LIMA, OH (WLIO) - Monday at the regular Lima City Council meeting, the topic of community policing was at the forefront of city councilors.
Chief of Lima Police, Angel Cortes, addressed upcoming changes to community policing within Lima city limits during the report of officials at City Council. Currently, the Lima Police Department utilizes a model called pinpoint policing, and this particular model incorporates computer generated target hotspots within Lima for officers to respond. The problem with this model is that resources are being pulled out of neighborhoods, and there is simply not enough officers to serve both the target hotspots and neighborhoods. Consequently, Chief Cortes proposed a new method of community policing tonight and elaborated on what this method entails for Lima.
"So, we are going to get away from that model of policing and go back to district policing where the officers are permanently assigned to an area. We have a primary and secondary officer, and those officers are responsible for that area and only that area. And everyday they work, they are in that area, and the purpose, of course, is to get the people who live there to know their officers and get the officers to know the people that they are servicing in the area," says Angel Cortes, Chief of Police, Lima Police Department.
Additionally with gun violence a significant issue in Lima, Cortes also urges people to step up and provide any information to officers to ensure justice is served and criminals are taken into custody before another crime is committed. Lastly, after some talk about the safety of the downtown, Cortes wanted to reassure everyone that Downtown Lima is one of the safest places in the city and encourages everyone to visit downtown for what they have to offer.
