Crime Prevention Specialists Get New Duties

In a move that has angered some of the crime-prevention specialists in the city's Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI), Commissioner Randy Leonard has reorganized and added new duties to the team of 10 crime-prevention specialists who work out of the various neighborhood coalitions around the city, such as Southeast Uplift. The crime-prevention specialists are seen by many as an important resource for the community--they help residents organize and become part of the Neighborhood Watch program where neighbors watch out for each other, they train residents how to do grassroots patrols to help prevent and report crime, they distribute crime-watch bulletins to residents and neighborhoods, and they act as liaisons between citizens and the police.

As part of a broader plan to divert many city services to the several neighborhood coalition offices to create a system of "mini-city halls," Leonard has shaken up the crime-prevention specialist program by essentially laying off all of the crime-prevention specialists and making them reapply for new positions as "Crime Prevention Program Administrators." Leonard intends to add new enforcement duties by having them patrol problem liquor businesses to enforce a proposed liquor establishment/nuisance ordinance which is scheduled to be presented to City Council on January 21. A point of contention between the city employees and Leonard's office was whether the specialists' position could be reclassified without having them reapply for their job.

At this time, it is unclear what the new duties are for the new Crime Prevention Program Administrators. According to one of the departing crime-prevention specialists, ONI has not yet specified the new duties, nor has it assigned the new personnel to the various neighborhood coalitions around the city. It appears that their new duties will include an enforcement aspect (as opposed to prevention), at minimum in connection with the proposed liquor establishment ordinance.

Contact the Office of Neighborhood Involvement at 503-823-4134.