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Policing helps White City be �a nice city� Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell For members of the Community Action Team in White City, police work sometimes means hanging out and playing video games with kids at the White City Boys and Girls Club. Here, Deputy Rick Valentine tries a new game with Roberto Plascencia, 8, and Chris Dehart, 11, right. Deputies give community role personal touch By Joanna Collins WHITE CITY � They eat lunch with kids at school, get loud neighbors to meet each other, patrol on bicycles and help plan a skateboard park. They�re not your typical police officers. "A lot of cops today are not identifiable, they�re just a cop in a police car," says Sgt. Dick Allen of the Jackson County Sheriff�s Department, who heads the White City team. "I want a community to know their cops� names." White City might just be that place. Jackson County was among the first departments in Oregon to practice community policing, a method now popular across the nation. Evidence shows it works The number of major crimes has dropped dramatically since the arrival of community policing in White City. The reduction was especially steep after 1996, the first year of special law enforcement funding there. Major crimes include homicide, rape, robbery, assault and domestic assault, kidnapping and burglary. Numbers are reported by quarter (three-month) averages; data aren�t available for 1997 or 1998. 1995: 137 major crimes per quarter. 1996: 100 per quarter. 1999: 90 per quarter. major crimes. 2000: 84 per quarter. Source: Jackson County Sheriff�s Department When Deputy Jeff McGrath patrols the streets, he�s not hell-bent on passing out tickets. As he cruises around, he waves to citizens, warns drivers to slow down and greets school teachers. "I try to keep a high profile out here so people know we�re here," he says. When McGrath slows down beside two boys riding their bikes, they know the routine. "Hey kids, what are you doing?" he asks. "We�re going to get our helmets," they claim. McGrath quizzes them for a minute, then continues patrolling the community�s streets. "Most of the time I�m pretty lenient, I�ll just give them a warning," says McGrath. "If they�re a repeat offender, then I�ll cite them." White City is the largest unincorporated community in Jackson County, with a population around 6,000. Without its own police force, it�s up to the sheriff�s department to protect and serve. Since 1991, deputies assigned specifically to the White City area have practiced community policing, an approach that emphasizes prevention, problem-solving and personal contact. In 1995, citizens passed a tax levy to hire extra personnel for a "Community Action Team" � five deputies, an office manager and a supervisor. "The gist of it is that our objective is to solve a problem instead of just putting a Band-Aid on the problem," says Deputy Kevin Eller. Team members say community policing has worked for White City and that crime is substantially lower as a result. "This is not what it used to be; it�s a nice city," says Deputy Colin Fagan, who�s been on the team the longest. As part of reaching out to White City, deputies make an effort to connect with local kids. They sit down and eat with students at both elementary schools as part of the Lunch Buddy program. They teach youths about riding safely with bike rodeos. They give free helmets to disadvantaged children. Deputies might just sit down and play video games or shoot hoops at the Boys and Girls Club. They�re especially proud of their part in planning the skateboard park that will break ground this month. "That�s going to be a big asset to the community," says Eller. "The kids just want a place to skateboard." And they take their roles in protecting and serving the schools seriously. "We treat (the schools) assacred ground," says Fagan. "We take it personally when somebody defaces a school." Deputies say they do everything they can for parents, too. They�ll even rouse low-attendance teenagers out of bed and give them a ride to school. "There isn�t any type of call that a deputy will not respond to in some type of manner," says Allen, the team supervisor. Since their substation is located at the Upper Rogue Family Center with several state agencies, they also help citizens get social services. "We often run into people who don�t know what�s available to them," says Fagan. One time, he recalls, two people burglarized a grocery store of food, not money or valuables. He said the people told him that they had no other way to survive. After enforcing the law, Fagan took them to the center and made sure they got food and other resources. Not only does community policing benefit the citizen, deputies say it�s rewarding work for officers, who often don�t have time for follow-ups or personal contacts. "A lot of the time in other parts of the county you�re running from call to call and it ends with an arrest," says Deputy Randy Arnold. That�s not the case in White City, he adds. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA