BIRMINGHAM POLICE DEPARTMENT

Plan To Provide Police Services for the Housing Authority in the City of Birmingham
Community Safety Partnership - High Intensity Community Oriented Police Patrol
April 2019

PURPOSE:
The primary purpose of the Community Safety Partnership - High Intensity Community
Oriented Police Patrol Program (“Program”) is to increase and enhance the safety,
security, and welfare for Housing Authority of Birmingham District (HABD) residents
through the presence and relationship of Birmingham Police Department (BPD) officers
deployed and assigned to the twelve public housing development program sites of Elyton
Village, Southtown Court, Marks Village, Loveman Village, Smithfield Court, Tom
Brown Village, Morton Simpson, Collegeville Center, Harris Homes, North Birmingham
Homes, Cooper Green, Kimbrough Homes, Freedom Manor and Ben Greene Village
(Program Sites).

The secondary purpose of the Program is to provide ancillary residents and youth
programs which support, directly or indirectly, the primary purpose.

The HICOPP is a Policing Model that relies on long-term assignment of police personnel
to develop relationship-based policing by working with a variety of community
stakeholders to help promote the safety, security, and welfare of residents of public
housing developments and the surrounding communities.

The HICOPP Model is consistent with many of the City of Birmingham strategic goals as
identified below:

 Safe, Secure and Sustainable Communities

 Healthy, Thriving and Diverse Neighborhoods
 Highly Effective, People-First, Smart Government

WHY SHOULD THE HABD CONTRACT WITH BPD?

Each Program site is located in the City of Birmingham where the BPD has primarily
jurisdiction of all criminal offenses. Because of its size, the largest police department in
the State, the BPD is uniquely able to address the present and future needs of HABD.
The BPD has the organizational strength to quickly adjust resources to meet emerging
policing needs without the mutual aid. Additionally, the contract will:

 Establish consistent, reliable staffing of approximately 28 law enforcement

officers backfilled by patrol officers, per 24 hour period, which is an improvement
over the current staffing which uses part-time sheriff deputies;
 Increase the emphasis on patrolling the Program sites by BPD;
 Creating a long term Community Safety Partnership;
 Maximizes law enforcement staffing at a favorable cost; and

1
 BIRMINGHAM POLICE DEPARTMENT
Plan To Provide Police Services for the Housing Authority in the City of Birmingham
Community Safety Partnership - High Intensity Community Oriented Police Patrol
April 2019

 Provides flexibility to enhance security as the population of the housing

developments grow from 8,622 residents.

BACKGROUND AND INSTITUTIONAL EXPERIENCE:

The Chief of BPD (COP) and the Deputy Chief of Patrol are former
Los Angeles Police Department employees. Both developed experience in policing
models such as HICOPP. The COP provided oversight of the housing development in
East Los Angeles and the Deputy Chief lead the Gang Impact Team where high intensity
patrol strategies and community partnerships were utilized.

NATIONAL RELATIONSHIP TO SUPPORT HICOPP:

The BPD is a member of the National Public Safety Partnership (PSP); consequently, the
BPD has already solicited the cooperation of other partners in the PSP to bring intensive
training and technical assistance to assist the BPD and HABD in enhancing public safety
in the Birmingham Housing Developments. The partners include but are not limited to
the Office of Justice Programs, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, the
United Marshall Services and others.

PROBLEM:
The City of Birmingham has seen a rise in certain aspects of violent crime, particularly
homicides, over the last five years. In 2014, the city approached a near historic low of 59
deaths. Within a year, the homicides number had jumped dramatically. In the last three
years, the number of homicides totaled 291. Many of the homicides have occurred in the
housing development or are in close proximity to them. These acts of violence threaten
the calm and stability of our neighborhoods. These critical incidents all manmade bring
instability and uncertainty to all communities. The emotional ramifications of these
incidents continue to be felt by the community members long after the police have left,
and the crime tape has been removed.

These incidents require the BPD to forge new partnerships with the HABD, the housing
residents, as part of a comprehensive strategy to prevent and stop the violence.

2
 BIRMINGHAM POLICE DEPARTMENT
Plan To Provide Police Services for the Housing Authority in the City of Birmingham
Community Safety Partnership - High Intensity Community Oriented Police Patrol
April 2019

Year Homicides
2014
2015
2016
2017
59
76
91
99
G un violence in particular, has created a great

concern among residents in many housing developments

2018 101 across the county just as in the City of Birmingham. In
2018, the BPD removed 2,391 firearms from the City
which included many of the housing developments or communities adjacent to them.
Since January 1, 2019, housing residents reported 425 crimes, almost ten percent of the
city’s crime with Marks Village alone reporting 79 aggravated assaults followed by
Morton Simpson Village with 73.

GOALS:
The goal of BPD in partnership with HABD is to:

1. Reduce violent crime and the residents’ and communities‘ perception of a lack of
safety in and around the twelve housing developments,
2. Improve community relations with law enforcement, through increased cultural
competency and improved trust, and
3. Improve the working relationship between BPD and HABD by working together
to improve housing conditions for HABD residents.

3
 BIRMINGHAM POLICE DEPARTMENT
Plan To Provide Police Services for the Housing Authority in the City of Birmingham
Community Safety Partnership - High Intensity Community Oriented Police Patrol
April 2019

ACTION PLAN:
To reduce violence in the HABD, requires a multi-dimensional approach. This strategy
is designed to address the specific issues in the Birmingham housing development
communities similar to the strategies that were tailored and used in other jurisdictions
across the nation with success. The multi-dimensional approach incorporates
Prevention, Enforcement, Alignment, Collaboration and Technology. A review of
the Birmingham Mayor’s Office of PEACE and Policy, a strategy for peace: 2019 to
2023, identified a specific blue print that the BPD will used to enhance safety, security
and the welfare of residents.

RE-CREATION OF HIGH INTENSITY COMMUNITY ORIENTED

POLICE PATROL:

The BPD will establish a BPD HICOPP team for each Program site on a full-time basis
dedicated solely to their assigned development. However, at the discretion of the Patrol
Bureau Commanding Officer, BPD HICIPP teams can be temporarily redeployed in any
of the Program sites to support community activities, or for critical incidents or Citywide
Unusual Occurrences.

Each BPD HICOPP team will be responsible, within existing funding resources and
allocations, for the following duties within the Program site:

 Enforce local, state and federal laws.

 Develop a robust Safe Passage program to secure routes to and from school and
after school activities, including parks and recreational facilities located within
and near the respective housing developments.
 Develop partnerships with key stakeholder, the HABD, Birmingham City Schools
School Resources Officers and administrators, and independent intervention
agencies.
 Coordinate closely with BPD Vice and Narcotics Details.
 Maintain safe public spaces for recreational and enrichment activities.

Joint BPD-HABD Responsibilities

1. The BPD and HABD will assess community safety needs of residents, community
assets and resources and violence dynamics.

2. The BPD and HABD will develop a Community Safety Committee which will
meet no less than one time each month to plan, problem-solve and coordinate
safety strategies. The Committee should be consist of site-specific BPD HICOPP

4
 BIRMINGHAM POLICE DEPARTMENT
Plan To Provide Police Services for the Housing Authority in the City of Birmingham
Community Safety Partnership - High Intensity Community Oriented Police Patrol
April 2019

team member(s), residents, community stakeholders, community safety experts,

and HABD staff.

PREVENTION:
Birmingham Police officers will engage residents before the commission of crime by
working to achieve the goals that follow:

Fostering Relationships that Build Public Trust

 Improve and expand afterschool programs structured around sports, recreation,

and youth development activities in Recreation and Parks facilities. Ensure
program access for youth in and around the surrounding areas, as well as adequate
supervision.

 Identify and connect community members that have been traumatized with both
free and low cost mental health services.

 Increase participation for parents in Safe Passage and Safety collaborative as well
as existing neighborhood safety groups, and facilitate parent participation, not just
within the community based organization, but within their schools and
communities.

 Develop a Community Advisory Group to build leadership capacity within the

community that can advise and eventually provide oversight of the crime
prevention strategy. Include HABD, local BCSD school leadership, local BPD
leadership, and representatives, as well as the community youth and faith-based
leaders, and prevention and intervention service providers.

 BPD will work to stabilize field personnel so that officers working in the focus
area spend sufficient time to build relationship and gain community expertise in
the area by working to reduce the amount of transfers and turnovers.

Assessing Structural or Specific Hot Spots that Lead to Crime

 Conduct multiple Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design sessions in

coordination with HABD and residents as well as youth and families inside and
immediately outside the public housing complex in order to identify actionable
neighborhood improvement projects and involve relevant City departments to
assist the community in implementing the action items. These include broken
street lights and maintenance, graffiti removal, trash and bulky item pick-up,
nuisance properties, improvement of storefronts, animal control, etc.

5
 BIRMINGHAM POLICE DEPARTMENT
Plan To Provide Police Services for the Housing Authority in the City of Birmingham
Community Safety Partnership - High Intensity Community Oriented Police Patrol
April 2019

ENFORCEMENT:
Engaging residents in fostering police-community trust, including the intentional
monitoring of institutional integrity during the enforcement of statutes and the
adjudication of charges. Additionally, enforcement should be targeted to reduce violence
and improved community relations.

Employ Procedural Justice in all Stops

 BPD personnel assigned to the developments will tour the Civil Rights museum to
ensure that they understand that human rights and constitutional rights must be
protected during enforcement actions.

 Officers should inform suspects of the need to investigate the suspected

commission of a criminal offense and enforce traffic laws.

 Officers should express appreciation for a suspect’s cooperation during the course
of an investigatory or traffic stop.

 Ensure coordination between existing suppression efforts to maximize impact.

 Law enforcement officers serving the focus area will attend training designed to
educate them on the role of other government agencies that support the housing
communities.

 Promote linkages to prevention and intervention services guidelines, and ensure

timely responses to safety, security and property concerns.

Strategic Enforcement of Criminal Statutes

 Target residents that are engaged in criminal activity.

 Daily Crime Meeting to evaluate officer effectiveness, and if appropriate,

redeployment of resources to emerging crime issues.

ALIGNMENT OF RESOURCES:

 The BPD will work with other city agencies and other partners to align
government services that work to improve the safety and security of housing
residents. Those partners already include the PEACE and Policy Department,
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, Alcohol
Tobacco and Firearms, and others.

6
 BIRMINGHAM POLICE DEPARTMENT
Plan To Provide Police Services for the Housing Authority in the City of Birmingham
Community Safety Partnership - High Intensity Community Oriented Police Patrol
April 2019

TECHNOLOGY:
The BPD is the process of developing a Real Time Crime Center. The use of
technology will provide BPD with the ability to provide 24 hour monitoring of the
developments.
Leveraging 21st Century Technology to Maintain Safety and Identified Offenders

 The BPD will use a variety of technologies to maintain safety and enhance
security which include but are not limited to:

Advanced Security Cameras License Plate Recognition ShotSpotter

 BPD will use technology to identify crimes, monitor hot spots and track ingress
and egress traffic from the housing developments. The technology will provide
real time crime information and will be analyzed to prevent, arrest and prosecute
violators.

COLLABORATION:
To ensure the successful implementation of the HICOPP several operational
requirements should be met and evaluated.

 The HABD should immediately appoint staff at each development site who will
serve as the lead for the Community Safety Partnerships and serve as the HABD
liaison to BPD and other partners. Collectively, HABD and BPD should organize
community functions with input from residents to slowly build relationships and
gain community trust.

 The PSP will offer on-going training opportunities to HICOPP officers and
housing staff on how to engage the community in a culturally competent and
consistently objective manner with a long-term view of building relationships.

 The PSP or BPD should train all relevant staff, specifically housing
administration, and BPD officers within the developments on the cultural
sensitivity, safety dynamics, and the goals of their role within the Community
Safety Partnership.

7
 BIRMINGHAM POLICE DEPARTMENT
Plan To Provide Police Services for the Housing Authority in the City of Birmingham
Community Safety Partnership - High Intensity Community Oriented Police Patrol
April 2019

 The HABD and BPD should coordinate with the Mayor’s Office of Peace and
Policy to establish a Diversion and Deflection Program for arrest for
misdemeanor offenders that involved interpersonal conflicts.

 The HABD, BPD and the residents must develop consequences for residents that
become involved in criminal activity as part of the principles of Procedurally Just
Policing.1

 The HABD should employ a community resource officer to align and connect
residents with city and county services which will be tracked.

 The HABD and BPD should develop a procedure that can activate real time social
services in critical incidents should such as shootings in the development. Critical
incidents create long term trauma for residents that should be addressed to reduce
violence.

 The HABD and BPD should create a community resources guide for community
members.

RESIDENT ENGAGEMENT:

Creating an opportunity for residents to ensure their own safety

 HABD should make intentional efforts with the full participation and support of
onsite staff to reach as broad a segment of the resident population as possible
including public signs (e.g. banners) that announce events, meetings, and projects.
Particular efforts should focus on immigrant and newly arrived families within the
twelve housing developments and strengthening best practices such as the Block
Captain model.

 The HABD and BPD should form a Birmingham Task Force where residents,
government officials, police and the housing authority meet to address emerging
issues and strategize to resolve ongoing issue impacting the housing communities.

1
The Critical Issues in Policing Series – Reducing Gun Violence: What Works, and What Can Be Done
Now, 2019 and Principles of Procedurally Just Policing, The Justice Collaboratory at Yale School of Law,
2018.

8
 BIRMINGHAM POLICE DEPARTMENT
Plan To Provide Police Services for the Housing Authority in the City of Birmingham
Community Safety Partnership - High Intensity Community Oriented Police Patrol
April 2019

TRAINING OF POLICE OFFICERS ASSIGNED:

The BPD is part of the Public Safety Partnership (PSP) with the Department of Justice.
All police personnel assigned to the HICOPP will received training in the Principles of
Procedurally Just Policing as follows:

 The use of Investigatory Stops and Traffic Stops.

 Use of De-escalation Techniques in All Encounters.

 Bike Patrol.

EQUIPMENT:

 The BPD and HACD should meet and determine what equipment that should be
purchased to effectively police the developments.

 The HACD should identify a location in development for office space for police
officers.

PERSONNEL STAFFING /DEPLOYMENT / FUNDING:

The BPD will staff the housing development with a total of 31 police officer positions.

The HICOPP will be comprised of 31 personnel (1 Lieutenant, 2 Sergeants and 28

officers). Normally, coverage in the development will be comprised of 20 hours a day;
however, flexibility is required to ensure that police cover is effective.

The BPD will share the cost of providing police services to all twelve Program sites at
fifty percent of the salary cost of all personnel. The cost to fund personnel for one
calendar year is One million, Forty Thousand Dollars ($1,040,000).

The BPD is committed to implement the HICOPP and required training, Monday, on July
8, 2019.

Prepared by: Patrol Bureau