Santa Monica police redesign beat method
Under the 'Andy Griffith' approach, officers are assigned to specific areas to foster better community relations.
The Santa Monica Police Department on Sunday launched a revamped method of patrolling the beach-side city, a community-oriented approach that assigns officers to a particular beat for a longer period of time and reshapes decades-old beat boundaries.
Under the plan, the 8.5-square-mile city of about 88,000 has been divided into eight areas with nine or 10 officers assigned to each, said Lt. Clinton Muir, the program's manager. Officers were calling it the "Andy Griffith" approach, in reference to the popular 1960s TV show depicting small-town policing in Mayberry, N.C., where "everyone knew everyone," as Muir put it.
"In the past, an officer might be working one beat on Monday and a different one on Tuesday, and that makes it hard to really get to know a community," Muir said. So, in December 2006, "When Police Chief Timothy Jackman came in, he looked at our patrol model and thought it needed some work."
Muir said the former model dated back 50 years and wasn't the most efficient. At one point, the department had divided the Santa Monica coast into three beats. Under the new model, the beach will be one beat.
The newly drawn areas will be patrolled 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and each will have assigned to it a neighborhood resource officer, a veteran whom Muir described as the "sheriff" of the beat. Resource officers will be assigned to a beat for a minimum of two years, and the officers who serve under them will be assigned for at least six months.
"We want the sheriff of each beat to be the go-to face of our department, serving as a liaison between residents and businesses," said Muir, adding that people should still call 911 for emergencies, not their resource officer, who will work mostly on longer-term problems such as blight.
"Our department is also going to rely on these officers on the ground, because we'll be able to go to them and ask them about what they're seeing out there in each beat community," Muir said.
Oscar de la Torre, a lifelong resident of the Pico neighborhood and president of the Santa Monica-Malibu school district's board of education, said the plan offered a chance for more stability in police relations.
"The approach seems smart because it reduces turnover and allows for better relationship-building and accountability," De la Torre said.
"We look forward to seeing more officers ask, 'How are you doing?' instead of 'What are you doing?' "
