Approaches To Policing

The third and present day era of policing is Community Policing. Community policing is an organization-wide philosophy and management approach that promotes community, government and police partnerships; proactive problem solving; and community engagement to address the causes of crime, fear of crime and other community issues (Hess, Wrobleski pg. 10). Community policing goes beyond the traditional policing from the previous eras. Officers are assigned to designated areas, in which they get to know the citizens of the neighborhoods they are assigned. They use a more effective means of patrol such as foot patrol, and bicycle patrol. They do not just patrol around in vehicles, and respond to service calls. This goes back to one of Peel’s principles, “Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public. The police must obtain a more involved relationship with the citizen of a community in order for the community to help the police with their patrolling to deter crime.

Policing is a very difficult, complex and dynamic field of endeavor that is always evolves as hard lessons teach us what we need to know about what works and what don’t work. There are three different Era’s in America’s policing: The Political Era, The Reform Era, and The Community Problem Solving Era. A lot has changed in the way that policing works over the years in the United States.

Many policing agencies have found this approach to be helpful. Agencies that were involved noted that specific community concerns had been addressed, overall reductions in crime had occurred, or community members had become less fearful as a result of the police interventions. Relevant problems will normally surface as issues brought to the attention of the police.

Community Policing took a different perspective on crime than August Vollmer. It shows that even though police officers are trained and respond to crimes on time, it doesn’t effect the crime rates. In the past foot-patrol was in place but it quickly failed due to poor management and not enough funds for the program (Bohm & Haley, 2014, Pg. 147). Community Policing was an idea to form a bond between the police and the citizens. If the police paid more attention to the minor problems in

Plus, the concept of problem-oriented policing involves interaction with the public just as community policing does. So where is the difference? POP emphasizes on research more than any other aspect of policing. Not only is it a strategy, but it is also an approach to policing in which distinct parts of police business are subject to “microscopic examination” in hopes that what is learned about each problem will lead to discovering a new and more effective strategy for dealing with it (Goldstein, 2001). This all started in the late 1970’s (circa the beginning of community policing) when researchers, police professionals, and policymakers became interested in improving the efficiency of policing. Their research uncovered these findings: “(1) police deal with a range of community problems, many of which are not strictly criminal in nature, (2) arrest and prosecution alone—the traditional functions of the criminal justice system—do not always effectively resolve problems, (3) giving the officers, who have great insight into community problems, the discretion to design solutions is extremely valuable to solving the problems, (4) police can use a variety of methods to redress recurrent problems, and (5) the community values police involvement in non-criminal problems and recognizes the contribution the

First, problem-oriented policing enables police agencies to be more effective. Currently, police agencies commit most of their time to responding to calls for service. Problem-oriented policing offers a more effective strategy by addressing the underlying conditions that prompt calls for service. Often, many of the calls for service are related and, if grouped together, disclose a pattern of activity or

This type of policing is reactive where police officers patrol communities looking for crimes that have or are occurring. This style of policing allows for all suspects to be treated the same regardless of criminogenic factors. This type of policing leads to higher arrests and can be used as a deterrent due to high numbers of people talking about the police catching their crimes. This type of policing is effective when focusing on tackling a specific crime that is causing great numbers of harm to societies as seen with initiatives on gun violence, drinking and driving or drug trafficking. This type of policing limits corruption, which can be seen in policing approaches where close community interactions can lead to bias an unfair treatment. However, traditional policing is not without drawbacks. This type of policing leaves no room for discretion leading to us viruses them mentality from not only the general population but the officers as well. The police officers will no longer see themselves as apart of the community but above the community they are apart of. Reactive policing does not address issues of the community problems; it only creates a temporary superficial solution to greater problems. Community policing works with the public to police as well as prevent crimes, which is not seen in traditional policing. Although community policing seems idea, there should be a policing approach that handles most crimes without bias as well as works with the

Problem oriented policing is geared toward solving problems. The first step in problem oriented policing is the identification and selection of a problem. One method of identifying, analyzing and selecting a problem is known as SARA. The acronym SARA stands for scanning, analysis, response, and assessment (Cronkhite, 2013). The Center for Problem Oriented Policing has several problem-specific guides for different problems that police and a community may face. The guides cover a variety of subjects ranging from burglary to gas drive offs. Each guide discusses the problem and factors involved and offers suggestions derived from police report and research of the problem (Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, n.d.).

Since the founding of this country, to the wild west, and up to the present, the agenda of the policing bodies have been clear: to uphold and enforce the laws of our society. Of course the way they do this today had undergone changes from the first police forces of early America, law enforcement has seen trends come and go.

Community Policing is a value system which infuses a police department, in which the main organizational goal is working helpfully with individual citizens, groups of citizens, and both public and private organizations to identify and resolve issues which possibly effect the livability of specific neighborhoods, areas, or the city as a whole. Community policing can be beneficial to communities. Community policing can help prevent crimes from occurring. As officers get to know a community, they also get to know what is right and wrong with it. Typically, officers remain entitled to an area where crime happens often and as such they are left with fighting it as it is going or after it happened. In community policing neighborhoods, the officers are able to tell what might happen and as

There have been several studies conducted on problem oriented policing which provide evidence that this method produces positive results. One example is the Jersey City Drug Market Analysis Experiment. In this experiment, Vice Police Officers were assigned to target areas (the variable) and control areas of high drug activity. Arrests were made in these areas and a follow-up was done with the landlords, local government regulatory agencies, and site-specific enforcement was recommended. After a week of follow up and monitoring the areas, the target area had a reduction in criminal activity, and it was found that this area fared better in reference to crime and deviant behavior compared to the control group (Weisburb et al., 2010).

Coactive policing engages the public as the police seek to gather information concerning a particular problem that they

There are multiple approaches to engaging a police force with the community in order to most effectively prevent and respond to crime, and considering the relative strengths and weakness of each of these strategic models will demonstrate how models can impact the operation of daily policing practices and activities. The model under discussion here is called community oriented policing (COP), and focuses on building relationships and rapport between officers and the community in order to more effectively prevent crime. It is augmented by a model called problem solving policing (PSP), and depends upon rank-and-file officers identifying community problem areas through direct observation and analysis. Each model excels at slightly different things, and in practice most police agencies deploy a mix of models. By examining the Miami-Dade Police Department's handbook for school resource officers, it will be possible to view a COP/PSP policy in action in order to better understand how these models practically affect policing.

They also, of course, respond to dispatch calls of crimes in progress. Crime prevention is achieved through mere police presence. Negative interaction between the community and police is generally the norm. In communities policing, on the other hand, police officers are typically assigned to specific geographic areas in their jurisdiction and establish ties with the various community groups. These groups may include ministerial (church) associations, neighborhood associations, youth groups, etc. The idea is that when police are involved with the community they are not viewed as outsiders who are there simply to enforce the law. Crime prevention is achieved through positive interaction with police and the community. The goals of community policing are to reduce crime and disorder, promote citizens’ quality of life in communities, reduce fear of crime, and improve police–citizen relations. These goals are achieved through three essential efforts: community engagement, problem solving, and organizational transformation. In other words, the police are the public and the public are the police.

Approaches of both community policing and traditional policing models differ in a variety of ways. The characteristics of the policing models are quite different from each other, and community based policing was considered laughable when suggested for the new approach in the early 1970s. Due to community policing’s new operating beliefs, new and unfamiliar expected officer behaviors, and that officers were being held legally responsible for their actions and inactions; the idea and implementation wasn’t widely accepted until 1980’s. Traditional policing was primarily dominated by rampant corruption and lawlessness that affected all levels of the police administration; therefore citizens had little trust if any, in the police officers of the time.