NCJ Number
88285
Date Published
1982
Length
28 pages
Annotation
This discussion of a total approach to police community service proposes programs designed to encourage community participation in police crime prevention efforts.
Abstract
Police departments are community service organizations, with law enforcement being only one of the services rendered. Public cooperation must be the superordinate goal of all police activities, and police-community relations should be both a policy and process that permeates all aspects of police work. The levels of police-community relations are (1) the manner in which the police, both individually and collectively, conduct their functions; (2) the development of programs to increase public awareness of police policies, operations, and procedures; and (3) the involvement of the police in community affairs as private citizens. An important aspect of managing police-community relations involves the development and implementation of procedures to regulate the conduct of personnel, especially in the use of force and discretion. Managing the police community service program consists of injecting a community service orientation into existing functions, developing the position of community service officer to help organize community crime prevention programs and emphasize the use of informal social controls to reduce crime, and creating police-citizen councils to advise police administrators on community relations. Training should be initiated in the areas of community service, crime resistance, and juvenile diversion programs. Planning focuses on costs, crime and problem analysis, and community support and program planning. Various crime prevention programs should focus on the general aims of reducing the opportunity to commit and reducing the desire to commit crimes. Specific program suggestions are offered, and 42 footnotes are provided.