Well, the first stop to answering that question should be this website: http://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/cple/cpc/ccpcp.cfm (Where you will find, at the bottom of the page, that the “City” of Christiansburg … hmmm…. is one of 14 such certified jurisdictions within the State of Virginia. The website also notes that the “City of Christiansburg’s application is in progress at this time. The webpage was last reviewed on June 14, 2010.)
This is the site of the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services that is dedicated to the Certified Crime Prevention Program. You will find a brief history of the project, links to the Manuals used for Certification and Re-Certification.
Then, incentives for localities are discussed including:
- giving the police department preference in state criminal justice grant application process
- a marketing tool for tourists, businesses, conference planners, and people considering relocating to the region
- citizens in Certified Crime Prevention Communities can be eligible for discounts on insurance premiums (you’ll need to contact your agent about this)
Next is a lit of the eligibility requirements that must be met in order to be in the program. These are pretty much self explanatory and fall upon the police department to fulfill.
Then to the really interesting part. There are 12 Core Community Safety Elements Needed to Qualify: 9direct from the website:
- Development of a local community crime prevention/community safety council or coalition.
- A DCJS-certified crime prevention specialist assigned to crime prevention duties in the law enforcement agency.
- A neighborhood watch program with training and documented support of watches.
- Community policing or a crime control planning process.
- Organized distribution of community safety information (literature, videos, and Internet resources) to citizens.
- An identifiable staff person or planning committee trained to conduct community security and safety assessments of at-risk neighborhoods and businesses.
- Functional crime analysis capability.
- Identifiable staff person or persons trained to conduct school safety assessments/audits (applicable only to jurisdictions operating schools).
- A business watch program with training and documented support of watches.
- Access to a victim/witness services program.
- A delinquency prevention program targeting at-risk youth.
- Local law enforcement agency must either be accredited or seeking accreditation from the Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission (VLEPSC) or CALEA.
Then there is a huge list of Optional Community Safety Elements of which a minimum of 7 is needed to comply. (from the website)
- Class Action, DARE or a similar school-based drug-abuse prevention program
- McGruff House program
- Employee Watch program
- TRIAD Program
- National Night Out
- Crime Solvers/Stoppers
- Gun safety program
- Crime prevention newsletter
- School resource police officer
- Annual crime prevention awards
- Campus crime prevention outreach
- Crime prevention speaker’s bureau
- Domestic violence response program
- Inter-agency code enforcement team
- School violence prevention curriculum
- Cooperative agreements between jurisdictions around crime/community safety issues
- Crime prevention in public housing
- Contact list and process for crime prevention liaison with community leaders and groups
- “Zero tolerance” policies in schools
- Fatherhood responsibility/accountability initiative
- YAADAP
- Truancy prevention initiatives
- School crime lines
- Pre-trial corrections program
- Any other programs deemed appropriate by the New Partnership Commission for Community Safety
There are links to the Certified Crime Prevention Community Program Manual and the Certified Crime Prevention Community Re-Certification Guidelines that have a lot of information as well.
If you dig around on the Town of Christiansburg website, you can find a page for the Police Department that provides information specific to the programs offered to citizens. In addition to the 12 required programs, they offer DARE, TRIAD, Gun Safety, School Resource Officer, Interagency Code Enforcement, Domestic Violence Program, and Project Lifesaver.
For further information on any of these programs or some of the additional programs you would like to see offered, Contact the Police Department and speak with Sgt. Kevin Tucker.
If you are interested in finding out how this might save you money on your insurance, you will need to contact your insurance agent.
Please take some time to check out these resources.
