Between 1993 and 1997, the Riverside Police Department (RPD) was revamped from a medium-sized police agency that operated in the informal manner of a much smaller department to a structured system of area commands charged with using community policing to solve community crime problems.

Brief Stats: 250,000 residents Police department manpower: 323 officers, 151 civilians COPS grants: COPS Universal Hiring, COPS AHEAD, COPS MORE

Policing Focus

Decentralization and organizational reform. RPD community policing reforms centered on the decentralization of the patrol force into 5 policing areas for the city's 18 neighborhoods. The goal was to create new units of accountability based on geography, with each new miniature police department headed by a lieutenant. Emphasis was placed on putting together a management team committed not just to community policing but to organizational reform. This new focus led to resistance within the department as officers' responsibilities were redefined and salary and other disputes arose with the police union.

Community relations. In 1993, RPD reassigned 10 officers and 1 sergeant from the patrol force to form problem-solving policing (POP) teams in each of the 5 areas. The teams have been successful in working with community residents to curb the use of local properties for illicit activities. Other community policing assignments include RPD bicycle teams and the University Neighborhood Enforcement Team. However, despite strategies for decentralization, training, and POP assignments, problem solving has not been fully adopted by the patrol force.

Help from COPS. RPD received an initial infusion of money under a COPS Universal Hiring grant to hire 7 officers in 1993 to support its community policing efforts. Although RPD could have used more officers, the city's worsening financial status made it inadvisable to apply for more funds because grant funding phased out after 3 years. Consequently, the department pursued only one more hiring grant for a single officer under COPS AHEAD. A $421,000 COPS MORE grant provided funds for an "automation project" to create a computerized system for writing and distributing police reports. A second COPS MORE grant, in 1996, was used to fund 10 computers and to update the department's crime analysis capabilities.

For more information, click on the NATIONAL COPS EVALUATION-ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE CASE STUDY: Riverside, California, by David Thacher, which chronicles reforms in Riverside's police department (RPD) in three sections:

1. The RPD of the 1980s and early 1990s.
2. Community policing reforms and COPS grants.
3. How the department operates today.