Just over six months since he took over the reins of the Bellevue Police Department, Chief Steve Mylett is laying out a new program that he says will help facilitate communication, reduce the amount and fear of crime in the community.

“The Bellevue Police Department’s Tomorrow Program is a future-focused program that provides a strategy to deal with the issues of today and the challenges of tomorrow,” said Mylett.

The multifaceted plan, which Mylett first announced at the department’s volunteer luncheon last month, will address emerging crime issues seen in the changing city.

Property crimes are plaguing Bellevue, often to support drug habits, Mylett said. The city is also seeing serial burglars and car prowlers who travel up and down the Eastside, including serials burglars apprehended in July and September.

Overall, the types of crime Bellevue faces are fairly in line with similarly sized cities, but the overall crime rate is lower, Mylett said, adding that even one victim is one too many.

The program will divide Bellevue into three sectors, each overseen by a different sector captain.

“This is going to be a tremendous tool to help facilitate communication between the police department and the different sections of Bellevue,” said Mylett.

The sectors — western, northeastern and southern Bellevue — were developed by the department’s three captains based on the population, natural boundaries and activities.

A similar system was implemented in his two previous departments, and the results were phenomenal, Mylett said. Those departments saw increased trust between the police and community, increased communication and an effective way to reduce crime and the fear of crime.

The department will also be implementing the CompStat system, which uses crime data and statistics to help make decisions about deploying resources. For example, Mylett said, if the data shows motor vehicle prowls throughout the Downtown Bellevue area but not many elsewhere in the city, why would the department spread resources equally instead of focusing in on hotspots?

Communication both within the department and to the community plays a large part in CompStat, and the Tomorrow program as a whole.

“In a lot of police departments, you see the silo effect, where investigations doesn’t talk to patrol, patrol doesn’t talk to narcotics, narcotics not talking to the gang unit and all of that… This forces everybody to come together on a regular basis,” he said.

Several other initiatives are included in the program, including the development of a new strategic plan, a new department organization model and commissioning self-directed work teams. The latter will include members of the department, faith-based organizations, educators, business owners and other citizens who will make recommendations to Mylett on certain issues.

Overall, the effect the program will have the community will be subtle, Mylett said. Generally, residents will see and hear members of the department more.

Implementation of the Tomorrow Program has begun and will continue over the next year.