The Ottawa Police Service (OPS)

The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) business plan is a valuable and influential practice that determines future directions, core priorities, and which community initiatives are to be discussed and undertaken (citation). The Community Development Section (CDS) is currently in the mist of planning the 2016-2018 OPS business plan public consultation; therefore, due to CDS’s present involvement, the business plan was the practice appropriately selected for analysis. In attempts to thoroughly understand the discourses involved in the practice, three major debates were found within the review of literature. These debates are as follows: should the community be involved in police decision-making processes, what is considered the role of community development

There are many theoretical constructs of what community policing aims to achieve. However, Rosenbaum (1988) was able to merge these constructs into broader themes, which include “an emphasis on improving the number and quality of police-citizen contacts, a broader definition of “legitimate” police work, decentralization of the police bureaucracy, and a greater emphasis on proactive problem-solving strategies” (pg. 372). On a more philosophical note, unlike the ‘professional model’ of policing which attempts to protect the interests of the status quo through repression of marginalized populations, community policing philosophies aim to protect the quality of life of the vulnerable sectors (Trojanowicz & Bucqueroux, 1994; Xu, Fiedler, & Flaming, 2005). Community policing looks beyond the sole purpose of fighting crime, and internalizes a holistic view through the improvement of social relationships to the elimination or modification of social conditions that cause crime (Xu et al., 2005, pg. 150). Accordingly, proactive policing and crime prevention initiatives are at the forefront of community policing. As Xu et al., (2005) present’s, proactive policing entails eradicating the social conditions of crime, “while recognizing the functions of “root causes” (poverty, racism, and economic injustices) and normative factors (such as family values) (pg. 153). Theorist’s Trojanowicz and Bucqueroux (1994) promote community policing philosophies as the remedy that addresses traditional policing issues. They demonstrate that community policing improves problems associated to the lack of community input, and the poor relationship among community members and police officers. The focus is to design trusting relationships and to build sustainable community partnerships in efforts to enhance police accountability to the community (Greene, 2000). Crime