NCJ Number
204438
Journal
Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management Volume: 26 Issue: 4 Dated: 2003 Pages: 591-611
Date Published
2003
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Based on an application of the theory of scientific revolutions, this article argues that community policing is not a new paradigm but rather an "epicycle," i.e., an ad hoc patch that sustains a declining paradigm (policing itself) without addressing its basic fallacies.
Abstract
Central to the development of the author's argument are a comparison of the definitions of "paradigm" and "normal science." The features of a paradigm are listed as singular achievements, a new vocabulary, new problem definitions, and incommensurability. "Normal science" is characterized by the resolution of central anomalies; texts that address peers; esoteric, technical work; and monopoly. Since being a paradigm is a necessary condition for becoming a normal science, all eight criteria must be satisfied by a normal science. The core of this article examines the extent to which community policing qualifies as a normal science. The author states that community policing could only be a normal science if policing were a normal scientific domain; however, policing is only one of several paradigms (not a monopoly) that offer mutually incommensurable perspectives on social order. Policing, whether or not it carries the label "community," still involves addressing social disorder by using a hierarchical, quasi-military contingent of armed officers with permission to use force on behalf of the state. This paradigm suffers from anomalies and is challenged by other paradigms, such as educational, therapeutic, and family intervention paradigms. Community policing does not qualify as a separate paradigm for addressing social disorder because it does not offer new singular achievements, new problem definitions, or ideas that are incommensurable with earlier policing. Policing is not a normal science because it does not have a monopoly in its domain. Policing as a distinctive method of addressing social disorder is a paradigm and faces anomalies that community policing does not resolve. An epicycle is a circular trajectory whose center moves smoothly along another circle. The concept of an epicycle may be generalized to include any awkward theoretical adjustments that sustain an anomalous paradigm. Community policing is a new variant on an old paradigm, which is policing itself. It claims to address root causes of problems, but only deals with shallow, local roots of social disorder. Increasing international and historical evidence suggests that more policed societies are not safer or more orderly societies. If policing is a paradigm, then community policing is an epicycle. 60 references