NCJ Number
192150
Date Published
2001
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This essay reviews the issues and problems associated with community policing and argues that the public's desire and demand for community policing are aspirations consistent with democratic political values.
Abstract
The major components of community policing are community crime prevention, reorientation of patrol activities, increased accountability, and command decentralization. Accepting that the purpose of community policing is to involve the public in its own defense and sharing the burden of protection with the police are logically interrelated elements that constitute an organizational policy that draws police closer to their communities. Community-based crime prevention can become a major objective that the police set out to achieve, but in order to do this, the police and citizens must find or generate the resources, personnel, and committed citizens to mobilize neighborhoods. Expanded external accountability follows from community outreach programs. Command decentralization or restructuring reflects the organization adaptation that must occur if the police and the public are to intensify their interaction. Potential obstacles to community policing are the traditional culture of policing, limited resources for the implementation of community policing programs, the inertia of police unions in supporting community policing, difficulties in command accountability, and an organizational reward structure that does not value police officers' performance in building community resources to enhance community safety. Despite these obstacles, if police take the lead and encourage community-based crime prevention accompanied by substantial public input, benefits will follow for both the police and the community. 29 notes