Community policing unit dissolved

Until now, the department's community officers were assigned to a specific neighborhood for terms of about four years, said San Mateo police Capt. Kevin Rafaelli. As a result, residents were often on a first-name basis with their assigned cops.

In the North Shoreview neighborhood, resident Tom Elliott said the relationship with the community officer created a safe atmosphere in the working class neighborhood. Whenever Elliott called Officer Steve Robinson for help on any number of issues like suspicious characters or traffic matters, he'd get a call back within the hour.

"[Officer Robinson] was always extremely responsive," Elliott said.

Since the program started 10 years ago, community officers have responded to a wide range of calls including overgrown branches and noise disturbances, Rafaelli said. Sometimes officers even visited homes to assure residents their home locks were sound, he said.

That level of service may be ending. With the city's resources dwindling, Rafaelli said it is important to keep officers on the streets and ask residents to call the proper authorities - like Code Enforcement or the Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center - for other matters.

In the North Shoreview neighborhood, for example, Elliott said Robinson was instrumental in improving traffic around North Shoreview Montessori Elementary school. Robinson helped get curbs painted red and bring in traffic calming measures - the type of stuff Rafaelli said might have been better handled directly by the Public Works Department.

Some residents are apprehensive about the change. Earlier this year, North Central resident Sybil Bolivar said crime in her neighborhood went down considerably since community policing began 10 years ago. Still, Elliot said it sounds like the new model could be just as effective.

"We'll have to wait and see," he said.

The change has been in the works for two years now. Major cities across the country have already switched to similar models, Manheimer has said.

Manheimer has said the idea is to re-connect police and the community - a relationship that began dying in the 1980s with the advent of police radios and 911 emergency services.

The Police Department is still keeping three community officers; one assigned to the downtown beat, one to the Police Activities League and another as a school liaison.

In recent years, Rafaelli said the Police Department has handed certain functions - like National Night Out and the Neighborhood Watch board - back to the hands of the community.

Yunmi Choi can be reached by e-mail at yunmi@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 109. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.