20th Anniversary Photo Contest – July Winner
The COPS Office is pleased to feature the July 2015 winner of the Community Policing in Action Photo Contest—the Sarasota (Florida) Police Department. Their winning photo features officers and community members dancing during a local block party in January 2014.
When Sarasota (Florida) Police Chief Bernadette DiPino was notified that one of her officers was met with resistance and intimidation by a crowd of people when sent to arrest a drug suspect, she became very upset. “I couldn’t understand how a community plagued with drugs would do this to an officer,” Chief DiPino said. The story just didn’t sit right with her, and she decided to investigate further to get to the heart of the matter. “I just had a hunch that the neighborhood wasn’t to blame for this.”
She immediately sent officers to the neighborhood of Newtown and instructed them to knock on every single door on one particular street to talk to the residents. What she quickly found out was that the individuals that had intimidated the officer were not welcomed community members. Instead, they were part of a drug-dealing group that inhabited one particular house and had been terrorizing the neighborhood for quite some time. She confirmed this information and then promised the community that the Sarasota Police Department would work closely with them to help them take their neighborhood back.
DiPino stuck to her promise. Just three months later, the department hosted a block party in the Newtown neighborhood, but even that was met with resistance. Local newspapers, community members, and even some police officers questioned her decision to spend time and resources in a neighborhood that seemed hopeless. There had been so much distrust between the community and police officers that it was difficult to gain support, but DiPino pushed forward with her plans. When she sent a local flower-planting service to plant flowers in the Newtown neighborhood, people scoffed at her. Despite that, she continued her efforts and even asked community members to spread the word about the block party. “I just knew this was going to be a success,” she said confidently.
And on that evening in January 2014, DiPino was thrilled by the outcome of all of her planning and commitment. The block party was more than just an evening of food and music—it was about trust-building and making a promise to the community. Officers and community members were able to interact with one another on more personal levels. Neighbors who rarely spent time outside felt safe and comfortable doing so that evening. “There was a woman who had not been outside of her house in twenty years,” DiPino shared. “And another woman told me that she never knew that people cared enough about her to do something like this in her neighborhood.”
DiPino, who became the Sarasota Police Chief on New Year’s Eve in 2012, made taking back this neighborhood a personal mission. “When I spoke to the community that night, I told them that I would take care of the drug dealers and help the community reclaim their neighborhood.” She even told the drug dealers, “I’m warning you—we’re coming for you.”
Thirty days later, the Sarasota Police Department made sweeping arrests in the house that plagued the Newtown neighborhood. “I told them I was coming for them,” she firmly said. Since the arrests, Newtown has seen a great deal of progress. “We have done so much outreach since then. It’s all about building trust and relationships, and it has to be continuous. Just like when you get married, you have to constantly engage to make it work. That’s what we do here in Sarasota.”
The Sarasota Police Department now hosts quarterly community meetings in Newtown; officers participate in the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation and play baseball with neighborhood youth; and DiPino initiated the Stop, Walk, and Talk campaign, which requires officers to get out of their cars for at least one hour a day to engage with the community.
DiPino has served in law enforcement for 30 years, having begun her career in Baltimore County, Maryland. She spent 25 years with the Ocean City (Maryland) Police Department and served as chief there for ten years before joining the Sarasota Police Department. She proudly comes from a family of five generations of police officers.
The COPS Office congratulates the Sarasota Police Department for being one of 12 winners of the COPS Office Community Policing in Action Photo Contest and for its commitment to community policing.
Written with contributions from Chief Bernadette DiPino. Photo courtesy of the Sarasota Police Department.
Najla Haywood
Special Contributor
The COPS Office
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