Final Essay.docx - History In 2012 the Office of Community...

History
In 2012, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services issued a proposal to apply the
principles of community policing to issues related to guns, drugs, and human trafficking recognizing that
these issues present challenges to the Southwest border. With the funding of COP, the Strategic
Applications International invited ten cities on the Southwest border of the United States to take part in
the project, which three cities responded to participate: San Diego, California; Nogales, Arizona; and
Pharr, Texas. Each city had a unique area of interest: San Diego addressed human trafficking, Nogales
targeted business community and ranchers, and Pharr focused on the impact of unaccompanied minors
crossing the border from all over Mexico and Central America. In addition, Nogales and Pharr also
uniquely focused on drugs, guns, and immigration. The project ran from October 2012 to December
2016.
Focus of Project
The concept of the project focused on the three core pillars of community policing: problem
solving, partnerships, and organizational transformation to the challenge associated with crime in the
border communities. As a key part of the project, the three southern border cities also created summits
for their communities to facilitate the creation of stakeholder-led, comprehensive plans to respond to
the humanitarian and enforcement issue raised by human and drug trafficking on the border. Some of
the strategies used in the project were: an assessment of the nature of the problem and the current
response process to the issue; technical assistance in each of the communities; development of an
action plan; a survey to provide to the community and participants to rank each of the solutions
identified; and the development and implementation of a work plan for the community coalition. The
summits brought together a diverse array of stakeholders including law enforcement, public health,

social and medical services, public works, and others. Each summit was intended to produce a city-
specific action plan for their coalition to implement.
Summits
In March 2014, Nogales teamed up with Santa Cruz County Attorney George Silva to address
their action plan summit on “Combating Human, Gun, and Drug Trafficking in Santa Cruz County – Best
Practices for Today and Tomorrow”. This summit addressed the challenges faced by ranchers, businesses,
and the community of Santa Cruz County, Arizona. Nogales engaged the community, business leaders,
and ranchers to address the challenges of human trafficking and illegal immigration to Santa Cruz
County. The local community is active in prevention and early intervention, also educated children and
families on how to avoid being pulled into illegal trafficking activities. Federal and state agencies play a
key role in the prominent level of coordination and cooperation with county and local agencies as well as
with the government of Mexico.