Law Enforcement Partnerships
Metropolitan Police Department Collaboration
Early in its history, CSOSA recognized that public safety and offender reentry were community concerns that required a coordinated response and a consistent message. In 1999, the Agency launched a pilot effort with community police officers of the DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in a single Patrol Service Area (PSA) in the city's Seventh Police District. The idea was to establish teams of CSOs and MPD patrol officers to share information, engage in joint community problem-solving, and promote a higher level of accountability for offenders. Within a short time, partnerships had been established in each of the city's 45 PSAs and the concept of the "accountability tour" was inaugurated.
Accountability tours are joint visits by MPD officers and CSOs to the homes and workplaces of offenders. These joint visits, using marked police vehicles, are often unscheduled and serve to discourage criminal behavior by emphasizing to offenders that CSOSA and MPD are working together to ensure that they do not violate their conditions of release or otherwise threaten public safety. Accountability tours also allow MPD officers to get to know the high-risk offenders in their patrol areas, as well as the offender's families and employers. Many of the accountability tours are conducted in the evening, on weekends, and in support of periodic MPD crime reduction initiatives.
GPS Data Sharing
In addition to accountability tours, CSOSA provides access to our Global Positioning System (GPS) monitoring data to MPD and other local and federal law enforcement organizations. Since implementing the GPS program in 2004, 3,988 different offenders have been placed on GPS. As of September 30, 2008 there were 708 high risk offenders on GPS monitoring. Using the Automated Crime Scene Correlation program, CSOSA is able to share GPS data on with local law enforcement to determine whether any CSOSA offenders on GPS were in the vicinity of a crime when it occurred. To date we have trained 210 MPD officers and detectives; 16 Prince George's County, Maryland police officers; and 15 staff from the United States Attorneys Office on the use of GPS data in criminal investigations. Listed below are CSOSA's other criminal justice partners who regularly use our GPS data:
- The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI)
- United States Attorney's Office
- University of Maryland College Park Police
- United States Capitol Police
- United States Park Police
- Prince George's County Sheriff's Department
- Montgomery County Police Department
- United States Marshals Service (USMS)
CSOSA's GPS data has played a key role in several arrests. Some instances of high profile cases include:
- February 2008: GPS data placed an offender at the time and location of two sexual assaults on teenaged girls.
- June 2008: GPS data placed an offender at the time and location of the kidnapping of his former girlfriend.
- June 2008: GPS data placed an offender at the time and location of several robberies of individuals at the Jefferson Memorial, after the offender tried to use a victim's credit card.
- September 2008: GPS data placed an offender at the time and location of the robbery and shooting of a retired MPD police officer.
Related:
Learn More About CSOSA
Employment Information
As a Federal agency with a distinctly local mission, CSOSA employees perform challenging work that directly affects public safety in the District of Columbia's neighborhoods.
