Community Oriented Policing
Kings County
is a rural, primarily agricultural mid-state county with a
population of approximately 141,000 and encompassing 1,396
square miles. Kings County's primary cities include: Avenal
(pop. 8,742), Corcoran (pop. 9,811), Lemoore (pop. 21,500)
and the County seat, Hanford (pop. 48,000). Naval Air Station
Lemoore (pop. 8,192) is also located with Kings County as
well as Corcoran and Avenal State prisons. Small non-incorporated
communities include Armona, Stratford and Kettleman City.
Nearly 27 miles of California's sole interstate highway (I-5)
runs through the southwestern portion of the County.
Headquartered
in Hanford and under the direction of the Sheriff, the
functions of the Kings County Sheriff's Office (KCSO) include
investigations, emergency dispatch, animal control, coroner/public
administration responsibilities and service of civil processes.
Also and most importantly, the KCSO utilizes deputy sheriffs to
provide law enforcement services in non-incorporated areas of
the County and where commissioned by cities.
The cities of Lemoore,
Hanford and Corcoran maintain municipal police departments; the
KCSO provides contracted law enforcement services to the city
of Avenal.
The KCSO also coordinates and participates in a multi-agency
Narcotics Task Force (NTF) as well as a multi-agency Gang Task
Force (GTF). In order to better serve outlying rural areas of
the County, the KCSO operates substations in the communities of
Avenal, Kettleman City and Corcoran.
Backup assistance is also
available to the Lemoore Naval Air Station Security Detachment
and the California Highway Patrol from the KCSO.
In addition to the
functions described above, the KCSO is responsible for the operation
of the County's detention facilities (with the exception of juvenile facilities)
which include a maximum security jail and an alternative sentencing program.
Since 1985, these detention facilities have been staffed
with professional detention officers.
The challenges faced
by the Department were the same as those faced by all 58 Sheriffs
in California as well as by law enforcement administrators nationwide.
Essentially, that challenge was to determine the best possible method
of efficiently policing a population in an era of increasingly limited
resources.
The Sheriff has
continued in the path established by the former sheriff of community
involvement in the policing of the county. That course of action requires
the complete support of all members of the department.
The Sheriff
knows the concept of Community Oriented Policing was not just something
printed on a letterhead. It is a concept that he wanted his department
to adopt as a policing philosophy. Community Policing is not just a
temporary "program"
but a way of doing day to day business.
The Plan of Action
First, according
to Sheriff Jordan, involvement is the key word. A resolution
was adopted by the Board of Supervisors proclaiming their support
of the new policing strategy. This was a prime opportunity to
get much needed positive news media exposure.
Next, each
county Department Head was personally contacted by one of the
two Assistant Sheriff's. The advantages of working in partnership
with each other was the key message.
The department
was well aware that what it believed were the key issues facing
local law enforcement and what the public believed were the key
issues must be the same.
Plans were made to survey the community
and learn exactly what the public expected. Using Deputy Sheriff's,
Reserve Deputies, and Sheriff's Explorers, door to door surveys
were conducted.
The information gathered in face to face conversations
was invaluable in formulating the department's strategy. Following
are just some of the programs initiated by the Kings County Sheriff's
Department in the past two years;
The Department
has found that if the deputies are allowed to be creative, and
given broad discretion, there are no limits to what they will
accomplish.
For instance, the Home Garden area is a predominately
lower income, ethnically diverse area of the county. In response
to complaints about gang members loitering around a tree in a
vacant lot and causing problems. (spray painting, yelling, staring
at the local residents)
The deputies, working with the property
owner, the Kings County Public Works Department, and some jail
inmates, cut the tree down and hauled away the wood.
The gang
members found they no longer had a shady area to stand under.
The lot was plowed up, thus eliminating any possible cover of
brush for them. The gang members have moved on.
The neighborhood
residents are no longer afraid to go out into their yards after
dark.
This same
area of the county was plagued by old, abandoned automobiles littering
the streets.
The Sheriff's Department, working with the Planning
Department located appropriate code sections and had the vehicles
towed.
For years
a certain house in this area was the scene of numerous crimes.
Drug use and sales were rampant as well as routine calls of "shots
fired."
To make matters even worse, it was in visual proximity
to a local elementary school. Many children were forced to pass
the house each day.
Working with the Planning Department, the
deputies were able to get an ordinance passed that resulted in
the Fire Department using this house as a "training burn."
Just the elimination of this one house has changed the entire
outlook of the neighborhood.
It isn't only
the sworn personnel who have made our program successful. Our
Dispatchers have been involved in making community presentations
on "Are You O.K.?" and 9-1-1. They have set up a booth
set up the last two years at the County Fair.
The detentions
personnel are also getting involved. Work crews of inmates have
been used to clean up community athletic fields and pick up debris
along local waterways.
The Sheriff's
Department has attempted to bring as many governmental and/or
community organizations into the program as possible.
For instance,
the local "Kings County Farm Bureau" has donated money
to help purchase "Farm Watch" signs. They also publish
a monthly newsletter that has a section devoted to a specific
deputy sheriff and gives a short biography.
They list all missing
farm related property and discuss any agriculture related crimes
that have occurred.
