Supervision With Intensive enForcemenT (SWIFT) was a pilot program implemented in 2012 in Tarrant County, TX. It employed the principles of SCF and evaluation showed it to be effective at reducing repeat offending and jail time for probationers.
Fort Worth is also one of pilot sites for the work of the National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice. The NI focuses on issues of procedural justice, implicit bias, and reconciliation with the goal of improving relationships and building trust between law enforcement and those it serves.
Fort Worth Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald, on his department's efforts to improve police-community relations: "Right now, we’re doing our very best to make sure that the community understands we’re there for them, and we’re going to be dedicated to making sure the community understands we are a part of the community."
Aseante Hylick, formerly of the NNSC, reflects on her experiences facilitating police-community reconciliation in cities around the US.
"The survey found that while residents of these neighborhoods are distrustful of police, they nevertheless want to cooperate and partner with police to make their communities safer. A door-to-door survey in high-crime neighborhoods of six cities found that less than a third of residents believe police respect people’s rights, but the vast majority believe laws should be strictly followed and many would volunteer their time to help police solve crimes, find suspects, and discuss crime in their neighborhood."
"In a 20-minute speech Tuesday, new Fort Worth Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald touted the importance of community policing. It was clear that the 44-year-old, most recently police chief in Allentown, Pa., is serious about that approach."
UCLA Luskin's professor of public policy Mark Kleiman discusses how using SCF sanctions as a complement to drug treatment can encourage users to get off drugs on NYT's Room for Debate.
