Crime & Safety

Neighbor's Dog Won't Stop Barking? Call the COPPS

The Chesterfield Police Department has a special unit created to deal with the kinds of reoccurring arguments among neighbors that may normally be glossed over by law enforcement.

For the Chesterfield Police Department, not all their work is investigating burglaries, thefts or drug possessions, but also occasionally trying to help solve neighborly disputes.

On one recent occasion, the police were called in after a victim in the 13000 block of Cantina Drive reported a peace disturbance caused by a barking dog on March 16. Chesterfield Police Officer Michael Ryffel said it was the latest incident in what is a long-running feud between two neighbors.

And this is where the COPPS come in. The Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving unit was created in 2006 to deal with issues that don’t fit the traditional definition of crime, according to the Chesterfield Police Department's website.

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"Officers rarely communicate with each other about such ‘minor’ issues and therefore, departments often fail to recognize when these issues reoccur causing problems for residents," it stated. 

The supervisor of the COPPS unit can help track of this reoccurring problems and use that knowledge to recommend an effective solution, which could include police intervention, but also may mean involving other city departments, such as planning and zoning or streets, or even outside agencies.

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While Ryffel declined to give further details about the barking dog and the nature of the dispute, he said it’s the kind of situation that COPPS was created for and that the unit is actively working on the case.


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