Coral Springs Police Receives Honors from Harvard Kennedy School For Innovative Program

by Sharon Aron Baron January 21, 2016

by Sharon Aron Baron January 21, 2016 23 views

Coral Springs Police Chief Tony Pustizzi

Coral Springs Police Receives Honors from Harvard Kennedy School 2015 Bright Idea for Innovations in Government: Make a Call, Make a Difference

By: Sharon Aron Baron

The Coral Springs Police Department announced on Thursday that their crime prevention and reporting program, “Make a Call, Make a Difference” has been nationally recognized by the Harvard Kennedy School as the 2015 Bright Idea for Innovations in American Government.

In 2012, with home burglaries on the rise in South Florida, the Coral Springs Police Department developed and implemented a community policing program entitled “Make a Call, Make a Difference.” Over the past three years they have worked to educate citizens on how to spot and report suspicious activity. Through this, they have successfully marketed this important program to 125,000 residents and business owners through public information campaigns, community outreach, and our social media outreach. The program has not only reduced crime in the community, it also developed community confidence that those calls are wanted and taken seriously by police. The program has resulted in a significant decrease on crime and an increase for calls regarding suspicious activity in the city.

“I am proud of our Make a Call, Make a Difference program and its success in reducing crime in our city. Recognition from Innovations in American Government will assist other law enforcement agencies nationwide to develop their own prevention and outreach efforts modeled after our program,” said Chief Tony Pustizzi.

Residents can learn more about the Harvard Kennedy School’s Innovations in American Government Awards, visit https://innovationsaward.harvard.edu/index.cfm.

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Sharon Aron Baron

Editor of Talk Media and writer for Coral Springs Talk. CST was created in 2012 to provide News, Views, and Entertainment for the residents of Coral Springs and the rest of South Florida.