NCJ Number
165839
Journal
American Journal of Police Volume: 15 Issue: 2 Dated: (1996) Pages: 1-22
Date Published
1996
Length
22 pages
Annotation
Although community policing has been a subject of academic interest for almost 20 years, debate and confusion prevail over what exactly community policing is; both academics and practitioners have been content to treat it as an intangible, fluid, and nebulous concept and consequently have failed to devise a common definition.
Abstract
By reviewing problems and issues surrounding the term community, the paper illustrates that application of the word community to a new policing philosophy means the community policing movement has been subject to many of the problems endemic in the term. While no single definition of community policing exists, interpretations of community policing are available in the literature and provide a theoretical framework in which to assess how community policing is seen by police leaders and police officers. Responses of a group of 31 police leaders and 144 police officers in British Columbia, Canada, indicate a focus on closer ties between the community and police officers but do not identify organizational change as a vehicle by which closer ties should be achieved and do not recognize the role of organizational change in altering reward systems, changing organizational structures, reassessing promotional criteria, and adopting new leadership philosophies. Interpretative differences in the concept of community policing are considered, and further research on police perceptions of community policing is recommended. 54 references, 1 note, and 1 table