Police and Community Relations: Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going? (From Critical Issues in Policing: Contemporary Readings, P 349-368, 1989, Roger G Dunham and Geoffrey P Alpert, eds. -- See NCJ-114674)

• NCJ Number: 114684
• Author(s): J R Greene
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 20 pages
• Sale Source: Waveland Press, Inc.
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Citizen involvement in providing public safety and security is crucial, particularly at a time when resources for crime control by the police have declined and public demand for police services has increased.

Abstract

Over the past 40 years the police-community relations movement has evolved from one-way efforts providing communications from the police to the community to action programs emphasizing community responsibility for crime prevention and self-protection. Most recently, programs have aimed at joint police-community production of crime control and public safety. However, both the formal and the social organization of policing has rendered ineffective many of the efforts to improve police-community relations programs. The objectives of police agencies themselves have dominated both the forum for interactions between the police and the community and the programs that have evolved over the years. Recent efforts have focused on reorganizing and redeploying police forces with greater community sensitivity. Although citizen involvement will not solve the problems of crime and social disorder, it is essential for the maintenance of democratic values. Furthermore, law enforcement agencies can hardly continue to exclude the clients and producers of police service from the decisionmaking that affects the quality of life in American communities. 60 references.