Between 1991 and 1997, the Savannah Police Department (SPD) implemented community and problem-oriented policing through its decentralization of policing services and the devolution of command accountability in the city.

Brief Stats: 143,131 residents Police department manpower: 507 COPS Grants: COPS Ahead Grant, COPS Domestic Violence Grant, COPS Advancing Community Policing Grant.

Policing Focus

Policing reforms continued under decentralized department. The 1991 release of the city's Comprehensive Community Crime Control Strategy set the groundwork for SPD's transition to community policing. The department was restructured to operate on a geographic rather than a functional basis while employing a problem-oriented policing (POP) strategy that gave officers more authority to address criminal activity. An earlier program of ministations in public housing developments was expanded and four new precincts were created to group together various service areas to better manage crime problems. A captain was placed in command of each precinct and expected to accept responsibility and accountability for police activities in the area.

Community relations and training. SPD developed a Crime Prevention Unit to work with residents and businesses throughout the city to prevent victimization. Community outreach was institutionalized with the establishment of the Citizens Police Academy, which provides a 12-week classroom course in COP for citizen volunteers taught by SPD officers. For police officers, inhouse training in COP and POP is conducted for all staff, both sworn and civilian. A set of eight training modules has been developed with the goal of offering constant COP and POP retraining.

Help from COPS. SPD received two COPS Ahead Grants to support a Weed and Seed Program initiated in a high-crime and economically disadvantaged precinct. The first grant enabled SPD to hire a 3-person administrative staff to run the program, while the second grant funded 10 officers to work in the precinct. A 1-year COPS Domestic Violence Grant funded 2 investigators and sub-grant money for the hiring of 3 civilians to work out of a local shelter for battered women and children. In 1997, SPD received a COPS Advancing Community Policing Grant to enhance leadership and management skills for community oriented policing and stimulate innovative ideas through training and site visits to other police departments.

For more information, click on the NATIONAL COPS EVALUATION-ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE CASE STUDY: Savannah, Georgia, by Catherine Coles, which describes:

1. The SPD in the 1980s and the political climate that accelerated the community policing initiative.
2. Policing reforms and the pivotal roles that the City Manager and Police Chief played in the transition.
3. How the Savannah Police Department operates today.