Community policing: strategies and implementation

¶ … authorities argue that community policing is a successful and innovative law enforcement concept, while others maintain that the approach has become outdated in the 21st century and actually places officers' lives in unnecessary danger. To determine the facts, this paper provides a review of the relevant peer-reviewed and scholarly literature concerning the success of community policing to date, including an analysis concerning what can be done to increase the chances that an innovation will succeed and a discussion concerning what factors increase the chances of failure. Finally, a summary of the research and important findings concerning the success or failure of the community policing model are provided in the conclusion.

Review and Discussion

There has been growing interest in community policing programs since the 1980s, including neighborhood-oriented policing, community-oriented policing, and problem-oriented policing (Pfeifer, 2006). According to Pfeifer, "Although these programs vary in terms of their approach, they tend to share the common theme. That is, attempting to develop an effective working relationship between the police and the community with regard to the detection and prevention of crime" (p. 22). More broadly, Gesualdi (2008) suggests that community policing includes law enforcement, community involvement and community improvement, as well as an overarching tenet that the prevention of crime is better than vigorous enforcement practices. In this regard, Gesualdi adds that, "Community policing represents an organizational arrangement that attempts to cause the police department to focus on community problems as opposed to focusing on symptoms of problems" (2008, p. 72). This definition of community policing is congruent with the observation by Glensor and Peak (1999) that community policing is "a proactive philosophy that promotes solving problems that are either criminal, affect the quality of life, or increase citizen fear of crime. It involves identifying, analyzing, and addressing community problems at their source" (p. 15).

Generally speaking, community policing initiatives reflect the overarching philosophy that police are not discrete and separate from other law enforcement agencies and organizations, but are rather part of a larger network of criminal justice system (Pfeifer, 2006). Although the specific goals of community policing initiatives vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and from time to time, they all share the common objective of bringing the police and the community together to identify problems and determine mutually agreeable approaches to solving them (Paruch, 2009). According to Paruch, community policing is "also to get citizens involved, to empower them to take control of their neighborhoods and be active participants in improving the quality of life in their communities" (p. 82).

Despite the enormous amount of taxpayer resources devoted to community policing initiatives over the past 35 years or so, there remains some disagreement in the law enforcement community concerning the efficacy of the approach. In this regard, Paruch (2009) reports that, "The philosophical shift from reactive to a proactive approach to policing in the community has brought mixed messages to the police administrators as well as from their own employees. It also raised questions if community policing initiatives are working and if they should be continued" (p. 82). In fact, Gesualdi (2008) argues that community policing as a "law enforcement policy is a failure" (p. 72).

Likewise, Allender (2004) agrees that many community policing initiatives in recent years have failed to perform up to expectations, but this authority attributes these failures to a lack of experience and prior planning. According to Allender, as conceptualized during the early 1980s, community policing was "poorly defined and improperly marketed to law enforcement and the public" and "this model had little chance of success" (p. 19). Similarly, Springer (1999) acknowledges the mixed success of community policing initiatives but attributes the failures to a lack of training. As Springer puts it, "The increased interaction with a broad range of citizens inherent in community-oriented policing requires that officers be prepared to assess and respond quickly to a multitude of scenarios. However, few departments provide the training necessary to accomplish this complex task fully" (p. 10). The results of an analysis of the effectiveness of community policing conducted by Johnson (2007) confirms that not all initiatives have been successful. In this regard, Johnson advises that, "Over the past 30 years or so, most police departments have adopted a community policing model. These community policing programs have met with varying degrees of success" (p. 10).

On the other hand, though, other authorities counter that the growing popularity of community policing is proof positive of its effectiveness and therefore its success. For instance, Shane (2007) reports that, "Community policing has steadily gained popularity and acceptance as a viable solution to seemingly intractable crime and quality-of-life problems. Many police departments are practicing community policing in some form, oftentimes at the behest of elected leaders who recognize its value" (p. 21). Indeed, Brown (2009) reports that community policing "has assumed a commanding presence in the law enforcement profession" which has "continued to display remarkable success in its many versions and variables" (p. 56).

In many cases, community policing initiatives over the past 35 years or so have not successful overnight, but were rather the result of several years of intensive implementation and oversight to ensure that program goals were achieved and officer safety was not compromised (Aragon, 2004). According to Aragon, over time, "Community policing should evolve into a department-wide and city-wide approach, where all officers perform as team players guided by the precepts of the community policing philosophy" (2004, p. 67).