ILJ has worked with the Tempe, Arizona, Police Department since 1990 to assist in the implementation of a comprehensive community policing effort. Our work has involved four separate but inter-related projects: (1) a comprehensive organizational and management study of the department (1990) for the City of Tempe; (2) an evaluation for the U. S. Department of Justice (DOJ) of Tempe’s community policing efforts to address drug-related crime and problems, including a survey of 700 citizens (1994); (3) an assessment (also for DOJ) of Tempe’s organizational transformation to community policing; and (4) a police department staffing study for the Tempe Office of the City Manager (completed in September 1998). The police staffing study was designed to (1) determine whether the department is appropriately staffed, (2) project staffing needs for patrol and community service officers (CSOs) over the next five years, and (3) make recommendations for handling special events. ILJ analyzed call for service, crime, and workload data covering the prior six years; made comparisons with similar jurisdictions; conducted focus groups to determine sworn and non-sworn department members’ views, and developed a time series model to project the number of patrol officers and CSOs needed each year through 2002.

Community policing in Tempe—designed with ILJ assistance through all four projects—has involved engaging citizens and other agencies to solve problems; decentralizing decisionmaking down to the field services level; improving recruit and in-service training; restructuring and "flattening" the organization; delivering new and enhanced services; and much more.