Community Policing as an Organizational Strategy (From Evaluating Community Policing, P 119-129, 2003, Tom Van den Broeck, Christian Eliaerts, eds., -- See NCJ-203040)

• NCJ Number: 203046
• Author(s): Wesley G. Skogan
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: Uitgeverij Politeia NV
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: Belgium

Annotation

This article discusses the risks in efforts to implement serious community policing.

Abstract

Community policing is an organizational strategy and not defined by the adoption of a few specific projects. A serious commitment to community policing requires a thorough transformation of the way a department is organized. Based on research in American cities, the risks are described along with a few of the “shortcuts” some American cities have used to minimize risk of failure. Community policing is usually described as a set of specific tactical plans. But it involves changing decisionmaking processes and creating new organizational cultures within police departments. Four general principles define community policing in American cities. First, community policing relies upon organizational decentralization and a reorientation of patrol in order to facilitate communication between police and the public. Second, community policing assumes a commitment to broadly focused, problem-oriented policing. Third, community policing requires that police respond to the public when they set priorities and develop their tactics. And fourth, community policing involves helping neighborhoods solve crime problems on their own, through community organizations and crime prevention programs. Community policing efforts fail for many reasons: resistance among rank-and-file officers, police managers, police units, and special units; competing demands and expectations; difficulty in assessment; the failure of interagency cooperation; an unresponsive public; police misconduct; and unsuccessful leadership transition. There are shortcuts that less ambitious departments have adopted so they can claim that they have joined the community policing movement. These shortcuts include initiating an overtime program, forming a special unit, and shortchanging the infrastructure. Research on policing indicates that many of the organizational changes and specific projects adopted in the name of community policing can be effective but implementing them effectively is difficult.