Lakewood is proposing an overhaul to its popular neighborhood policing program next year.

Part of City Manager Andrew Neiditz’s proposed $37.1 million budget for 2010 includes restructuring the program so the city’s six neighborhood policing areas get a liaison.

The city now assigns six police officers and six unarmed, non-commissioned community service officers to its neighborhoods. The community officers help identify crime problems and mobilize resident support for crime prevention.

The proposed plan would maintain six neighborhood police officers, but it would also create a team of three community officers and three code enforcement officers who would act as liaisons. An assistant city attorney would also be assigned to assist those officers.

The model would provide a one-stop source for residents with public nuisance, code enforcement and other issues, Neiditz said. Many of the problems that community officers try to address are related to code enforcement.

He added no district will see a reduction in service. The code enforcement and community officers would be cross-trained so they’re familiar with either area.

Lakewood would move the three community officers back to duties such as traffic enforcement and front desk work.

“What we’re attempting to do is strengthen the community outreach,” Neiditz said. “We’re actually adding horsepower to the current model.”

At least one resident says the new approach could work, although he was initially concerned that residents would lose some community policing service.

Alan Hart told the Lakewood City Council this week that he and about 15 other residents of his neighborhood near Nyanza Road Southwest do not want to lose their CSO. It’s a fairly quiet neighborhood where complaints are related to parking and other code enforcement.

After hearing Neiditz’s proposal, Hart, a member of the city’s Public Safety Advisory Board, says he’s optimistic about the new plan.

“We’ll find out when we really get into the new organization, but it seems like it will work,” he said.

One reason the city says it can maintain community policing is because it consolidated and eliminated other departments in the proposed budget.

Overall, the proposed $37.1 million budget is 5 percent lower than this year’s budget, due mostly to $2.6 million the city spent last year to open its new police station.

Neiditz also proposes to reorganize three city departments and programs:

Merge the City Clerk’s Office into its Legal Department.

Merge the Community Development Block Grant program into Economic Development.

Move human services into a new department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services.

Altogether, the mergers and cuts equal four full-time positions being eliminated. Lakewood cut 13 jobs in the previous budget.

Neiditz says that while some cities are cutting chunks out of their budget to keep pace with the country’s struggling economy, the effect in Lakewood hasn’t been as bad. The proposed budget reflects that.

The Lakewood City Council is holding workshops this month on the 2010 budget. A public hearing is scheduled Nov. 2, and the City Council is scheduled to adopt a budget Nov. 16.

Brent Champaco: 253-597-8653

brent.champaco@thenewstribune.com