A recent story on the TV news magazine, 60 Minutes, aired on January 27, 2008, discussed in detail with various industry experts the effects of the current residential real estate collapse and some well thought out theories as to why this may be happening. The most common occurrence of course is folks simply cannot afford the higher payments that came with adjustable mortgages which, in some cases, increased their payments as much as 25% to 50% greater than the original monthly payment. While the obvious financial issues remain, another aspect of the current downturn wasn't as obvious. During the 60 Minutes segment, one couple openly admitted that while they could afford the increased payments, it made no sense to continue to pay the mortgage and they planned to simply walk away from the home and let it go into foreclosure. Their reasoning was the value of their house dropped so much that they would most likely never see their home rise to the same level they purchased it at so why bother making payments on a house that would always be "upside down".
The 60 Minutes reporter asked them straight out, "But you signed a contract, understood the contract and agreed to make the payments. Doesn't it bother you that you're breaking a promise you made?"
The couple responded back very honestly, "No."
So what does this have to do with policing and fighting crime? Everything and nothing, depending on how you look at it. Going back to the 60 Minutes story, one analyst brought up an interesting point reflecting back in history. It wasn't too long ago when the companies that made loans for consumers were your traditional local banks, savings and loans, etc. where the branch manager actually knew the names and faces of their customers. Further, when that local bank made the loan, the loan actually stayed with and was serviced by the same branch. If a customer was late on their monthly payment, they would see the face of the very person who made them their loan every time they went into the branch to conduct banking business. It's kind of like borrowing $20.00 from a co-worker for lunch because you forgot your wallet, every day you see this person and are reminded, either directly or indirectly that you owe them $20.00. In some cases they may not let you forget either.
In today's world economy, the majority of home loans are made by large national companies who, after making the loan, immediately bundle that loan, along with thousands of others and sell them off to large investment firms who in turn sell those loans to other institutions in the form of bonds or investments known as CMOs or Collateralized Mortgage Obligations. After selling off these loans, another company, completely unknown to the home buyer, then "services" the loan by collecting the monthly payments, adjusting the rates, paying the insurance and taxes out of the loan escrow account, etc. In the end, the home loan company that made you your original loan has nothing to do with your account anymore and with that, the local and personal connection is gone, as is their concern for you.
Once again you ask, so what does this have to do with policing?
Referring back to an article I published in 2006, as Sir Robert Peel, the father of modern day policing said, "the people are the police and the police are the people". These words stem from his belief that police are members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent upon every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.
Sir Robert Peel believed that by assigning his bobbies, aka police officers, to specific geographic zones he could make them responsible to prevent and suppress crime within the boundaries of their zones. He based this strategy on his belief that the officers would become known to the public, and citizens with information about criminal activity would be more likely to tell a familiar figure than a stranger. In addition, by becoming familiar with the people and places within their beats, the officers would be better able to recognize suspicious persons or criminal activity.
Going back to the local bank example where loans were made person to person, versus by someone you don't know and will probably never see again, perhaps we can begin to see the correlation between the two. When a person is late on their loan and walks into the branch who is still funding that loan and stands to lose money if it's not repaid, it wouldn't be out of the question for the branch manger to walk over to the person in default and have a conversation with them to try and understand what the problem may be and how can they help. Interesting to note that in "the good old days" when loans were made, kept and serviced locally, our nation had never experienced a sky rocketing number of foreclosures like we see today.
History is an amazing thing as we see how it repeats itself and by studying it, much can be learned.
Applying the same concept of local banking to policing, or better said, community policing, one can see how having dedicated officers in the field and in touch with the citizens can yield the same result. When an officer sees a member of the community that they've come to know in distress or just not the same person they usually know them as, it can provide the officer an opportunity to open a dialogue built on trust and mutual respect. Perhaps in doing so, they might find there is an issue they can help with; or refer them to another agency; or if necessary, take action to intervene if the matter is within their area of intervention.
Implementing Community Policing programs, especially in high crime areas where officers are running from call to call, may not only be hard to implement but in some cases almost impossible because of budget and staffing demands. For agencies in those situations, I'd like to respectfully suggest reaching out to the community by engaging them as police and sheriff's volunteers. Once "hired" and trained, they may assist with non-enforcement duties that can help to bridge the gap between your agency and the community. For agencies that are not under the gun, so to say, and have not implemented a volunteer program, now would be an excellent time to do so before crime starts to rise and you find yourself having to scramble to catch up.
Embracing the words of our noble profession's founding father, Sir Robert Peel, "the people are the police and the police are the people," a number of preventive programs can be implemented with relative ease to help free your officers from routine non-enforcement duties, thus freeing them to focus on the community. For anyone looking for ideas on ways to utilize qualified and trained volunteers within their agency, please feel free to visit my online presentation on law enforcement volunteer uses by clicking on the "Volunteer Use presentation" link below this article.