Description: Just like many other large cities, police-community relations in Buffalo have often been tense and unproductive. In 2000, the police department began working with the United Neighborhoods Center, an affiliate of the United Way that serves Buffalo's system of block clubs, to help officers and residents work together. The result was a city-wide project that involved 600 residents, including over 250 young people, over a two-year period. In neighborhoods across the city, residents met with police officers and lieutenants, as well as other stakeholders, in multiple-session small-group discussions about the challenges to public safety and ways to surmount them. After the small-group sessions had ended, participants gathered at a city-wide action forum to share their conclusions and highlight action efforts in each neighborhood.

Dates active: 2000-2003

Issue(s): Law enforcement or crime prevention

Sub-issue(s): Public safety; policing; crime prevention.

Level(s): City; neighborhood

Initiators: Police department; neighborhood leaders.

Particular goals: Improve police-community relations; prevent crime.

Number of participants/year: 300

Population of community: 292,000

Time spent by participants: 6+ hours

Staffing/funding: Police department and United Neighborhoods Center provided staffing.

How meetings were structured: Circles were facilitated and followed a series of questions and viewpoints in a discussion guide.

Sample outcomes: Redoubling of community policing program by police chief; businesses taking more security precautions to prevent crime; emergency response team to deal with conflicts between business owners and halfway house residents in one neighborhood; residents noticing quicker response times to 911 calls.

Benefits: Improvement in police-community relations and collaboration.

Challenges: Inability to sustain program after police department experienced funding cuts and main United Neighborhoods coordinator moved to another community.

Related resources:

• Beal, Pamela, and Jacqueline Housel, "Promoting Cooperative Strategies to Reduce Racial Profiling," Report to the U.S. Dept. of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services office, December 2003.
• "Changing the Way We Govern," Democratic Governance Panel, National League of Cities, 2006.

This case contributed by: Matt Leighninger, 2007