Between 1993 and 1997, the Fremont Police Department (FPD), which had been emphasizing technology and tactics to protect public safety, redirected its efforts into community-oriented police problem solving.

Brief Stats: 200,000 residents Police department manpower: 204 COPS grants: COPS Universal Hiring, COPS Domestic Violence

Policing Focus

Planning for city growth and new challenges. Located in Silicon Valley and only 40 years old, Fremont, unlike larger and older urban areas, had a low crime rate and a wealthy community. However, a budget crisis and a feasibility analysis of FPD's ability to handle significant increases in crime precipitated strategic planning for the department. FPD's leadership was committed to implementing a vision that based officers' problem solving on indepth analysis of the cause of crimes to prevent their reoccurrence and included collaboration with the community and its institutions. FPD's plan delineated how each element of the department needed to change. New initiatives were tried on an experimental basis to allow for officer and community feedback.

Working with an elusive community. Fremont is a sprawling city of more than 90 square miles with a relatively wealthy, low-crime environment that fails to spark much self-initiated neighborhood organizing around public safety issues. Committed to setting priorities based on the values of the community, FPD initiated a Reporting Area program for the city's 94 block areas. One officer for each of the 4- to 5-block areas helps the city maintain contact with its citizens. FPD has opened a citizen's police academy to educate residents about how the department operates and has increased the number of volunteers working for the department from 8 to 100.

Help from COPS. Fremont's high cost of living and the resulting high salaries of officers makes hiring grants unappealing since the department must assume their costs after the grant's 3-year phase-out. Nevertheless, FPD received two COPS Universal Hiring grants to hire seven officers. Five of the new hires were school resource officers whose salaries are funded 50/50 by FPD and the school district. In addition, Fremont joined three neighboring cities and the nonprofit Shelter Against Violent Environments (SAVE) to apply successfully for a $250,000 COPS domestic violence grant. The grant provided funding for 4 SAVE advocates, roll-call training sessions by SAVE advocates, dissemination of domestic violence information, and the formation of an interagency task force on domestic violence.

For more information, click on the NATIONAL COPS EVALUATION-ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE CASE STUDY: Fremont, California, by David Thacher, which describes—

1. Fremont's unusual situation and the FPD's decision to revise its philosophical approach to policing.
2. FPD's development and implementation of its community policing plan.
3. How FPD operates today.