Sheriff’s department leading future of policing

There was standing room only when Congresswoman Anna Eshoo of the 19th Congressional District spoke at the end of January about the 21st Century Policing Policy. She congratulated the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department for being the first in California to adopt, in its entirety, the policing policy developed by the White House’s leading law enforcement experts.
The policy rests on six conceptual pillars: building trust and legitimacy; use of technology and social media; community policing and crime reduction; education and training; officer wellness and safety. The set of policies that will be built upon these pillars are to focus on building trust between the citizenry and police agencies in Santa Cruz County.The aim is to increase engagement between community leaders and police officials with an outcome of establishing crime reduction policies that reflect community values. When community residents work with the law enforcement agencies to identify problems and solutions, the goal is for meaningful results to occur in the community.
Eshoo praised the SCC Supervisors for their role in attracting and retaining the individuals who risk their lives every day as law enforcement professionals. She said that SCC was “breaking big thinking” by implementing the White House’s policy. She has confidence that our Sheriff’s Department will increase the trust from the community in our law enforcement agencies. The investment required to develop trust between the community and the police agencies needs to be reestablished nationwide.
“When I was a little girl,” she said, “my parent taped the phone number of the Sheriff’s Department in my shoe.” They told her to call that number if she ever needed help. By doing so, “they taught me to trust.” She believes that implementing 21st Century Policing could improve trust between the citizenry and policing agencies nationwide.
Sheriff Jim Hart has established a task force made up of 20 deputies and 20 members of the community to establish a list of recommendations of how to implement the 21st Century Policing Pillars.
For more information, see www.21stCenturyPolicing.us.