Tampa police launch 'Signal 87 Summits' to engage community, help residents with questions

Community connections with TPD

Jordan Bowen reports.

TAMPA, Fla. - Tampa police launched a new effort to engage with the community one-on-one and face-to-face. They're known as "Signal 87 Summits," and they held their first meeting.

Local perspective:

No matter the issue or question, sometimes a citizen’s first call is to Tampa police.

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"The gist of it is that we go to a lot of community meetings and sometimes the residents or the business owners or our community partners. Their questions sometimes are not for the police department," Tampa Police Community Partnership Coordinator Jamel Michini said.

Big picture view:

In actuality, that issue or question may be better suited for a number of the city’s other departments, like code enforcement, solid waste or mobility. That's part of the reason why the Tampa Police Department launched the new series of community meetings known as Signal 87 Summits, with "signal 87" being the police code for a community meeting.

"We want to bring all the players into the room. We want to grow as a community. So, we're bringing in the community partners, the community businesses, the community members and TPD, so that we can have the conversation to ensure that we're working well together," Tampa Police Community Outreach Bureau Sgt. Melanee Gardner said.

READ: 3 arrested in S. Tampa DUI crash that severed man’s leg: Police

On Tuesday night, they held their first meeting at the Ragan Park Community Center in sector E. The police department has divided the city up into six sectors with five more bi-monthly meetings planned for each sector.

"They're not only networking with the officers that patrol their area with the other department heads or the other department representatives that also work in their area, but they're also networking with their neighbors," Michini said.

Dig deeper:

Representatives from each city department were present to help answer questions. Some of the biggest topics of discussion were traffic concerns and crime prevention.

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Neighborhood watch groups hope the meetings can offer citizens a direct line of communication between the officers who patrol their neighborhoods.

"A good example is having the police join us in a community cleanup, or come out to one of our socials. I feel just building rapport and trust is key, and I think as long as we have that open communication and trust, I think everything else will fall into place," Ybor Heights Neighborhood Association President Mimi Martinez said.

The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13's Jordan Bowen.

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