At this week’s Lancaster City Council public safety committee meeting, Police Chief Keith Sadler provided an update on the city department’s current efforts to enhance its ‘neighborhood policing’ strategy. Sadler explained that, while the term may evoke traditional imagery of police officers ‘walking the beat,’ effective neighborhood policing ultimately means having a department that is sensitive to the ever-shifting subtleties of crime as it appears from block to block. To advance this capacity in 2010, Sadler said, the depart wants to take a step back.

Until recently, Sadler asserted, the department’s ability to broadly process and analyze citywide crime data had been far from first-rate. “I had felt that our crime analysis was fifteen years in the past,” he asserted.

Sadler provided an example of how a lack of comprehensive analysis can impact police response: “Say there were five car-theft break-ins that show up in different sectors, but geographically they’re all within a block or two radius. Initially, if you’re looking at a piece of paper, you’d say, ‘Well, five different parts of the city: No pattern.’ But in reality, they may be just a block within each other.”

This year’s initiative coincides with the hiring of a new full-time crime analyst, the role itself created by merging two vacant positions—records processor and ‘crime prevention liaison.’ The man himself, Raphael Park, comes highly recommended from a team of such analysts at the D.C. Metro Police Department.

Park, selected through a international talent search, had impressed the department with his extensive knowledge and vigorous commitment to the field. Given the fact that Park is a mere 24 years old, “We were blown away,” Sadler said, later noting, “Ten years from now he’ll probably be writing books on this topic. And we’ll say he got his start here.”

In his first months on the job, Park has already brought the department from one monthly analysis briefing to a fresh weekly report. “We’re now catching up to the last decade,” Sadler said, explaining how ineffective those monthly meetings could be at times: “Sometimes knowing that information two or three weeks later doesn’t help address the issues. Some neighborhood issues pop up and are there for 10 days and then they’re gone.”

In addition to improving the department’s access to analytical data, Sadler expects the public’s access improve as well. Currently, residents are able to review crime reports on the department’s website according to sector. However, these text reports are based upon police calls and often do not reflect actual crimes that have verifiably occurred. But soon, Salder said, the website will be able to provide real crime data through a customizable map. Residents will be able to search according to a variety of fields, including location and the type of crime.

Sadler stressed that the big-picture perspective brought by this new analyst provides a crucial component for effective neighborhood policing: “Cops rely on instinct,” He explained, “Sometimes that’s real, and sometimes that causes us to trip up, because you get used to your years of experience and just dedicate resources to one area that you’ve really kind of addressed. Then you’re letting areas go because you still think the problem’s here—just because it was for ten years.”