Officer Timothy Mitten
Community Action Officer
Black Mountain Precinct
Phoenix Police Department
Happy New Year to everyone and while we are already a month into 2016 the New Year feel is still upon many. The Black Mountain Precinct officers are working very hard to accomplish our goals and to help serve you in the best possible way. One way we do this is through the Neighborhood Policing Unit. Many of you have heard of the plethora of acronyms that we use here at the City of Phoenix Police Department, such as CAO, NET, BMP, CFMH, MROP, PNP and that is just the tip of the iceberg.
The Black Mountain Precinct or BMP as we are called, has a Neighborhood Policing Unit just like all the other police precincts. It is comprised of three NET squads or Neighborhood Enforcement Teams and one CAO or Community Action Squad which is also divided down even further into more specific duties. All of these officers are well trained in the community policing philosophy of our department, the specific aspects of our assignments, are assigned here through a selection process and generally have many years of patrol experience before they come here. As a specialty squad within the patrol division we are in marked police vehicles and in uniform most times but depending on the type of investigation may not be in uniform. Since we are assigned to the patrol division, our first responsibility is to be a support function for patrol and assist them in any way needed, so many times we are answering radio calls or enforcing on view situations. Each NET and the CAO squad are supervised by a Sergeant and these four Sergeants report to the Resource Lieutenant.
The Black Mountain Precinct is one of seven police precincts that cover the City of Phoenix and it is broken down further into three squad areas. It is labeled numerically for our Communications Bureau as 200 or 2 and so the squads are then broken down into the 21, 22 and 23 squad areas. Each squad area then has 4 beats within them. I have attached a map of our precinct showing the various squad and beat areas.
The NET squads or Neighborhood Enforcement Team are assigned each to a particular squad area although they have precinct wide responsibilities as well depending on the violent crime type assigned to them for follow up. That is one of their job duties is to follow up, assist Detectives and apprehend suspects for the violent or property crime category assigned to them. These would be crimes that occurred in the Black Mountain Precinct or that suspects living or staying in our precinct wanted in other parts of the city. The NET squads also assist the CAO’s with enforcement plans in the assigned squad areas for ongoing neighborhood issues, look for any wanted felons in the area, execute or assist in search warrants, assist in any tactical projects as TRU in the precinct or city or any other projects deemed necessary by the precinct Commander.
The CAO squad or Community Action Officer Squad has two CAO’s assigned to each squad area, a Crime Free Multi Housing officer (CFMH), a Misdemeanor Repeat Offender Program officer (MROP) and a Programs Coordinator.
The CAO’s are assigned by squad area to serve that area, although if there is a precinct wide issue we can work on those as well. Within our areas, each CAO is responsible for solving ongoing or other issues within that area, liaison with neighborhood groups, businesses or HOA’s, form new Block Watches and assist existing ones, teach Crime Prevention, direct needed resources in to their area to address ongoing issues, take enforcement action on problems in their area. CAO’s are also part of the precincts TRU or Tactical Response Unit to respond to precinct or city wide tactical issues. CAO’s also assist in executing search warrants as needed, supporting patrol officers through answering calls, special event security planning and whatever else the precinct Commander deems necessary for us to do. One of the CAO’s is also assigned duties as the precinct Liquor License officer. This responsibility includes the review, investigation and approval of all new liquor license establishments, liquor license transfers and special event permits.
Within the CAO squad there is also a Crime Free Multi Housing officer (CFMH). This officer works with multi housing properties / apartment complexes in the entire precinct to assist management on any crime issues that are on the properties or impacting the surrounding neighborhoods from the properties. The CFMH officer helps get the property into the CFMH Program which is a three step program to help properties become certified in the program which increases the rent ability of the apartments and attracts quality law abiding residents. The CFMH officer also works on long term problem properties through the Abatement process, teaches Crime Prevention at multi housing properties and assists the CAO’s on any issues they are working on.
The Misdemeanor Repeat Offender officer (MROP) works on identifying career criminals that are repeat offenders for misdemeanor crimes that impact the quality of life in the neighborhoods of the precinct. This program works with the City Prosecutors office to get enhanced sentencing for these offenders for arrests on crimes they are continually committing, these can include but are not limited to assault, trespassing, shoplifting, and many more. This officer also works on enforcement efforts as it relates to transients panhandling or soliciting, camping on private property and the other crime issues related to transients but also works on assisting transients in getting services or assistance if they request it. There is one full time officer assigned to this position and a second officer that is technically a CAO but due to the nature of this assignment is assigned to this program as well.
The Programs Coordinator works on the squad and coordinates the many precinct wide functions for our neighborhood groups such as Coffee with a Cop, Community Alliance Meetings, coordinates and assists residents who participate in the PNP Program (Phoenix Neighborhoods on Patrol), works with businesses to execute Authority to Arrest for trespassing issues, liaisons with the downtown Community Programs Bureau and assists the CAO’s with any issues they need help with.
This is just a brief description of what we do at the Black Mountain Precinct Neighborhood Policing Unit. Below is a list of assignments and contact information of the officers and areas for the CAO squad. If anyone has any questions or comments on this, please feel free to contact me at tim.mitten@phoenix.gov or at 602-495-5238. Thank you for all your support and your continued partnership with the City of Phoenix Police Department.
CAO 21 area / 211 beat / MROP
Officer Centenius Billingslea
602-495-5228 or
centenius.billingslea@phoenix.gov
CAO 21 area / 212 / 213/ 214 beats / Liquor Licenses
Officer Tim Mitten
602-495-5238 or tim.mitten@phoenix.gov
CAO 22 area / 223 / 224 beats
Officer Drew Miller
602-495-5227 or Andrew.miller@phoenix.gov
CAO 22 area / 221 / 222 beats
Officer Tom Owsley
602-495-5192 or Thomas.owsley@phoenix.gov
CAO 23 area / 231 / 232 beats
Officer Tony Cuciti
602-495-5481 or Anthony.cuciti@phoenix.gov
CAO 23 area / 233 / 234 beats
Officer Manny Valenzuela
602-495-5213 or
manuel.valenzuela@phoenix.gov
Crime Free Multi Housing / Abatement
Officer Scott Gabbert
602-495-5276 or scott.gabbert@phoenix.gov
MROP / Transient
Officer Daniel Smith
602-495-5274 or Daniel.smith@phoenix.gov
Programs Coordinator
Officer Rebecca Smith
602-495-6707 or Rebecca.tiger@phoenix.gov
CAO Squad Sergeant
Sergeant Scott Cain
602-495-5112 or scott.cain@phoenix.gov
