The mission of MPD is to maintain public safety through patrolling, investigations, and through enforcement of the Criminal Code of the District of Columbia– including existing codes against hate crimes, homicides, assaults, harassment and threats.

That is the LAW in DC. That is so NOT “fluff.”

The overwhelming majority of the LGBTQ residents in DC understand that. And they expect a robust, effective GLLU to help MPD accomplish its mission.

Specialized police units are common in PDs all over the world. And what MPD’s SLD units do is not advocacy (but for overall public safety, of course). Rather, SLD units interact with ALL communities in DC to help residents and police, both, understand cultural, language and other differences that can be barriers to effective community policing.

A GOOD EXCERPT ON COMMUNITY POLICING…

When an agency claims to have “implemented” community policing last week, that’s a pretty good indication that it has not. Individual programs or projects that form part of this change may be implemented, but community policing is not implemented. You don’t start it at the beginning of the fiscal year. It is a process that evolves, develops, takes root and grows, until it is an integral part of the formal and informal value system of both the police and the community as a whole. It is a gradual change from a style of policing which emphasizes crime control and “crook catching,” to a style of policing which emphasizes citizen interaction and participation in problem solving.

You can’t tell whether community policing exists in a city on the basis of the press release, the organizational chart, or the annual report. Rather, it can best be discerned by observing the daily work of officers. It exists when officers spend a significant amount of their available time out of their patrol cars; when officers are common sight in businesses, schools, PTA meetings, recreation centers; when most want to work the street by choice; when individual officers are often involved in community affairs-cultural events, school events, meetings of service clubs, etc., often as an expected part of their job duties. It exists when most citizens know a few officers by name; when officers know scores of citizens in their area of assignment, and have an intimate knowledge of their area. You can see it plainly when most officers are relaxed and warmly human-not robotic; when any discussion of a significant community issue involves the police; and when few organizations would not think of tackling a significant issue of community concern without involving the police. The community-based police department is open-it has a well-used process for addressing citizen grievances, relates well with the news media, and cultivates positive relationships with elected officials.

–Tom Casady, Lincoln NE PS Director