NCJ Number
214318
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 73 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2006 Pages: 54-55,58-60,63
Date Published
April 2006
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article describes how the police and community cooperated to address public-order problems related to the daily gathering of immigrant day laborers at an intersection in Kansas City, MO.
Abstract
After the failure of traditional police enforcement approaches of aggressive patrol and arrest along with immigration sweeps, police and community members decided that the solution might be in the development of an environment in which behavior could be monitored and controlled, if possible, by the workers themselves. The Kansas City Police Department and the Westside Community Action Network Center developed and monitored a new site (the Day Laborer Center) where the day laborers could gather in a structured environment. A code of behavior was developed to improve the safety and security of the community as well as the employment prospects of the workers and the economic activity of area businesses. Officers who regularly patrolled the site became familiar with the men genuinely interested in finding work as well as those interested in victimizing these men. The honest men seeking jobs helped officers to identify the criminals among them. To prevent workers from continuing to congregate at the old site near a liquor store, two officers were stationed at this site for the first 6 weeks of the new center operation. They encouraged workers who came to the old site to go to the new site in the interest of having a better opportunity to obtain work. Once the labor pool was relocated, employers had to come to the new site, which was located to prevent traffic hazards. After 1 year of operation, 911 calls for service to the neighborhood declined just over 50 percent, and laborers and employers were brought together in an orderly and safe manner.