Lion - Fall 2019 - Community Caretakers

A new direction for the Department of Public Safety
By Marc R. Partee, M.S.

The Lincoln University Police Department, under the Division of Public Safety, is moving toward becoming “community caretakers” in its focus on developing and fostering a collaborative policing model for the Lincoln University community. Community caretaking is a philosophy that promotes a focus on service, education, partnerships, and crime prevention and reduction. The end goal is to involve the community in developing and implementing such strategies by helping the served community—through transparency and education—better understand law enforcement.

The shift toward the community caretaker philosophy will involve specific steps:

• The new focus must consistently be announced both internally and externally to keep it on the forefront of all Lincoln community members’ minds;
• The Police Department’s policies and procedures must exceed national best practices;
• Officers must feel free to use their work time proactively and in ways that cultivate relationships with Lincoln University community members;
• There must be a focus on diversity in department staffing;
• Police department members must participate in University activities outside of their traditional roles;
• Lincoln University students must participate with the department in non-traditional roles; and
• Lincoln University community leaders must encourage and elicit opportunities for collaborative work with the department.

Implementing the above steps will allow Lincoln University to become the model for forward-thinking campus safety and security practices through collaborative law enforcement.