Mostly clear. Hot. Low 68F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..

Mostly clear. Hot. Low 68F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.

I try to keep these columns upbeat. I try to focus on the positive, to focus on good news in our community.

So when I tell you that at last count, Norman police staffing was some 24 officers below authorized, you may think I’ve gone over to the dark side.

I may be off by a number or two, but this staffing shortage is real. Four officers just graduated from the 60th Police Academy 60; these officers are training on-the-job with qualified officers and are some months away from going on patrol on their own.

Six new cadets just began Academy 61 and will graduate next year. But, like Luke in “Star Wars,” I’m not ready for the dark side.

I want to talk about how the Norman Police Department is meeting this staffing challenge, and I see some innovation in practice.

NPD is keeping PACE, an acronym for Proactive Community Policing. More than just a cute play on words, PACE is (in my opinion) what it claims to be: a proactive approach to addressing crime in Norman.

A few weeks ago, I sat down with PACE officers, and got a sense of what they’re about. I then spent a very long day riding along to experience PACE “on the street.” I was impressed.

PACE officers maintain an actual clearing house for information. In their office, they maintain an active list of both county and municipal warrants on individuals.

They physically post all available information on the subjects of these warrants, and update these postings as new information becomes available. They also post tips on current criminal activities, many called in by concerned citizens.

“Tip boards” are maintained by patrol areas, or beats. This means that a non-PACE officer assigned to “Baker Beat,” for example, can stop by the office for the latest information on activities on his or her beat.

This information has been key to a number of arrests, both by patrol officers, and by detectives working longer-term cases.

My terminology — but in this sense, PACE is a force-multiplier, helping to overcome existing staffing shortages.

I mentioned a long day riding along. Long, yes, but educational. The day began at 6:30 a.m. with a brief review of information posted in the PACE office, then off to some old fashioned surveillance.

PACE officers had gotten a tip abut a known drug dealer at a certain address. We proceeded to that address and sat for about two hours, watching for any activity.

During our stay, a neighbor came by, and we explained our mission. That neighbor liked the idea, but had a question about ownership of a piece of property adjacent to his own.

Though this had nothing to do with our surveillance, Norman’s finest called in to police dispatch and were able to satisfy that neighbor’s request (great community relations, at no cost!).

After about two hours, we moved on to several other locations, just watching. During the course of the morning and early afternoon, we took several calls that would otherwise have been responded to by shorthanded beat cops.

During the day, I learned about a case closed the day before where tips led to the arrest to two juveniles who had trashed the house of a teacher and single mom (I saw pictures of the damage; disgusting!).

Not only did PACE capture the culprits, but in the process discovered that the aforementioned juveniles had also been responsible for a number of car thefts. Off to juvenile detention they went.

Surveillance can be boring, but it can also pay off. Such a dividend came late in the afternoon. We spotted a vehicle driven by a female known to PACE officers because of an open warrant. We stopped the vehicle and confirmed the identity of its occupant.

She was indeed subject to a Cleveland County warrant and was taken to jail, but not before a substance confirmed to be meth was found in her vehicle.

The meth was weighed, and confirmed to be in excess of 40 grams, which is a felony. Not a bad day’s work — getting a known criminal and a significant amount of meth off the street.

It’s been my privilege to see our police in action. With staffing shortages, response times by beat cops may be longer, and dwell times at certain calls may be shorter because calls for service seem never-ending.

But PACE is helping to meet the challenges facing the department.

Bill Scanlon is a former Ward 6 city councilor who volunteers in support of the Norman Police Department and Norman Fire Department, and serves multiple city committees. Prior to his work in Norman, Scanlon served 26 years in the U.S. Air Force — where he last worked as chief of mission analyses under the assistant chief of staff for the Air Force, Studies and Analyses at the Pentagon — and worked for Northrop Grumman in Washington, D.C.

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