DOVER, Del. - As summer activity picks up across the capital city, the Dover Police Department is increasing its presence on the streets through a new Enhanced Visibility Patrol initiative aimed at deterring crime and addressing quality-of-life concerns.
The department says residents and visitors can expect to see more officers in areas identified through crime trends, calls for service, traffic complaints and community feedback.
The effort will focus on downtown Dover, commercial shopping districts, neighborhoods experiencing recurring issues and locations targeted for traffic enforcement.
According to Dover Police spokesman Lt. Mark Hoffman, the initiative is designed to proactively address issues before they escalate.
"The primary objectives for this summer is deterrence and prevention of quality of life issues, violent crimes, addressing some of the lower-level quality of life issues that are being a problem downtown, but also in other commercial areas of the city as well," Hoffman said.
To increase patrol coverage, the department is temporarily reallocating resources, including school resource officers who are not as active during the summer months.
"The way we're doing that is utilizing units that aren't as active in the summertime, such as our school resource officers and deploying them to assist our patrol unit and heavily focus on different areas of the city," Hoffman said.
Downtown business owners say a visible police presence can help improve both safety and public confidence.
"I know just in the seven years that I've been downtown, any time we've had more of a presence downtown, even when it was just the cadets patrolling more frequently, we did notice that things got better," said Codi Canasa, owner of Agape Body Piercings.
Others say the initiative could help improve perceptions of safety, even if crime is not a significant concern.
"People would feel safer, although again, I don't think it's that unsafe," said downtown business owner Gary Knox. "But perception is everything."
Hoffman said the department cannot predict what challenges the summer may bring, but officers hope the enhanced patrols will allow them to respond more strategically to issues throughout the city.
"There's no way to predict what's going to happen or not going to happen," Hoffman said. "But this will give us a little bit of an advantage as far as being able to deploy our resources more strategically."
Police are also encouraging residents to remain engaged and report suspicious activity or quality-of-life concerns.
"We say it all the time that we need people to be our eyes and ears out there on the streets and to call things in," Hoffman said.
The Enhanced Visibility Patrol initiative will continue throughout the summer months as Dover Police work to maintain a safe and welcoming environment for residents, businesses and visitors.
Citizens are reminded to report emergencies by calling 911. Non-emergency incidents and ongoing concerns can be reported through the Dover Police Department’s non-emergency number at 302-736-7111.
