City of Clearwater, Florida:

The Community and its History of Community Policing

Weed and Seed (1996 - 2001)

In 1996, Clearwater was designated an official Weed and Seed site, and once again, North Greenwood was the beneficiary of more proactive programs. As part of Clearwater’s overall strategy to bring community policing to all areas of the city, the Weed and Seed target area was designed to include not only North Greenwood, but the bordering neighborhoods of South Greenwood and Old Clearwater Bay as well. In 1999, the downtown "gateway" neighborhood of the city was also made a part of the Weed and Seed target area.

The Weed and Seed Job Skills Training Center and Computer Learning Lab were part of Clearwater’s strategy aimed at revitalizing its Weed and Seed area. Pinellas County School Board provided GED programming and basic job skills training for the center. The Job Skills Training Center program included skills training, training on how to look for a job, how to complete applications, how to write resumes, job readiness training, peer counseling, networking, and basic education. Center staff conducted tutoring sessions coordinated with a local athletics program and furnished assistance to local community groups in newsletter preparation and database development. Other activities included practice for High School Competency Testing and research for educational financial aid.

The Clearwater Police Department also participated in the Prenatal and Early Childhood Nurse Home Visitation Program with Pinellas County Health Department. This exciting program is a highly acclaimed, well-tested model that improves health and social functioning of low-income first-time mothers and their babies through nurse home visits in the first two years of the child’s life. The program’s positive results indicate its potential for reducing child abuse/neglect, childhood injury, use of welfare, unintended subsequent pregnancies, and involvement of the mother in substance abuse. Community policing teams acted as a resource to the community health nurses for referrals to the Job Skills Training Center and Computer Learning Lab. The nurses also referred applicants to our Jobs for At-Risk Youth Special Initiative Program and the Job Skills Training Center.

Clearwater’s Jobs for At-Risk Youth and Adults program focused on a broad range of employment and training issues for hard-to-serve populations by establishing planning strategies that help form decisions, including maximizing use of community resources through public/private partnerships.

Safehouse, the designated safe haven for Clearwater’s Weed and Seed strategy, operated two locations in the targeted area. The Safehouse program is a neighborhood-based, nonresidential alcohol and other drug treatment center. It also administered a No More Home Alone program for youths suspended from school; coaching is given in the areas of peer pressure, behavioral problems, violence in the classroom, dealing/coping with authority, substance abuse prevention, anger and aggression, and decision making.

Clearwater's initial round of Weed and Seed funding expired on September 30, 2001 however the department has maintained the community steering committee which has continued to meet quarterly. The department was recently awarded new Weed and Seed status effective October 1, 2002 focusing on different neighborhoods and including some very innovative programs and approaches. Information on the new Weed and Seed programs will be published in the Summer of 2002.

Next: Clearwater Homeless Intervention Project