NCJ Number
120597
Date Published
1990
Length
458 pages
Annotation
Community policing broadens the police mandate beyond a narrow focus on fighting crime, to include efforts that also address fear of crime, social and physical disorder, and neighborhood decay.
Abstract
Community policing is the first major reform in policing since police departments embraced scientific management principles more than a half-century ago, embodying a new organizational strategy that allows police departments to decentralize police service. The effectiveness of community policing has not been determined due to the number of variables in the rise and fall of overall crime rates. However, this approach can be credited with reducing the overall fear of crime by embracing proactive efforts to address social and physical disorder. Community policing enables patrol officers to be more sensitive to community concerns, and to act as partners rather than experts with all the answers. Index.