Overview
The Washington State Institute for Community Oriented Policing (WSICOP) at Washington State University Spokane was formed in 1991 as a partnership between the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, the Washington Criminal Justice Training Commission, and the WSU Spokane Criminal Justice Program to advance community oriented policing in Washington State.
Email wsicop@wsu.edu for more information.
Mission
The mission of the Washington State Institute for Community Oriented Policing (WSICOP) is to broker relevant community policing training programs to community members, police and/or other government officials that will provide technical assistance to law enforcement agencies, and to conduct research on the implementation and results of community oriented policing.
WSICOP is a joint effort of Washington State University, the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, and the Washington Criminal Justice Training Commission. It serves as the vehicle for statewide implementation of community policing. WSICOP is centered at WSU Spokane, where it can electronically connect via interactive television equipped classrooms with any of the several Washington Higher Education Telecommunication System sites.
Community Oriented Policing
Community policing has transitioned from the buzz-word of the 1980s to the way of doing business for state, local and tribal police organizations in the new millennium. While that “way of doing business” may vary from one location to another, community policing simply is a philosophy of operations that involves three central premises.
First: partnerships between the police and the public they serve; partnerships
in which the role of the police and the public for preventing crime and improving public order is a shared
responsibility.
Second: problem solving; systematic and joint efforts aimed at reducing the root causes of crime and addressing the kinds of issues that resulting police calls for service.
Finally: organizational change; changing the core and the culture of the organization is such manners as it supports, rewards and properly prepares its employees for engaging in partnership building and problem solving behaviors.
After three decades of implementation, more and more communities share a common belief that this manner of policing is the best way of doing business.
Contacts
Michael Erp
Executive Director
E-mail: erpmj@wsu.edu
Telephone: 509.358.7951
Rachel Young
Administrative Assistant
E-mail: reyoung@wsu.edu
Telephone: 509.358.7950
Mailing Address
WSICOP
WSU Spokane
PO Box 1495
Spokane, WA 99210-1495