NCJ Number
125033
Journal
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: (May 1990) Pages: 79-88
Date Published
1990
Length
10 pages
Annotation
Community policing is a concept that covers a variety of programs and approaches designed to improve police work through enhanced police-citizen interactions.
Abstract
Community policing can be described through three configurations on a continuum -- regular enforcement with no cooperation, public relations symbolic cooperation, and grassroots cooperation. While the first two situations stress the importance of cooperation in facilitating police work, community policing presumes that cooperation and trust which support the police depend in part on citizen attitudes. While community attitudes are shaped by personal experience and social interaction, the inverse is that positive attitude formation can help police resolve challenges including high crime rates and lack of community cooperation. Despite research limitations including construct validity, internal validity, external validity, and statistical conclusion validity, and drawbacks including impreciseness in the concept, division of labor, and potential for ethical problems and corruption, community policing is more beneficial than not. The community policing program in Portland, Oregon, may become the latest version of proactive policing. 45 references. (Author abstract modified)