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Neighbourhood Community Policing
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Proactive Policing
Community Orientated Policing is widely held as the new and correct style for American policing. For the past decade the community policing movement has been gaining momentum acquiring the support of politicians, scholars, reformers, and the public. Police chiefs around the country are now feeling the pressures of implementation from citizens and local government officials. Many high ranking professional police organization have placed their seal of approval on the new style of policing, including the Police Executive Research forum, the Police Foundation, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, The National Organization Of Black Law Enforcement Executives, And the National Sheriff’s Association. The following U.S. presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush, And Ronald Reagan have all supported community policing, and with the recent passage of the 1994 Crime Act, community policing has received the approval and go ahead from the Federal government (Maguire p368). Due to the involvement of the federal government many American police departments are reporting that they already have or are attempting to implement a community policing program, eventhough a large number of them do not fully understand the implication and obstacles they face with the implementation of the program. Most of the agencies are just inquiring due to the funding. Most of the police organizations applying for the grants do not fully understand the new style, and either intentionally or unintentionally misuse the funds. Community orientated policing is a proactive philosophy that promotes solving problems that are either criminal, affect the quality of life, or increase citizens fear of crime. It involves identifying, analyzing and addressing community problems at their source. Unfortunately, many individuals, both in and outside of policing see community policing as merely putting officers on foot or bike patrol, or by opening mini-stations amongst the community. These approaches misrepresent the true potential of community policing and establish simplistic expectations. (Glensor p14). These simplistic goals, unfortunately, do not allow for the implementer to ready him or herself to be ready for the obstacles they face with the implementation of the program. Vague descriptions of the obstacles they may face consist of officers concern of change, community co...
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...ementing long term solutions to community problem instead of readministering the bandage day after day. However through the implementation phase obstacles will be encountered and effective methods of establishment must be pre-administered. In all the success of a community policing program depends on the professionalism and determination of those selected officers administering the program. Given time officers involved in the program will find gratitude due to the fact that they will be allowed to exercise independent thoughts and actions in order to solve community problems through cost-effective and innovative ways.
Reference list:
Glensor, Ronald W., FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Jul 96, vol. 65 Issue 7, p14.
Lurgio, Arthur J. and Wesley G. Skogan, Crime and Delinquency, Jul 94, vol. 40 Issue 3, p315.
Skogan, Wesley G. and Mary Ann Wycoff, Quality Policing in Madison: An Evaluation of its Implementation and Impact (final technical report). Washington D.C.
The Police Foundation.
Walters, Paul M., FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Nov 93, vol. 62 Issue 11, p20.
Wycoff, Mary Ann, Community Policing Strategies. 1994. Unpublished final report, Washington
Bohm, R. M. (2001), A Primer on Crime and Delinquency Theory, Wadsworth, California pg. 82
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.
Regoli, R., Hewitt, J., DeLisi, M. (2011), The Essentials Delinquency in Society, Jones and Bartlett Publishers
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.
Lastly, the community policing theory of “broken windows” was researched and applied to the DPD. Broken windows theory, as conjectured by Wilson and Kellings, holds that when “discourteous and deviant behaviors are not controlled, an atmosphere is created in which more serious crime will be committed” (Yero, Othman, Samah, D'Silva, & Sulaiman, 2012) and a potential breakdown/ decline of the community is generated (Yili, Fiedler, & Flaming, 2005). Previous models of policing focused on police compartmentalization and isolation to guard against perceived prejudice and political corruption (Peaslee, 2009). At present, the models of policing now reflect community-orientated and problem-oriented goals. Among the countless theories of community policing, broken windows theory re-envisions how police should look to serve their community.
Daly, Kathleen, Goldsmith, Andrew, and Israel, Mark. 2006, Crime and Justice: A guide to criminology, third addition, Thomson, Lawbook Co.
Muncie J, Talbot D and Walters R, (2010), Crime Local and Global, William Publishing, (Devon). P. 18.
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).
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
Muncie, J., and Mclaughin, E. (1996) The Problem of Crime. 2nd ed. London: Sage Publication Ltd.
Oliver, William. (1998). Community-Oriented Policing: A Systemic Approach to Policing (Second edition 2001). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
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 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
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.