The Community Interaction Team, along with others from the Santa Clarita Sheriff s Station, also receives some training on tolerance and diversity. In addition to the training from the Los Angeles County Sheriff s Department, the city of Santa Clarita offers diversity training through community dialogue. The Santa Clarita Valley Human Relations Forum offers training to the community. This training involves the viewing of a documentary, The Color of Fear , and an in-depth discussion facilitated by trained diversity counselors. The goal of this training is to educate participants on improving race relations, tolerance, and their respect for diversity.
Criminal activity exists everywhere.
As with any community, there are areas in Santa Clarita that need more attention and specialized programs. Each neighborhood has particular issues and areas that need to be addressed. Santa Clarita has identified certain areas in need and their neighborhood-specific issues. In order to improve the quality of life, the city of Santa Clarita implemented the first Community Interaction Team in October 1997 in the Newhall neighborhood of Santa Clarita. This team was our pilot project and remained in the area for a year.