When evaluating community-oriented policing programs, it is important to be

Community policing initially involved residents who grouped together to guard and patrol the society. In recent times, community policing has embraced the theme of proactive, community-sensitive and focused law enforcement. It tries to change the existing status quo and ideologies to be responsive to the community. The status of rigid policing is changing to become more community-friendly. It tries to solve crime by involving the community. Community policing system brings important changes both to the formal and social organization of law enforcement. The discussion on the system will illustrate that it is effective in policing and maintaining law and order.

The Effectiveness of Community Policing

Historically, community policing has been effective in rooting out the barriers which separate the professional police officers from the public. It instills various community service ideologies to the police officers such that they become more sensitive to the community’s needs (Greene, 2000). The patrol was effective in apprehending law breakers and maintaining the peace (Dempsey & Forst, 2015). The historical effectiveness of the community policing can be traced back to England in the 17th century during the reign of King Alfred.

During the time community policing involved families that came together to protect each other. The king established the Mutual Pledge to organize families into tithings (10 families) to protect each other and the community through patrols and night watch and make hues and yelling in case a crime occurred. Other community members would come to their rescue after such hues and yelling. Some of the pertinent crimes at the time were burglary, theft and robberies (Dempsey & Forst, 2015). In modern times, community policing involves cooperation of the police and residents to reduce fear of imminent crime, the crime itself and to maintain law and order.

Community policing brings down the traditional police policy-making bureaucracies and brings up a wider scope of interrelationship between the public and law enforcers in an interactionist organizational-environmental mantra (Greene, 2000). It also flattens the hierarchial frame work of the police force emphasizing on a more coordinated and harmonized service delivery involving the public and other private firms to maintain community safety (Greene, 2000).

Crime prevention and policing benefits from mechanisms aimed at community security through community policing and environmental design. Environmental design involves management of physical environment of neighborhoods, buildings and businesses which translates to safer neighborhoods and reduced fear of crime by the public (Greene, 2000). Community policing increases the police visibility in the communities and familiarize them with the people hence, promoting public-police partnership in fighting crime.

Principles of Community Policing

Community policing involves specific principles in its operations. One of them is hardening, that is, controlling the people accessing the neighborhoods, buildings and businesses as well as carrying out surveillance on specific places to reduce any likelihood of crime (Fleissner & Heinzelmann, 1996). Another main principle is territorial reinforcement. This involves increasing the security sense in living and working environments through encouragement of informal environmental control.

The principle of decentralization of the police force services allows the public to be involved in decision making on matters that affect their communities and aid in bringing these services nearer to them (Fleissner & Heinzelmann, 1996). Collaboration between the law enforcement departments and other private agencies is also a key pillar of community policing. Private agencies such as utility departments and parks collaborate with the police to maintain safety, solve problems and carry out frequent police-public dialogues on the perceived threats and problems facing them.

Community policing also involves focused, personalized and problem-oriented approach where residents in a community solve crimes in a personalized manner and in their own terms through community based programs and organizations. Such personalized crime solving is important because people from a specific neighborhood know their problems better and are likely to solve them amicably.

Effectiveness of Community Policing

For many years the American National Institute of Justice has financed many research studies on crime prevention with primary focus on creation of safer neighborhoods through environmental design and community policing (Fleissner & Heinzelmann, 1996). Some of these studies involved revisiting such policing concepts as foot patrols, mobile patrols and block watchdog programs. The results were that such initiatives had a positive effect on the community, lessening the fear of crime and improving the relationship between the police and the public (Fleissner & Heinzelmann, 1996). The researchers also found that crime was likely to flourish in run-down communities or neighborhoods which create an increased fear of crime by the public. Such fear of crime and likelihood of being a victim is dangerous because if forces the residents in these neighborhoods to withdraw in their premises, abandoning the community safety programs.

With cooperation with the local police departments, the public through community policing is able to conduct joint safety programs to clean up the neighborhoods such as removing graffiti on walls, removing run-down vehicles and street lighting the residential and business areas (Fleissner & Heinzelmann, 1996). If such community policing programs are absent, crime would continue to flourish putting the public and the police at risk.

Other than the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) efforts, there have been a series of seminars by Harvard University and the National Institute of Justice which primarily focus on the programs that publicize community policing. For instance, over the years there have been articles written about community policing efforts, which gives insight on the system. All over the American society, there has been mentoring and tutoring for students programs, surveys for citizens, personalized problem-solving programs, citizen-police academies, meetings in communities involving police and residents and websites involving regional community policing.

Community policing has brought many benefits to the community. Although there is limited research on the effectiveness of these programs, the few studies done on various American cities have proved to be beneficial (MacDonald, 2002). The setbacks for community policing have been few regular and systematic evaluation of community policing programs, lack of implementation of some of the programs due to politics and financial burden and hostility towards the police by specific communities especially African-Americans and Spanish neighborhoods (MacDonald, 2002). In spite of these set-backs, the community policing has been successful in preventing crime, fear of crime as well as maintaining law and order in the society.

Community policing has enabled constant monitoring and surveillance of communities through the mutual cooperation of the people and the police bringing down crime rates such as burglary, thefts, robberies, rape, drug trafficking,  assault, abductions and domestic violence (MacDonald, 2002). The public has taken the responsibility of guarding their neighborhoods and reporting any bizarre individuals and activities in the community. Such endeavors are only possible if the people are willing to guard themselves and remit any information to the police (MacDonald, 2002). This way, they both work together for the common good of the community.

Community policing has also helped to maintain the safety of the community through the various changes that ensue overtime. Societies are flexible and constantly changing overtime with new crimes coming up (MacDonald, 2002). Community policing enables the people in these communities to maintain the law and order by tackling the ardent problems facing their communities in a personalized manner. Multi agency involvement with public, police and private agencies working together provides a platform for successful policing and public safety.

In conclusion, community policing has existed for many years taking different forms over a period of time. The modern era community policing requires a mutual cooperation between the police and the public. The cooperation is essential in fighting crime and maintaining law and order. Through such cooperation, community policing will be effective in realizing the benefits to both the public and the law enforcement officers. Moreover, the system will be effective in improving the relationship between the police and the public. More research is needed to quantify the effectiveness of community policing in various cities in America since the existing data does not fully account for the community policing programs in the country.

References

Dempsey, J. S., & Forst, L. S. (2015). An introduction to policing 8Ed. Boston: Cengage Learning.

Fleissner, D., & Heinzelmann, F. (1996). Crime prevention through environmental design and community policing. US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.

Greene, J. R. (2000). Community policing in America: Changing the nature, structure, and function of the police. Criminal justice, 3(3), 299-378

MacDonald, J. M. (2002). The effectiveness of community policing in reducing urban violence. Crime & Delinquency, 48(4), 592-618

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