Raleigh Police Study Precinct Idea To Better Serve City

police department

is talking about changing the way its officers work.

The city spent $150,000 on a study to see if police precincts would work.

City councilman Kieran Shanahan supports the idea.

"[We want to ] keep the community policing concept alive, we want to empower our police officers in the areas where they work. We want the citizens to know police officers by name," he said.

Right now, the city has police substations, which do not have much equipment, and all policing decisions are made downtown.

A precinct system would give more power to an individual precinct and would keep officers in a particular area of the city.

"Right now, you just go everywhere," said Jim Nidiffer, Raleigh police union president. "You could be in north Raleigh, you could go to south Raleigh, you could go to east Raleigh -- your could be everywhere.So what happens is, you don't get a chance to get out of your car and meet the citizens that you're protecting. You can't really provide the best quality of service when you are running around answering calls all the time."

There is no cost estimate on switching to precincts, but new facilities would be needed.