Westfield police are changing how they patrol the city, moving to a district-based model that will station officers in four distinct quadrants for one to three months at a time.WATCH FULL STORY BELOW Westfield Police hope to str engthen relationships through new patrol model"It's gonna reduce response time versus if half of your time you're another five miles away in a separate district and you have to come back to your district in response to that [incident,]" Westfield Police Chief Keen said. "You're gonna cut that time down."Keen spent more than 25 years with the Terre Haute Police Department before taking the helm in Westfield. He said keeping the same officers in the same areas will make policing more personal and more effective."If you have the same officers working in your area, you become familiar with them," Keen explained. "They're more approachable to you. You're more able to address issues within your community, specific to your community."The approach also addresses concerns raised by residents when Westfield passed golf cart ordinances, including how officers would monitor the city's growing trail system. "Because we're gonna put the officers in those districts, then they'll be more focused on not just the neighborhoods but the trails in their districts," said Keen. "So we'll monitor that as it goes forward, but we'll also address issues like the golf carts, the e-bikes, make sure that everyone's in compliance with that."Westfield residents say they welcome the change. Long-time local Braydon Pape said familiarity between officers and the community matters."I think that's a great thing to do and probably in probably any sphere," said Pape. "Especially people that we want to trust and also work with and are gonna help protect us." Anita Jones, another Westfield resident, said the city's growth makes the new approach necessary."I think they have good ideas and our community is growing and the more they know about the people and who's in the various areas, the better they're going to be," Jones said.You can find more information in the department's full announcement by clicking the link here.Logan MacDonald is the In Your Community multimedia journalist for Hamilton County. He joined WRTV in 2025. Logan loves to tell stories that hold the powerful accountable and give a voice to communities in need. Share your story ideas and important issues with Logan by emailing him at [email protected]. ...read more read less