Police Sgt. Chuck Schoville spends many nights in a dark, unmarked car investigating Tempe gang activity. But on the first Monday of the month, the 23-year police veteran gets back under the lights.
Studio lights.
Schoville, who has led the Tempe gang and hostage-negotiating units for more than 18 years, puts his communication skills to the broadcast waves when he hosts Tempe police's monthly community awareness television program, "Street Beat."
The producers of "Street Beat" said the show focuses on information that "hits close to home," including crime prevention and education, public safety information, community interaction and available police services.
Schoville said most police interaction can be seen as negative -- writing tickets and making arrests -- and that underlying adversarial relationships can exist.
"Most of our contact is negative in nature," Schoville said. "It's usually when something is wrong. We're a little bit different than the fire department. We don't have a chance to do the positive interaction."
The show aims to strengthen relations between the police department and the Tempe community.
"They allow me to be the voice of the department and to let them know we are here to help everybody," Schoville added. "It's a very user-friendly police department."
The program is shot live at the start of each month. Subsequent airings can be seen on Channel 11, Tempe's public-access channel.
In June's episode, viewers had the chance to call in and ask questions about the street legality of popular aftermarket auto products, such as hood and dashboard lights.
The show, one of the longest running of its type in the Valley, has been on the air since January 1994. The show began after the creation of a new department position, the public-relations officer.
Currently, Officer Brandon Banks holds that position and is also the producer of "Street Beat."
"My job is to get everyone together at our planning meetings, come up with show ideas and make sure everything runs smoothly," Banks said.
Though the program deals mainly with police issues, the production is a concerted effort among the Tempe Police Department, Tempe's communication and media relations office and the community.
"Street Beat" is filmed at the Tempe Performing Arts Center on the corner of Forest Avenue and Sixth Street, only a block south of the police station.
"The nature of our job is to react to crime, but I think we can also do things proactively, like 'Street Beat,' that can benefit our community, teach and be entertaining and hopefully inspire other agencies in communities to work hand in hand like Tempe," Banks said.
More information about "Street Beat" can be found at www.tempe.gov/police/streetbeat.
Reach the reporter at ian.schwartz@asu.edu.
