Effective Community Policing
Abstract Community policing is an new philosophy of police operations and management. It is a change of the goals, operations and management, but not a change of the responsibilities of the police force. It is based on the concept that private citizens and police officers can work together to solve problems of the community related to crimes, fear of crimes, social and physical disorders and neighborhood decay. Grants or other resources funded the community program. This paper will take a look at the police departments across the nation who has started the program to see if their program has made a change for the good.
This will also explore the thoughts of the community and the police officers concerning this program. It will show the results reported from the Surveys conducted by different departments. It will also explore the obstacle of getting the community and police to change the way we do things and accepting new ideas. Introduction Community policing is a bringing police and citizens together in a partnership to prevent crime and solve problem, emphasizing the prevention of crime rather than the traditional policing method of responding to crime after it happens.
This philosophy was seen to be a way to reduce future crimes problems. Community policing became a popular term between the police and the communities. The police agencies were given federal funding to provide substantial incentives and resources to adapt this philosophy. Philosophy of Community Policing The concept that police and citizens working together in ways to help solve community problems related to crime, fear of crime, social and physical disorder requires that police departments develop a relationship with law abiding citizens in the communities ( Carter, D).
This would change not only the police responsibilities but the management of the police force. Gianakis and Davis “Reinventing or Repackaging Public Services? The Case of Community-Oriented Policing” was a report on how many police departments are quickly changing to the new method of community policing. They are being proactive instead of reactive to community problems. They address how this is changing the entire profession of policing. ( Gianakis and Davis) The main issue to this new method is that it was the opposite of the standard police department and community were set up to handle.
In order to have an effective community policing the society must be ready and willing to cooperate with the police in stopping crime. To restructure of police force is inevitable to facilitate smooth integration between citizens and police. Reduction of Crime Crime free areas are more popular among citizens but prices escalate for everyone aspires to live there. While reducing crime in areas attract communities and businesses, in a crime infested areas are deserted and have little to no development. Effectiveness of community policing is not clear about foot patrols and community watch programs.
The lack of cooperation and misunderstanding is the biggest obstacle hindering the philosophy (MacDonald 2002 ). Strategies in Community Policing The main goal is to enhance police and community partnership. The idea of problems solving is to aim at quality of life, crime and the reason for crimes. Many police are reluctant to change. Their attitude of change is the ineffective means of managing a police agency. Secondly, administrators have to implement the policy in their stations and train the officers thoroughly with feasible skills in the community.
Some administrators are embezzling federal funds meant for improving the philosophy. Communities have started to lose faith with the police arguing that the money is used to hire officers who are doing little or nothing to fight crime. Concern of crime are a major issue for everyone. A strategic plan needs to be develop to change the guidelines for police services. Principles of Community Policing (Allender,D. M. ) 1. Philosophy and Organizational Strategy 2. Community Empowerment to Commitment 3. Decentralized and Personalized Policing 4. Proactive Problem Solving . Ethics, Legality, Responsibilities and Trust 6. Police Mandate Expanding 7. Special Needs to be Helped 8. Creativity and Support 9. Change Internally 10. Future Building Constitutional Conflicts The efforts of community policing may arise some constitutional issues. The way police enforce the law or start new programs it can raise concern or complaints (Allender, D. M). The community police are encourage to try new ideas. The administrator that plans community policing program must make every effort to void or plan for legal issues between victims and suspects.
Detroit Police Department Survey [1] A survey was conducted by Wayne State University of the Detroit Police Department in 1998 (). There was responses from 1213 residents in the survey. They were asked questions: 1. How often did they see police patrol in the neighborhood? 2. How satisfied are you with the performance of your local police department? 3. How would you rate the relationship that the police have with the residents in your neighborhood to solve problems? The results showed that sixty-four percent of the residents stated that police at least once a day or more.
Seventy-four percent indicated that they were “very satisfied” or “somewhat satisfied” with the police. Forty-six percent rated the philosophy was “very good” or “good. ” The residents that was surveyed knew the officers and commanding officers at the precincts. They were active with the police and became more involved with issues of community policing. The only drawback to the program is the intensive labor and the time input. Once the funding stops it is expected that the community based programs will continue to work with the police.
This will be positive that acceptance of the program will grow throughout the department ( Our Philosophy) . Chicago’s Community Policing ( Peak ; Glensor, 1991) In 1993 community policing began in Chicago. It began as an alternative to the program (CAPS) Policing Strategy. Which developed to a patrol division. This changed the citizens attitude of the police as a majority by rating the police performance demeanor and responsiveness. It also was intended to bridge the gaps between the races during the introduction of the program. Chicago made the program a high priority program.
While there was no idea how their budget was going to fund this program they still was given a substantial level of commitment to promoting the program. The Chicago department has acknowledge that the program hasn’t been without it’s problems. They continue to learn from their mistakes and rethink how they can improve their strategies (Peak ; Glensor, 1991) . Summary Community policing has proven to be overall an productive program. Placing limitation on traditional policing can be used to measure the neighborhood safety and pubic satisfaction.
Realizing that police cannot solve the problems in the community alone will go a long way achieving the goals set in the philosophy. References Allender, David M. (2004) Community Policing: Exploring the Philosophy / FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin/March 2004 Cordner, G. W. , Scarborough, K. E. ; Sheethan R. (2004) Police Administration 5th Edition. Anderson Publishing Company MacDonald, D (2002) Effectiveness of Community Policing Published June 19, 2011 Gianakis, GA; Davis, J. 1998) Reinventing and Repackaging Public Services? The Public Administration Review, 58(6) Oakland Police Department. “Our Philosophy. ” Online posting. 05 February 2000 http://www. oaklandpolice. com/phil. htm .Peak, Kenneth and Glensor, Ronald (1999) Chicago Community Policing, Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority Peak, Kenneth and Glensor, Ronald (1999) Community Policing Program Solving ——————————— [ 1 ]. 1 Oakland Police Department. “Our Philosophy. ” Online posting. 05 February 2000
