A look inside CPD’s Community Outreach Unit

On Wednesday ABC 17 News got a first hand look at what Columbia police officers in the Community Outreach Unit will be doing on the job.

ABC 17 News reported Tuesday the remaining four positions in the unit had been filled.

On Wednesday afternoon, ABC 17’s Jillian Fertig spent two hours with the two officers who have been working in the unit since April.

During those two hours, Officers Justin Anthony and Tony Parker did foot patrols in the three areas of town where the rest of the unit will be assigned in February.

The areas included Douglass Park, Bodie Drive and Currituck Lane and McKee Street.

Anthony said he and Parker make multiple stops for foot patrol in those areas each day and have gotten to know people in the community.

The first stop of the afternoon was Douglass Park.

“Since we began doing this, it took a while to get to know certain people, but eventually, yeah, they’ll come up to you and you guys will have a good conversation about what’s going on in the world or around Columbia itself,” Anthony said. “A lot of times they’ll even start asking for advice if they need help with something and that’s where it has been nice to make connections with the community and direct them to a service they need.”

Anthony said they are still police officers, but working in the unit allows them to help people in other ways by directing them to services like programs for substance abuse or unemployment.

The second stop for foot patrol was Bodie Drive, an area that has seen heavy crime over the last couple years.

“We’ve knocked on every door in this area and then a lot of other areas and just introduced ourselves,” Anthony said. “That way people start to get to know us when they see us walking down the street. They don’t just automatically think something bad happened. We’re their local cops and we’re here to help if they need anything.”

Anthony said he has already seen a difference in how people approach Parker and himself.

“The unit, I believe, is already paying dividends by building relations,” he said.

The third stop for foot patrol was McKee Street, another area that has had crime issues in the past.

Anthony said being in the unit allows him time to actually get to know the people in the neighborhoods he works, a luxury he said was not quite as easy when he worked in patrol.

“People have to trust us enough that when they call with a problem that we’re going to be able to handle the problem one way or another,” he said.

The officers in the COU will still respond to service calls in the areas they are assigned.

The entire unit will be going through training over the next couple months.

The four officers recently selected will transition into the new roles in February.