Captain Martin Neideffer began his presentation with an overview of the U.S. Department of Justice COPS grant that helped the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) establish it Community Capitals Policing (CCP) Programs and shared the ACSO organizational structure as well as the funders and partners that allows ACSO to deliver the community programs with numerous photos of the programs serving the community.
Community-oriented policing was piloted in late 1990s and ACSO initially provided counseling for at-risk youths and their families through the Youth and Family Services Bureau (YFSB). The program then expanded in 2004 with the Deputy Sheriff’s Activities League (DSAL) and continued to expand through grants and both public and private funds. There are now 72 YFSB positions (Crime Prevention & School Resource Units sworn staff, Behavioral Health Unit clinicians, and DSAL staff) who now work on Community Capitals Policing, which is aligned with the ACSO Strategic Vision and Alameda County’s Vision.
Captain Neideffer explained with numerous examples the seven (7) kinds of capital involved in the model, which creates a healthy, vibrant community with a vital economy:
- Human Capital
- Cultural Capital
- Financial Capital
- Built Capital
- Natural Capital
- Political Capital
- Social Capital
ACSO and DSAL have built several facilities as part of the Community Policing Program including Dig Deep Farms (DDF), an urban social enterprise that is creating a Food Hub to aggregate and process locally grown produce and incubate new businesses. Crime Prevention Sr. Program Specialist Hillary Bass described in detail the operation of DDF and the Food Hub, and how these operations are directly benefitting individuals and the community as measurement by various statistical measures.The Club sincerely thanks Captain Neideffer and Sr. Program Specialist Bass for a very comprehensive presentation that detailed the multiple aspects of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Community Capitals Policing Program. Readers are strongly encouraged to watch the presentation here and review the PowerPoint presentation here to fully understand the scope and impact of the Community Capitals Policing Program.