Oxford Police Department

Downtown Police District

February 15, 2017

OXFORD POLICE DEPARTMENT 1

 Executive Summary
In recent years the City of Oxford has experienced a boom in population. Based on
recent census numbers, the city's population has grown by 17%, meaning nearly 3,500 new
people now call Oxford home. It's obvious why Oxford is such a popular attraction and with
that The Square gets top billing as our #1 place to be. The Square consists of local businesses
to include shopping, dining and nightlife.

The Square sits in the heart of the Downtown Historic District and is beloved by all
who visit Oxford. With new residents, visitors, festivals and The University of Mississippi
this small area becomes a high priority to the Oxford Police Department. We are tasked with
handling pedestrian traffic, vehicle and taxi traffic, safety for businesses and their customers.
This greatly increases when the sun goes down. As night falls, The Downtown Square
District becomes the coveted destination for those wanting to enjoy an active nightlife.
In recent years, the City of Oxford and the Police Department have spent countless
hours and manpower to ensure the safety and quality of environment to the square area.
During the 2016 fall semester the police department placed 8-12 officers in this area on
Thursday - Saturday nights. These details began in mid-August and ran through finals of the
fall semester. These details picked back up as the spring semester began. We began to see
crowds continuously grow as the year proceeded. We received many requests from business
owners in that area for more police presence due to crowd and traffic issues.
These details did have an immediate impact to the area. We were able to focus on
underage drinking, city ordinance violations, crowd and traffic control, violent crime and
burglaries. This also had an impact on the officers and their quality of life. Due to the nature
of a college town we expect heavy doses of traffic and people in this area during specific
times of the year. However, as The Square grows the volume of people and area of
responsibility grows with it. This created a difficult situation for officers and supervisors as

OXFORD POLICE DEPARTMENT 2

they were tasked to work The Square in addition to their normal shift work. Many officers
during the stretch from mid-August through November worked up to six days a week for
multiple weeks. This created two noticeable measures within our department: the morale and
work performance diminished and it caused us to amend our overtime budget due to the
amount of hours we spent in the downtown area.
We are proposing to create a new district that would consist solely of The Downtown
Square area. We feel this will reduce overtime, improve the quality of service, enhance
community relations, especially with businesses and customers in the downtown area, and
provide safety and coverage to this area without reducing the patrol staff or requesting
additional officers.
The DTD (Downtown District) would be staffed by 7 officers and 1 Sergeant.
Their hours would be 4PM to 2AM, working Wednesday - Saturday nights
Provide entertainment to the local college age population without compromising
Oxford's charm or creating a negative atmosphere.
Reduce crime and incidents of crime within the district.
Foster a positive relationship with businesses inside the district and The Downtown
Square Alliance.
Work with the entertainment businesses to establish more ownership of the safety
and security of the district through collaborative efforts of enforcing laws and establishing
better practices.
Work with Code Enforcement Officers to strengthen local ordinances as well as train
and teach businesses owners/employees these laws and expectations. It will be the unit's
responsibility to hold these leaders accountable for their actions.
Spend time with business owners to address issues and develop new policies and
ordinances to create a safer environment for everyone.
Day time foot patrols during holidays and non-peak months.
Develop initiatives with businesses owners, members of the University of Mississippi
and UPD to aid in deterring alcohol and drug related assaults, arrests and incidents.
Start a Meet Me location inside the district for people who have separated from their
group. We believe this will have an impact on sexual and physical assaults inside the
district .
This also allows us as a department to focus more on preventing DUI's and DUI
related crashes.

OXFORD POLICE DEPARTMENT 3

 The unit will be an immediate crowd control response team equipped to deescalate
civil disturbances.

It will be the mission of the Oxford Police Department and this unit to be based around
the community policing and problem solving model of working with the community to
provide a family friendly, fun and safe environment and assist in making our downtown area
attractive to all that visit Oxford or call it home.

OXFORD POLICE DEPARTMENT 4