Civilians Come to Aid of Police in Community Unit

Almost on a daily basis, Shawn Tarman picks the locks of cars in Upper Moreland Township.

Far from engaging in any criminal activity, Tarman picks the locks of unfortunate Upper Moreland residents who leave their keys inside their vehicles as a free service of the .

“Sometimes, we may get two or three calls a day,” she said.

Tarman is part of the new Community Service Unit of the UMPD—a unit entirely staffed with civilians. 

The department’s chief, Thomas Nestel, formed the unit in September 2010 as a move toward policing efficiency within the department and, subsequently, the community.

Tarman’s official title through the new unit is Community Service Responder (CSR). As a CSR, her role is two-fold in that she helps with administrative tasks at police headquarters and responds to lower-priority residential calls—such as car lockouts, which happen daily.

“We can do the service end of it,” Tarman said of her CSR position. “And, it frees [sworn officers] to do actual criminal law enforcement.”

Tarman said going out into the community as a civilian and helping with actual police work is an exciting prospect she never would have considered possible before the creation of the Community Service Unit.

“My expectations will only get bigger as the community finds out what we do,” she said.

When Tarman joined the UMPD in March of 2003, she joined as a civilian police dispatcher. A few years later, she became the department’s only animal control officer.

According to Nestel, before the creation of the Community Service Unit, there were several civilian positions within the department that were exclusively single-purposed.

“There was quite a bit of specialization,” Nestel said.

With the exception of an animal control officer, the civilian specialization jobs were mostly administrative, jobs which Nestel described as the behind-the-scenes work that goes into running a police department.

Such work included a detective’s secretary, a services officer and dispatch duties. Dispatch duties encompass several responsibilities, such as greeting visitors at police headquarters, clerical work and monitoring prisoners.

When the UMPD moved from township police dispatchers to join a in August 2010, Nestel saw a chance to reorganize the police department’s civilian elements.

“I felt that we could have been more effective than we had been,” Nestel said, “and provide a broader variety of services, and to have more impact in assisting the patrol officers.”

Before the creation of the Community Service Unit, Nestel negotiated with police union officials.

Nestel gave credit to the Police Benevolent Association, which did not participate in union negotiations, but also did not impede the creation of the all-civilian Community Service Unit.

This may have been a concern to the association, Nestel said, as the unit may have been seen as taking jobs away from police officers.

“If I tried this in Philadelphia, it would have immedietly been begrieved by the Fraternal Order Of Police, and the claim would have been that we were taking away police officers' jobs ... because you are having civilians do some of the police work” Nestel said.

He continued, “What I have explained is that we're not losing jobs, what we're doing is giving the patrol officers more time to do the work that, number one, they want to be doing, and number two, what we want them to be doing."

As part of the agreement with the police union bargaining agents, which represented the UMPD civilian staff, the CSR positions would only be offered to current civilian employees of the department, which is why the unit is made up of the seven veteran civilian staff members of the UMPD.

The unit itself has also piqued the interests of regional law-enforcement agencies, as, according to Nestel, it is the first of its kind in the area. There are also highly-trained civilians helping to do police work in California and Florida.

With the creation of the Community Service Unit, each civilian staff member's administrative specialized job in the department was taught to each of the new unit members.

CSRs received further training conducted both outside the department and by township fire police and UMPD police supervising officers. Training topics included traffic control, police report writing, review of crime prevention surveys, how to handle hostile situations, and how to open locked cars.

CSRs divide their days with everything from administrative work to taking turns  responding to calls and patrolling.

“I want to make it clear that they are a close part of this department,” Nestel said. “And, they are a part of our patrol function.”

Although CSRs are highly trained in certain types of police work, they are not armed and not expected to engage in hostile physical situations.

The Community Service Unit has two vehicles with yellow lights on their roofs. Both vehicles are converted squad cars, one of which was once the department’s animal control vehicle.

“They’re mobile Town Watches,” Nestel said, referring to the department’s vacation home-watch program. “It’s got tremendous potential.”

Nestel plans to expand the community engagement of the CSRs in the near future, focusing on individual neighborhoods and providing crime-prevention presentations.

The CSR will also assist the Upper Moreland School District in its truancy enforcement.

Nestel forsees that the number of anti-drug and crime presentations given in the township’s schools will increase as CSRs take over for patrol officers who currently conduct such presentations.

“Ultimately, I would like to see the community calling and requesting the services of the CSR,” Nestel said.

For more information, visit the Upper Moreland Police Department website.