San Antonio is a tremendously diverse community and being that it is full of so many different cultures you can bet that it has a few trouble makers here and there. Despite that assumption though, it has its good ones too. It’s the good ones that make up our society, and make the city what it is today. The San Antonio Police Department is the agency that keeps our city under control, but it’s not just them alone they do get their help from the citizens of San Antonio. The SAPD offers many different programs that give the people of San Antonio the opportunity to help out the police, Programs such as: the SAFFE program (San Antonio Fear Free Environment), C.O.P. (Cellular On Patrol), and other Volunteers In Policing programs.
The SAFFE program is probably the most prominent of all the other programs offered by the police. Scott Hermes says, “First established in 1994-95 with 60 officers and supervisors, the SAFFE Unit now consists of over 80 officers who focus on identifying, evaluating and resolving community crime problems with the cooperation and participation of community residents.” SAFFE officers are assigned to specific areas or neighborhoods within the city, and work closely with both residents and the district patrol officers also assigned to those areas. SAFFE officers establish and maintain day-to-day interaction with residents and businesses within their assigned areas in order to try to prevent crimes before they happen. SAFFE officers also act as liaisons with other city agencies, work closely with schools and youth programs, coordinate graffiti-removal activities, and serve as resources to residents who wish to take back their neighborhoods from crime and decay. All SAFFE officers are assigned a specific district, which means that there won’t be problems with an officer getting backed up with to much work because the officer will only have one district to attend to. As well as only having to worry about one district they are not tied to the radio and dispatch they have the freedom of staying until the problem is resolved and taken care of, which is a big help for the citizens. They don’t only work with residence they also work with business leaders to help bring down the crime level in commercial areas within the community. They are also responsible for arranging presentations at schools, churches, neighborhood associations meetings, etc. Officer Scott Hermes explains they do stuff like, “personal safety, target hardening tips & tricks, puppets, McGruff, puppets, bike rodeos, workplace violence, drugs, alcohol, stranger danger, gangs, I.D. theft, scams, hate crimes, school violence, auto theft, domestic violence, homeland security, senior citizen programs, etc.” The SAFFE officers also perform what is called a Home and Business Security Survey, a survey that they run to check and see just how safe your home is against certain crimes. After the survey they tell you what you can do to help prevent crime done to your house or business property. As well as giving you pointers on how to make your residence or business safer they will also take up to 10% off your home owners insurance which will surely help a lot of people here in San Antonio. They have direct contact with city council, and other city agencies that will help them to get done what ever it is that they need done and will do in an orderly manner as quickly as possible. The SAFFE program is an excellent program that is sure to do wonders for our community and hopefully help to lower the crime rate in our beloved city.
The SAPD web-site says the COP program was established in 1992 by Southwestern Bell, which made it possible for people to dial free of charge the 911 and 207 – SAPD numbers to attempt to get more people involved with reporting accidents and crimes. On October of 1993
the San Antonio Police Department joined with Southwestern Bell to create a more integrated system. They offered free training at the substations to all of the citizens that were willing to give up a little of their time. “The first Cellular On Patrol class graduated from the East Substation on October 30th, 1993 and it was expanded to all substations shortly thereafter. As of January 2004 there are over 8,200 COP graduates representing more than 410 neighborhoods” (San Antonio Police Department 1). The whole purpose of the program says SAFFE Officer Scott Hermes, “…is to prepare citizens to be the eyes and ears of the department and to promote closer cooperation between residence and the city’s agencies that exist to serve them.” The training program is an 8 hour instruction period and the opportunity to ride along with one of San Antonio’s Finest. The COP class instructs on: recognizing suspicious activity, taking descriptions, How to become an effective observer, crime prevention, working with city agencies – such as Code Compliance, setting up COP patrols, testifying in court, terrorism, and COP rules an agreements. After graduating the new COP members return to their neighborhoods and get together with the other COP members and form patrol groups. They will also help out at their nearest substations, and assist officers with “Operation SAFFE Kids” where they do fingerprinting and other activities like McGruff presentations. As COP members they will also do MAP patrol programs where they patrol “Hot” spots such as city blocks, streets and other residential areas. They are also actively involved in recruiting more COP members in their area and do things like, block walks, call outs, and also organize fund raising events for their neighborhood programs. The ride along experience is by far one of the best experiences the members will go on. It allows them to get a one on one look at just how hard our Police Department works. It also allows them to “…familiarize themselves with SAPD patrol procedures and to establish points of contact with both the substations and the officers who patrol their neighborhoods” (San Antonio Police Department 1). Some people get COP and being on the police force mixed up. Members should never get involved in any way with police work such as chasing down criminals or even carrying a gun, leave that to the professionals. So far the COP program has been a very influential part of the drop in crime rates all around the city statistics have shown in some places an immediate drop.
These are not the only programs that you as a citizen can join there are others that are a part of the VIP program or Volunteers In Policing. Their mission is “To enhance and support the delivery of police services to the community through a variety of volunteer services which will contribute to the public safety, for the safety, of the citizens of San Antonio” (San Antonio Police Department 1). The VIP program was created in 1997 in response to requests made from the San Antonio Police Department asking for volunteers to help them in their services to the San Antonio community. There are many different programs within VIP such as: Warrant Drive Enforcer, Surveillance Team, Public Safety Team, Homeland Security Team, Unit Volunteers – which assist in everyday stuff at the 6 different substations, Fingerprint Technician, Special Projects like the National Night Out, Blue Santa, and Police Explorers (Youth Oriented), as well as Role play for the police cadets going through their training at the academy. There is the CPA program as well which is there to allow the people in the community to get a good deal of information about the San Antonio Police Department.
There are so many other community based programs brought to the citizens of San Antonio all you have to do to help is ask. The Police need a lot of help these days because the crime rate is always on the move. With out the communities help the San Antonio Police Department would probably be over whelmed. So do anything possible to help San Antonio’s Finest.
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