The Philadelphia Police Department has developed a new patrol strategy which officially debuted in the 7th District on November 9, 2009.
THE OLD SYSTEM
For over half a century, the City's 23 patrol districts were divided into small grids called sectors. The 7th Police District - the second largest district in the City - encompassing 13.5 square miles, contained 11 patrol sectors, a smaller number than most Districts throughout the City due to its relatively low crime rate. In theory each sector would be covered by a Radio Patrol Car (RPC) consisting of one officer.
Within each police district, patrol cars would be assigned jobs based on availability, with jobs being assigned by priority level. For example, a person with a gun has a higher priority than illegal parking. The highest priority job would be assigned to the closest available unit, regardless of the patrol units proximity to the job location. For example, a patrol car covering the area of Byberry Road (upper end) may be asssigned to an illegal parking job in the area of Rhawn Street (lower end). Because the 7th District is so large, our 11 sector cars, on average, tallied over 100,000 miles each per year.
THE NEED FOR CHANGE
The fact is that the Philadelphia Police Department is shrinking. In fact, it currently stands about a third smaller than it once did, this despite a dramatic increase in calls for service. The Department simply no longer has the manpower or resources to assign a patrol car to each of the hundreds of patrol sectors in the city. A change was needed.
THE NEW SYSTEM
Under the Police Service Area patrol strategy, the District is now divided into three zones, as opposed to 11 sectors. Several patrol cars are assigned to each zone and, for the most part, remain in that zone. While patrol cars will still leave their zone on a high priority job, most routine calls for service are now answered only by a patrol car assigned to the zone where the incident is taking place. A unit covering the upper end of the District will no longer respond to a call for illegal parking in the lower end of the District. Rather, the job will be held in a pending status until a car in the particular zone becomes available for service. On the surface, this may seem like a police response would be delayed, but preliminary studies throughout the City have found that, overall, response times are actually decreased because patrol units are no longer running from one end of the District to the other.
There are additional benefits to the PSA system. Police officers now spend the bulk of their time working in the same area, day after day. Police officers assigned to a particular zone always work the same zone, day in and day out, week in and week out. This allows for patrol officers to develop better relationships with the residents and business people in the community. If a chronic problem exists within the police District, the same officers will respond each time to this problem. This gives the officers more of a stake in making sure the problem is solved.
Not only do patrol officers now have a stake in developing relationships and controlling crime within their respective zones, but supervisors do as well. Each of the three Line Squad lieutenants is now responsible for one of the District's three zones. The lieutenant assigned to each zone must become intimately familiar with everything happening within that zone. The lieutenant must know the problems (crime and quality of life issues) in the zone and work with the the patrol officers assigned to that zone in developing solutions to combat these problems. The zone lieutenant will also interact with community groups in their assigned zone. This is a responsibility that had traditionally fallen upon each District's Community Relations Officer (CRO). The CRO can now spend more time on other issues. It has not been uncommon in some Districts for the CRO to attend more than a dozen different community meetings during any specific month.
District Boundaries
Rhawn Street North to County Line Road
Roosevelt Boulevard West to Pine Road
Zone Boundaries
Zone #1: Rhawn Street North to Winchester Avenue (East of Bustleton Avenue) / Rhawn Street North to Bloomfield Avenue (West of Bustleton Avenue)
Zone #2: Winchester/Bloomfield North to Red Lion Road Zone #3: Red Lion Road North to County Line Road
Zone #3: Red Lion Road North to County Line Road
Zone Commanders
Each PSA Zone is under the command of the Zone Lieutenant who is responsible for all issues affecting the particular zone. The Zone Commanders are as follows:
Zone # 1: Sgt. Michael Heston
Zone # 2: Lt. Michael Labrice
Zone # 3: Lt. Brian Dougherty
E-mail your PSA lieutenant by clicking his/her name above.
COMMUNITY FACILITATORS
Each Zone will have one or more Community Facilitators who will work hand in hand with the Zone Commander to identify issues within the zone that require police attention. The Zone Facilitators are as follows:
Zone # 1: Michael Myers
Chairperson, 7th P.D.A.C.
Zone # 2: Robert Stewart
Zone # 3: Vacant
Public Zone Meetings
Public meetings will be held monthly within each zone. The purpose of these meetings is to build a partnership between police and community that will result in a coordinated response to systemic issues of crime and disorder. Over the next year police and community members will be offered training in problem solving. The monthly PSA meetings will become the basis of these joint training and problem solving sessions. All who live, work or otherwise have an interest within a zone are encouraged to attend the meetings scheduled for that particular zone.
Residents, civic and community organizations, churches, schools, universities and others within each PSA will work with their PSA team in helping to design and implement problem solving strategies. With geographic accountability firmly in place, the Department and communities they serve can create and sustain a vision for building safe and healthy neighborhoods.
Upcoming meeting dates and locations are as follows:
Zone #1: (Facilitator: Sgt. Michael Heston)
Monday, January 13, 7:00 P.M. at Pelbano Recreation Center, 8101 Bustleton Avenue.
Zone #2: (Facilitator: Lt. Michael Labrice )
Tuesday, January 21, 7:00 P.M. at American Heritage Federal Credit Union, 2068 Red Lion Road.
Zone #3: (Facilitator: Lt. Brian Dougherty )
??, ??, 7:00 P.M. at Walker Lodge, 1290 Southampton Road.
If the date is not listed for a specific PSA meeting, please call the 7th District directly at 215-686-3070.
