NCJ Number
189358
Journal
Criminal Justice Ethics Volume: 20 Issue: 1 Dated: Winter/Spring 2001 Pages: 3-16
Date Published
2001
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This article profiles two views of police-community partnerships, discusses equity in police partnerships, and then considers issues in partnerships and public deliberation.
Abstract
The "exchange" view of politics that underlies much scholarship on police-community partnerships rests on two assumptions: first, that public agencies should attempt to satisfy the preferences that citizens already hold; and second, that community groups are vehicles for making these preferences known. Under this view, police are neutral arbiters of the many demands that various interest groups raise, and they aim to ensure that each segment of the public can mobilize and be heard. The problem with this exchange view is that it does not capture all the richness of political action, so it does not faithfully describe real police-community partnerships. The "institutional" view, on the other hand, considers that community partnerships are not simply vehicles for individual groups to make their interests known. Instead, they are sites of public deliberation on the common good. At their best, they generate new information about social problems and about the capabilities of government and the community to solve them; they serve as places where citizens and officials learn about the proper constraints of their own roles as well as those of their partners. Under the exchange view, the prospects for community policing are bleak, since police are faced with a dilemma. In building partnerships around particular interest groups, they inevitably sacrifice equity, since invariably some interests are not represented. An emphasis on equity, however, may sacrifice the support of motivated citizens with particular interests. This article demonstrates the dynamics of this dilemma in the case of community policing in Seattle's Chinatown-International District area. The author argues that whatever the imperfections of the "institutional" view and its concept of public deliberation, it can help advance community policing by offering a metaphor of democratic practice grounded in enlightened debate and inquiry. It involves a commitment to a broader public interest without foreclosing the role for community partners. 26 notes