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B.C. police call response will impact community

Editorial, March 27, 2007
It makes a great deal of sense for the Battle Creek Police Department to focus its resources on dealing with the most dangerous crimes and serious problems in our neighborhoods. We all would want, and expect, an immediate response from law enforcement if we found ourselves in a life-or-death situation.

But in order to ensure that continues to happen, the BCPD is instituting a system in which officers no longer are dispatched automatically to low-priority calls, such as an issue with an uncooperative child or a minor theft. Such complaints make up about a third of the calls to the local police department.

Battle Creek residents should understand that officers still will be sent immediately to the scene of a hazard such as a traffic accident, or where an injury or violence has occurred, or the potential for either exists. If a crime is under way, police still will be dispatched.

But don't expect a squad car to pull up to your house to take a report about a vehicle that was burglarized the previous night or a stolen garbage can.

We realize that may upset residents who expect police to come whenever they call 911. That has been the traditional response.

But in order to deal effectively with the most serious crimes facing our community, the police department has to realign its resources.

A telephone response unit has been in operation for about a year that conducts telephone interviews related to lesser crimes and provides victims with the reports and other information they may need to file insurance claims, etc.

Such an alternative to a visit from a police officer is acceptable.

But we don't want to underplay the significance of the changes under way. They will place a greater burden on emergency dispatchers to discern the nature of sometimes confusing or incoherent calls to determine whether an officer must be dispatched immediately. The new system will require the understanding and cooperation of residents in dealing with police.

The changes also should force us as a community to take a hard look at our expectations for local law enforcement.

The central responsibility of police used to be to assist in the aftermath of a crime or accident, and then investigate and report. Now, however, law enforcement is at the forefront of many efforts not just to solve crimes, but to prevent the environments and behaviors which give rise to crime.

Like our schools, police have taken on greater societal responsibilities in addition to their core missions.

Calhoun County Prosecutor John Hallacy raises a good point when he asks if police no longer will respond to an obstinate child who won't go to school, who in our community can help that frustrated parent?

Hallacy believes the BCPD is acting very responsibly in allocating its resources where they are most needed, but he also is concerned about who will assume many of the responsibilities that have shifted to police in recent years.

It is a question we should confront as a community. What other resources are available to deal with some of the social responsibilities that police no longer can shoulder?

Police have become an integral part of the social safety net that we have crafted. Much has been accomplished because of their involvement. But as law enforcement is forced to devote more resources to its central mission of fighting crime, who or what will fill the void?

Are we willing to provide greater resources (i.e., pay more taxes ) to ensure that services remain available? Are there other organizations that can take on some of the duties that police often have performed (resolving domestic disputes, drug education, Neighborhood Watch, anti-crime campaigns, etc.)?

These are issues worthy of thorough and public debate. For our community to remain strong and thrive, they should be addressed and resolved.