of the job shifts from meeting the needs of the people who need help to pleasing peers and superiors.

In the name of

progress and professionalism, we set in motion forces that contributed to creating maddening and expensive

bureaucracies, shrouded in red tape and staffed with wellpaid, highly educated professionals who cannot help but lose touch with the lives that their clients lead and the problems that they face.

With the Community Officer as the vanguard back into the community, providing baseline protection, perhaps its is time to explore ways to return these other social servants to the community. The goal is to reinvent these positions in ways that make the most productive use of their time.

In New York City, the success of a five-year experiment where police officers and social workers worked together on domestic assaults has prompted interest in pairing other professionals with Community Officers in storefront offices. In Fort Pierce, Florida, the city gave the police department a six-bedroom house for use by a Community Officer, who first intends to offer space to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Norfolk, Virginia, is exploring opening a Neighborhood Network Center where other social service providers will join Community Officers in community problem-solving.

In Lansing, Michigan, the police have been meeting for two years with various state, county, and city agencies on plans for a Neighborhood Network Center, where Community Officer Don Christy will be joined by other social service

providers.

been easy.

differs

Overcoming the bureaucratic obstacles has not

As one official involved says, "Even the lexicon

the definition of an at-risk youth means something different to a police officer than it does to a mental health

professional."

The idea is that this storefront office could offer a new kind of one-stop shopping, particularly in dealing with multi-problem families. For example, if Officer Christy suspects a youngster is involved in drug dealing, a visit to the child's home may indicate that the solution requires a broader intervention. It is easy to envision possible roles for the social worker, the attendance officer from school, volunteer tutors, family therapists, and job counselors. The community-based team of problem-solvers could also involve the church or other non-profit agencies that work with youth, as other community volunteers.

as well

The opportunities to tailor-make a response to the specific requirements of the individuals and families involved allows the team to humanize government's response to meet people's real needs. One or more team members can visit people in their homes or at school. Clients can come to the Neighborhood Network Center for individualized attention or

However, while Neighborhood Network Centers may be the next phase of Community Policing, the challenge today is to ensure that Community Policing becomes the standard by which all departments are judged. Community Policing is not a panacea. Community Officers alone cannot undo the past history that fills that first window of the slot machine, nor can they eliminate the current stresses that so many communities face. But it does offer fresh answers to longstanding problems, and its effectiveness in combatting illicit drugs has earned Community Policing strong bipartisan support.

Also of concern is that Community Policing can cause internal tensions within police departments. If it is adopted as a separate program rather than as part of a department-wide shift to community problem-solving, Community Officers risked being viewed as the "good cops" on foot, as opposed to the "bad cops" in cars.

Traditionalists see

Community Policing as "social work," not police work,

branding Community Officers as "lollicops" or the "grin-andwave squad." And rookies keen on becoming Dirty Harry may need a few years to become frustrated as they learn that the worst troublemakers just wait for the patrol car's taillights to disappear around the corner before going back to business as usual.

It requires a sophisticated leap to understand that adopting Community Policing is not a simple either/or as the officer who gives you a speeding ticket serves

just

necessary function that would also pale in comparison to catching a killer. Community Policing balances reactive efforts with proactive attempts to produce short- and longterm positive change. To appreciate Community Policing demands more than a superficial grasp of the dynamics that perpetuate crime, drugs, and violence in our communities. People must be educated to see the link between the Community Officer working with troubled kids and how this may help keep drugs out of the schools that their children attend. And it also means accepting that until we are all safe, no one is truly safe.

Robert Trojanowicz is director of the National Center for Community Policing housed at Michigan State University's School of Criminal Justice. Trojanowicz is also a research fellow in Criminal Justice Policy and Management at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Mr. HOAGLAND [presiding]. Well, thank you for your testimony, Mr.-would you pronounce your name for me?

Dr. TROJANOWICZ. Tro-jan-o-wiz.

Mr. HOAGLAND. Tro-jan-o-wiz.

Dr. TROJANOWICZ. Common spelling.

Mr. HOAGLAND. We have just gotten notice that there is a vote on the floor, presumably a Journal vote. So why don't we adjourn the hearing for about 15 minutes, and we will reconvene as soon as Chairman Schumer or I return from the Journal vote.

So we will adjourn the hearing until approximately 12:20.

[Recess.]

Mr. SCHUMER [presiding]. The hearing will resume.

From what I understand, Dr. Trojanowicz has completed his excellent testimony and we are ready to hear Mr. Eck.

Mr. Eck, you may proceed. Your entire statement will be read into the record and you may summarize as you wish.

STATEMENT OF JOHN ECK, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, POLICE EXECUTIVE RESEARCH FORUM

Mr. Eck. Thank you for inviting me to appear before the subcommittee hearing on community-based policing. As the associate director for the Police Executive Research Forum, I have conducted a number of studies into the effectiveness of both traditional and innovative policing strategies. Effective crime control is of vital importance to PERF's police chief members, as they serve over 30 percent of the American public and most of the citizens of large cities.

This morning, you have heard a lot about new approaches to policing. New approaches are clearly called for. In many cities across the country, crime has spiraled out of control. The year 1990 was the deadliest year in a decade. The year 1991 promises to be even worse. Yet, research by PERF and others, often with the funding of the National Institute of Justice, has clearly demonstrated that current policing strategies do not control or prevent crime.

What is needed is a preventive strategy, one that allows the cop on the beat to stop crimes from happening instead of simply addressing the aftermath of crime. This new strategy of policing goes by a number of names: Cop on the beat, community policing, neighborhood policing. But I will use the term "problem-oriented policing" because this name focuses police attention on the underlying problems that cause crime.

How does problem-oriented policing prevent crime? I can answer this with two examples.

In San Diego, a sergeant and her squad of patrol officers looked into the causes of trolley patron robberies at one trolley stop. They found that the physical layout of the trolley stop provided cover for gang members and prevented riders from protecting themselves. After a thorough analysis of the problem, the officers convinced the trolley board to renovate and redesign the station where the robberies had occurred. By lowering station walls and increasing visibility of the area from the parking lot and the station platform, patrons were made more secure.