Effectiveness Of Community Policing

Do communities have the desire to see more community policing efforts? There has been numerous documents composed of the history, the development, and the elements of community policing. Research endeavors have sought to measure the effectiveness of community policing. There is documentation stating that police noticed a need for a new way of interacting with the public so law enforcement officials developed community policing. However, literature over whether or not individuals want law enforcement officers conducting community policing activities is lacking. The purpose of this research would be to measure whether or not individuals want police officers participating in community policing efforts or participating in more traditional police

The reason community policing was developed is described by Lioliokanaio Peaslee in the article Community Policing and Social Service Partnerships: Lessons from New England; who states that community policing was developed is the fact that crime has many influences that are outside of the control of law enforcement. Crime is influenced by family, communities, and economic standings; in spite of this fact officers are expected to be problem solvers, counselors, maintenance workers, fear management experts, problem solvers, and

Secondly, community policing should be a broad police function. The third element is collaboration between the community and police. Fourth, general knowledge and skill should be applied during community policing. Fifth, community policing should be working towards solving a specific problem within the community. Finally, community policing should decentralize authority ("Community- and Problem-," n.d.).
While the information above describes why community policing was developed and its functions, Jack Kuykendall sought to find out what type of officers are involved in community policing. According to Kuykendall, there are three types of officers involved in community policing. First, there is the watchman who is willing to overlook minor violations to ensure peace is maintained. Second, there is the legalistic officer which believes that there is a single course of correction—a legal one—for every situation. Third, there is the service officer who operates with discretion in every situation (Kuykendall, 1974). Nevertheless, do communities want local law enforcement agencies to employ community policing