Neighbors sound off at Chief's Citizen Advisory Group Meetings

CHARLESTON - If you have a problem with something in your neighborhood, say parking spillover from nearby businesses, you could take it to City Council and hope it eventually grinds through the slow moving wheels of government, or you could take it to Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen at one of his bi-monthly Citizen Advisory Group Meetings.

"The key is interaction between police and the citizens," Mullen said following his most recent meeting with West Ashley residents. "It's a shared responsibility, everybody plays a part in responding to the problems."

Of course the Charleston Police Department can't fix every problem, but many of the gripes people have are centered on quality of life issues that the department can address to some degree.

For example during the West Ashley meeting last week, one resident voiced concerns over new restaurants moving into existing retail spaces in the Avondale Point Business District without adding more off-street parking, which leads to headaches for residents of adjacent Ashley Forest whose lawns are sometimes damaged.

Due to the existing zoning of the properties, which is for business uses, a new tenant business moving in won't have to add parking because the building has already been approved for a business use, Mullen told her.

But he added that police have stepped up traffic enforcement in the area, especially in the evenings when the bars and restaurants are busiest. Also there are signs up in the neighborhood now near the business district stating parking is forbidden on the residential streets.

"We have extra officers involved there now," Mullen responded. "The traffic unit works it very heavily, very aggressively on DUIs."

Mullen also said he and his officers share the residents' frustration at the perception of a revolving door on the county jail for offenders charged with crimes.

"We have the same problem," he said. "You think you're frustrated? So are we. You have no idea how frustrated officers are when they arrest the same people over and over and they're out of jail before we even finish the paper work."

Mullen also told the assembled West Ashely residents that working with South Carolina Electric and Gas to install additional street lights in nieghborhoods is a good crime deterrant. The department is working with SCE&G on some areas, but if anyone is concerned about their street talking to SCE&G on their own is another option available.

"I'm a big fan of lighting," he said. "SCE&G has been good at working with us but there are always dollars involved."

The meetings are more than just gripe fests in which Mullen and officers try to field questions, they also allow members of various neighborhoods to share information and solutions to problems that crop up in many places.

One neighborhood found success in setting up an email network to rapidly share information among neighbors, their city and county council representatives, police and other officials. That system can provide information on suspicious behavior or events happening in the neighborhood that officers will know about and be able to watch for when they begin their shifts each day.

Mullen is emphatic, the Police Department wants to hear from the citizens it is charged with serving and protecting.

"Please we want you to call us," Mullen said. "If it's a small thing or if it's a big thing. If you call us the officers in the area are aware of the problem, so don't hesitate to call us and let us now there is something going on."

What may seem like a minor thing to the person calling it in can lead to investigative breaks in ongoing cases, or lead to small problems being addressed before they blow up into big problems, he added.

One caveat to the plea for communication from residents though was to use the department's non-emergency phone number (577-7434) if the situation is not an emergency.

The man purpose of the meetings is to build relationships between residents and police officers.

"If people have a problem they know they can come talk to us directly," Mullen said.

The issues Mullen hears about most frequently during these meetings are traffic, speeding in neighborhoods, noise complaints and "snipe" signs - like the ones people will put up advertising that they buy houses.

"Those types of things generally have a bigger day-to-day impact on people than violent crime," he said.

The Citizen Advisory Group Meetings are held once every other month in each of the Police Department's four geographically divided teams. Team 1, which covers the downtown peninsula above Calhoun Street, and Team 3, which covers James and John's Islands meet during the same month. Team 2, the lower peninsula, and Team 4, West Ashley, meet the next month.

The next Team 4 meeting is scheduled for 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15 at Ashely River Creative Arts School at 1871 Wallace School Road.