PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) – The Portsmouth Police Department has launched a new partnership between citizens and law enforcement, aimed at curbing crime.
Portsmouth United is part of the department’s efforts to help take back the community.
All members of the Portsmouth community were invited to a discussion Thursday night about the new partnership.
Police Chief Stephen Jenkins said the city wants to develop both mentoring and after school programs as part of this initiative. His goals for this year include decreasing crime by 15% and adding more FLOCK technology, but he said to achieve this will require community involvement.
“Because what happens that we know in law enforcement is what we call the broken window theory. When things go unaddressed, you now invite crime into your community,” Chief Jenkins said. “We’re going to address this because this is our community where each week somebody different is going to go by and make sure that lawn is taken care of, make sure that the mail is picked up, the trash around.”
Chief Jenkins added that police have a big involvement in the process. He said the department is looking to add as many as 50 officers to the force this, which would decrease the manpower deficit by 50%.
The Portsmouth United program is modeled off a similar one in Nebraska, called Omaha 360.
