PROACTIVE POLICING: Meet the newest ‘CEO’ of Newton Police Department

Of all the acronyms officer Julie Britton could have as her title and job description at the Newton Police Department, “CEO” sounds the most prestigious, right?

Community engagement officer is certainly a cool title, but it’s one that bears a load of responsibility, too. Britton, who was recently assigned to the new position, will be tasked with creating and maintaining strong connections with the public, hoping to build trust and reduce negative perceptions about police.

Newton Police Chief Rob Burdess said building relationships and a two-way dialogue with citizens is a “vitally important” part of the job these days. Creating a community engagement officer position has been something the department has talked about for several years, but was ultimately limited by staffing.

“So the primary purpose is — just as the name implies — to engage the community and the public at a deeper level and with more intention,” Burdess said. “Police officers engage the public every day. They do calls for service and some community policing activities.”

However, those community policing activities feel more like a secondary role for officers. The community engagement officer position will intentionally put those activities “front and center,” Burdess said. Which means Britton will regularly meet with businesses and citizens to determine their needs before a problem.

“We want to make sure we’re building those relationships when there is no problem,” Burdess continued. “Because when there is a problem and we don’t have those relationships, then it’s tougher to solve issues in the community. The premise is with businesses and residents and landlords a little bit.”

Ultimately, the Newton Police Department wants to be more proactive with its policing, as opposed to reactive. Burdess said the station has been very reactive up until this point, and he believes most departments are because they do not have enough personnel. Newton’s staffing is now stable to launch the position.

The community engagement officer will be involved with the Crime Free Multi-Housing and the Cops and Neighborhoods United programs. Burdess expects there will be more outreach and meetings with the neighborhood watch program, when traditionally there was only one meeting per zone per year.

Also part of Britton’s job now is to provide insight into what Newton police officers do and what the process is for an investigation. Burdess lamented there are a lot of misnomers about policing. Unlike what’s portrayed on TV shows like “Law & Order,” crimes are not always solved within 30-60 minutes.

“In reality, that’s not realistic,” Burdess said. “(The position) is about bringing some realism into what we do, hearing what the problems are, providing education to the public on how we do things and, more specifically, why we do things — just so there is that understanding that reduces that stigma on police.”

None of what Britton is going to be doing is new, Burdess added, but rather putting more intention to what the police officers have been doing. The community engagement officer also provides opportunities for the public to see police “as real people.”

Britton has had many of those opportunities working as the school resource officer at Newton Community School District, where she served for the past four years. The Newton police officer of almost 10 years said her past experience in the schools will “absolutely” translate well to the new job.

“I already had the interactions with teachers, staff members, those people (in the) community and have been able to attend meetings — (such as) the Jasper County Cares Coalition — meetings people through there, so I feel like I’ve already established a good base,” Britton said.

Being from Newton helps, too. Britton is looking forward to experiencing those positive interactions with the public, building that trust, having friendly conversations and finding out what the department can do better.

“I think there is a need for more positive interaction,” Britton said. “There’s always (interaction). Any time people call the police, it’s usually on their worst day, something’s happened, they’re a victim in a crime.”

Looking back on her tenure as the school resource officer, Britton regularly worked on relationships between kids and law enforcement, building that positive interaction so they’re not afraid of police officers.

“I want to be able to do that with adults as well,” Britton said. “There are some adults that haven’t had the best interactions with law enforcement, and I want to change their perspective and build that trust and have a better relationship.”

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com