Community Oriented Policing Essay

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).

Policing has changed since 9/11. They wanted different ways to detect terrorist actions and criminal acts. So community policing was implemented. The government has provided money and has been supportive in agencies efforts to participate in community policing. “For example, the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), a branch of the Department of Justice, provide funding to local police agencies to hire 100,000 new community policing officers in the 1990s” (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2000 as cited in Chappell, 2009, 6).

Although not all communities are benefited from community policing, some have had great success in achieving the goals for community policing and some have had little success in the program because of the lack of understanding of what the program is intended for and a lack of consistency in the involvement with the community. In order to be effective community policing requires participation from both the law enforcement agency and the citizens it serves. Officers who are not fully committed to the assigned neighborhoods can cause adverse effects on the community that results in a failed

In order to secure the relationship between the community and the law enforcement there needs to be more effective community policing in a homeland security policy. The principles of community policing is the dimensions of proactive policing, problem-solving, and community partnerships or cooperation (Criminal Justice and Criminology Faculty). Ultimately, to secure the relationship between the two, the community must trust the law enforcement because this trust creates legitimacy. “While, having lack of trust undermines the legitimacy of law enforcement and creates an unequal society in which some feel comforted by law enforcement while others

Community policing is a philosophy. It uses organizational strategies that support the use of partnerships and problem solving techniques to address issues of public safety.Community-oriented policing is collaboration between the community, organizations within the community, and the police that identify and solve community problems. Police officers work with the community to help solve problems related to crime, fear of crime, social and physical disorder, and neighborhood conditions. They do this to enhance the safety and quality of neighborhoods. Officers spend time in these neighborhoods getting to know the residents and business owners by talking to them about the problems that the community is facing or individuals who are causing problems. They are responsible for reducing crime in their beats.

Community policing was defined as “police officers working with community members to address the causes of crime and to prevent crimes from occurring, rather than just responding to crimes after they have occurred.” Officers and the community benefitted with improved attitudes

Community policing started in the 1980s when agencies started to move away from a crime-fighting model. This model is based on establishing partnerships with and in the community, including officers and citizens. This was largely based on the fact that through the previous model agencies noticed that they were losing touch with the very communities they had been sworn to protect (Cox, 2014). This method is important to society because it encompasses both officers and private citizens. It gives everyone the chance to have input on policing. It brings support through and with the people of a community together for a common goal.

Sahar F. Aziz (2014) an associate professor at Texas A&M University School of Law mentions in his article, that “over the past few years, federal government officials have expressed concerns over an increasing “Islamist homegrown terrorist” threat. High-profile cases involving “lone wolves” accused of terrorist plots on U.S. soil, coupled with public perceptions of Muslims as prone to terrorism, have triggered a flurry of Congressional hearings and executive reports recommending harsher counterterrorism enforcement focused on Muslim communities. Meanwhile, critics of “hard” counterterrorism tactics propose increasing community outreach to Muslim communities, through community policing in particular, as the solution to homegrown terrorism” (p.148). The use and implementation of community policing has become popular among policy makers seeking to be more preventive in

Community based policing can best be defined as, "a collaborative effort between the police and the community that identifies problems of crime and disorder and involves all elements of the community in the search for solutions to these problems" (Sykes). Community based policing is the role of the police not that of catching bad guys, but more that of helping the public. In order for community based policing to have an effect or benefit the role of the police officer has to have an active part in the community. Police departments have always looked to the community for help when it came to reporting a crime or help solving a crime. The point was to engage with the citizens and build a trust between the people and police so the community could once again feel safe and trust that police officers are there for them and working with them directly. Police must maintain a positive rapport to overcome all the negativity placed on officers." Strong, positive relationships between children and police officers often grow into

Community policing complements the traditional policing as an initiative to enhance community partnerships to reduce crime and the fear of crime. The philosophy of community policing is reliant on encouraging healthy relationships between officers and their community to get to the root of crime instead of treating the symptoms as founded in traditional policing methods. Traditional policing methods are based more on rapid response, patrol, and investigation procedures, but these processes are lacking in dealing with the underlying issues affecting communities (Ortmeier & Meese, 2010, p. 227).

Preventative and collaborative measures, as described in the community policing model, are necessary to facilitate change. Although law enforcement officers are doing their jobs to the best of their ability, the time has come when another layer of support is a necessity. To be successful in the reduction of crime, law enforcement agencies need to enlist the resources of the community. Together this partnership can provide the comprehensive approach defined by the community policing model. A 2003 Department of Justice survey revealed 58% of all law enforcement agencies used full time community policing officers (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2012).

Community policing is a problem-oriented approach to policing. It focuses on a more preventative measure in creating safer communities rather than rapid response to 911 calls which do nothing in preventing crime. It involves citizens in conjunction with police officers on the beat working together toward a safer community. The demands on police officers are many and can become overwhelming and when funding is inadequate, their abilities and involvement with the community is limited. The logical solution towards a safer community is to incorporate community policing.

How effective is community policing? Community policing has several different definitions. In this paper I will prove that community policing is effective by defining, community policing as the police and citizens coming together to create a safe community, stop crime and resolve problems and also urgently responding to the community. Throughout many years, the people’s view of community policing have remained the same. There are some valid causes as to why law enforcement leaders consider that it is time to change the way policing labors so that they are effectively helping the community. The way that community policing was trained in the past is not necessarily efficient in today’s society. For example, catastrophes in our communities continue to increase the need for security, citizens loose the feeling of protection and wellbeing, and this can be fixed by presenting advanced policing strategies. Law enforcement leaders are beginning to recognize that they must accept the responsibility for the safety of their communities. Community policing is as a law enforcement tactic enforced to progress a stronger connection between the police and the community.

“We have begun to find a way to reduce crime, forming community partnerships with local police forces to catch criminals and prevent crime. This strategy, called community policing, is clearly working. But we still have a long way to go before our streets are safe and our people are free from fear. Our