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In 1998, Sterling Police Officers,
Local Government Officials, and Sterling Citizens received
training from the "Institute for Public Safety Partnerships."
The Institute for Public Safety Partnership (IPSP) is a regional
community policing institute funded by the Office of the Community
Oriented Policing Services (COPS) office. It is dedicated to
enhancing capacities of communities, police, and other agencies to
work together to build safer and healthier communities
through a prevention-oriented approach to policing.
It soon became apparent to the over
100 in attendance that solving problems, crime, and
quality of life issues can best be accomplished with citizen
involvement.
S.C.O.P.E. 2000
S.C.O.P.E. 2000 is an acronym for
Sterling, Community, Organization, Police, and Education.
Working together, citizens, police, and local government officials
have attacked a number of quality of life issues in Sterling.
S.C.O.P.E. has tackled such issues
as apartment buildings not maintained to code requirements,
loitering, teen smoking, damage to school property and
neighborhood cleanups.
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CHAPLAINS PROGRAM
The Police Chaplain program is
staffed by volunteer pastors who rotate in a weekly on call status
and ride along with officers to better serve the needs of the
community. Their purpose is to provide care, comfort,
guidance, and encouragement.
Chaplains counsel domestic violence
victims, respond on-call when needed for traumatic events, and
deliver death notifications. They often provide a calming
influence in a tense situation.
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SENIOR CITIZEN ACADEMY
The Senior Citizen Police Academy
is a crime prevention and informational program designed to meet
the interests of the citizens of our community.
This program is open to anyone over
50 years of age and provides a general understanding of the local
law enforcement departments, the criminal justice system,
telecommunications and patrol procedures, crime scene processing
and investigations, crimes against seniors and their personal
safety, gang awareness, drug enforcement and active youth oriented
programs.
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NEIGHBORHOOD GROUPS
Officers working with aldermen have
formed a number of neighborhood groups in Sterling wards.
These groups have organized to overcome problems within their
neighborhoods. Cleanups and park watches are some of the
tasks that have been accomplished.
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NATIONAL NIGHT OUT
"National Night Out" is a
nation-wide crime, drug, and violence awareness program that
provides the opportunity for Sterling to join with communities
nation-wide to promote cooperative, police-community crime and
drug prevention efforts. In 1998, the Sterling National
Night Out efforts were judged a National Award winner by the
National Association of Town Watch.
Sterling and Rock Falls Police,
along with the Sterling Park District, Whiteside County
Crimestoppers, and a number of private businesses sponsor the
event yearly, which boasts an attendance of 500 to 900 people.
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