The idea of community policing is guided by a philosophy grounded in certain principles (Coquilhat, 2008). The principles are anchored on the thought that if there are positive changes now, communities will be guaranteed safety in the future. It is about cooperation and agreeing to work so that specific objectives that are commonly agreed on can be achieved. The concept of community policing is meant to move policing services closer to the people; with the people contributing towards the strategies employed in achieving the policing objectives. According to Palmitto, community policing is a game that the police should never afford to lose. He says that cooperation between the police and communities leads to more successful and reliable crime investigation techniques which lead to more accurate arrests and hence lower rates of crime. Such a scenario will help to improve the perception of police performance which will imply that they will be considered proactive and more effective in forestalling crime and maintaining peace. According to the analyst, if community policing does not produce the results expected, the then public will be at a crossroads because there is no way it can decide not to support police service. It is noted that the failures of preventing crime notwithstanding, the...
Community policing helps the political side of things by portraying the image that the police are caring (Palmitto, 2000). Some of the advantages of community policing include
1. To improve the community perception of the police and enhancing their relationship
Community policing helps to improve police relations with the people it looks after (Segrave and Ratcliffe, 2004). The participation aspect enhances accountability by the police (Palmiotto, 2000). Several community policing initiatives have proved to improve the perception of the police service (Skogan and Steiner, 2004).
2. Enhancing the capacity of the community to solve problems
3. If the capacity of the community is enhanced, it is possible to have community members identifying and responding to pertinent issues that concern them (Segrave and Ratcliffe, 2004). Empowerment of communities lead to strong communities which are more active (Mastrofski, 2006). Community policing allows the public to have a look at police activities in depth. It is the point where the police gain support from the grassroots (Palmiotto, 2000). Nevertheless, even if communities have capacities already, they will take part in community policing. They may…
