TOLEDO, Ohio — Community service officers (CSOs) have been a part of the Toledo police force since 2018 and a key push toward better neighborhood relations.
There are eight CSOs that cover the entire city. Their job is to get out into neighborhoods and form relationships with people that will lead to a safer city.
CSOs are not new but they're becoming a more important part of policing. With a focus on community policing, the officers are at public events, neighborhood watch group meetings and local parks, mingling with kids and neighbors.
"The officers have to go into the communities, talk to people, go to community centers, engage," said community activist Shay Bankston.
Chief George Kral says their work is vital to making our neighborhoods safer and more trusting of police and he hopes to have more in the future.
"I would say we have more CSOs than most departments our size," said Kral. "I think they're incredibly important."
Chief Kral says he wants to add more to the unit in the near future.
"We have one for every district now," he said. "Ideally we should have two or three for every district."
Bankston believes community service officers are crucial to seeing a reduction in crime and other issues over the next 10 years. She has organized several events with the CSOs since they started and she thinks they are priceless to the community, especially to kids.
"I have video of officers dancing with the youth and getting out and playing," said Bankston. "All officers should be mandated or required to participate in community events on some level. I think it should just be part of the job."
Both Kral and Bankston say this type of engagement by cops leads to more trust and is helping to make communities safer.
"They work hand in hand with our investigators down the hall, with our field operation officers to say 'hey, I've been hearing grumblings that there may be retaliation,'" said Kral, "or that this might go down."
Bankston says the kids that have interacted with the CSOs connect with them on a more personal level and it's important to reach them now while they're young and create a more healthy relationship with police.
"Not view law enforcement as a punitive thing or something to be afraid of, but view them as an integrated part of our community, somebody that I can go talk to," said Bankston.
Bankston says if youth today see this type of law enforcement, it will lead to better police relations down the line.
Chief Kral says he plans to add more CSOs as they hire nearly 100 new officers over the next year.
You can find contact information for your community service officer here.
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