East Hartford Police Neighborhood Service Plan

The East Hartford Police Department has a rich history of service to the community. Over the last 126 years, our officers have patrolled the streets, maintained law and order, provided service to the community, and worked toward building lasting relationships with those we serve. To that end, the Department is now moving toward building an even more robust connection with those we serve. This endeavor will be taken on with the overall goal of strengthening safety and enhancing service within the community. Many of the aspects of a typical Community or Neighborhood policing plan already exist within the structure of the organization. Under the leadership of Police Chief Scott Sansom, in 2016 the Department reinstituted the Community Outreach Division by creating several part-time Neighborhood Resource Officer (NRO) positions and two full-time Community Service Officer (CSO) positions. The Neighborhood Service Plan will be a catalyst to enhance the existing structure of the Community Outreach Division and spread its reach throughout the organization.

The Focus of the East Hartford Police Neighborhood Service Plan:

• Increase public safety through partnerships and community engagement.
• Enhance communication both within the department and with the community, focusing on transparency through the use of various mediums including social media platforms, while taking language and other communication barriers into consideration.
• Track requests for service and respond in a timely manner.
• Educate the community on both crime and crime fighting practices to increase understanding and awareness and train our officers on how to effectively serve the community.
• Identify problems in the community and develop ways to solve them using the SARA (scanning, analysis, response, and assessment) problem-solving model.
• Make restorative justice, equity, and inclusion a common theme throughout the organization. Utilize the service mindset where an officer’s role is to support and serve the community.
• Supply officers with the sufficient time, resources and support they need to accomplish department goals and objectives.
• Enhanced data collection, sharing and utilization to combat issues through awareness and inform the community.
• Focus on neighborhood responsibility, increased accountability, and holding officers and supervisors responsible for the well-being of the areas in which they are assigned.

The existing eight (8) police Districts have been reconfigured into six (6) Neighborhoods. Each neighborhood will be assigned to a Neighborhood Coordination Lieutenant who will serve as the “Ambassador to the Community.” This Lieutenant will schedule, coordinate, and attend community meetings where problems are defined, actions are outlined, and progress is reported. In addition, they will be responsible for coordinating the resources needed to assist police officers in resolving problems. Click the neighborhood buttons on the left of the screen for more information on the Lieutenant assigned to your neighborhood.