Building effective community policing units through collaborative problem-solving

¶ … community policing unit?

The fact that crime levels have experienced significant progress in recent years alongside of organized crime groups growing stronger each day means that community policing units need to see similar growth and to direct their attention toward addressing these problems. In order for my policing unit to be as effective as possible, it is going to develop a strong connection with the community and to enable its members to acknowledge the important roles they can play in making the world a better place. A community policing unit has a particularly complex effect on society as a whole and it is thus essential for individuals collaborating with it to be well-acquainted with strategies they need to employ in order to help generate positive results.

Community policing takes control over resources and support present in the local community and organizes these respective concepts in making the community a safer place. My unit has to enable locals to understand that the police force in an important factor in a democracy and that police officers generally operate for the benefit of the people and the values they need to protect.

Specific responsibilities?

From my perspective, community policing involves developing collaborations and problem-solving strategies meant to address public-safety concerns. Crime, social disorder, and situations that are likely to lead to crime are among the principal issues that community policing is meant to concentrate on. With the community being directly involved in coming up with solutions to such problems, the community police unit is better prepared to deal with them and to improve living conditions on a local level.

Community policing does not simply entail traditional police services, as the fact that citizens are brought into the policing activity and encouraged to contribute in a series of ways means that officers gain a more complex understanding of the criminal environment in relation to the community and thus become better experienced in preventing diverse problems that the local community is probable to come across.

People in the contemporary society need to acknowledge that crimes still occur in spite of the fact that police forces are getting better. The reality is that the authorities also need to change their strategies and community policing is one of the most effective methods to do so. Community policing involves a proactive approach at addressing crime and by organizing operations that are designed to catch criminals before they actually act, the unit succeeds in achieving its goal.

Robberies, disorder, and domestic violence are less problematic in situations where police officers cooperate with the masses in addressing them. Sting operations are a positive example involving officers working alongside of the community with the purpose of catching criminals. By encouraging potential criminals to take on particular attitudes, officers gain the ability to catch them before they actually go through with their plans (Palmiotto, 2000, p. 83).

Where would I assign officers to work

Officers working for my unit would primarily be deployed in areas that are known to experience problem often, as their uniformed presence there is probable to discourage individuals who would normally cause problems. Time spent on patrols would be somewhere around 20 hours per week. Officers would try to cover as much of the areas under risk as possible during this period and to prevent criminal activities from occurring both during and after their watch.

How would I gauge the success of my unit

I would conduct a study involving citizens living in the area I am in charge of previous to my community policing unit stepping in. This would provide me both with the chance to understand weak spots there and to observe how things change as a result of the fact that my unit is present in the area. I would interact with locals on a daily basis and I would try to get a better understanding of problems that might appear within the community. The key to gauging my unit's success stands in building strong relationships with locals. This would convince people to trust me and my officers and they would become less hesitant about trying to notify us whenever they feel that it would be important for them to do so.

Bibliography:

Miller, L.S., Hess, K.M., & Orthman, C.M.H. (2010). Community Policing: Partnerships for Problem Solving: Partnerships for Problem Solving. Cengage Learning

Palmiotto, M. (2000). Community Policing: A Policing Strategy for the 21st Century. Jones & Bartlett Learning.

"Community Policing: The Line Officer's Perspective," Retrieved September 8, 2013, from http://www.cj.msu.edu/~people/cp/communit.html

"Understanding Community Policing," Retrieved September 8, 2013, from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/commp.pdf