PUBLIC
SERVICE AREA POLICING
Community policing
challenges police and civic officials to provide the
leadership necessary to address the multitude of
community safety issues confronting their communities.
Now with the inclusion of daily terrorism concerns to
the ongoing threat of drugs, gangs, and other crimes,
municipal public safety agencies around the country are
being forced to re-examine their service delivery
models.
 Over
the past decade, the Whittier Police Department has
endeavored to enhance its cooperation and interaction
with the community. The Department enjoys strong
community support. The Department has been successful in
addressing quality of life issues with a demonstrated
commitment to the Community Oriented Policing and
Problem Solving Philosophy (COPPS). COPPS redefines the
roles and relationships between the community and the
police by recognizing that the community shares
responsibility with the police for social order. Both
must work cooperatively to identify problems and develop
proactive community-wide solutions.
However, if we are to continue to be successful in
maintaining the quality of life for the citizens who
live, work, and visit the City of Whittier, it is
essential that we put in place a Public Service Area (PSA)
team policing structure that enhances the delivery of
our COPPS strategy. Under our existing policing
structure, the city is divided into four patrol areas. A
sergeant and the officers assigned to his/her team are
only responsible for responding to community safety
issues that take place during their work shift. No one
assigned to patrol has a continuous vertical
relationship to his or her work. Therefore, whenever
there was a non-emergency problem or question that
needed to be addressed, people did not know whom to
contact.
Under the new PSA policing structure, a patrol
lieutenant will now be in command of one of the four
patrol areas within the City of Whittier. The lieutenant
will have two sergeants and a team of officers assigned
to his/her PSA. There will be an emphasis to have at
least one member of the PSA team always working.
Consequently, the team will be responsible and
accountable for providing “24-7” service to their
PSA within the city. Under this structure, there will be
an increased expectation of improved service,
familiarity with code enforcement issues, businesses and
residents, and a more diligent response to identified
problems. This structure furthers the development of
supervisors and managers so they are more prepared to
assume and ascend to management and command level
positions within the agency.
The PSA team policing structure will also allow officers
to develop distinct familiarity with the community
safety issues within the areas that they are assigned.
Specifically, with the area lieutenant leading the way,
the PSA team members will be responsible for
establishing and maintaining the lines of communications
with the other city departments and governmental
agencies that have resources needed to address problems
that develop within their area of responsibility.
The PSA policing structure will allow us to receive real
time input and feedback from our diverse communities
regarding community problems and policing priorities and
policies. We acknowledge that we cannot do the job of
providing community safety alone and recognize that we
have valuable resources available to us in our
communities. If you have any questions or concerns
about the Whittier Police Department or regarding what
PSA area you live in, you can use the interactive map
below and contact your PSA lieutenant via his email
address, or contact the Department’s community
relations officer at 562 945-8282.
Please click on the desired service area
below to receive contact and area boundary information:
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