Initiating 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 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.

Community style policing is often described as a “philosophy” in which law enforcement and their officers work to build personal relationships with members of the community, according to The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The goal

The Community Orientented Policing Services wrote about how the events after Ferguson affected the Community Policing aspect for officers on the job. Community Policing is a topic of discussion because people do not like the rules that officers have to follow in their jobs. The services believe that everyone is a leader not just police officers, but they have noticed that the Community thinks they are just followers who give information to the police. From the Wisconsin’s chiefs point of view he states “fully 80 percent of African-American respondents said “yes,” in contrast to 37 percent of White respondents. Three-quarters of African-American respondents said that they had “little or no confidence in the investigations” into the shooting;

Different officers may have different ways to contribute to partnerships. For example, patrol officers have a unique position to help monitor and supervise supervisees (Parent and Snyder, 1999). Patrolling gives officers access to the supervisee and their social networks which can help provide knowledge of their activity (La Vigne, N. G., Solomon, A. L., Beckman, K. A., Dedel, K., & Center, J. P., 2006), this can be very valuable especially in cases which community corrections officers are mostly in their office and not in the field (Thornton et al. 2006). This can help with intervening before recidivism occurs due to being able to foresee issues that the supervisee may be having. This may help law enforcement officers prevent certain crime

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.

Auxiliary Policing was formed in 1989 and Peel Auxiliary Police has over 100 active volunteers. The duty of an Auxiliary Police officer is to supplement the police force with additional manpower. Although they do not perform duties that require force, they take part in other police work that preserves peace and order, prevents crime and protects life and property, as instructed by their department. Auxiliary members support Peel Regional Police by attending special community events, assisting with RIDE programs, patrol escorts and emergency callouts. PEEL Auxiliary Police has done many things for their community such as, Santa Claus and Remembrance Day parades, local community events like the Streetsville Bread and Honey Festival, Khalsa Day Parade, and Canada Day celebrations in Brampton and Mississauga. They also provide assistance in the Training Bureau at Recruit Graduations and they are involved daily with Canada Immigration to be on hand for Citizenship Court swearing in ceremonies. The volunteers put in countless hours to support the police force in certain events for their community. Community service and volunteerism are an investment in our community and the people who live in it.

According to Miller, Hess, and Orthmann (2008) community policing is defined as a law enforcement agency actively working with the residents of the community to reduce and prevent crime. Within the Fort Worth, Texas police department a citizen’s police academy is held for members of the local community to actively participate with sworn officers and serve as a link between officers and the community they protect. In addition to the citizen’s patrol, Burleson also hosts an Explorer program which allows young adults age fourteen or older to gain valuable learning experiences by interacting with officers who mentor and mold them into responsible members of the community. McGruff the crime dog is another child based icon which teaches young children about safety and avoiding violence and

Over the years community policing has become an effective method used by law enforcement to better serve their communities. The concept is to develop a partnership between the police and the

What is the appropriate role of police in crime prevention? In general, As Schneider (2010 & 2015) insists, even though community crime prevention is being placed the utmost importance on by many modern crime prevention theories and law enforcement besides police, the most vital role of police is unshakeable in preventing and controlling crime.

Crime in the United States has been an important debate and continues to increase from year to year. Television show such as America’s Most Wanted, First 48, and CSI are a few that show Americans that crime is real and running ramped. The fear of crime has become a noticeable characteristic of today’s society and has led to government officials, practitioners, and the community to search for ways to effectively prevent and reduce the problems identified. So how do we attack crime and lower the fear of crime in our communities when traditional policing efforts aren’t working? How do we do this with a financial budget? Community-oriented policing is the answer that many cities across the United States and in other countries have turned to.

Community policing is one of the newer looks on law enforcement. Many people do not know exactly community policing is or how it works. It is used in many places around the world and has many elements needed to be successful. It varies from traditional policing with how they want to solve the problems in the community.

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.

In conclusion, policing is present in most communities, and it is effective with the assistance of the people within the neighbourhood. Everyone benefits with the appropriate relationship and the outcome. Many factors, both good and bad contribute to how police can better serve in the work they do and the work place they are present in.

Community policing as we mentioned is the collaborative efforts by the police and the community to both address issues of security in their respective places (Gill, Weisburd, Telep, Vitter, & Bennett, 2014). It is rather unfortunate that matters securities are usually relegated to the police to handle. However, our concept proposes a platform where both the community and the police can be involved.