Hickory Police

Community Based Policing

Hickory is one of the few cities in the country to totally implement Community Based Policing and to have changed a department from a traditional based policing philosophy. We now take this opportunity to share some of our comments on this undertaking.

No term is more used and misused in police service today than "community policing." To most agencies "community policing" is a program or a special unit. An officer(s) is often assigned as a "community police officer." In Hickory, every officer is a community police officer. Often citizens refer not to their police officer, but instead to their P.A.C.T. (Police And Community Together) officer.

In October 1990, the Hickory Police Department began a pilot project in a neighborhood known as Ridgeview using the principles of Community Based Policing. Based on this successful learning experience and a total commitment of HPD coworkers, City government and public support, citywide / department-wide implementation of the philosophy and practice began April 1994.

As with many other initiatives in the police service, community policing is quickly becoming the catalyst for "community government."

We are happy to share our experiences with our colleagues. The real "experts" are people like Captain Clyde Deal and numerous others who spent thousands of hours in learning the principles and doing the work necessary to implement this change in HPD's thinking about partnerships with the community and how we deliver police services and solve

Learn more about this pilot project & the success of Community Based Policing.