What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Community Policing

Community policing could possibly be called the new orthodoxy of law enforcement in the United States. It has become an increasingly popular alternative to what many police administrators recognized as the failure of traditional policing to deal effectively with street crime, especially crimes of

“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 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).

The term “problem solving” in this context implies more than just simply eliminating and preventing crime. It is a concept that assumes that crime can be reduced in an area by studying the characteristics of the problems in that area and then applying the appropriate resources. The theory behind the concept is that underlying conditions create problems, and problems created by these conditions may cause incidents. These incidents will continue as long as the problem that creates them exists. Determining the underlying causes of crime depends, in great part, on an indepth knowledge of community. Thus community partnership will be of great assistance in the problem solving process. Cooperative problem solving also builds trust, and facilitates the exchange of information, and also leads to identifying other areas that can benefit from the mutual attention of the police and community (Gaffigan, 1994).

Law Enforcement officers have one of the most critical jobs in the United States. Their lives are always on the line and they are of high regards. This means they cannot fail! The results of their jobs do not only depend on their actions but also on the people. What this means is the community has a huge role when it comes to solving crime. Though many people may not believe it, they are the key to a successful crime prevention community. The people of the United States don’t really understand both the positive and negative effects that community policing actually brings. Some may say it is very dangerous based on their experiences. Others may say it’s the best way to do away with crime. Today the two will be compared and put to test by true officers serving our country. The facts will be stated and questions will be answered. Let’s take a look at what community policing is really all about!

Community policing is one method that police forces use to enhance public safety. According to the textbook Race and Crime, “It [community policing] was touted as having benefits over the traditional policing strategy because it is a proactive approach that

Community policing is has two main components the police and the community that identifies and solves community problems. Community participants speak their concerns, contribute advice, and take action to address these concerns. By creating a positive partnership we will need the energy, creativity, understanding, and patience of all involved. Certain communities take longer time than others to break down walls of apathy and mistrust so that important partnerships can be formed. Community policing officers are able to pursue numerous paths toward achieving self-regulated and self-defended neighborhoods. They have the chance of working jointly and equally with citizens. This helps to define local problems, educating the community about the causes of crime and

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 policy and a strategy aimed at achieving more effective and efficient crime control, reduced fear of crime, improved quality of life, improved police services and police legitimacy, through a proactive reliance on community resources that seeks to change crime causing conditions. This assumes a need for greater accountability of police, greater public share in decision-making and greater concern for civil rights and liberties.

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

Approaches of both community policing and traditional policing models differ in a variety of ways. The characteristics of the policing models are quite different from each other, and community based policing was considered laughable when suggested for the new approach in the early 1970s. Due to community policing’s new operating beliefs, new and unfamiliar expected officer behaviors, and that officers were being held legally responsible for their actions and inactions; the idea and implementation wasn’t widely accepted until 1980’s. Traditional policing was primarily dominated by rampant corruption and lawlessness that affected all levels of the police administration; therefore citizens had little trust if any, in the police officers of the time.

How does this approach compare to the traditional model of law enforcement? This innovative aspect of policing is allowing the large community to accept policing on a different level by engaging more with the people within the community. Community- oriented policing creates and relies solely one effective partnership within the community and other law enforcement agencies alike, problem-solving tactics and the transformation of police organization and culture to support this philosophical shift. This new initiative will not only get the communities members to be more comfortable by will prevent numerous crimes such as drug trafficking either within a state or country or across the borders. In light of these new