NCJ Number
116738
Date Published
1988
Length
93 pages
Annotation
The focus of this study is the role and function of police community liaison officers (CLOs) -- officers specifically charged with improving police/community relations -- and the organizational structures in which they work.
Abstract
CLOs throughout Great Britain identified their main functions as schools, community, and statutory liaison; crime prevention; home background reports on juvenile offenders; training of non-CLO officers; and contributing to policy on sensitive policing methods. Unstructured interviews, visits accompanying CLOs in their normal duties, and working diaries kept by the CLOs enabled the researchers to study six forces and their organization in terms of the CLO's rank, autonomy versus control, status, support, training, and perceptions of the CLO's role. The credibility of the CLO within the broader community is discussed in detail, as are specific ways used by CLOs to build bridges to that community. Based on their observations, the authors provide a checklist for police community liaison departments, including objectives, structure, pro-active planning, operational involvement, career opportunities, training courses, and self-evaluation.