Community Policing

“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

The first con for community policing is some departments are using the term as an aggressive law enforcement tactic in certain areas. Cops could use for showing their presence among the people where there is no need for them. The community does not know what is going on and the cops are keeping the people in the dark that cerate distrust among everyone. Now you have resentment among both police and the local people. Might be seen as harassment by police when show aggressive.

Community policing helps citizens assume that the service of the police is there to take control of whichever the case may be when a situation happens. The community also needs to have some sort of equality with the police because the police and the community need each other to make the environment work. However, majority of the problem is that the community view police officers as abusing the law and although some officers do not all officers are bad. If the police and the community do try to work together then maybe the people can see that there are good officers and that it can change the way civilians see police officers. When it comes to the role of the police and taking care of their responsibilities the public needs to understand that.

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

When discussing how exposure to community policing can affect low economic neighborhoods, one must ask what is community policing? Miller, Hess, and Orthmann (2014) stated, it is a philosophy or orientation that emphasizes working proactively with citizens to reduce fear, solve crime-related problems, and prevent crime. Community policing can be a positive change in the community and for the law enforcement personnel that serves the community. An important concept to always remember is that the police are the community, and the community are the police (Miller et al., 2014). To successfully integrate this into police departments, we must examine several factors that have made police departments what they are today, what are ways to implement this new form of policing without resistance from law enforcement and citizens, and how community policing can affect the community and the work of law enforcement in the long run.

Law Enforcement within the United States is limited as many people may feel that it is a dangerous job. With law enforcement being so limited there is one way the community can and has assisted throughout the years. Community policing is the system of allocating police officers to particular areas so that they become familiar with the local inhabitants. In other words community policing allows law enforcement to be at high profile areas while the community who chooses to be involved is the eyes and ears for law enforcement. In other words were there is crime the community will

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

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 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

And in doing so, the it makes the job of the police much easier for obtaining info on suspects and getting written witness accounts for any crime that has been committed. It also helps the community members have a lower perception of crime in their community. Having a lower perception of crime in most cases is better than having actual lower crime rate. The community with a lower perception of crime will have less fear of crime than a community with lower crime rates, which is usually thanks the community policing and the police being seen out with the public and not just a face inside of a car. When community policing is done correctly, the community itself will eventually take over and take care of their own community with the police officers help and not the other way

Even though most departments have some community policing in their mission statement community partnership(arguably the most important part) is the least used in many departments(Maguire, Katz, 2002). Many departments inflate their involvement in community policing especially since the COPS(community oriented policing services) give federal grants to departments who use this. Actually billions have been spent on community policing and millions on researching it but no definitive evidence of its success on crime has been made by the early 21st century(Weisburd and Eck 2004). It can be very difficult to truly understand how certain cities really implement community policing since it really comes down to each individual police officer service. If the actual police officer on an individual level don 't internalize community policing than it doesn 't matter how much training and programs the department has they aren 't truly implementing it on the ground without the helpe of each officer, this includes managers, policies of the department, chiefs, and supervisors. The different members of the hierarchy must reinforce community policing training into the culture for full implementation of community policing.

Improving police-community relations allows officers to do their job more effectively, it can also help officers have a better morale and find their jobs safer and easier. If a level of trust is established between police and the community they serve, members of the community will be more willing to offer their help to solve crimes, and give out information about possible suspects. It is extremely important for the police to have an open line communication to the community if they want to increase the community’s level of satisfaction. Improving police-community relations will not only benefit the police department, it will also help community members. If the residents of a respective area trust their police officers they will be able to have less fear and feel safer around their neighborhood. It will also help because if the police and the community work together crimes will be resolved quicker which will lead to criminals being apprehended, crime levels being lower and the community being safer.

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.

These issues represent a minor illustration of perceived misgivings of community policing. The fact remains that there is no long-term study data available that indicating the community policing approach is superior. As such it would be wise to consider continual analysis of its effectiveness as an approach while not abandoning all other law enforcement strategies based on the preliminary beliefs suggesting the benefits of community policing. The best strategy would be to maintain an open mind and continue to build upon the increased community collaboration created through community policing efforts. At the same time, agencies should be prepared to situationally use alternative strategies to combat crime when it appears community policing may not be the optimal choice using data to demonstrate why other options may be better