Attached message from Mayor Baker:
City of Wilmington
News from the Office of Mayor James M. Baker
| For Immediate Release | Contact: |
| Monday, February 28, 2005 | John Rago Communications Director for Mayor Baker 302.576.2109 302.420.7928 (cell) jrago@ci.wilmington.de.us |
Updated Police Deployment and Tactical Policing Plan
Presented by Wilmington Police Chief Michael J. Szczerba
Plan Increases Officers on Patrol at All Hours, Provides Greater Visibility of Police Throughout the City, Focuses Resources on Crime ‘Hot Spots,’ Improves Community Policing, and Includes Numerous New Joint Operations with County, State, and Federal Law Enforcement Agencies
A new, proactive police deployment and tactical operations policing plan, that includes a 33% increase in the number of uniformed officers on the streets during high crime peak periods and a 6% increase in officers on duty during non-peak crime periods, was unveiled this afternoon by Wilmington Police Chief Michael J. Szczerba. In addition to the increased police patrols, Chief Szczerba and William Montgomery, Chief of Staff to Wilmington Mayor James M. Baker, outlined a new policing plan for Members of the Wilmington City Council Public Safety Committee that includes:
- Built-in overlapping shift deployments during high crime periods to disrupt the gun and drug trade;
- Increased concentration of police and policing resources on so-called crime ‘hot spots’ to disrupt the drug and gun trade;
- Enhanced staffing and frequency of the Violent Crimes Suppression Task Force (corner deployment) to include City, County and State Police;
- Expansion of the Department’s community policing efforts by assigning a Captain and Lieutenant to each of the eight City Council Districts;
- Adding five new officers to serve as Community Sector Specialists who already work within the community on crimes and crime trends;
- 24/7 coverage by the WPD’s K-9 Unit with the addition of one new police officer and K-9 drug dog;
- Purchase of 45 new, marked police patrol vehicles, increasing the size of the fleet by 31%, for increased police visibility on the streets (includes no take-home vehicles);
- Creation of both one and two-person police teams to patrol in vehicles increasing the visibility of the WPD on the streets;
- Joint Deployment of City, County, and State Police in conjunction with an increase in Operation Safe Streets;
- Expanded Warrant Executions Teams by City Police, with the addition of police officers from the State and County Police Departments;
New WPD Deployment and Tactical Policing Plan
Monday, February 28, 2005
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- An increase in the frequency and number of Safety Checkpoint Operations, with the addition of police officers from the State and County Police Forces
- An increase in the frequency and number of DUI Strike Force Operations carried out in 2005 in conjunction with police officers from various agencies
- Joint Operations with the Drug Homicide Task Force of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
- Other joint drug suppression operations with the DEA
- Issuance of laptop computers to each patrol officer enabling police officers to remain on patrol while they work on crime reports, instead of having to report back to headquarters for completion of required paperwork.
In addition to the specific elements of the new policing plan, Chief of Staff Montgomery, echoing comments made earlier today by Mayor Baker, strongly defended the performance of Chief Szczerba and the men and woman of the Wilmington Police Department and said there will be no change in the command of the Department. Montgomery said the new plan crafted by Chief Szczerba and his staff has the support and endorsement of the Mayor and Public Safety Director James Mosley.
Montgomery, filling-in for Director Mosley who is ill, presented statistics that demonstrate the effectiveness of the Department during the past four years and indicates what the Chief of Staff said is a strong performance in fighting crime and criminals. The information encompassing achievements from 2001 through 2004 include:
- More than one-half-million calls for services answered by the WPD;
- 1622 search warrants served…more than one per day;
- An average of more than 21 arrest warrants served each day over the past four years;
- Nearly 30,000 arrests made, or approximately 20 per day;
- 702 guns removed from the streets;
- More than $7.6 million dollars worth of heroin, cocaine and marijuana removed from the streets;
- More than $1.5 million in cash associated with drug sellers and buyers seized;
Chief Szczerba described the plan he presented today as a permanent policing and tactical operations plan that can be maintained throughout the year, yet has enough flexibility built into it that the Police Department can quickly respond to spikes in crimes or any type of crime pattern that develops.
The Mayor said the City is continuing to formulate a two-track law enforcement process that involves both updated policing operations and new community and social efforts to help reduce the flow of guns and drugs into certain parts of the City and to reduce the propensity of persons to commit violent acts. The Mayor said while the emphasis today is the Police Chief’s updated plan, he would soon announce other initiatives that are the result of unparalleled community efforts that are underway to change attitudes, values, and behaviors.
Since embarking on this multi-faceted effort to deal with crime and criminals and the attitudes, behaviors, and actions of individuals, the Mayor has continually stressed that law enforcement is just one part of the City’s approach to finding solutions to the damaging results of the mix of illegal guns, drugs, and violence.
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