From active duty in Vietnam to life as a bat cop in one of Chicago's most dangerous neighborhoods, Ronnie Watson has seen his share of action.

And in July, this seasoned officer brought his wealth of experience to Cambridge, becoming the city's new police commissioner at age 51.

Having spent hours on the Chicago force chasing violent criminals, Watson now is shifting gears in his new position.

"I'm happy that crime is low enough that we can concentrate on other issues," Watson says, noting that Cambridge is the same size as the district he patrolled in Chicago.

Topping his new agenda is more effective community policing--improving communication between officers and city residents, making the department more accessible, and sending officers to various community meetings.

Already, Watson has initiated a plan to hold quarterly meetings with residents in every reach of the city.

Watson says he first became interested in community policing back in the Windy City.

At age 18, he joined the force as part of a 1963 city initiative to recruit and train young officers in the wake of a scandal that exposed corruption in Chicago's police force.

At that point, community relations was not on his mind.

"I was a beat cop and in the arrest mode," says Watson. "I'd ride around looking for people committing crimes."

But soon after being assigned to Englewood, a district with one of Chicago's worst crime rates, Watson's outlook changed.

"It wasn't until I was assigned to Englewood that I saw how much social conditions contribute to the rise of crime," he says, describing the damaged streetlights, broken-down cars and multitude of abandoned properties that dot Englewood today.

"There were about 105 pieces of abandoned property [in Englewood]," says Watson. "Many of them are located near schools, so girls would be dragged into the buildings and raped."

Even in this inner-city war zone, Watson was able to drive down the crime rate, thanks in part to the district's membership in a community policing initiative, for which he petitioned and was granted.

Homicides decreased from 99 in 1991 to 65 in 1994, a significant drop that Watson says was due to community alliances and stronger lines of communication.