Community policing approaches and implementation

Traditional Policing vs. Community Policing

Community policing has been defined as a "philosophy, management style and organizational strategy" with the goal of building community partnerships and not simply eliminating crime but also addressing the causes of crime in the community. It may be applied to any policing environment where neighborhood residents, schools, churches, businesses, community organizations or any other members of the community are working in conjunction with police departments to not only identify potential problems in the community but also solve them (Goldstein, Bayley & Couper, n.d).

Traditional policing emphasizes the role of police officers and law enforcement agents to identify problems and solve them in the community (Goldstein, Bayley & Couper, n.d: 22). The emphasis has been more on fighting crime from an independent perspective. However, community policing emphasizes the importance of collaboration between community members and police departments to develop needs assessments and help facilitate problem solving actions to fight crime and improve the community as a whole (Golding, Bayley & Couper, n.d: 22).

In traditional policing the responsibility for maintaining public order was primarily the ob of the police department only, however in a community policing environment this responsibility is shared with community members and individuals as well as police officers. The community is held responsible for conditions that might cause crime, therefore the community is enlisted to help identify what conditions are causing crime and help reduce social disorder (Golding, Bayley & Couper, n.d:. 23).

Problem Oriented Policing Works/Examples Successes

Problem oriented policing works by requiring law enforcement agents to work directly with community members to help identify the underlying problems that cause crime within the community. Knowledge of community resources is vital. A program has recently been adopted by the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) where the police department created task forces in the community's three districts and within the special operations unit (Kelling & Bratton, 1993). These forces are comprised of members of all ranks and were tasked with the job of determining what specific problems existed within their district and developing tactics to address them. Kansas City officials realized however as have many other police units that re-structuring the internal organization without bringing in support from middle management will not be successful. The key to success however is using middle management effectively in a supportive role, rather than over-assigning members to middle management roles that have no real function or purpose (Kelling & Bratton, 1993).

In Baltimore City the Captain of the department "pioneered" a new problem solving approach, by adopting a management style that "directed people toward an idea" and then empowered them to develop the tactics necessary to see that idea through (Kelling & Bratton, 1993). The police department created three "citizen oriented police units" to help fight crime in the community that were headed by lieutenants (Kelling & Bratton, 1993). The managers had the ability to establish their own schedules and develop a problem solving approach to crime by devising interventions aimed at fighting fear and crime rather than merely surveying the neighborhood for possible problems.

Thus problem-based community policing may be defined as effective when it is aimed at finding solutions and interventions for fighting and reducing fear in communities and developing strategies for overcoming problems within the community by tapping into the source of problems.

COPPS/Community Policing and Crime

COPPS has been described as radical in nature, providing a framework through which law enforcement agents can "examine and pro-actively respond to changing demographics, social disorder and physical decay" by focusing on neighborhood maintenance and revitalization (Kelling & Bratton, 1993).

According to Kelling & Bratton (1993) there are three major sources of resistance including: unions, detectives and mid-management, the primary focus of their discourse revolving around middle management. Middle management is blamed for slowing the decision making process and 'bloating' police departments (p. 33).

Police departments typically revolve around two strategies according to the authors: fighting crime through preventive patrol, interception patrol and rapid response and controlling officers as a means of improving police performance (Kelling & Bratton, 1993: 33).

Community policing is definitely working in communities including in New York, where in the subway systems the approach to crime has resulted in a 75% reduction in crime and an overall reduction in crime across the city (Kelling & Cole, 1998). In many other cities including San Francisco and Seattle, the COPPS model is being adopted and enacted to fight crime with a great deal of success, thus it's popularity and growing recognition among communities.

Broken Windows

Wilson and Kelling introduced the concept of "Broken Windows" in 1982, suggesting that a connection existed between fear, disorder, crime and urban decay (Kelling & Coles, 1998). Since that time the policing community and law enforcement agents have slowly been changing the way they operate and fight crime. The thesis has driven many organizations to develop a new approach for combating crime and decay throughout the nation's urban cities and highly developed areas. Since the original thesis came about Kelling has worked with Cole (1998) to produce a new prescription for "healing" the problems of urban decay and crime, which suggest that in order to problem solve departments must "control disorderly behavior in public places."

Such control will deter criminals. The authors propose new strategies for combating crime that are very different from traditional policing models. Some have even gone as far as saying that their ideas challenge "the very tenants of modern law enforcement" by suggesting that law enforcement agents work directly with community members and form partnerships with private citizens and local organizations in order to foster safe and crime free neighborhoods (Kelling & Coles, 1998).

This approach to combating crime has changed the way many agencies conduct business, and now require that law enforcement officials become active members of the community in an aggressive and diligent manner.

NYPD COMSTAT Model

The New York City Police Department has adopted the use of information technology as a successful measure against fighting crime. The COMSTAT model, which is short for "computer comparison statistics" has enabled police officers working in the department to view maps of criminal activity and "compare them with response rates and effectiveness" (NDOL, 2004). This information technology grounded crime fighting tool was developed under the guidance of William Bratton, formerly of the New York City Police Department and now chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (NDOL, 2004).

Why the popularity of the system? The model is based on the idea that the government can embrace modern technology as a tool for enabling better delivery of services, in this case law enforcement services through various communities (NDOL, 2004). The technology helps law enforcement agents work with the city as a whole and achieve the highest level of performance standards.