Your new neighbors, the Cambridge PD

The residents of Bay Country Apartments in Cambridge, Md. have a new neighbor, the local police. Residents had expressed concerns over crime in the area, so the Cambridge police department decided to sign a lease and move in.

Last year Chief Dan Dvorak met with management and residents from the community and that’s when the ball got rolling.

“The general feeling was that most residents want to live peacefully but a few characters were spoiling it for everyone,” Dvorak said. “The main complaints were people hanging out who do not live there.”

Police said Monday that the people hanging out there would also sell drugs, often attracting more unsavory people to the neighborhood.

That prompted the department to take action.

“We said you know what, maybe it’s a good idea if we actually were a part of the community and we were stationed out there,” said Sgt. Antoine Patton, commander of the Community Policing Unit.

Patton send a request to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for an apartment to use as a community office. This year the request was approved and two months ago Cambridge PD became the new tenants at Bay Country.

The new community office will be run by Pfc. John Foster, who said his 15 years of experience in the Cambridge community have prepared him for the post.

“Most folks know me, if they’re not calling me Officer Foster, they’re calling me pop-pop, Officer John, so the community knows me and I know the community,” Foster said.

Although the office is still unfurnished, police tell 47 ABC that their has already deterred crime.

“It’s already happened, when police cars come bad guys don’t want to hang out in the same place that police are,” Patton said.

This initiative is coupled with the new “neighborhood beat officer program.”

Instead of having officer assignments rotating district to district, each of the three patrol districts will have its own five officers.

“Under this program, each officer is assigned to one district which means people are likely to see only one of five officers respond to a call. The goal is that officers will get to know the people in their districts, build relationships, discuss problems in the neighborhoods and come up with solutions,” Dvorak said.

Police hope their new office at Bay Country will be hub for those new relationships.

“This doors going to be open and it’s going to be open for them. We’re here to serve and protect them. So if our door’s open, just like the church’s, we are open,” Foster said.

So far, the community has responded well according to police.

“We’ve had overwhelming response, everybody’s excited, we’ve had letters come to the police department, we’ve had people donate things for the sub-stations already so they’re loving it,” Patton said.

Foster tells 47 ABC they also hope to add gaming systems to the office and couches so that kids in the area can come interact with the officers.

Police are asking for any donations people are willing to donate to the office, including things such as game systems, couches and other furniture.

Dvorak said that the office should be up and fully operation by mid-June.