During the second half of 2020, the Culver City Police Department put in place four initiatives to help improve our service and overall effectiveness to the Culver City Community:
- Reimagining Patrol Deployment and Policing Approach
- Improving Data Collection, Reporting, and Transparency Measures
- Increased Mental Health Resources
- Partnerships to Advance Youth
In furtherance of our Reimagining Patrol Deployment and Policing Approach initiative, over the last few months the Police Department has instituted our “Park, Bike, Walk, and Talk” patrol deployment, which has officers conducting more foot and bicycle patrols around our Downtown and business districts. In addition, the Department has also fully implemented the Racial Identity Profiling Act (RIPA), which allows us to collect and report invaluable data surrounding traffic stops and contacts our officers are making in the community.
Along with these measures that have already been instituted, the Police Department continually assesses our staffing deployments, our enforcement strategies, our service levels, as well as the community impacts associated with our policing efforts. These assessments encompass a wide range of factors, but none more important than listening to community feedback. Recently, this community feedback has come through the Public Safety Review, the Chief’s Advisory Panel, the City’s Government Alliance on Race Equity members, community surveys, the City’s leadership, as well as public comments at various City Council and community meetings.
After careful consideration, the Culver City Police Department is initiating a new internal directive and “Refocused Policing” approach. This refocused approach will prioritize emergency services, redirect our efforts towards more serious traffic safety concerns and crime, and reduce the number of traffic stops and contacts with community members for low-level traffic infractions. Effective immediately, the Culver City Police Department will move away from solely stopping community members based on minor equipment related traffic infractions, such as tinted windows, malfunctioning vehicle lights, broken windshields, etc. This refocused policing approach will not only allow us to prioritize our efforts towards enforcing more hazardous traffic violations and responding to crime trends, but will also be another step towards addressing community concerns that low-level traffic infraction enforcement has a disproportionate impact on lower-income segments of our community, particularly for community members of color. The Department will remain committed to enforcing and promoting traffic safety, through the prioritization of hazardous traffic violation enforcement.
In accordance with our Department’s overall goal of providing community-centered policing services that are reflective of our community’s values, as well as striving to ensure for the safety of all our community members and employees, the Culver City Police Department will continue to look for strategies to build trust and legitimacy with our community while maximizing our overall public safety effectiveness.
Thank you and stay safe,
Chief Manny Cid