Community Policing : An Overarching Law Enforcement Strategy

“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 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.

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.

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

During this era, several police departments began to delve into more community involvement on the war on crime. There are three necessary principles in community policing, partnership, problem solving, and organizational change. Miller, Hess, and Orthmann (2014) stated that partnership describe the indispensable relationship between the community and law enforcement. Partnership are central to modern-day policing because they recognize a basic truth- law enforcement cannot do it alone. Each element plays an important role in community policing.

Community-Oriented Policing involves giving the Community it serves a voice in how the Police Department a voice, a powerful voice in the daily operations. In the traditional model of Policing, the police drive policy and methodology while the community has few options if they are dissatisfied with the level of service aside from legal suits and political pressure. Recent police involved shootings and excessive force allegations across the United States involve various Police Departments claiming to have implemented Community-Oriented Policing have still resulted in public displeasure. I am going to compare three metropolitan police departments: Chicago, New York City and Houston who are all listed in our textbook Oliver, 2008 as having Community-Oriented Police programs and compare how they address Use of Force issues at the various departments and how effectively they involve the Communities they serve.

This article written by Alex S. Vitale discusses the need for a decrease of reliance in policing and an increase for greater community services. Vitale believes that in order to solve the problem of police misconduct, communities must first resolve their own neighborhood disorders. He believes that police should be removed from school districts. Vitale backs up his statement with studies that show juvenile students worsen the safety of the school and eventually become associated with much more serious crimes. Enlightening role models can enhance school safety, which then eliminates the problem of juvenile activity within school districts, resulting in the unnecessary need for police and reducing the misconduct that often takes place. Vitale

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.

My vison for positive social change within my professional goal is to improve community policing in our society to reflect the evolving changes of the 21st Century. My academic goal is to gain the knowledge to use critical thinking skills and communicate my finding in a scholarly format for criminal justice policy-makers.

Community policing was first recognized after the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement act of 1991 which authorized 100,000 community policing officers. Community policing is defined as a philosophy that empowers the community in the solution of the problem rather than the dictation of the solution by law enforcement. It is also seen as a belief that by working together, people and police will be able to improve the quality of life in the community. The police living in the community will see themselves as a part of the community instead of the watchdog for that community. Community policing consists of two primary components; the first being community partnerships, which involves engagement by the police with the community to resolve community problems cooperatively. The second being problem solving, which is an attempt to deal with the conditions that cause crime and negatively affect the quality of life in the community. The core concepts of community policing are: Board police functions and community focus, Community input, Concern for the people, developing trust, Sharing power,

Community oriented policing is the proactive deployment method used by patrol officers in order to find solutions to why crime is occurring within a given community. Officers use their critical thinking and problem solving skills to analyze and uncover the underlying issues of a community that are posing threats to public safety and address ways this can be prevented. In many communities throughout the United States, police officers strive to build better relationships with community members, yet building relationships with youth within a community, especially a community over run by gangs, crime and drugs is a much tougher issue. These juveniles are at higher risk for entering into the juvenile justice system based on the many risk

The basis of community policing is to focus on solving the root problem of crime rather than responding and dealing with the symptoms of crime. Consequently, the community policing model is broken down into three sections. First, is the collaboration between law enforcement and the community, which allows the police to understand what issues the community deems important (Bohm, & Haley, 2014). Secondly, the police and public must work together to enact a solution that is beneficial and effective within the community. Finally, community policing necessitates decision making at the street level rather than administratively due to a greater understanding of the needs of said community. So, community policing promotes greater communication and

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.

There is much discussion on what community policing is and how it impacts or influences the duties and roles of law enforcement officers, other workers and those living directly in these communities. Due to a lack of understanding policies that were in affect caused a gap between law enforcement agencies and the people making it almost impossible for officers to do their jobs successfully. In this paper focal points surrounding community policing the and why it was implemented. Also to be determined and discussed is various methods used to promote results in communities. Then to discuss the positive and negative aspects that participants involved in community policing must be aware of.