South Bend residents are invited to share their ideas for how they want to see the South Bend Police Department (SBPD) build and strengthen relationships with the community.
Community policing is an approach that emphasizes building positive relationships and partnerships between police and the community to jointly address crime and public safety issues. Your feedback helps SBPD better understand the needs and concerns of South Bend residents, and tailor activities and initiatives to those needs. Share your ideas through the options listed below.
Get Involved
How will feedback be used?
- Identify opportunities for SBPD to collaborate with residents & organizations on local issues
- Determine the types of activities or outreach efforts that are most impactful in building positive relationships between SBPD and the community
- Evaluate the effectiveness of existing relationship-building programs and initiatives
Attend Public Meetings
Stay tuned for public meetings on this topic!
FAQS
What is community policing?
What is community policing?
Community policing is an approach that emphasizes building positive relationships and partnerships between police and the community to jointly address crime and public safety issues.
This approach seeks to move beyond traditional law enforcement strategies of solely responding to and investigating crimes. Community policing involves a proactive, collaborative effort that encourages community members to work alongside law enforcement to identify and address underlying issues that contribute to crime and safety concerns.
Essential elements include: Partnerships, Problem-Solving, Shared Responsibility, Mutual Respect, Interaction with Youth, and Communication between the police and the community.
What does community policing look like in action?
What does community policing look like in action?
A few examples of community policing activities include (but aren’t limited to):
- Hosting community events, such as cookouts, to foster positive relationships between law enforcement and residents.
- Assigning officers to regularly attend neighborhood meetings to work with specific communities to build trust, understand local needs, and collaborate on solutions to local issues.
- Forming partnerships with community organizations to develop joint strategies to address crime.
Did South Bend get ideas from other cities for their community policing engagement efforts?
Did South Bend get ideas from other cities for their community policing engagement efforts?
Yes. South Bend looked at a similar effort that the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) conducted in 2017. SFPD’s plan served as a resource for best practices and a starting point for designing an engagement program.