Community Development
for Crime Control


Building Our Way Out of Crime


COPS National Conference
Washington, DC
July 29, 2006 8:30-10:00 am



Panelists 
Lisa Belsky 
Community Development 
Expert, LISC, NYC 

Kimiko Black Gilmore Director, Community 
Relations, Swope Community 
Builders, Kansas City, MO 

Tag Gleason 
Commander, Violent Crimes 
Section, Seattle Police Dept. 

Bill Geller Director, Geller & Associates, 
IL



Topics 

. Whats the big idea? The strategy 

. Do Cops Care About Neighborhood Blight & Disinvestment? 

. Replacement of Crime Hot Spots with Community Assets 
Some quick snapshots 

. Can Police spur & shape development solutions to crime, disorder & fear? 
A closer look @ Seattle & Kansas City 

. Obstacles & opportunities for police-developer collaboration 


Whats the big idea? 
A STRATEGIC ALLIANCE 
Community
Developers


Replace 
Liabilities with 
Assets 
+ 



Police, Prosecutors 
&
Other Law Enforcement


Control Crime, 
Disorder & 
Fear 
= 


Arresting Blight + 
Developing Safety 
 

If your strategic alliance reaches critical 
mass, you get interaction effects 
.Reducing crime spurs investment & development.
.Development converts crime hot spots to assets.
.Crime control & development get easier.


. 
+ 
1 
= 3 


Do Cops Care About Neighborhood 
Blight & Disinvestment? 
Do cops 
care 
about?  

Image of littered underpass


Do cops care about?...

Image of littered woods


Do cops 
care 
about?  

Image of broken window

Do cops care about?...

Image of rundown urban area


How physical locations fit into crime theory 
Image of crime traingle

LOCATIONS
(Dens of Iniquityand Inequity)

OFFENDERS VICTIMS
(Ravenous Wolves) (Sitting Ducks)

VICTIMS
(Sitting Ducks)


Successful Replacement of Crime 
Hot Spots with Community Assets 
some quick snapshots of success 


South Bronx: From burned out rubble...

Image of rundown urban area (South Bronx)


South Bronx: and children with dim prospects

Image of rundown urban area (South Bronx)


South Bronx: 
to family homes & bustling businesses

Image of new homes
Image of clean urban street corner 

New homes on on Charlotte Street
Thriving bodegas & other small businesses


South Bronx: 
In the development pipeline 
Image of new apartment building plans
Melrose/Morrisania Corridor, South Bronx



Minneapolis: American Indian Neighborhood 
Development Corp. builds the Community 
Safety Center 

. An open-air drug market becomes a thriving 
commercial plaza, including a police substation 

Image of police substation


Boston: Uphams Corner Revitalization

. A CDC buys & renovates buildings at a blighted, 
crime ridden, commercial intersection & makes 
loans to support successful new shops there 

Image of street corner before revitalization
Image of street corner after revitalization


South Los Angeles: Vernon-Central CSI 

. gang activity, drug sales, prostitution,
public drinking and graffiti 

. 22% of city's gang population lives in South LA (3% of total population)

Image of workers cleaning graffiti off wall


South Los Angeles: Outcomes 

. Removed 250,000 sq. feet of graffiti in target 
area in first 4 months 
 
. Reported crime down 56%, arrests up 18%

. New shops opened & existing businesses expanded 

Image of new store
Won LAPD crime prevention award



Replacing nuisance properties:
Revitalization of Payne Avenue in St. Paul

Notorius strip club redeveloped into a restaurant & community meeting place

Before and after images of street corner revitalization


policing + development spurs crime drops 
Revitalization of Payne Avenue in St. Paul 

. 26% drop in Part 1 crimes & 25% drop in Quality of 
Life Calls for Service (QLC) on Payne Ave. 

. Target area improved more than comparable areas

Bar graph of St. Paul Minnesota crime rate 1998-2001



I get it: 
Blight BAD
Development GOOD

What do you want ME to do about it?

Hang on to your utility belt


Can police spur & shape development 
solutions to crime, disorder and fear? 

A CLOSER LOOK AT A FEW CASES
where cops made a difference


Seattle:
Blackberry Jungle & Violent Club into Pacific Rim Center Great Restaurant 

Kansas City
Dump & Danger Zone into H&R Block Call Center + New Shopping Plaza 


Seattle International District: Blackberry Jungle 
BEFORE: Dangerous transient camp

Image of littered underpass
Image of transient camp in woods
A Block-long mess & hiding place for offenders & stolen property


Blackberry Jungle: midway 
Previously immovable Zoning Obstacles 
meet the irresistible force of Officer Tom 
Doran, supported by Capt. Tag Gleason, Chief Norm Stamper 
& their CDC partners 

Image of construction zone


Seattle International District: Blackberry Jungle 
AFTER: A community asset

Image of police officers and community members
Image of new commercial building
A Block-long commercial & residential facility + jobs for residents


Seattle International District: 
Violent Club Converted to Cambodian Restaurant 
Image of new restaurant
Better Food + jobs for residents + No More Violent Crimes



Seattle International District: 
Partners: Officer Tom Doran & Aileen Balahadia 
Images of new restaurant opening
Celebration Dinner @ Phnom Penh + Tom & Aileen Explain It



Kansas City, MO: Transformation of Blue Parkway 

. CDC cleans up hazardous areaillegal dumping & stray 
animalsto clear the way for 

Images of littered lot clean-up



. 160,000 square foot commercial center on the site, including a


Kansas Citys Blue Parkway (continued) 
Image of planned commerical building


Kansas Citys Blue Parkway (continued) 
 police substation & workout Facility 

Cost to PD? $0

Image of police substation architectural plans


Kansas City: Swope Parkway Redevelopment 

. H&R Block Service & Technology Center developed on a previous 
dump site & crime hot spot 

. A KCPD captains role 

. Created 300 jobs and brought a $14.2 million 
payroll to an underserved minority community 

Image of new commercial building


Kansas City: Scops of Swope Community Builder's Redevelopment

Image of Kansas City's Swope Community revitalization plan


Obstacles & Opportunities 
Opportunities & Obstacles for police-developer collaboration 


Is policing easier if developers help? 
What do CDC assets mean for police? 

. Brick and mortar development 
. Property management 
. Job creation and job training/placement 
. Social services or partnerships with service providers
. Youth programs 
. Advocacy and political action 
. Community and merchant organizing 
. Attracting private investment 



The gold standard of police  developer collaboration 

. A strategic alliance of a Police Dept. & CDC(s) 

.Police & CDCs help each other with CORE business 

. Rhode Island Development expert advises the cops on 
priorities & tactics 



The gold standard of police  developer collaboration 

Development Experts do a Community Development 101 
briefing for police commandersas a foundation for 
synergistic public safety & development 


The gold standard of police  developer 
collaboration 

A police manager reports from his 
police-developer break out group: 

key stakeholders for the blighted site 
cops & developers are planning to address 


The gold standard of police  developer 
collaboration 

.Police & Developers discuss how to spur development that can build-
away crime 

.Police & CDCs are accountable to each other for follow through 


The gold standard of police  developer 
collaboration 

Police & Developers brainstorm priorities & 
protocols for picking local targets to build their 
way out of crime & blight problems 


If this is so good, why cant all the cats do it? 

Partnerships among orgs with unequal power

The gospel according to Woody Allen:

The Lion & the Lamb shall lie down together, 
but the lamb wont get much sleep. 


If this is so good, why dont all the cats do it? 

Challenges to Police-Community Developer 

. Conversations 

. Cooperation 

. Collaboration 



Can a CDC work with the cops without losing its 
own identity & core mission? 

Challenges to Police-
Community Developer 

. Conversations 

. Cooperation 

. Collaboration 


Police-Community Partnerships: 
Some Ideas about overcoming the obstacles 

.  Understand you are in a strategic alliance to bolster 
mission success for all partners

. Behave in a business-like manner: 
--pick achievable short- & mid-term goals; 
--plan & budget 
--hold people accountable for tasks 
--assess progress; etc. 


Police-Community Partnerships: 
Some Ideas about overcoming the obstacles 
. Structure for success 
--paid coordinator 
--co-chairs of program core team 
--agree which decisions will be shared --transition plan to survive staff transfers 

. Communicate often so midcourse corrections can be made 


Police-Community Partnerships: 
Some Ideas about overcoming the obstacles 

. Be efficientdraw on each partners talents as the objectives & tasks dictate 
 
. Be effectivepick winnable battles 

. Be daringas wins accumulate, aim higher 


Police-Community Partnerships: 
Some Ideas about overcoming the obstacles 

. Be generousshare credit 

. Be strategicbuild on successes in a logical sequence as stepping stones to next victories 

. Be awarelearn lessons from partnerships in other citiesthrough CSI & other means 


Lisa Belsky 
lbelsky@liscnet.org 

Kimiko Black Gilmore 
KBlackGilmore@  
Swopecommunitybuilders.org 

Tag Gleason 
Tag.Gleason@ci.seattle.wa.us

Bill Geller 
wageller@aol.com