This report explains the Tempe Police Department's (Arizona) transition to community policing by addressing issues of primary concern to policing professionals.
The issues considered were barriers faced and how they were overcome, the movement from implementation by a special team to department-wide geographic deployment, the differences community policing has made for citizens, and how community policing has changed the officer's work day. An overview of community policing evolution in Tempe outlines three phases: the early planning phase, which began in the late 1980's; the start-up phase, which encompassed the Beat 16 experiment conducted in the early 1990's; and department-wide implementation, which was launched after the Beat 16 project ended and continues to the present, with substantial refinements. The current study of these efforts involved over 25 site visits from 1991 through 1997. These visits involved interviews and focus groups with management personnel, patrol supervisors, officers, and community members. The latter involved telephone surveys with 1,000 citizens each year from 1993 through 1996. In addressing the key issues, the research focused on the Beat 16 project, organizational change, policing methods, workload and resources, human resources, citizen involvement, strategic issues and planning, and leadership and interagency cooperation. For each of these topics, the lessons learned are outlined. 20 exhibits and 57 references