This pillar focuses on the importance of community policing as a guiding philosophy for all stakeholders. Community policing emphasizes working with neighborhood residents to co-produce public safety. Law enforcement agencies should, therefore, work with community residents to identify problems and collaborate on implementing solutions that produce meaningful results for the community. Specifically, law enforcement agencies should develop and adopt policies and strategies that reinforce the importance of community engagement in managing public safety. Law enforcement agencies should also engage in multidisciplinary, community team approaches for planning, implementing and responding to crisis situations with complex causal factors.

Examples of the ways the police department demonstrates best practices in community policing and crime reduction

• Officers are encouraged to visit with the public during their shifts by stopping at schools, daycares, businesses, neighborhoods and parks to get to know the community. Patrol officers are assigned districts annually to help strengthen these relationships and strengthen outcomes.
• Outreach groups and events are supported by the department, including National Night Out, Basketball in the Park, Coffee with a Cop, Fishing with a Cop, Skateapalooza, Cops ‘n’ Kids Holiday Shopping, IFTAR dinner, safety camp, Toys for Tots, Canadian Pacific Holiday Train, Backpacks for Kids, St. Louis Park Adult Options in Education and the New Americans Academy.
• A community engagement program at the police department that coordinates with the city.
• A committed partnership with our domestic abuse advocate partner, Cornerstone, to provide safety and services during a crisis, develop long-term strategies and access to numerous programs.
• Community relationships are fostered through programs like the department's Citizens’ Police Academy, human rights commission (HRC), multicultural advisory committee (MAC), police advisory commission (PAC), St. Louis Park Adult Options in Education, neighborhood associations, retail business associations, new driver education and many more.
• Information management meetings are held on a weekly basis with department stakeholders and other departments to leverage opportunities, improve quality of life issues and identify crime trends and solutions.
• The department partners with other law enforcement agencies to prepare regional response strategies, solve crimes and deliver community outreach programs.
• The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) is used to assist with critical incidents and planned city events.
• A public safety information specialist helps identify crime trends, crime patterns and target locations; aid in complex investigations; and develop crime prevention and public safety programs.
• The department regularly works with the Community Outreach for Psychiatric Emergencies (COPE) program and leverages a full-time clinician during critical incidents when appropriate.
• The department runs a chaplaincy program for both community and department members in need.
• Social media and other public awareness platforms are used to provide awareness and prevention tips on current crime trends and general safety.
• The department partners with Hennepin County to bring a licensed senior social worker into the police department to work directly with officers and supervisors, based on a short-term case management model, to identify individuals in need of services and help with mental illness. This pilot program, developed in collaboration with Hennepin County and other cities in the area, has resulted in almost 100 case reviews in 2020 for St. Louis Park.
• Youth are provided leadership skill development and community service opportunities through our Police Explorers program.
• Board membership on the Minnesota Organized Retail Crime Association (MNORCA).
• An internal system was developed that supports our participation in the Northstar Juvenile Diversion Program.