Community Policing

The basic premise is to create a relationship between the police and the community. Some aspects to the community policing approach are empowering residents to share responsibility and authority for the quality of life in the neighborhood and applying problem-solving approaches. Services to the public

I chose to explore the Abington, Hatboro and Whitpain townships police departments’ websites for this assignment. Each department included on their website where they were located and how they could be contacted. They also included some frequently asked questions and general information about the department and how to go about reporting crime or paying tickets. Abington and Whitpain both included a “mission statement” while I was unable to find one for Hatboro. The one feature I liked about the Hatboro website is that although there wasn’t very much information, it did give the exact number of working officers and how they broke down into specific roles.

Chiefs are powerful leaders of police agencies and without their support formalizing any partnership can be very difficult (Jannetta, J., & Lachman, P., 2011). Leaders of organizations such as Police Chiefs often have the credibility and connections to reach out to other agencies such as probation departments to establish formal partnerships. Chiefs can implement partnerships at an organizational level and provide officers with the opportunity, resources, training, and incentives to participate in collaborations (Jannetta, J., & Lachman, P.,

As the newly appointed Chief of police, it is my job to ensure that the community feels that their concerns are addressed. I feel that the first thing to do is hold a city hall meeting for a question and answer. This would not only give me a better idea of what the community is wanting from the police in the community and it would also allow the community to know how the police force operates and how we should be operating.

The organization that I will use for this seven week assignment will be the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD). I currently work for this police department and have been here for almost eleven years. The police department’s mission is to provide a community based police department to its citizens so they will feel safe in their communities with in Nashville Tennessee. The MNPD services the citizens of Nashville and Davidson County with all of its 526 square miles as the primary law enforcement agency in Nashville. The city does have a Sheriff’s department but they handle the jail system as well as civil warrant servicing. The MNPD currently has approximately 1342 sworn personnel with approximately 1628 people which include the

What do you think are the current policing priorities of this department? (Please rank the TOP THREE – 1 being the most important)

I would begin by providing change management training to assist current employees to work through the changes. Depending on the size and budget of the organization, I would consider implementing shared services meaning sharing dispatch and training with another agency. This would free up part of the budget to ensure we had enough patrol officers to carry out the new policing strategies. I would also create a partnership with the community to ensure their participation and buy in.

There are several law enforcement agencies that have incorporated community-oriented policing programs as a part of their philosophy. The key element to community policing is crime prevention. Memphis police department and Pasadena police department have formed partnerships with their communities to help in reducing recidivism. Each of these agencies has several community policing programs that they have established to improve the quality of life for their citizens. Memphis and Pasadena have a program that is targeted for juveniles. Memphis’s is a Community Outreach Program (C.O.P.) that was developed to reduce juvenile violence. Pasadena’s came up with the diversion program,

While the Reform Era worked to professionalize police, as society became more complex, so did the role of the police officer. The Community Policing Era was developed as a result of the need to develop cooperation and positive relationships between the police and public. What developed out of this era was an essential element of community policing – public accountability. Police officers became accountable to their supervisors who in turn became accountable to the community. Accountability can be seen as an honest evaluation of achievement based on clearly defined objectives. Many of these objectives are defined by complex community and social problems; as such police officers require the capacity and flexibility to work on them in a variety of styles and employing a variety of strategies.

For the police to achieve positive goals within the community they must know the three main components of community policing. The three main components of community policing are community partnership, problem-solving, and change management (Bohm & Haley, 2014, p. 227). Chapter six states that community partnership is the first and main component that must be installed because officers want mutual trust between them and the community. Problem-solving is stated in chapter six to be the community and officers working together to point out an issue and implement a solution. The last component listed, change management, is trying to find something that will work a flexible style of management.

The success of implementing a program like this requires that both parties be well informed and well educated on the changes that will take place. One of the first steps is to market the concept of community policing both internally (within the department), as well as externally(within the community).  Marketing community policing internally often involves collapsing the existing structures of authority that are in place as well as the specialization within the department.  The case study mentioned that although the senior administrators in the department played a critical role in the reform, it was also necessary that line level officers be active participants in the process.  After all, two important components of community policing are empowerment and ownership.  Officers were given ownership of certain areas that were

When determining how to evaluate the effectiveness of the police department located in a medium-sized community several procedures must be used. However before the procedure can be used, the mission and goals of the department must first be determined, as this outlines the need for the effectiveness to be evaluated. Once the goals have been established, the individual should decide what measures will be used to ensure the evaluations of the goals are met. One approach that could be used is the strategic constituents approach. It assesses the effectiveness to satisfy multiple strategic constituencies both internal and external to the organization. Emphasis is place on its ability the organization has to gather scared and valued resources to

The key characteristics of community policing are as follows: Police officers are usually called upon to be particularly thoughtful, creative problem solvers. They are asked to listen to the concerns of community members, to logically reason out the roots of problems, to identify and

The role of the community policing specialist should include being a leader in starting problem-oriented efforts. When it’s properly applied ,it focuses on crime and disorder-not taking over the responsibilities

The organization's purpose is most often summed up in a mission statement which clearly and succinctly outlines what that organization finds important or valuable (Corden, 2016). The things included in a mission statement will illustrate the values of the organization and allow the observer to get an idea of what can be expected from that organization. Each of the listed police departments have similar mission statements with a focus on crime prevention and law enforcement. It is naturally expected that the police should have a focus on fighting crime. Each department attempts to highlight their inclusiveness in dealing with the public. Portland uses words such as working with “all community members”, maintaining “human rights” to relate to