City of Clearwater, Florida:

The Community and its History of Community Policing

Interactive Community Television

The Police Department’s live, interactive BlueLine CPD cable television program informs Clearwater citizens of crime and crime trends in their neighborhoods using tools such as the Geographic Information System (GIS) and automated community notification system. Blueline, which is hosted by Chief of Police Sid Klein, informs residents about what the Police Department is doing and gives them a chance to give the department input. In each episode of the program, Chief Klein takes calls from residents, shows pictures of people charged with prostitution and soliciting, and honors officers who have done exemplary community policing work.

Clearwater residents are informed when an upcoming episode of Blueline will feature their neighborhood by way of the department’s new computerized autodialer system. In January 1998, Clearwater installed a $32,000 autodialer system at police headquarters which allows the department to contact 1,200 residents by telephone in an hour and give each resident a 30-second message about an emergency, crime in their neighborhood, or upcoming public meetings. The autodialer has rapidly proven to be one of the most effective new technological tools to assist Clearwater is implementing its community policing strategy.

Next: 1999 IACP Community Policing Award