Town Safety

Alliance for Safer Communities

 

Allegan City Police Department

Phone: (616) 673-2115

E-mail: police@accn.org

Contacts: Patrolman Jim Watson, Peggy Milbocker

Region: Allegan County

Mission Statement

A partnership to promote safer communities for the citizens of Allegan County through education, enforcement and the criminal justice system.

 

Coalition Background

The Alliance for Safer Communities is a volunteer group of individuals representing various backgrounds and professions who are committed to making Allegan County a safer place to live, work, and visit. The coalition is comprised of business persons, private individuals, social services, law enforcement, prosecutors, and other professionals. They meet the third Thursday of each month.

 

ACTS Information

The coalition conducted the ACTS in fiscal year 1999 in the City of Allegan, and then in fiscal year 2001 in the entire county of Allegan.

According to the ACTS, top deficits in Allegan County are substance abuse, drinking and driving, seat belt nonuse, and traffic crash injuries. In addition, crash profile data from 1995-1999 revealed the county ranks high when compared to other counties in Michigan in the areas of 15-17 year old crash profile, 21-34 year old crash profile, alcohol related crash frequencies, and unbelted crash frequencies.

Asset scores were highest in the enforcement category. According to ACTS results, the community perceives a strong presence of standard alcohol enforcement, enforcement campaigns, enforcement coordination, and enforcement technologies. Asset scores were lower in the categories of behavior change campaigns and policies assets, and education and training assets.

 

Challenges

Allegan County has strong enforcement assets, however community support for law enforcement efforts is low. In addition, law enforcement has felt little support from judges in the county.

 

Strategies as a Safe Communities Learning Laboratory

In February 2002 the Safe Communities Team, along with Resource Consultant Rob Alway, met with the coalition to propose and describe the learning laboratory project. The coalition agreed to participate in the project and identified two coordinators, Patrolman Jim Watson and Peggy Milbocker, both from the Allegan City Police Department. Patrolman Watson is the key contact; Peggy volunteers her services for the coalition on her own time.

The coalition then went through an organizing process which resulted in the development of a mission statement, organizational chart, and committee structure. Each committee has a chairperson who reports committee activity at coalition meetings. The four committees of the coalition are education, enforcement, judicial, and finance.

In addition, the coalition has developed projects in four action categories. The action categories with their respective projects are as follows:

Business/Outreach: A list of the "top 20" employers were identified for the county, including a key contact person at each business. An eventual goal is to elicit local corporate contributions to support the Alliance as an established institution within Allegan County. The coalition will also research other means of financial support to sustain themselves and their activities.

Assessment: Pre and post safety belt observation surveys will be conducted over Summer 2002 holiday weekends. Click It or Ticket activities will be promoted on an ongoing basis. The Project Director for the Drive Michigan Safely Task Force was contacted to avoid duplication of efforts and to offer the coalition’s assistance.

Communication: A coalition leadership survey is being conducted to focus on coalition strengthening and leadership development. Follow up surveys will be conducted to track progress of the coalition’s internal processes.

Local media will be contacted to promote the Alliance in local newspapers. In an effort to improve relations with Judges, thank you letters will be published in local papers to create a positive image for the Judges in the community. The Community Prevention Service Officer at the Michigan State Police Post, Ray Hoffman, was asked to play an important role in this project and to facilitate communications between the law enforcement agencies and others.

Programming:

  • In fiscal year 2002, OHSP funding was allocated to the Allegan Police Department to purchase a seatbelt convincer to address the safety belt deficit. The convincer will be available to use as an educational component at community events.
  • The Alliance collaborated with the Drive Michigan Safely Task Force in Allegan County to organize Click It or Ticket activities over Memorial Weekend. Patrolman Watson worked with youth volunteers to conduct seat belt observation studies before and after the activities to measure seat belt usage.
  • The coalition will provide presentations at service and rotary clubs to promote citizen buy-in. The presentations will provide an overview of Allegan County’s traffic crash profile and current coalition activities designed to address the profile.
  • The coalition will participate in a customized training on alcohol and impaired driving issues. The training will be provided by FACE-Truth and Clarity on Alcohol and was held September 2002.
  • Law enforcement agencies in the county have collaborated to develop an intensive multi-jurisdictional traffic initiative in an effort to reduce the number of traffic fatalities in Allegan County. Titled F.A.S.T. (Fatal Accident Suppression Team), the initiative includes:

Education and Marketing

    • Through driver education instruction
    • Demonstrations using the seatbelt convincer
    • Development of public service announcements
    • Development of a social marketing campaign – radio, television, print media, and billboards
    • Educating patrol officers on the importance of strict enforcement

Targeted Enforcement Efforts

    • Research, analysis, and identification of areas with high traffic fatality rates
    • Targeted enforcement in identified high violation areas
    • Uphold zero tolerance enforcement during FAST operations
    • Notify community of areas where FAST will be operating and the violations to be targeted through media

Early Successes

  • Community awareness of FAST is increasing rapidly. Prior to local community events, FAST puts out a press release announcing that they will be present at the event, and that their policy is zero tolerance for alcohol and seat belt offenses. Law enforcement officers who were part of a September FAST initiative overheard many patrons noting that "FAST is here" and that they would be more cautious about their alcohol consumption.
  • Part of the FACE training in September involved the coalition conducting an assessment particular to factors that relate to alcohol problems in the community. Through group activities the participants identified:
    • How alcohol problems present themselves in Allegan County
    • Programs currently in place
    • Contributing factors (to alcohol problems)
    • Sources for data
    • Target audiences for social marketing campaigns

The coalition will use the information for action planning in regard to alcohol issues in the county.