I was recently speaking before the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission, and was asked by a member, "Sheriff, how would you rate the J.S.O.'s relationship with the community?" It is a great question, because the answer is an illustration about today's topic, effective communication.

In answering the question I said "that would depend on exactly what neighborhood you were talking about. In some of them, I would give J.S.O. a 10 rating, and in others, I would have to say it could be as low as a 2." The difference is clearly in communication.

I went on to explain that in some neighborhoods we enjoy a very strong relationship with members of that particular community. People work closely with the officers in the area, letting them know when something isn't right – like seeking our help to shut down a drug house, or solve a chronic problem with road racing, or some other issue that denigrates neighborhoods and frustrates the people who live there. Our best community relationships are where we find the best communications.

These "engaged" neighbors tend to be residents of the same neighborhoods where we have strong participation in our Watch programs, whether it's Business Watch, Neighborhood Watch, or River Watch. Sometimes the good working relationship with us is because of a very active Sheriff's Advisory Council (ShAdCo). People join us monthly at the meetings, and have that relationship with the men and women of the JSO who are serving them in their communities. These members know we'll do the best we can and we hold ourselves accountable to them when they have a crime issue they want resolved.

There's something else to consider about these neighborhoods that I believe give us high marks – they are the same citizens who tell us they visit our website; they read the information we put out in the community; they call us with their questions; and they are engaged with us in "the good fight".

This is the population that created the surge in tips to the police, and the anonymous tip line at Crime Stoppers, when we launched Operation Safe Streets and the Gun Bounty in 2006. These are the people who paid attention when the OSS officers, working overtime, came to their doors and talked to them and shared information about joining ShAdCo and reporting crime. These are the people who take advantage of our Citizens (Police) Academy, to build a relationship with J.S.O.

But in some communities distrust and disrespect of the law and the police is endemic and isn't going to be changed easily. This is the low "rating" I mentioned to the Human Rights Commission. And the truth is, support for the work of the police might not happen because of this predisposition. But good communication is essential in changing the situation.

I believe there is a large population of people who want to hear our messages. I want to reach more of these people with information about what we are doing and how they can become involved with us. Many people genuinely care about their neighborhoods and want criminal activity stopped. But they are afraid to get involved or don't think they can make a difference. Here's how they can:

• For the deaf and hearing impaired community, we now have DEAF LINK. We're the first law enforcement agency this side of the Mississippi to get it. If a deaf or hearing impaired citizen stops a police officer to talk to him or her, or report a crime, and they cannot communicate, we can bring the citizen to the nearest substation (or the Police Memorial Building or the Pre Trial Detention Facility) and dial up a sign language interpreter on the computer, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I suspect many crimes go unreported in the deaf community, or they are afraid to help the police because of the communication barrier. DEAF LINK completely eliminates the communications barrier.
  
• If you know about a crime but are afraid to call the police directly, you can call First Coast Crime Stoppers at 866-845-8477 (TIPS). You can also report crime anonymously on our website, by clicking on CRIME TIPS: REPORT A CRIME on the front page.

For citizens who want to work with the police office in their neighborhoods, there is no more effective way to get involved than by joining ShAdCo. That number is 630-2160.

Other evolutions in our public communications activities include:

• Periodic email messages from me. If you would like to subscribe, just email JSONEWS@jaxsheriff.org and your email address will be added to the list. You'll also be notified when copies of our annual report are placed on our website, or when other important events occur.
• I hope you will mark our website at www.coj.net/sheriff as one of your favorites. Information changes daily, and we now "stream" or show LIVE, on the internet, major news conferences being held here at our headquarters. You will see the flashing red and blue lights on the front page of website www.coj.net/sheriff when there is breaking news. This is still the website you can use to send us a message and report a crime tip or weigh in on any issue that concerns you.
• Twitter. Perhaps you've heard of this "social networking" tool. Short messages that are sent among people who choose to "follow" each other. We now have a Twitter address, and it is JSOPIO. If you sign up for Twitter, you will receive messages on your cell phone from us when important activities are occurring, such as road closures, news conferences, or other timely events.

Effective communication, as we all learned in school, is a two way proposition. Offering information is only useful if someone wants to receive those messages. I hope you will continue to communicate with us, and let us know what you want to know about….how we can help….and what we can do to get more good citizens working with us. We appreciate you.