¶ … Community Oriented Policing
Today's society is characterized by a drastic increase in gangs, crime, and drugs. Studies focusing on crime detective and rapid response are now criticizing the effectiveness of traditional policing practices. The perception that the core police function involves arresting law violators and combating crime has been slowly fading. These studies have convinced the American police unit to re-examine traditional policing practices considered as unsuccessful. This has led to the birth of community policing, which is currently making a significant contribution to the United States policing strategy.
Components of community policing
Community-oriented policing (COP) consists of two essential components. They include problem-solving and community partnership. Community partnerships are created through developing positive relations with the community (The United States & Community Policing Consortium, 1994). This requires the police to involve community members in the pursuit of better crime prevention and integrate their resources with existing community resources to deal with the most pressing security concerns. Problem-solving is defined as the procedure by which the police identifies the particular concerns of the community and initiates the most appropriate remedies to abate the identified issues. The concept of community policing does not imply that the police department is no more in authority or subordinated (The United States & Community Policing Consortium, 1994). Nonetheless, tapping into the community's resources and expertise relieves police officers of some burdens. All those working and living in the community,...
This means they share responsibility for devising practical solutions to issues that detract from the security and safety of the community.
Community Partnership
The component of community partnership aims at forming and sustaining mutual trust. Police officers have acknowledged the need to cooperate with the community. In combating serious crime, authorities are encouraging community members to present relevant information (The United States & Community Policing Consortium, 1994). Moreover, police have been speaking to local neighborhood groups, participate in civic and business events, work with educational programs for school kids and collaborate with social agencies. Further, special units have adopted strategies, among them provision of various crisis intervention services. The fundamental feature of community policing is that the police have become an indispensable element of the community culture. As such, the community members help in establishing the future priorities and allocating resources.
For the police to mobilize community support effectively, they must apply different strategies in different communities. Often, obtaining cooperation and establishing trust are the easier in affluent and middle-class communities than in poor communities. This is because, in poor neighborhoods, there is a long history of police mistrust. In some areas, building bonds entail supporting basic social institutions like schools, churches and families, which seem to have been weakened by pervasive disorder or crime. It is necessary to create viable neighborhoods…
