Verified Document

History Of Community Policing In America Essay

Community Policing The History and Concept of Community Policing in the U.S.

Community Policing Origins

Community Policing Philosophy

Community Projects

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

Community policing is as much a philosophy as it is a practice. At the heart of the concept lies a deep level of collaboration between the community and the police. However, to form such a relationship many intermediary goals must first be achieved. Most likely, one of the primary values that must be established is a sense of trust between both the community and the police force. If the community perceives the police force as corrupt or ineffective then will generally remain apathetic to the goals of community policing. At the same time, if the police force is not fully engaged with the public then are not likely to benefit from the communities assistance. Therefore, to establish effective community policing efforts a balance between the community and the police force must be established and maintained.

Community Policing Origins

Community Policing originated from a situation in which the public demanded that enforcement become more actively engaged in high crime areas in the 1980's. While jurisdictions focused on traditional motorized patrol, consistent with Regan's Reform Era practices, in other locations some officers were instructed to participate in proactive problem solving and begin developing stronger community relations. The differences between this approach and the more traditional police roles is that level of engagement with the community far exceeds that of traditional policing styles (COPS, 2011). In this approach the public is encouraged to participate and share responsibility with the police force in order to ensure safe communities and discourage crime, social disorder, and the fear of crime.

Community Policing Philosophy

The development of a community policing philosophy was dependent on the community residents' acceptance the shared responsibility they would undertake along with police personnel (Bureau of Justice Assistance, 1994). The community policing philosophy strains that the responsibility for the conservation of order in a community must be...

Shared responsibility requires regular and continued communication, which is vital in constructing mutual trust and cooperation between community citizens and police personnel. In addition, shared responsibility necessitates that community residents become more aggressively involved in crime prevention through actions such as reporting crime and establishing community watch or patrol groups.
Shared responsibility also requires police to respond to the crime-related difficulties that community residents have recognized as significant and police must demonstrate respect for all community residents during the process. Shared responsibility naturally transforms into officers being specified time and encouraged to attend community meetings, conduct foot patrols, and informally network with community residents. Additionally, some circumstances also require that officers are assigned enduring roles as liaisons so that they can be more familiar with the community as well as the community establishing relationships with the officers as well.

Another aspect to community policing is that it also stresses crime prevention. Where traditional policing essentially involves answering calls for service once a crime has already been committed, community policing goes beyond this position by proactively identifying the hidden conditions that lead to crime; then organizing efforts to alter those conditions. In this sense, community policing has more of a holistic approach to problem-solving. This generally typically requires a great deal of collaboration between police personnel, community populations, other public officials, as well as nonprofit organizations in the development and ongoing participation in community improvement tasks.

Community Projects

Community projects are often aimed at the root causes of social unrest that can contribute to sources of various types of crimes. An example of such a project could be the demolition of an abandoned building that is frequently used for drug activities thus causing the drug using population to disperse. Another example is the cleanup or creation of a local park or the development of recreational programs for local youth. These types of effects…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited

AA County Police. (2007, July 7). POLICE DISCRETION & ALTERNATIVES TO ARREST. Retrieved September 2, 2011, from Police Rules and Regulations: http://www.aacounty.org/Police/RulesRegs/Sections01-06/0105.2DiscretionAlternArrest.pdf

Bureau of Justice Assistance. (1994, August). Understanding Community Policing. Retrieved September 2, 2011, from U.S. Department of Justice: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/commp.pdf

COPS. (2011). Community Policing Defined. Retrieved September 2, 2011, from Community Oriented Policing Services: http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/default.asp?item=36

Sherman, L. (1990). POLICING FOR CRIME PREVENTION. American Journal of Police, 43-74.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Community Policing
Words: 4655 Length: 17 Document Type: Research Paper

Community Policing Efficacy The Violent Crime Control & Law Enforcement Act of 1994 heralded the beginning of a massive effort to reform policing strategies in the United States, in part through implementation of community-policing programs at the local level. Congress has allocated billions of federal dollars over the years since to support such efforts and by the end of the 20th century, close to 90% of all police departments serving communities

Community Policing
Words: 924 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Community Policing One of the renowned names in community policing is Sir Robert Peel who helped found the London Metropolitan Police unit that was meant to be closer to the people than any other time before. Sir Robert had the objective of creating a community where "…the police are the public and the public are the police…" as indicated by Braiden, (1992). He envisioned a community where the idea of policing

Community Policing the End of
Words: 2338 Length: 6 Document Type: Term Paper

In an argument against this decentralization it is argued that "diminishing their importance would erode the privatized feel that now dominates the exercise of city power in America and, thereby, affect the life of every metropolitan resident." (Frug, 1999) it is argued that the community policing will create 'city power' which will be the forerunner of the decentralization of power to American cities. This would in the long run

Community Policing and Police
Words: 1013 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

Police: History, Structure, and Functions The policing system's development in Britain was closely followed by a similar development in America. Policing by the initial colonizers assumed two forms: "The Big Stick" (for-profit, private agency policing) and the "Watch" (communal as well as informal) (Spitzer, 1979). Community volunteers primarily charged with warning citizens of imminent danger made up the latter system. The night watch was first implemented in the year 1636 in

History of Police in America
Words: 1579 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

history of the police department in America. The writer explores why the nation determined police departments were necessary and how they began their ascent to various cities. Before one can understand the current police departments in America it is important for one to understand how the police came to be viewed as something that was needed. Police departments in America origins have been traced back to early English Society. Before

Present Status of Community Policing
Words: 2174 Length: 7 Document Type: Term Paper

Community Policing in Today's Society: Policing is a concept that has existed for several years though the view of these professionals has remained the same ever since. Throughout the existence of this concept, police officers are generally expected to deal with several calls for service. Notably, most of the calls received by police officers are usually directly related to enforcement of the law. The other calls for service that account for

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now