Sometimes you wonder...

Get a good eyeful of those opening lines. Ain't it the truth? (Updated: scroll down)

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Police focus on community
RICHMOND: Chief's new strategy to solve, prevent crimes is to build relationship with residents

By Karl Fischer
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

With apologies to Irma Anderson, the real mayor of south Richmond holds court every morning in the parking lot of a Wall Avenue liquor store.

He does this while wearing a police badge.

"They're going to ask me where I was, because I was on vacation last week," Officer Anthony Mikell said as he rolled up to Brother's Liquor and Market. "They're used to seeing me out here every day. That's how you get to know people."

Mikell steps out of his patrol car to a hero's welcome. People cross the street to shake his hand, causing a brief bottleneck in front of the store, and Mikell says the warm feelings are mutual. He can name almost everyone he sees, and their mommas, too.

"This guy here makes sure there's no problems," said Tommy Perry, a local. "It's just good to see him out here. The kids really look up to him."

Blue uniforms rarely elicit such approval in flatland neighborhoods. But if a new patrolling strategy brought to Richmond this summer by Police Chief Chris Magnus works as intended, many more neighborhoods will come to know their beat cops as well as Park Plaza knows Mikell.

"This is what we expect from our officers," Magnus said. "When they are not responding to calls for service, we expect them to be engaged with the community, learn about their beats and find ways to improve the quality of life for residents who live in the neighborhoods they serve."

Magnus dramatically reorganized the department in June, reducing the number of patrol beats from 14 to nine while intensifying the focus on regional policing by making members of his command staff directly accountable for keeping the peace in specific sections of the city.

The changes put more officers on patrol most days, enough to cost roughly $37,500 weekly in overtime just to fully staff each shift. The main point was to free time for officers to invest their efforts in solving crime problems on their beats.

Magnus does not promise that his changes will produce quick reductions in violent crime or swifter responses to 911 calls.

But if Richmond sticks with the program, the chief says, residents will notice differences over time.

"These are not quick fixes," said Sgt. Allwyn Brown, who supervises a weekday patrol team. "We're tailoring our efforts for specific neighborhoods and specific communities ... as a form of long-term intervention."

Structural changes

Changes began in April, when Magnus promoted two officers to the rank of deputy chief and assigned them to tasks previously performed by captains: overseeing the department's patrol, investigative and administrative functions.

The captains now help answer one of the department's most frequently asked questions: Whom do you call about a problem?

The answer: It depends on where you live.

Capts. Alec Griffin, Eugene McBride and Anthony Williams each supervise policing in a geographic section of Richmond: the northern, central and southern districts.

With support from the central bureaucracy, captains and their lieutenants now coordinate neighborhood projects, keep an eye out for block-level crime trends within their districts, work with local leaders and represent the department at community functions.

"We're trying to improve continuity on our patrol beats. What that means is we are trying to keep the same officers working in the same areas for as long as we can," Magnus said. "If a resident calls the police department for nonemergency service, they can expect to see one of their usual officers most of the time."

One officer must work each beat at all times. Given the department's drastic staffing shortage, that requirement could cause labor problems if the department does not soon fill vacancies.

The department now pays about 600 hours of overtime each week to maintain its minimum patrol staffing numbers.

"I think we're starting to reach our saturation point for working mandatory overtime hours," said Detective Kevin Martin, president of the Richmond Police Officers Association. "Fewer officers are signing up" voluntarily.

Sgt. Lori Curran, the recruiting officer, said the department intends to fill its 23 vacancies by next summer.

"Ultimately, we want to have more than one officer for each beat on each shift," Magnus said. "But right now, we're struggling to staff one officer per beat."

They wear two hats

Most police departments use geographic beats mainly to divide the labor on a patrol shift. The principal gauge of service is how quickly and consistently officers arrive to service calls.

Richmond police maintain that standard when it comes to life-threatening emergencies, crimes in progress and other "hot" calls, Magnus said.

But even though more officers now work patrol beats than before the reorganization, the chief says residents should not necessarily expect faster service for nonemergency calls. In fact, lower-priority calls, such as complaints about loud music or requests for an officer to document vandalism, may wait longer.

That's because the department now expects patrol officers to use their own initiative more to investigate and prevent crime on their beats. When not responding to emergency calls, officers now take more time to talk to residents and work on projects to address public-safety issues they find on their beats.

"A lot of our activity was generated by calls for service. Our goal was pretty much to keep the board clean" of holding calls for service, said Officer Nathan Lonso, who patrols in the Iron Triangle neighborhood. "Now instead of reacting so much, I'm doing more preventative police work."

Officers' shifts overlap much of the day, allowing more time for them to work on beat projects and meet the neighbors. Beat officers are expected to collaborate on those efforts.

"Instead of one officer, a whole team is assigned to a patrol beat," Magnus said. "They may work different shifts, but they are expected to communicate with each other about issues affecting their beat and work collaboratively with the community to solve problems."

Does it work?

Richmond's most-watched number, the annual homicide total, stood at 24 as of Friday. At this time last year, considered the worst in a decade for street violence, it was 19.

But many civic leaders say they see improved service from police.

"Once people get to know a beat officer and develop some kind of stability ... and trust, I bet they could solve a lot more crimes," said A.J. Jelani, president of the Belding Woods neighborhood council.

Of the 40 homicides reported last year in Richmond, detectives collected enough evidence to bring charges against a suspect in only five cases. But this year, about half of the city's cases have resulted in charges or arrests, or they soon will, detectives said.

The greater freedom given to patrol officers to socialize on their beats has helped several investigations, Mikell said.

Back at the liquor store on a warm July morning, he points in the direction of a horrific crime scene from the day before: A gunman blew off a street mechanic's knee cap for failing to fix his car.

Before the detectives even arrived at the scene, Mikell's cell phone lit up. Before the crime tape fell, he knew in lengthy detail who did what, what was said and why.

"It affects you subconsciously. You think to yourself, 'My neighborhood is not safe anymore,'" Mikell said. "I think I'm successful because I can relate to people out here. I wouldn't want to feel that way about my neighborhood, and I don't want them to feel that way either."

Reach Karl Fischer at 510-262-2728 or kfischer@cctimes.com.

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Let's hear it for Chief Magnus and RPD! He's man enough to tell us straight up that there's no quick fix...like calling his plan "Safe Streets Now"...

EDIT 7:46 PM: Some sad news to report, which dovetails and updates some info in the above article. Hat tip to Tazer friend Michael Ali.

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Police seek third suspect in Richmond man's killing

By Shirley Dang
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

A Richmond man died Saturday night after being shot, according to police.

Richmond police officers found Lorenzo Melendez, 26, on the 400 block of 22nd Street near Nevin Avenue around 10:30 p.m., Lt. Enos Johnson said Sunday. He apparently was hit in the upper torso across the street from his house and staggered close to his home, where he collapsed, Johnson said.

Patrol cars nearby heard the gunfire and drove to the scene. Officers detained two men, including one juvenile, fleeing the neighborhood, Johnson said. Police are seeking a third male in connection with the shooting, he said.

Melendez was taken to Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Richmond shortly after police found his body. Doctors could not revive him.

His death was the city's 25th homicide of the year.

Officers are still investigating the killing. Anyone with information should call Detective Eric Smith at 510-307-8106. The Richmond Police Department's anonymous tip line is 510-232-TIPS