By Joseph Ciolino

The Navajo communities have a new Community Relations Officer (CRO) — John Steffen.

Steffen served four years in the U.S. Marine Corps as infantry, stationed in Washington, D.C. as well as overseas. After leaving the military, Steffen did something he always wanted to do as a kid – he joined the San Diego Police Department (SDPD). He has been with the SDPD for 12 years and last month he took over the CRO position for the Eastern Division in the Navajo communities, which acts as a liaison between community and business groups and the police department. The Navajo community area includes the neighborhoods of Grantville, Allied Gardens, Del Cerro and San Carlos.

Steffen grew up in the Navajo area, but never really paid attention to the crime in the area when he was younger. He said he was typically a good kid and never had any real negative experiences with the police.

In 2004, Steffen began his police work as a patrolman at Mid-City, where he served for five years. He also spent six years working in the Central Division before transferring to the Eastern Division where he has now been for about a year.

Most of the criminal activity in the Navajo area Steffen hears about are property-type crimes such as burglaries to houses and vehicles. In fiscal year 2016, there were approximately 171 burglaries within the entire Eastern Division, he said.

Another issue is the homeless problem. The Eastern Division has two police officers working to provide the homeless with services, housing and help them get back on their feet. If they can’t gain compliance voluntarily, police will move on to legal enforcement, which includes citations, arrests and stay away orders, he said.

Steffen also works closely with The Citizen’s Review Board on Police Practices. The boards’ goals are to review and evaluate serious complaints brought by the public against officers; review all officer-involved shootings and in-custody deaths; and review and evaluate the administration of discipline arising from sustained complaints, according to the board’s webpage on the SanDiego.gov website.

“I think it provides a conduit for the community members to express how they’re feeling,” Steffen said. “It helps to [create] positive influence policy.”

“The department has taken a position of listening carefully to the residents about the issues that concern them and addressing those concerns,” he said. “By doing this we can build up a strong and positive relationship between the officers and the people they serve.”

The department has done this by expanding on the CRO position into every service area to better communicate with residents and give more focused attention, he said, adding that negative perceptions of police sometimes make the job of police work difficult.

“If they’re not willing to talk to us then we don’t know there’s a problem – and we can’t work on fixing it,” he said.

In order for police to turn public opinion of their work positive and eliminate negative perceptions, steps need to be made to enhance community policing which, according to Steffen, the Eastern Division is already doing.

This includes participating in community events and meetings, conducting safety presentations, neighborhood walks, home and business evaluations and coordinating the Neighborhood Watch program.

Steffen is enjoying his new role so far and he hopes to continue to make it easier for the community to get in touch with the police so they can better solve their issues.

He has plans to expand the Neighborhood Watch program by getting more people to get involved, setting up groups and motivating them to keep the program going.

“I think [the Neighborhood Watch is] going to provide a human touch rather than somebody behind a badge,” Steffen said.

—Joseph Ciolino is an editorial intern for San Diego Community Newspaper Network, the parent company of the Mission Times Courier. Reach him at [email protected].