Our Commitment to Community Policing

from Police Chief Richard J. Boyan

The Irondequoit Police Department practices community policing. 

Community policing reduces the difficulty and stress of the law enforcement function.  Without the spirit of cooperation between community and police, very little progress can be made to improve either police service or police relations with the public.

Police work is -- and always will be -- about people.  Since the first beat cop pounded the pavement, it has always been a “people” business.  Community policing leads to a spirit of understanding and cooperation between police and the public.

Community policing helps the public understand that police officers are not mere automatons -- writing tickets, enforcing the law, and preserving order.  Police officers are also human beings who go home at the end of their shifts and function within the community just like the public they serve. 

Community-policing policies help bridge the divide.  Police officers who emerge from their vehicles and engage the public get to know citizens, and citizens get to know them.

The Irondequoit Police Department firmly believes that it is in our police officers’ best interest to establish a relationship with members of the community.  When the complaintant is encountered as a fellow citizen -- with the same hopes, fears, and desires for a peaceful, law-abiding community -- then police officers can have a sense of investment and fulfillment in performing their duties.

This Department believes that community policing is necessary to ensure that neither the police nor the public forgets the interdependent nature of their relationship.  The officers and the community are working together toward a common goal: a safe community for all.

Community policing makes police work safer, more efficient, and, most important, more rewarding.  It is not “Us and Them” it is “We”.

It appears that community policing as both a philosophy and a practice is here to stay.  Our community policing program changes the paradigm from one in which the police are the experts to a model in which the police and community work together to identify, prioritize, and solve problems that affect the quality of life in our community.