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Community policing issues
The relationship between the police and the community
Three eras of american policing
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More than three hundred and fifty years ago, America's first known system of law enforcement became established. Today's modern policing system is a story of evolution. The system progressed from just reacting to crime once it had already occurred, to a more preventative police force designed to deter crime from happening. Beginning in the 1930s and continuing on for sixty years, United States law enforcement relied on a professional policing model. This model, based on an ordered structure and quick response times, improved several factors (History of Policing). These included efficiency, operations, and accountability, which did not prove to be adequate in the late 1960s. The increasing concerns of rising crime rates and the national …show more content…
It balances reactive responses with proactive problem solving focused on a crime's specific origin. The goal of community policing is to join together police forces with the public it serves, to identify and address crime issues. This allows for the solving of immediate conditions leading to public safety issues (Ray 2014). Rather than only responding to emergency calls and arresting criminals, police officers are able to expose the motives of crime and disorder. There are three main elements in community policing including partnerships, problem-solving, and organizational …show more content…
The community must be a participant in battling crime and disorder (Peak 2009)(98). An increase in the quality and quantity of contacts between citizens and police to resolve community concerns can enhance community life. As Wilson suggests, "the public should be seen along with the police as co-producers of safety and order” (2006). Implementing the model changes the structure of policing and the way it is managed. Community policing helps build up and strengthen the community by creating a link between police and the community. The partnership, then can, develop over time, ultimately aiding police in discovering the fundamental causes of crime within the neighborhood. Community involvement increases the resources police forces have available in crime prevention. Familiarization of community members, may allow officers to obtain valuable information regarding criminal activity. The public has been encouraged to partner with the police in these efforts through the Neighborhood Watch Program. The program was initiated in 1972 as a way to lower crime rates and has grown in popularity, becoming one of the most recognized programs across the country. The Neighborhood Watch program uses "the observe and report function" in hopes community residents will help in crime prevention (Kappelar and Gaines
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.
In order for the police to successfully prevent crimes, public cooperation is needed. Various community policing programs have been implemented and it is important to discuss the benefits and limitations of these programs. Community policing allows the community to be actively involved and become a partner in promoting safety. This partnership increases trust of police officers and helps citizens understand that the police are on their side and want to improve their quality of life (Ferreira, 1996). The role of the police officers goes beyond that of a “crime fighter” and expands to multiple roles including that of a victim-centered
American policing originated from early English law and is profoundly influenced by its history. Early law enforcement in England took on two forms of policing, one of which heavily influenced modern policing and it is known as the watch (Potter, 2013). The watch consisted, at first, of volunteers which had to patrol the streets for any kind of disorder including crime and fire. After men attempted to get out of volunteering by paying others, it became a paid professional position (Walker & Katz, 2012). The three eras of policing in America are shaped by these early ideas and practices of law enforcement. Throughout time, sufficient improvements and advancements have been made from the political era to the professional era and finally the community era which attempts to eliminate corruption, hire qualified officers and create an overall effective law enforcement system.
The professionalization of law enforcement gained prominence from the 1940’s through the 1970’s. It came out of a necessity to improve the capabilities of police. It was believed that the improvement of organizations through better quality personnel, upgraded equipment, and standardized procedures would lead to better departments and that would lead to safer cities. Numerous research studies showed that the move to professionalize law enforcement through a higher standard of efficiency led to a detachment of police from the communities they served. Many departments began to focus on response times and quantities of arrests, etc. This led to a diminished effectiveness of police in meeting the expectations of the communities they
Policing in the United States has mainly been based and expanded on the ideas of English way of policing. The English way of policing has not only been used as the basis for American policing but it has also been used to commence an era of evolving police agencies. In its early years, policing in the United States was largely regarded as a civic duty or responsibility of community members. The appointed officers were neither trained nor paid for their services to community members. Consequently, the chosen Sheriffs were usually motivated by financial incentives and lost their focus on enforcement of the law, which contributed to the perception that policing was primarily reactive in nature. However, the nature and structure of policing changed significantly following the emergence of urbanization, industrialism, and the society, which resulted in increase in crime. This forced the police or law enforcement officers to adopt a more proactive approach rather than the reactive approach that was traditionally associated with law enforcement. Notably, the history of policing has been characterized by considerable changes from time to time due to several factors like technological advancements and increase in threats to security.
Along with gaining the support of law enforcement officers in the community policing effort, members of the community must also take a stake and become an integral part of the movement. A study noted by Lord, Kuhns and Friday (2009), researchers found that more than 45 million people over the age of 15 encountered the police in some fashion. Of those encounters, one quarter involved members making first contact with police officers. Unfortunately, citizen encounters with law enforcement with negative connotations were more influential to decrease satisfaction with the police than were positive encounters to increase satisfaction (Lord, Kuhns, & Friday, 2009).
Community policing allows officers to be actively involved on the streets alongside the community. Their focus is not only to solve crimes but to interact with the people in their neighborhood, establish a rapport with them. This initiative has gained popularity within recent years as the police and leaders of the community pursue more significant ways to promote public safety and to enrich the quality of life of their community members. The police and the citizens often come in contact with each other for a multitude of reasons other than criminal purposes. Police officers often engage in community service by providing an abundance of information for those in need, and they offer educational services at schools and outreach
This concept has been around for decades and is believed to be an important aspect of law enforcement and the foundation of communicating with the people a law enforcement agency serves. There is such a strong belief in community policing in 2004 the Department of Justice (DOJ) dedicated an entire division to it. The DOJ calls this division the Community Oriented Policing Service also known as COPS. The Department of Justice states “Community policing begins with a commitment to building trust and mutual respect between police and communities. It is critical to public safety, ensuring that all stakeholders work together to address our nation's crime challenges. When police and communities collaborate, they more effectively address underlying issues, change negative behavioral patterns, and allocate
Community policing is a strategy used by various departments in order to create and maintain a relationship between the law enforcement agency and the community being patrolled. Community policing is composed of three critical components, community partnerships, organizational transformation, and problem solving (Gardiner, 154, 2016). Community partnerships are pivotal in community policing since they increase public trust and create am improved relationship in law enforcement agencies better serving the community (Gardiner, 87, 2016). These partnerships not only offer public input but also encourage the public to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in order to minimize crime within the community (Gardiner, 88, 2016). Unlike, the traditional strategies of policing, community orientated policing has been adopted by two-thirds of agencies in order to improve public safety and control crime. (Gardiner, 148, 2016).
There are many different ways of policing in the 21st century and all address and apply different theories and ideas to try and control the crime this day in age. One of these methods is called community policing and many law enforcement agencies around our country and the world use it as a model for policing and interacting with communities. Community policing is based on the belief that policing agencies should partner with communities with the goals to prevent or reduce the amount of crime in those areas (Pollock, 2012 p. 99). There are 3 main aspects of community policing that I will talk about in this paper and they are community partnerships, organizational transformation, and problem solving. After hearing about the
Community based policing can best be defined as, 'a collaborative effort between the police and the community that identifies problems of crime and disorder and involves all elements of the community in the search for solutions to these problems' (Sykes). Community based policing is the idea that the role of the police is not that of catching 'bad guys,' but more that of serving the public. In order for community based policing to have an effect, the presence of crime isn?t needed, in fact it?s often more effective without the involvement of crime, ?Modern police departments are frequently called upon to help citizens resolve a vast array of personal problems--many of which involve no law-breaking activity? (Schmalleger). The role of the police officer in community based policing, is to have an active part in the community. This can be something as simple as stopping in at a school just to talk to the kids, or...
Community oriented policing has been around for over 30 years, and promotes and supports organizational strategies to address the causes, and reduce the fear of crime and social disorder through problem solving tactics. The way community policing works is it requires the police and citizens to work together to increase safety for the public. Each community policing program is different depending on the needs of the community. There have been five consistent key elements of an effective community oriented policing program: Adopting community service as the overarching philosophy of the organization, making an institutional commitment to community policing that is internalized throughout the command structure, emphasizing geographically decentralized models of policing that stress services tailored to the needs of individual communities rather than a one-size-fits-all approach for the entire jurisdiction, empowering citizens to act in partnership with the police on issues of crime and more broadly defined social problems, for example, quality-of-life issues, and using problem-oriented or problem-solving approaches involving police personnel working with community members. Community oriented policing has improved the public’s perception of the police in a huge way. Community policing builds more relationships with the
The Challenges of Community Policing in 2015 and Possible Solutions Throughout the history of community policing in America, many challenges and issues still exist today. Images of past and present police actions and practices continue to put strains on police community relations.
The key aspects to community policing involve having officers working in permanent neighborhoods, the involvement of citizens to identify problems and have potential solutions, and the reliance on agencies to help locate issues. The cornerstone of the program is the citizen interaction with the police. It is reported that communities that receive community policing funds have reduced levels of violent and property crimes, also has a greater number of arrests. Successful partnership helps with the reduction of gang and drug activities, area crime rate, and the improvement of the relationship between law enforcement and
To conclude, Community policing represents a major development in the history of American law enforcement, but the extent to which this approach is a success and dominates contemporary policing remains a source of debate. In my point of view, community policing is good for communities. It has challenged the traditional concept of the police as crime-fighters by drawing attention to the complexities of the police role and function. In addition to the police officer hard work; citizens can also make a difference and contribute to make neighborhoods a better place to live. For instance, citizens can hold community meetings to talk about concerns and agree on solutions help organize healthy activities for children in your neighborhood, join or starting a neighborhood crime watch program, and talk to your community police officers and share information and concerns.