Broken Window Theory Analysis

Today, many police officers are out performing patrols on foot and on bike, interacting with the public through meet and greets, and participating in community service projects to help make the city a great place to live (Roufta, n.d.). Furthermore, this method of policing also allows the community to get involved with their local law enforcement. Through initiatives such as block watches, police officers can now answer calls from the neighborhood. Overall, today’s policing has created a method of policing known as Community Oriented Policing. Community Oriented Policing is a style of policing that involves police officers partnering with their communities to help solve problems and to attack the core problems that lead to crime in the first place (“Law Enforcement and Community Relations,” (n.d.), para. 24).

“Community policing is, in essence, a collaboration between the police and the community that identifies and solves community problems” (U.S. Department of Justice, 1994, p. vii). Throughout the years, community policing has become a more popular strategy to help law enforcement officials control and deter crime; however, some areas across the United States has had problems in the past with communities and law enforcement working together to ensure a secure and safe environment. Although it is an officer’s duty to maintain order, keep the peace, and solve problems within the area he or she

During the 1990’s many theories began speculating as to why there was a sudden dramatic decline in violent crimes. One of the biggest theories that was widely used during the decline was a system of crime fighting called “broken windows.” This theory was popularized by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, in an article called “The Atlantic”. “If a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired,” they observed, “all the rest of the windows will soon be broken.” (Drum). By the police showing people that they will tolerate small crimes, such as someone breaking a window, this allowed for a cycle of never ending crime to begin. Cracking down on these small crimes would allow for the bigger crimes to drop. This policy was applied in New York City by the Boston police chief Bill Bratton. He aggressively applied this theory by going after homeless people in the subway stations and turnstile jumpers, and the results were very dramatic. Since 1993, when Bratton began the “broken windows” policy rape rates dropped 17 percent, assault rates dropped 27 percent, robbery rates 42 percent, and murder dropped 49 nearly percent. (Drum). All in all, it seemed that Wilson and Kelling’s theory had been proven to work, yet doubts still

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.

In cities and towns across the country, tragic deaths of citizens in confrontations with police have have spiked a wave of distrust for law enforcement. The bad perception for law enforcement is unfair to the officer’s who are dedicated, and mean well in their duties, yet unfortunately, it has created tension between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. Due to the recent deaths and confrontations, reform proposals and new policies have been a national conversation to implement new initiatives to strengthen the bonds between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve. Although, confrontations between law enforcement and citizens in the community have spiked, the concept of community policing is not new. Throughout the years the philosophy of community policing has been to

Community policing is explained as a collaboration of community and the police working together to help identify and solve criminal activities. Additionally, the whole concept behind it is to promote public safety and to enhance the quality of life within the neighborhoods in which we reside in. Community policing is composed of two major components which are community partnership and problem solving. Community policing is a program that was initially started in the 1940’s. All of the support that was released for this program was materialized actually in the 1980’s. One of the main goals if not the most important goal was to bring in the law enforcement closer to their local public to help

The Community Policing era has been one of the contemporary police activities in the last 30 years. It is more of a decentralized approach to reducing crime by involving the same officer in the same community on a long term basis, so residents will develop trust and then provide information and assistance to the officer. Community Policing does not replace motorized patrol or other police tactics but instead compliments them with community partnership and problem solving (Bailey, 2011).

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

Law Enforcement officers have one of the most critical jobs in the United States. Their lives are always on the line and they are of high regards. This means they cannot fail! The results of their jobs do not only depend on their actions but also on the people. What this means is the community has a huge role when it comes to solving crime. Though many people may not believe it, they are the key to a successful crime prevention community. The people of the United States don’t really understand both the positive and negative effects that community policing actually brings. Some may say it is very dangerous based on their experiences. Others may say it’s the best way to do away with crime. Today the two will be compared and put to test by true officers serving our country. The facts will be stated and questions will be answered. Let’s take a look at what community policing is really all about!

Although many may find community policing and problem-oriented policing to fall in the same category, there is (surprisingly) a difference between the two. For one, community policing has many definitions. For some, it means instituting foot and bicycle patrols and doing acts pertaining to the ideal bond between police officers and their community. While for others it means maintaining order and cleaning up neighborhoods in desperate need of repair (Dunham & Alpert, 2005). However, an idyllic definition of community policing is altering the traditional definition of crime control to community problem-solving and promising to transform the way police do their job. Within the past two decades, there has been much research on community

The videos of officer Norman is an example of community justice. Officer Norman shows a lot of empathy with the families in Arkansas which makes them feel safe in their community. You can tell that where they're from is low income and the crime rates are probably high, so by him interacting with the children and adults shows that he truly cares about his community. This corresponds to chapter one because this chapter explains the different rolls of community justice which is what officer Norman portrays. Community justice is all about doing good for your community and making the environment that you live in better each and every day. on the other hand, the article that talks about "the broken windows theory" portrays

According to the media’s perception of the police department, police officers shoot first and ask questions later. Moreover, that distorted way of thinking is dangerous, namely, the general public usually form their opinion through the eyes of the media. However, in the 1970’s and 80’s, it was believed if the condemned buildings and broken windows were repaired, that concept reduced the level of crime considerably because criminals had a tendency to gravitate toward the impoverished neighborhoods (Zimmermann, U. 2013).

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.

According to James Q. Wilson and Geroge Kelling in their theoretical article piece "Broken Windows," the Broken Windows Theory concludes that if disorder goes untreated in neighborhoods, the fear of crime goes up in citizens and police officers, and more disorder will lead. The focus on police officers obligating to socialize more personally with its citizens in neighborhoods leads to citizens having more favorable opinions of the police and for residents to feel more secure. In effect, those residents would think that crime has been reduced in their neighborhood. Although with the practice of personal socialization [foot patrol] for police officers its citizens in neighborhoods, crimes rates have shown no decline in crime, however, citizen's perception of police officers and their neighborhoods grow favorable."