Livingston police given statewide recognition

The Livingston Police Department has been honored with the 2016 James Q. Wilson Award for Excellence in Community Policing, a statewide award.

Livingston was selected over departments from Long Beach and Menlo Park by the Regional Community Policing Institute, which offers training and technical assistance to law enforcement professionals and others. The award was presented to Chief Ruben Chavez at a luncheon Monday in Ontario.

“As the chief of police, I am proud of the collaborative work being done to help our youth succeed,” Chavez said in a statement. “I am confident in 10 years from now our community will be healthier, safer and a better place to live and raise a family.”

The Livingston department implemented its community policing program, Community Enhancements and Safe Environments, in May 2013. The program asks officers to focus time and energy with the students at local elementary and middle schools, according to a news release.

To that end, the department brought the Merced County Department of Mental Health and the Livingston Union School District into the program. Using funds from the Mental Health Services Act of 2004, the agencies paired a school resource officer with a mental health clinician at Livingston Middle School.

The department calls that partnership MAPS, for Mental Health and Police in Schools. It’s focused on keeping children in school while dealing with bullying, stress, gangs, drugs and other pitfalls, according to a news release.

Merced County Department of Mental Health Director Yvonnia Brown said MAPS was designed to serve youth in the Livingston community who have difficult home situations or behavior issues at school.

“Specifically, it serves middle school children of all races and ethnicities in an early intervention-based program,” she said in a statement. “Furthermore, the MAPS program illustrates how collaborative partnerships can be impactful and produce positive outcomes for our youth, families and community.”

The program’s main goals included decreasing the number of absences, in-house and off-site suspensions, and expulsions compared with the 2012-13 school year, police said.

Since the baseline year, Livingston Middle School saw 63 percent fewer absences, 83 percent fewer in-house suspensions, 88 percent fewer off-site suspensions and 90 percent fewer expulsions, according to a news release.

Eighty-two families also received other services from the county.

Livingston Union Superintendent Andres Zamora thanked the staff of the police department and the Department of Mental Health.

“I also want to thank and acknowledge our school district team,” he said in the news release, “for the incredible work they do daily to make this program a success.”

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 4:42 PM with the headline "Livingston police given statewide recognition."