Crime Prevention and Control Policy

By Wendy B. (Brooks) Leece

The main focus of my crime prevention and control policy is to organize three task forces: Youth Task Force, Homeless Task Force and Property Revitalization Task Force; each will be made up of volunteers professionals with expertise to contribute ideas in how to establish programs that will decrease crime and increase business opportunity and revenue.

First I propose a Youth Task Force of educators, counselors, youth pastors, coaches, athletes etc. to collaborate in developing after school programs that serve to help improve GPA and character of the youth while diminishing deviant behavior. This task force will encourage new after-school programs or utilize existing programs to meet these goals and build into these programs incentives to ensure effectiveness of the program(s).

The reason I focus on youth is that most street crime and community vandalism occurs between the hours that youth are released from school and the time their parents return home from work; and most of this crime is committed by males between the ages of 14 and 24. So, our youth need a nurturing and constructive environment to go to after school that offers them positive stimulating activity under adult supervision. Programs designed to keep youth off the streets and galvanize them toward a positive life path will not only decrease crime but will increase positive life outcomes for our youth in Costa Mesa.

My other focus is toward the homeless, particularly our homeless veterans. Costa Mesa houses SOS, Soup Kitchen and other food distribution centers that provide charitable services and food to the homeless. I want to continue to support their efforts to assist the homeless. Yet, I do not want to assist these organizations to enable the homeless to remain captive to their homelessness and/or alcohol/drug abuse and mental health dysfunctions. Furthermore, I cannot put the needs of the homeless above the safety of the Costa Mesa residents. Cities with high population of homeless individuals also have higher rates of burglary, theft and rape.

We need to care for the homeless in a manner that helps them out of homelessness and dysfunctional/deviant behavior. To provide resources without accountability holds our homeless captive to homelessness, drug/alcohol abuse and/or psychological dysfunction. So, I propose a Homeless Task Force be formed with mental health, police and safety, social services and nonprofit professionals with expertise in homelessness to develop a voucher program. The voucher system will require a formal stamp and/or signature from a Costa Mesa city official (e.g., police officer assigned to homeless task force) that would be earned through community service and compliance to rules of the program. Services for the homeless could only be purchased through vouchers. This holds the homeless individual partially responsible for his/her well being. They will be required to commit to a designated number of supervised hours for a designated number of vouchers that they then can trade for food and services. However, they must comply with rules of the program such as consenting to a drug/alcohol test prior to work assignment and mental health screen and treatment plan. This voucher plan can only work with the cooperation of the nonprofit charitable centers and surrounding cities that send their homeless to Costa Mesa.

The final focus is on revitalization efforts in dilapidated areas of the city, which tend to draw criminal activity. Again a task force will be commissioned of for profit and nonprofit construction professionals, and/or business entrepreneurs to come up with innovative plans to revitalize these areas such that they become economic opportunity centers rather than criminal activity centers.