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The Lewes Police Department is making an effort to have city residents and police officers get better acquainted – but not over a speeding ticket.
Police say they want citizens to know that every call placed to them is significant, and they check out and followup on resident concerns.
“The community and police work together to reduce crime. Any complaint is worth looking into,” Chief Ronald “Beau” Gooch told a group of 25 city residents.
Gooch and four officers, part of the city’s Community Policing Unit, held an informal meeting on Friday, March 14, at the Lewes Public Library’s second-floor conference room.
Gooch said the meeting was the first of what he hoped could turn into a series of meeting where officers and city residents would develop a rapport that would benefit all involved.
“We’re not asking you to solve any crimes,” he said. Gooch and Community Policing Unit officers Pfc. Chatham Marsch, Det. John Miller, Pfc. Sherrie Harmon and Pfc. K-9 Brent Layfield, summarized a resident survey conducted by the department on the city’s website.
Gooch said the Community Policing Unit started in May 1997, as an attempt to control criminal activity in the downtown district and in other areas of the city.
Two officers were originally assigned to work with residents to reduce crime and improve the quality of life in targeted communities. Officers patrolled on foot, on bicycles, and in vehicles and made themselves accessible to citizens.
Gooch said he wants to renew resident interest in community policing and is looking for ways to achieve that.
“We tried monthly meetings with citizens but it didn’t work,” because public interest waned, he said. Gooch said quarterly meetings with specific topics and common goals police and residents could work toward might be a better approach.
Marsch, a former Bethany Beach police officer, described a system adopted in the resort town that, at the push of a button, would place phone calls to any number of residents notifying them of police activity in or near their community.
Marsch said Bethany Beach received a grant for the $50,000 to $60,000 system and to cover the costs of training personnel to use it.
“Could a system like that be used to notify people as in the DeVries Circle case?” asked resident Sharon Dardine.
Dardine was talking about an intruder’s violent attack on a woman in her DeVries Circle home last fall. DeVries Circle residents said police didn’t spread word about the attack and many in the neighborhood didn’t know about it for too long. Gooch said a telephone system such as that used by Bethany Beach could help improve police-resident communications. Gooch said grant money for such systems has dried up but, he said, there are other means of effective communication.
Marsch said Lewes residents should consider setting up a Neighborhood Watch program, which he could help them coordinate.
He said Neighborhood Watch programs have been used since Colonial times.
Organization members watch for, and report to police, suspicious activity. Marsch said Neighborhood Watch participants also develop phone trees, which designate members to call one another and authorities whenever the need arises.
“I highly suggest you get to know your neighbors,” Marsch recommended. He said many crimes could be prevented by doing common-sense things – locking home doors and windows, removing keys from vehicle ignitions and locking car doors.
“Use your senses. The Neighborhood Watch Program can be good and is useful,” he said.
Gooch said Lewes of the 1970s and earlier years, when residents didn’t give a second thought about personal or property security, is a bygone era. “People transit into Lewes to commit crime,” Gooch said. He said the department’s 13 officers are, for the most part, sufficient staff to take care of the city’s needs.
“But if you talk to any police chief, they’d like to have one officer on every corner,” he said. Gooch said he maintains an open line of communication and welcomes public comment and suggestions.
Lewes Mayor Jim Ford attended the meeting and said the city’s police department regularly reaches out to residents in a number of ways.
“They’re out there and they’re available and we can try to enhance that,” Ford said.
Gooch can be reached at 302-645-6154, or by email at ronald.gooch@cj.state.de.us.
Contact Henry Evans at hevans@capegazette.com
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