NCJ Number
163536
Date Published
1995
Length
291 pages
Annotation
This guidebook for police departments in Illinois is intended to help police managers decide if, when, and how to implement a community policing strategy.
Abstract
The first chapter reviews the concept of community policing and its impact on police personnel and agencies. This is followed by an overview of police values and ethics that should be reflected in any policing strategy and style. A chapter on "information gathering" instructs change agents within police organizations in what they must know even before planning for change to community policing begins. Topics addressed include how to assess an agency's capacity for change, how to assess the community's capacity for change, and how to conduct focus groups. A chapter on "planning for change" discusses how to develop goals, strategies, and tactics; who should be responsible for planning; the structure for planning; and information dissemination. A discussion of program implementation and evaluation focuses on training for change and whether to use a pilot unit or launch into an agency-wide implementation of community policing. The techniques and purposes of evaluation are considered as well. Other issues discussed in the chapters are media relations, the future of community policing, its technology, the politics of community policing, evaluation methods and instruments, training and education resources, professional associations and information agencies, State and Federal Government resources, national private foundations and public agencies, and Illinois community-based resources. A 425- item bibliography