place and no one is surprised by it. Back
then, there was some “Who do you think
you are? You think you’re up to this? You
can’t do that.”
With more than three decades of progressively responsible municipal policing
experiencing, Chief Seabrooks has always
placed emphasis on the department’s
relationship with the community. This was
evident during her time at the helm of
the Inglewood Police Department where
under her leadership crime rates declined
to levels not seen since the 1970s and the
Department’s relationship with its diverse
community improved substantially.
In Santa Monica, the images of police
officers are very different than what has
been seen in the media recently. On any
given day you may find officers hosting
Coffee with a Cop, Pizza with the Police,
or bringing ice cream to kids at a local
park. The K-9 Officers regularly take
their dogs to meet with students at local
schools, and recently a medal-of-valor
winning officer gave a local Boy Scout
troop an up-close look at the SWAT
vehicles; and the deputy chief read Twas
the Night Before Christmas to children at a
holiday event.
“It is important for our officers, at
all levels, to be seen as people, as part of
the community’s fabric; we train and hire
to meet those standards; and we reinforce those standards consistently” says
Seabrooks.
Another program that exemplifies
community oriented policing in its truest
form is the Neighborhood Resource
Officers (NROs). Each of the city’s four
distinct beats have a dedicated officer
and community services coordinator who
work together to quickly identify community issues, concerns, problems and crime
trends which have long term quality of life
issues. The NROs also maintain a visible
presence in their beat, hosting meet-ups,
attending community events, and getting
to know the residents and businesses in
the area.
“Our NROs are a dynamic group th