High-Tech Community Policing Project Wins Grant

The National Institute of Justice will award a grant of about $150,000 to the City of Davis Police Department for implementation of a community policing project. Davis Police are partnering with UC Davis, the Davis Joint Unified School District, and the Davis Community Network to develop an educational program that both utilizes and addresses the use of technology in the community.

The grant will fund the purchase of computer equipment as well as the development of software products for the Internet that provide information about online crimes and other community safety issues, and instruct children on legal and safe ways to use networking technologies.

"Parents are concerned. They don't understand what the dangers are and don't understand what their responsibilities are," says Vicki Suter, a programmer/analyst for UC Davis' Information Technology. Suter has long been involved in building collaborations between UC Davis and the Davis Community Network. She helped write the grant proposal, and now will work in a liaison role, facilitating the building of project teams and helping them work together.

The teams include high school students, police officers, parents, teachers, and community members such as the DCN Web team. The emphasis is on building community by strengthening cooperative relationships between these various individuals and institutions, Suter says.

"The focus of the project isn't crime or police. It's the community," says Suter. The program will create interactive Web functions, such as community discussion forums. Community members will be able to set up custom-designed Web pages with specialized resources, such as crime statistics that are regularly updated.

UC Davis graduate students in the Division of Education will develop software programs, such as tutorials, Internet games, and classroom materials, for use in Davis public schools. A cadre of graduate students will also serve as an evaluation team to determine the effectiveness of the program. Keith Prior, an Academic Coordinator with the Division of Education, will develop some curricular materials for the educational component of the grant and will assist in evaluating the overall project.

The program's goals include securing children safe access to information technologies; alleviating fear of the Internet and reducing Internet crime; strengthening community bonds; and enhancing cooperative problem solving. According to the philosophies of community policing, emphasis will be more on problem solving and prevention, and less on punishment, Suter says.