'I i comnnybad pofciu Core dOw w uooe "na Owm a tbyJohn MMRE Dowxitown whitby .-as begefltted (rom a new concept In Pol icework behtg undcftaken by Durhiam: Reglon'al Plice Service. Known ,as, 6community based pollcing," the program gives the comïnuity the 'OPPOrtunity- to, have direct contact wlth offlcers pollclng the downarma This style of, po licing, wbicli bas almMay:shown its, success i downtown Oshawa, enubles the police to keep track of people ad faces, wbile receiving. first-hand kaowledge of activities occurrlg in the area. Thre Durham Regional Police says the programi will aflow Police officers and meivbants and residents to "bulU a trusting relationsblp, whicb will evemutally lead to an effective metbod Of problinn solving I the ares." Constable Dan Denyer says it is about personal contact. "This formu of polilg lu about getting back In toucb with the public and being more accuntable tç> the people," hie says. "It lu getting back to the old Urnes, when you kaew the officer wallng the beat by bis first name and you stopped to visît aad talk about wbat was going on.,' Tbe program la Downtown Wbitby wlJ involve two tearas of officers - Denyer and bis partner Tunde Reti and Cliris Kemp and Jun Watson. The two teams work i shlfts and wil patrol thre dowatown area on féot, on bikes snd la cruisers. Ail the officers are entIbuslastic about the program. "'Ibis lu basicaliy wbst 1 Was boping policiag would be like wben 1 joied tic forc," says Reti. "Policework is aboutgctting to krx>w the, people i the area, not just tslklng to themi becagSe Even thlougli tbe community based polling programi ia Downtown, Whltby la sM in lu ts lnfancy,, the responise Ium the merchants and businesses la, the ame bas alredy exceeded expectations. 1I don't« tink anyone co.Uld bave guessed it would b. this ýsucesu ssys Denyer. "People are mlsly takig to it."9 Reti mterjects, "We were expecting it to taire a littie lime for people to any get to know and get involved la thre program. But I don't tliink it is golag ta, ta.ke as long as we expected." While Officers wilî patrol the downtown area, tbere are otber fonctions covered by tbe programi - educaion is also a higb prlority. "Mis type of policing allows us to, explain what policework lu about," explains Denyer. "We can tak ta people one-on-oae and belp tbem onderstand bow the systemi works." Anotiier important part of the progrsm lu the "*commonity based policmng network" set up between thre police and ares businesses. The network works simply on Uic ides that wben an icidlent occurs and Uie police lu called I, Uic merchants start putthig tbe word out about Uic incident - bopefully to prevent it from re- occurring. "It lu about havlag dozens of sets of eyes instead of jost two sets," says Denye. "We cao be forever two steps bebind la an ivestigation," Redi adds. "VJhen you bave everyone out looking, we can zero i on the problemn and put an end ta It" CO.,1«iINUED ON PAGE 4 a m11e abo downtown WhItby. That ls why, we are alo to feeci y . G GO PIZZA AND) SUBS and DOWNTOW wlil present a Ifrge popperonl pizza to one rader. Ai y have to.do le courit the, iutnber of slices