NCJ Number
174114
Journal
Journal of California Law Enforcement Volume: 30 Issue: 1 Dated: 1996 Pages: 21-24
Date Published
1996
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The basic principles of community policing suggest that the use of highly skilled civilians in crucial management positions can promote greater community support and eliminate the mentality of "we versus them" that may exist between citizens and a police agency.
Abstract
Traditional policing was incident-driven, whereas community policing is a strengthened way to direct the talents and energies of a police agency toward the social conditions that gave rise to the problem. Community policing emphasizes empowerment of both the police personnel and the community members. It also focuses on being personalized and decentralized. Understanding community policing aids understanding of the critical functions of police management. Effective managers need to oversee the operation of uniformed personnel or technical support staff, take immediate command to personnel in emergencies, use discretionary authority in dealing with complaints of the public, make decisions among a variety of choices, analyze and solve problems, set priorities and coordinate and schedule tasks or events, and be a leader by guiding and motivating people to achieve tasks. Carefully selected, qualified civilian administrators bring fresh perspectives and may have credibility with citizens that their sworn counterparts may lack in some cases. Civilians often administer support services due to the highly technical aspects of administration compared to field duties. Civilians are upper-level managers in many California police agencies; police executives should consider the use of civilians in the upper ranks of their agencies as an opportunity to increase community support.