"The police are the public and the public are the police." This was the premise used when Sir Robert Peel established the London Metropolitan Police force in the 1800s and represents the

origin of the philosophy

of modern law enforcement. The statement reminds us that society (the public) holds the primary responsibility for crime prevention and control. Society has, however, elected to provide some of its members with the full-time responsibility to act on their behalf in addressing crime-related problems. Today, those members who have accepted this challenge look upon law enforcement as a professional career.

The members of the Racine Police Department do not take this challenge and the responsibility attached to it lightly. We understand that to be effective, we must establish and maintain good working relationships with other community members and organizations. We are looking, always, for ways to involve members of the community in our strategy to provide better service and safer neighborhoods. After all, neighborhood residents are in the best position to define neighborhood problems and develop sound solutions.

In building upon the foundation of Sir Robert Peel, the Racine Police Department has devoted extensive resources to the Community Oriented Policing philosophy. The COP philosophy is predicated upon building relationships with neighborhood residents, other agencies and area businesses in order to address crime and neighborhood blight. COP provides us with an opportunity to consider alternative approaches and applications of police resources to address neighborhood problems. This philosophy relies upon the creativity and resourcefulness of our officers, as well as those who reside or work in our community and elect to partner with us.

The Racine Police Department currently has COP houses in five neighborhoods and an office for the Crime Prevention Officer in Regency Mall. Each of these houses is staffed by one COP officer who is responsible for working with neighborhood residents to address crime trends and other neighborhood problems. The officers vary their work hours in order to address specific problems and to be available to meet with neighborhood residents.

Many community partners utilize the COP houses to enhance community service. The Department of Corrections has assigned Probation and Parole Agents to work at most of the COP houses. Furthermore, professional Gang Diversion mentors meet with at-risk youth in some of the houses where they also have office space. Community Volunteers also use two of the houses to provide homework assistance after school.

Several organizations hold regular meetings at the COP houses. Neighborhood Watch is one of these organizations. Neighborhood Watch is a great resource within our community, and it shares the Racine Police Department's mission of building safe neighborhoods and a healthy community. Neighborhood Watch fulfills this mission by developing avenues of communication between neighborhood residents and connecting them with the appropriate resources within our department and other city departments such as the UNIT (Unified Neighborhood Inspection Teams). The Racine Police Department has enjoyed a very successful and longstanding partnership with Neighborhood Watch.

One of the resources within the Racine Police Department frequently referred by Neighborhood Watch is our Crime Prevention Officer who works closely with Crimestoppers of Racine County. In addition to providing security surveys, the crime prevention officer makes presentations throughout the area and alerts groups, including parents, students and businesses, of crime trends and avenues to avoid becoming crime victims. Currently, the crime prevention officer spends a great deal of time communicating with parents about school safety and how to protect their children from the dangers of the internet.

Crimestoppers provides residents of Racine County with alternative methods of remaining anonymous, while supplying information to the police regarding a crime. Without the tips received from the Crimestoppers tipline Web site or the new "Tipsoft" texting system, we would miss crucial pieces of information that help us solve many crimes, each year, thus, increasing safety and quality of life in our neighborhoods.

This discussion concerning the Racine Police Department's COP philosophy and reliance on relationships is quite brief; but, hopefully, it demonstrates the need for additional community members to contact the Police Department or Neighborhood Watch to begin working with us to improve our community. We firmly believe that partnerships with the members of our community will aid us in improving each neighborhood, as a whole, over time. We look forward to working with you to make Racine an even better place to live.

Kurt Wahlen is chief of the Racine Police Department.

Building a safer Racine

Feeling safe in your home and on the streets is of high importance to the well-being of our community.

Public safety and crime containment effect us in many ways - from the quality of our education, to the value of our homes and the ability to attract industries and businesses and jobs.

Like it or not, Racine has had a reputation of having a lot of crime. And, in fact, we struggled through when there was a heavy gang presence in the late '80s and early '90s - as The Journal Times series last year on gangs showed.

But Racine has made progress. The crime rate has been steadily dropping in the city for the past couple of decades. Violent crime, in particular, is down 45.6 percent from its worst year in 1986 - a rate of 6.2 incidents per thousand residents compared to 11.4 back then.

Our law enforcement agencies have used a variety of approaches to bring crime down - from COP houses in troubled neighborhoods and cameras to Neighborhood Watch and programs to fix up neighborhoods and enforce building standards. Still, the summer months in particular can be worrisome. As part of this newspaper's Forward Racine initiative to improve our communities, Racine Police Chief Kurt Wahlen, Racine County Sheriff Bob Carlson and Mount Pleasant Police Chief Tim Zarzecki will comment over the next several weeks on some of the efforts they have under way to make our communities safer and to give a look at some existing programs that have been effective.