Port Police Officer Earns Leadership Role in Community Policing Group

Officer Jason Bergin attended the annual Wisconsin Association of Community Oriented Police for the first time this year, and walked away as the co-director of the association's District 1.

"I'm pretty big into the community oriented policing," he said, adding that Port Police Chief Richard Thomas is also a big supporter of the initiative.

"(Thomas) believes every one of his officers should have an opportunity to attend this conference," he said.

Community oriented policing focuses on trends within the community: police officers identify the issues or problem areas, collect and analyze data surrounding the problems, and come up with an action plan as their solution to the problem, Bergin explained. The solution may be modified after analyzing how well it is working to fix the problem.

This type of policing fits well with an ongoing initiative of Port Washington Police Department known as problem-oriented policing, he said.

Bergin listed examples of the POP Projects, as the department calls them, that he has been a part of, citing a strong push for cleaning up downtown, making it more appealing to patrons and business owners.

Bergin said he refers to the project as Sweeping Franklin Street. The idea was to use bike patrol and plain-clothed officers to increase the department's presence in the area to address issues such as having open intoxicants in public, littering, disorderly conduct, battery and vandalism — especially during the warmer months.

Bergin, with the help of officer Jerry Nye, started the project in the summer of 2009, but it wasn't long before they realized they were on to something more.

"We didn't realize how broad of an idea we had come across," he said, adding that the program came back in 2010, and will again in 2011.

Bergin's involvement in the POP Projects was partly behind the reason he was sent to the conference this year.

The conference involved a weekend stay at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells, and Bergin said a variety of speakers and informative sessions were offered throughout the weekend.

As co-director of the board, Bergin will help plan the annual conference, as well as a variety of training opportunities in relation with community oriented policing.

Bergin said the association board members, from all parts of the state, meet at the location where the next conference is going to be held at various dates throughout the year.

"It's kind of neat to reach out to the state and see what other agencies are doing," he said.

Thomas, a strong influence behind the POP Projects, said this type of work often comes naturally for his officers.

"Sometimes they don't even know they're doing (problem oriented policing) ... it's just the way they do their work," he said. "To have somebody on the board is great."