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More Cops and Community Needed to Make Public Housing Safer, Police Officials Say

Aug. 29, 2007 — Putting more police officers on the street and fostering a greater sense of community within troubled neighborhoods were the key recommendations Police Commissioner James McCall made Wednesday evening to the Senate Committee on Public Safety, Homeland Security and Judiciary.
Sen. Carmen M. Wesselhoft said she called the Frederiksted hearing in response to growing concerns about the safety and security of public-housing community residents. All the top police brass appeared, offering their insight and answering detailed questions about police procedures and crime statistics in the territory.
J. David Reese, the federally appointed receiver in charge of the V.I. Housing Authority, was also invited to come testify, but did not appear, to the consternation of some senators.
“I’m not too surprised the housing director is not here,” Sen. Liston Davis said. “Not appearing has become the expected pattern from them.”
Davis asked Assistant Police Commissioner Novelle Francis if the police had regular patrols in the public-housing communities.
“We do have patrols, yes,” he said. “But not enough. Our force is more reactive than proactive right now because we don’t have the manpower we would need.”
Police programs like Weed and Seed are important to help to steer young residents toward productive pursuits, thus attacking the root causes of crime, Francis said. But those programs are not large enough to have a big impact, he said.
McCall said the police are proactive, but concurred that more manpower was crucial.
“When we get the manpower strength up where we need it, we will be able to implement many of the programs we would like to in the housing projects,” McCall said.
Simply finding enough qualified applicants was the main hurdle standing in the way of greater police presence in the public-housing communities and elsewhere, said Emmet Hansen II, Police Department recruiter.
“About 280 persons came and took the last test,” he said. “Out of that, 200 failed the test. Of the 80 who passed, most failed the background test. We got 14 cadets. As dismal as that sounds, that is the truth we must deal with.”
The high rates of failure were attributable partly to poor test-taking skills for some and too many years out of school for others, Hansen said. He plans a series of test-taking seminars to see if some of the 200 who did not pass the first time can be brought up to speed.
“Those who did not do that well at first, we will go back to them,” Hansen said. “We are not tossing them to the wayside, but saying to them, ‘Come back, hone your skills and try again.’”
Wesselhoft asked whether the police have been working to help groups in the public-housing communities form neighborhood-watch programs.
“We have done that in the past, but without much success,” Francis said. “And we will be doing so again shortly.”
The police have made progress lately, and recent roadblocks have removed guns and contraband from the streets, said St. Croix Police Chief Thomas Hannah.
“At our last roadblock last Friday on St. Croix, an officer confiscated a bulletproof vest and a firearm,” he said. “I don’t believe we need to trumpet everything, but we let the officers do what they do. We are slowly taking back the towns and streets.”
McCall said 108 firearms have been confiscated in the territory since January.
The police should not be quiet about their successes, but be as conspicuously present on the streets as possible, said Sen. Alvin Williams.
“I don’t want it to be done quietly,” he said. “I want the criminals to have fear in their heart. I can’t speak to St. Croix, but on St. Thomas, you drive by certain areas and you see these guys smoking up on the corner, guns stuck into their pants. This shouldn’t happen, but there it is.”
Sen. Ronald Russell laid some blame at the feet of those living in public housing.
“Let’s get to the crux of the problem,” Russell said. “The people are not cooperating with the police.”
The main reasons people don’t cooperate are because they don’t want to get involved, because they fear retaliation and, among some of the younger residents, because they don’t want to be a snitch, McCall said.
In his testimony, McCall said the keys to lowering crime are basic improvements in the living environment and fostering a greater sense of community.
“Numerous studies have found that crime in neighborhoods where residents knew and watched out for one another were lower than in neighborhoods where a sense of community was not present,” McCall said. “To form this relationship, people need a place and a reason to simultaneously coexist. This can be accommodated through establishing or forming meeting places such as playgrounds, gardens and even a community recreation center.”
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