Between 1988 and 1997, the St. Paul Police Department (SPPD), which had a long and continuous involvement in neighborhood-oriented team policing, adopted an even more decentralized community policing approach to crime.

Brief Stats: 272,235 residents Police department manpower: 572 COPS grants: COPS Universal Hiring, COPS MORE, COPS AHEAD, COPS Network II, COPS Problem Solving Partnership

Policing Focus

Police operations within communities. SPPD redeployed its 4 teams into 3 district stations, 4 substations, and 12 storefront offices throughout the city, to provide a better balance of personnel and resources and give greater problem-solving authority to its line officers. Moving more operations into the community instead of generating them from the teams brought patrol and special unit functions closer together. The FORCE (Focusing Our Resources on Community Empowerment) Unit, a core component of community policing, was created to respond to public and safety priorities set by residents themselves and to reach out to neighborhoods experiencing drug-related problems.

Community relations and training. SPPD has a history of neighborhood-oriented policing and its community policing efforts have been used to further strengthen its bonds with residents. Its flagship community policing effort was a community outreach program, ACOP, which helped Southeast Asian immigrants combat crime in a public housing project. To imprint the community policing approach, SPPD recruits are required, as part of their field officer training, to participate in ACOP projects by attending neighborhood meetings and working with residents.

Help from COPS. SPPD has received substantial COPS support for its community policing efforts. An initial $750,000 COPS Universal Hiring grant, enabling the department to hire 10 additional officers, was followed by a $1.05 million COPS AHEAD Grant for 14 more officers. The department received a supplemental $200,000 COPS Network II award to enhance its computer networking capabilities and a pair of COPS MORE grants totaling nearly $1.34 million for technological infrastructure development. An $89,250 COPS Problem Solving Partnership grant allowed SPPD to form a collaborative to combat increasing victimization of Southeast Asian business owners. In addition to these grants, SPPD received $995,000 in COPS funding through the city to establish a COPS Regional Training Institute and later $1 million for a COPS Demonstration Center.

For more information, click on the NATIONAL COPS EVALUATION-ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE CASE STUDY: St. Paul, Minnesota, by Catherine Coles, which describes St. Paul's community policing history in three stages:

1. SPPD in the 1970s.
2. Policing reforms and COPS grant funding.
3. How SPPD operates today.