An In-Depth Interview with Sgt. Lawrence Richards of the Yeadon Police Department.

Background

Sgt. Richards has twenty five years of law enforcement experience and continuing education in the law enforcement field. He is a 52 year old African American male who is retired from the Yeadon Police Department in 2007. Sgt. Richards preformed the tasks and duties of Sergeant in addition to issuing citations, incident reports, serving warrants, performing preliminary investigations, reconstructing accident scenes, obtaining and securing items of evidence. He supervises the patrol squad and makes decisions concerning police activities and functions.

He closely supervised the activities of subordinates. He exercises direct command in a manner that ensured the good order, conduct, discipline and efficiency of subordinates. He enforced departmental rules and regulations and ensures compliance with departmental policies and procedures. Sgt. Richards was responsible for inspection of activities, personnel equipment and initiation of suitable action in the event of a failure, error, violation, misconduct or negligence on the part of any subordinate.

He assumed the command and direction of police personnel in such a manner as to assure the most orderly and efficient accomplishment of the police task. At times, he iconducted preliminary investigations, establishing the reports as factual, protecting the crime scenes, making proper notifications, arresting the perpetrators, detaining and identifying witnesses and safeguarding evidence. Sgt. Richards has an extensive training and certification background as well. He is an FBI National Academy graduate with MS in Criminal Justice and BA in Political Science. His career was marked with recognition for Valor, Bravery, Heroism, Professionalism and Dedication. A Creative problem solver, he has ability to resolve conflict, and improve morale as well as protect and serve the citizens. The Interview...

Sgt. Richards, What is the most pressing issue or crime you face as a police officer in 2006 or 2007?

"The most disturbing crime is Juvenile Offenders. It is very sad to see the amount of juvenile offenders arrested for violent crimes rise so drastically over the years. Many years ago, juveniles were arrested for minor nuisance crimes such as petty vandalism. Today, every day there is at least one or two juveniles arrested for major crimes such as Act 64 violations (drug offenses), aggravated assault or weapons offenses. Violence has escalated to alarming rates among juveniles. They are filled with "street rage". Violence among juveniles has also increased the amount of juvenile victims.

When examining the mistreatment of children in our society, we often ignore or are not aware of the fact that it is but a branch of the spectre of familial violence. In order for us to gain a better perspective on the dynamics of children as victims, we explore the issue of violence in the family.

The home is a very dangerous place and we have more to fear from close members of our family than from total strangers. With the exception of the police and the military, the family is perhaps the most violent social group, and the home the most violent social setting in our society. A person is more likely to be hit or killed in his or her own home by another family member than anywhere else or by anyone else. A facet of society and family structure that has been studied intently in relation to delinquency is the broken home.

The term "broken home" is generally defined as homes from which one or both parents are absent because of desertion, divorce, or death, thereby leaving the child deprived as opposed to those who have the advantage of a complete, stable family. Studies found that 41.4 percent of the delinquents came from broken homes. Sheldon Glueck and Eleanor Glueck, who found that 60.4 percent of the delinquents and 34.2 percent of the non-delinquents had broken homes in their backgrounds, conducted an even larger study."

What was the most horrendous crime you encountered during your career as a Police Officer?

"The worst crime I ever encountered was 2 years ago when a teenage girl was found murdered. It is etched in my memory and will be for the rest of my life. Dee Dee, as we called her was a typical rebellious teen who tried to sew her oats as far as she could. Not labeled as a "bad" child or "delinquent", however she did give her mother a hard time when she tried to keep rules for her safety enforced in the home. Dee Dee befriended one of the local corner boys one half block from her home. It was the friendship of this male that led to her death. She ran away from home when her mother tried to restrict her from hanging around with this adult male. She ran to him for her freedom and it cost her life. He brought her over to his friends home one day and raped her in the basement. She was obviously traumatized by the incident. Lamar, recently released from prison for another offense, realized that if she told on him, he would go back to prison for a lengthy term.

Not wanting to return to prison, he soon realized that he would have to eliminate Dee Dee to protect his freedom. He beat her unmercifully in the basement of his friend's home. He thought he killed her so he put her in the freezer to dispose of her body at a later time. Although badly beaten and unconscious, she was not dead. When he realized this, he took her body out of the freezer and started to dismember her with an ax while she was alive. After he dismembered her, he needed to dispose of the body parts. He decided the best way was to feed his dog. He boiled her feet and gave them to the dog.

The dog became sick so he had to think of another way to dispose of her. He enlisted the help of his friend and they took the body parts to West Philadelphia and put them in a 55 gallon drum on an abandoned lot and set the drum on fire. A month later, her ashes in the drum were discovered. Another one of his friends could not live with the knowledge of what happened to Dee Dee while family friends and the police feverishly searched for her. The friend described to us exactly where he ashes were. This horrible crime will stay with me for the rest of my life."

Do you have any solutions or suggestions to prevent crime in your community?

"After so many years, I could probably write a book on solutions for crime! But, there is one that has proven to be successful."

POP - Problem Oriented Policing - is a concept that was researched and developed in the 1980's to effectively reduce crime. To implement problem oriented policing a four stage process known as SARA is used:

1. Scanning - over the course of their shift, officers look for and identify problems in the town. They identify and prioritize them.
2. Analysis - Police collect information to identify it's scope, nature and cause.
3. Response - Data collected develops a strategy to address the problem and implement a response that incorporates the assistance of residents, the code Enforcement Department, the Highway Department and the Parking Enforcement.
4. Assessment - The effectiveness of the response is evaluated and revised if not successful. Follow up is CRUCIAL.

"This method has been used all over the United States. Research shows that this is the ONLY effective method of reducing crime and improving the quality of life for all residents. Currently, my police department does implement Problem Oriented Policing. Prior to it's implementation, we reacted AFTER the crime has occurred instead of BEFORE. For example, if an abandoned house was on the block, drug dealers may be conducting business in the property, rodents may be infesting the neighborhood and the building may be a potential fire hazard or danger zone for children playing on or near the property.

Adjoining properties may be deteriorating and calls for action go unheard. Problem Oriented Policing works with the residents to identify the problem, works with the Code Department to bring the property back up to code, work with the Highway Department to clean it and work with the Parking Enforcement Department to remove abandoned vehicles. Once the problems are corrected, criminal activity ceases. We, in the Yeadon Police Department, have now followed in the footsteps of the Philadelphia Police Department and implemented this program. We now are PROACTIVE towards PREVENTING crime instead of REACTING toward it."

Is Juvenile Delinquency a problem and what do you recommend to curtail recidivism?

"The juvenile justice system has focused on dealing with youth after an initial contact with the local juvenile court. While this reactive emphasis delinquent behavior is still prominent and necessary, the last 20 years has seen the emergence of a proactive approach to help stem the swell of delinquent youth. This new approach is known as the public health model of crime prevention.

The public health model focuses on reducing the risk of and increasing resiliency against illness and disease. With its emphasis on prevention of disease or injury, the public health approach to violence offers an appealing alternative to an exclusive focus on rehabilitation or punishment. Thus, other disciplines outside the public health field, such as criminal justice, have begun to adopt this multilevel approach to understand the nature of violence and identify potential points of intervention. We have to reduce the risk against problem behavior.

In order to do that, we follow a four step guideline. It helps us identify and develop solutions. 1) define the nature of the problem using data; 2) identify potential causes through analyses of risk and protective factors associated with the problem; 3) design, develop, and evaluate interventions; and 4) disseminate successful models as part of education and outreach. If we put all of our efforts into preventing crime and juvenile delinquency, we'll have a much better society to live in."

Sgt. Richards, in your opinion, both professionally and personally, what can we do as residents, neighbors, family members to reduce crime, juvenile delinquency and improve the quality of life in our neighborhoods?

"Simply put? Take an active roll in our communities. Share our talents, experience, knowledge, wisdom and especially time, with our younger generation. By investing in our future problem solvers, our youth, our communities will hava a positive change.