The way a neighborhood looks affects crime and how safe citizens feel. Graffiti, broken streetlights, abandoned autos, and other public safety hazards can contribute to drug dealing, prostitution, and drinking in public, as well as other serious crimes. Police and residents can obtain city services to fix the physical conditions in their PSAs that breed crime.
Problems Requiring Response from a Single City Agency
For problems that can be solved by a single city agency, you may submit a request to the Mayor’s Call Center, either by calling 727-1000 and making the request yourself, or ask a member of your PSA team to submit a City Service Request through the police department. Remember, the police can only submit requests related to public health and safety.
When you contact the Call Center, the customer service representative who takes your request will enter it into a database and forward it to the agency responsible for providing the service. Residents and police can track the status of a request by the service number assigned to it. You can also make a city service request on-line.
If you are working with your PSA team and your problem-solving group needs to request a service from another city agency—for example, the Department of Public Works to haul trash out of an abandoned lot used for open-air drug dealing—the police can enter the request directly into the Call Center database from a computer at the district station. You can also support your police in obtaining city services by doing the following:
- Contact the Mayor’s Call Center for city services that are not public safety-related, and make your request to the customer service representative who answers the phone;
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Help track the status of any public safety-related request filed by your PSA. Keep a record of the request and write down the service number assigned to it. Use the number to find out what action has been taken when you contact the Call Center customer service representative.
Persistent Problems Requiring the Coordination of More than One City Agency
Some neighborhood problems are so serious and have been occurring for so long that police or any other single agency can't fix them; they may require a collaborative effort by more than two city agencies. The Mayor’s Neighborhood Services Initiative is designed to coordinate the services of more than one city agency to resolve these persistent neighborhood problems. A Neighborhood Services Coordinator is assigned to each ward to organize the activities of the various agencies.
These agencies form the Neighborhood Services Core Team—which includes MPDC, the Office of the Corporation Counsel, the Division of Transportation, and the Departments of Fire and Emergency Medical Services, Public Works, Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, Parks and Recreation, and Housing and Community Development. Representatives from these agencies meet weekly to identify, prioritize, and resolve recurring neighborhood problems. You can help your PSA lieutenant and the Assistant District Commander assigned to your Ward Core Team by letting them know about persistent public health and safety problems in your community.
Where to Go for More Information
The Mayor’s Call Center and the Neighborhood Services Initiative support the Mayor’s “Building and Sustaining Healthy Neighborhoods” strategic plan.
Read the strategic plan.
