doing walking patrols.”
Crescent Hall resident Mary Carey, who wasn’t satisfied with Finkel’s responses, told Council members that, years ago, community policing felt inclusive and played a very important role in the neighborhood. Today, however, it has taken on new meaning.
“Community policing is like it says: community policing,” said Carey. “It’s not spot-checking police officers in neighborhoods. It’s bringing the neighborhood and the police together to police the neighborhood.”
Mayor Dave Norris said that in the past the Charlottesville Police Department had more officers who grew up in town and knew the community intimately. “I’d like to see us figure out a better way of trying to recruit and develop more talent from within the community, because that’s going to help with community policing,” he responded.
For Crescent Hall resident Overy Johnson, creating a safe neighborhood goes beyond strict police work. In fact, Johnson, who grew up in New York City, says the community could police itself if its infrastructure, like parks, were regularly improved.
“It’s not about intimidating these young kids out there,” he tells C-VILLE. “Give the kids something they need.”