Community Policing, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Community Oriented Policing | The value of traditional policing methods has resulted in further experiments being carried out in order to determine how police community relations may improve. Community oriented policing provides a framework where the efforts of the police are focused and linked to the community objectives for crime reduction in a specific location. It determines how the police may become more fully engaged with the communities concerns for effective policing. The main focus on this is problem solving and allowing the police to deal with emergency calls and more serious crime. The benefits of this approach are: (i) Officers are able to spend more time working with citizens to solve crime and disorder problems (ii) Improved police-citizen communications enable the police a better platform in order to share crime information with the public. (iii) Provides a better integrated network of police and community to help resolve local problems (iv) the combined community – police approach creates safer residential areas and business districts. (San Diego Police Dept, 2012)

| Strengths of Community Policing

• Provides more efficient use of police resources
• Creates additional manpower inclusivity
• Better interface with the community and relationships
• Becomes more community oriented, less officious
• Gains Funding support
• Improved knowledge base over community activities
• Decreases the amount of time police officers have to make in court appearances
• Facilitate improved understanding of policing activity in the community

| Weaknesses of Community Policing

• Some delegation of authority to less trained police personnel
• A risk of legislative or legal failure by less trained personnel
• May be more lenient towards the community in certain circumstances i.e. leniency in interpretation of the law. (James, N. 2011)

Overall the benefits seem to outweigh the disadvantages.

It is important to distinguish between that of Community Policing and Problem oriented policing as two different policing concepts. Community policing is best described as a philosophy for teaching whereas problem oriented policing is best considered as a method or framework for police practice

Police Community Relations | It is the concept of mistrust and poor relations between the police and members of the community that create an atmosphere of anger and fear. Citizens blame the police for social problems, unfair policies and discriminatory practices of justice enforcement. (Everyday democracy, 2012). Hence the need for the police building bridges with the community in terms of both trust and respect. Community oriented policing is one method of building this relationship. It is essential for the police to do their jobs efficiently that they have the trust, respect and support of the community. Equally the public need to see the police not only in a law enforcement role but one of empathy, care and participating in problem solving with the local community. These challenges have to be addressed by the police and the local communities and the bridges of trust and co-operation are built over time.

Problem Oriented Policing

The concept of problem oriented policing might best be considered as a method or framework for police practice. This covers such items as:-

• Examination of specific police problems and developing strategies for engagement
• The integration of the theory behind criminal justice procedures
• Encourages the involvement of the community
• Seeks guidance and mentorship from front-line police officers
• Involves a holistic commitment by the police in the form of a policing strategy to deal with criminal activities in the community.

| Strengths of Problem Oriented Policing

• Provides a theoretical framework for working with the community
• Enables the community to better understand policing objectives in the community
• Increases the overall involvement of the community in a positive way
• Provides an increased commitment by the police to the community
• Reduces the workload of front-line officers
• Greater satisfaction of the police officers – making a difference
• Creates fewer calls for service
• Generally less negative consequences
• Increased community satisfaction
• Creates a more integrated response to police problem solving

This approach also facilitates the problem solving model adopted by the Police force. This essentially comprises four key elements: (1) Information gathering (2) Analysis (3) Response and (4) Evaluation.

Building Relationships

One of the main advantages of community policing is that it build better relationships with the community and an improved understanding of the policing function. It is important however that this is not perceived by the community as some form of ‘vigilante’ function and as such needs careful integration with the mainstream front-line police force. This requires a considerable degree of mentoring and coaching with the front-line officers. The concept of community policing represents a modernization of the police force and helps with the under resources issue in certain key areas. This has been particularly useful in dealing with social problems like juvenile delinquency and substance abuse. In addition more boots on the ground is an active deterrent towards minor crimes of burglary, vandalism etc. Proactive policing is beneficial to the community in not only the building of relationships but equally has additional benefits as follows:

• Becomes a major deterrent against community crime
• Builds a working partnership of trust and respect of law with the community
• Provides more sustainable solutions to problem solving crime in the community
• Increases the resources to the police and therefore promotes better results
• Facilitates knowledge transfer from the police to the community making them more aware of legal ramifications and how to prosecute the law
• Builds a stronger commitment between the local police and the community

Challenges in Implementation

The concept of community policing has become increasingly popular in the USA but there have been considerable challenges in the implementation process. There still remains resentment of the police force, its function and understanding of its important role in the community. (Mastrofski, 2007).

The three most important challenges to community policing have been cited as that of (1) Implementation (2) Building the community partnerships and (3) integration of community policing into the community. The police themselves need to commit more study and research into these three important areas and determine how strategy improvements might be made. The added complexity is the increasing amount of civil litigations actions that are being brought against the police. This becomes compounded when dealing with community police and as such they have increased their degree of exposure to litigation matters. This creates the need for greater integration, supervision and training of community police officers. This is essentially a time driven thing with the community working very closely with the local police and following their procedures and legal requirements in the dispensation of the law. (Anderson, J. 2004)

Conclusion

The USA has made significant progress in the reduction of crime over the last decade. The increased use of community policing has had a major contribution in helping the fight to reduce crime in the country. The cost of administering police work, the alarming rise in the prison population and the limited number of police resources to fight crime has created the need for different strategies to safeguard the communities. The integration of policing in the community not only helps to reduce crime but promotes a better understanding of policing within the community and enable more direct customization of policing in order to meet the specific needs of a community. This improves both the quality of policing, helps to reduce costs and creates a more effective service model.

References

Everyday democracy. (2012, 4 23). Police Community Relations. Retrieved from Everyday democracy: http://www.everyday-democracy.org/en/Issue.8.aspx

J., A. (2004). Community Policing — Working Together to Prevent Crime. Australian Institute of Criminology, 1-6.

James, N. (2011). Community oriented piolicing services : Background Legislation and Funding. Washington DC: Congressionsal Research Services.

Mastrofski, S. D. (2007). The Challenges of Implementing Community Policing in the United States. Policing, 223-234.

San Diego Police Dept. (2012, 4 23). Community Oriented Policing. Retrieved from San Diego Government: http://www.sandiego.gov/police/about/community.shtml