By Guest commentary on behalf of the santa monica police officers’ association
We would like to respond to your front page article on Nov. 12, titled, “Police department put under scope; Chief Butts taken to task for perceived disconnect from residents.” The lack of balance of the article and the inaccurate televised statements made by two current council members is disappointing.
The Santa Monica Police Officers’ Association (SMPOA) represents 202 sworn Santa Monica police officers. We also work closely with our colleagues, 268 non-sworn police department employees. The SMPOA supports Chief James T. Butts, and know him to be an involved and concerned public servant, who has implemented, as well as personally pioneered innovative and effective community safety programs.
We value community feedback as an integral tool by which we measure our department’s performance. By the same token, employers (City Council members) owe their hardworking employees (police department personnel) the consideration of making the effort to check their information for accuracy before publicly and erroneously criticizing them. In this case, two council members made sweeping assumptions that the Santa Monica Police Department suffers a disconnect from the public we serve.
From our perspective, the contents of the article and the opinions expressed by those in attendance gave no balance to the manner which reflects the efforts, dedication and commitment of the men and women of the police department to all of our citizens, nor did it — or the comments of the two councilmen — represent the positive community and police relationship painstakingly built over many years. The article was void of any mention of the many programs and resources the city and the police department provides our Pico neighborhood and Sunset Park residents, as well as the entire community. We hope that in the future, these councilmen will provide members of our community with the ability to voice their concerns, followed by an honest assessment that allows for input from the involved city department, department head, employees and community members before making public and televised conclusions. Hardworking employees deserve the respect to be heard before their employers publicly criticize them.
In the article, councilmember Kevin McKeown stated, “The Public Safety Building’s right across the alley. We’re not hearing from the chief, and I’d like to hear from the chief on this.” He went on to say, “I think it’s time to say, ‘OK, what is community policing? How is it really working?’” Councilman Ken Genser claimed to have no knowledge of the Neighborhood Centered Policing program until reading about it in the paper. These statements are difficult to understand given the fact that each council member receives a copy of our Neighborhood Centered Policing quarterly reports. In addition, Chief Butts outlined the program at last year’s police budget hearing.
At the core of our Community Policing strategy is our Neighborhood Centered Policing program. Neighborhood Centered Policing allows community members to speak directly with police lieutenants specifically assigned to areas of the city. Three police lieutenants with the latitude to deploy police resources represent the Pico neighborhood and Sunset Park areas. Additional lieutenants are assigned to other parts of the city. These lieutenants, along with the employees assigned to them, meet frequently with the residents and stakeholders of the Pico neighborhood and Sunset Park. The chief and his command staff respond daily to e-mails addressed directly to them off of the police department’s Web site. We encourage everyone to visit our Web site at www.santamonicapd.org. The site includes many references and resources including our Neighborhood Centered Policing quarterly reports. In addition, a police department annual report chronicling crime, safety and noteworthy technology advances is published by April, following the close of the calendar year. Each councilperson is provided with an annual report.
We also feel that it’s important that the council familiarize themselves with the many police department programs, and the men and women that make them successful, particularly before engaging in public critique. Unfortunately, it is a rare occasion that a council member visits the police department to familiarize them with our work environment and take a moment to meet the men and women who are so proud to work here. We are, after all, right across the alley.
Each member of the police department takes ownership for the department’s successes and failures. We are very proud of our department and the services we provide to our community, and we continue to work very hard to earn the very high 80 percent approval rating from our community, always striving to improve. All of us at the department feel a very “connected” relationship with our community. We are proud to be a part of a 62 percent drop in violent crime in the both the Pico neighborhood and the city as a whole during the last 10 years. Another 10 percent drop has been achieved so far this year.
We are in complete agreement with Chief Butts’ 13-year efforts to develop the Neighborhood Centered Policing community policing model that places the input and pro-active engagement of community-defined neighborhoods at its core. While there is much work to be done on the topic of gang violence in our city, Santa Monica’s progress in reducing crime and gang violence are manifest and notable. Under Chief Butts’ leadership, and the hard work of 470 employees, by the end of this year, there is a strong likelihood that crime will be at its lowest level since 1957 and will have fallen 10 of the last 11 years. Such accomplishments are not the result of a police department “disconnected” from the people it serves.
We do far more than keep the peace, prevent crime and arrest criminals. The million dollars-plus investment by the city and police department in the Police Activities League (PAL) Center at Olympic Boulevard and 14th Street benefits hundreds of at-risk youth from the Pico neighborhood and other areas of the community. We maintain a Police Cadet program and Explorer Post that exposes young teenagers to discipline, structure and police operations. Many of our Explorers and Cadets have been Pico neighborhood residents. Many go on to careers in law enforcement and public service. The PAL Halloween Carnival held annually at Barker Hangar provides a safe and uplifting Halloween experience for children across Santa Monica. The department’s Citizen Academy offers an opportunity for anyone residing in Santa Monica to learn the inner workings of their police agency. The department has conducted nine Spanish-speaking citizens’ academies and 30 in total. We would like to extend an invitation to all citizens including Councilmen Genser and McKeown to attend our 12-week Citizens’ Academy. It would be an honor to add them to an alumni list of more than 500 graduates.
The Pico neighborhood is a thriving and culturally rich community that deserves more respect than stereotyping the community by the isolated acts of violence of a few sociopathic individuals. In closing, while we strenuously disagree with Councilmen Genser and McKeown that there is a disconnect between the community and the police department, we look forward to working with the council and the community we proudly serve, as together we address all public safety issues in our ongoing efforts to provide the best law enforcement services and the highest degree of safety for our residents, guests and visitors. (Santa Monica Police officers Greg Smiley, Jay Trisler, Shane Talbot, Bob Almada and Doug Theus prepared this on behalf of the Santa Monica Police Officers’ Association).
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 13, 2004. Read the original PDF.