Mobile Community Policing officers will set up camp in “hot spots” of the city.
Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse, left, is seen with Police Chief James Neiswanger.HOLYOKE – An innovative program to link citizens and police for more effective crime-fighting was announced Friday by Holyoke Police Chief James M. Neiswanger and Mayor Alex B. Morse at the Holyoke Police Station.
Mobile Community Policing, as it’s called, is a police-station-on wheels, involving a truck and a couple of pop-up canopies.
“The traditional policing model is not enough,” said Neiswanger, “and that has led us to a change in strategy.”
“We’re ushering in a new aspect of community policing,” said Morse.
Mobile Community Policing officers will set up camp in “hot spots” of the city, such as the Flats, said Neiswanger. They will put up their tents and put out their literature, talk with people on the street, get feedback, knock on doors and hand out flyers.
“If someone wants to talk in private, we can go into the truck and shut the door,” said Captain David Pratt, whom Neiswanger credits for developing the program with Lieutenant Manuel Febo.
Also on the team are officers Patrick Leahy, Victor Heredia and Dorothy Bennett, who said her earlier career in family services was good training for community policing.
Neiswanger said the new program didn’t cost much more than “a little bit of signage and ingenuity,” since it uses a former SWAT truck that was almost retired. It served as a command post for such infrequent events as the Holyoke St. Patrick’s parade and the Fourth of July fireworks.
The truck includes comfortable seats, storage areas, radios and a message board. Its exterior is painted with the words “Mobile Community Policing” and “to serve and protect.”
Some years ago the Holyoke police won a grant to finance a community policing program, said the chief, but grants run out and can’t be counted on to keep a program going.
So he decided to “carve it out of my police force.” He admits that the project is labor-intensive, and that he will probably have to ask for more officers to staff it.
“I haven’t seen community policing like this before,” he said.
The Holyoke police also opened a substation in December on Maple Street in the Churchill neighborhood.