Flippo 1



Flippo 1

Zach Flippo

J. McAlpine

Writing 123

4 February 2009

A New Way to Police: Community Policing, Does it Work?

For years police everywhere have enforced the laws on our streets and in our community. The approach many law enforcement agencies has created resentment, distrust and hatred between the community and the police. Community policing has been developed to help ease the tensions between the community and law enforcement as well as help fight more crime.

In 1993 a survey of 2000 law enforcement agencies found that one fifth were using some sort of community policing and a full one quarter were adopting a new community policing model, only one year later the number of law enforcement agencies that used community policing jumped to over sixty percent (Langworthy, Travis 387).

What is community policing? According to Jack Green, author of “Community Policing in America: Changing the Nature, Structure, and function of Police,” community policing:

… seeks to balance the role of the police environment and organization

in pursuit of a broad range of community-based outcomes. Common core elements of community policing programs include a redefinition of the police role

to increase crime prevention activities, greater reciprocity in police and community relations, area decentralization of police services and command, and

some form of civilianization.

In short, Community policing is the attempt to sue the community to help identify, prevent, report, and stop crime. In order to do this the law enforcement agency must build a trust and report with the community. There also must be reciprocity in the form of less crime.

Not everyone in the community is willing to participate which brings up some of the problems with community policing. Citizens may not agree with the objectives of their police agency, there may be past bad experiences with law enforcement, and in minority communities many there has long been resentment and hatred towards police. (Garcia, Pu, Pattavina, Peirce 4).

But why have most agencies shifted to community policing? There are other law enforcement models that have shown promise. Problem oriented policing is a tactic in which law enforcement agencies pin point problems within their jurisdiction and deal with them directly in an effort to prevent crime (Hunter, Baker, Mayhall 67).

Community policing is superior to other models of policing. Community policing prevents crime and fosters better relations between the community and local law enforcement agencies and is superior to other models.

Community policing is the model of policing used by most law enforcement agencies across the country. It can be traced back to the beginning of modern day policing and the ideas of Robert Peel in the early eighteen hundreds. After almost two hundred years and police models that vary in many ways you can see policing moving back to his ideals.

Robert Peel had to come up with answer to the rising chaos and crime in London. The industrial revolution brought millions of people to London all condensed within the city it is no surprise that there was an extreme rise in crime. Peel had experience dealing with an angry population in Ireland and had come up with a new idea for policing. Before Robert Peel there was no police force anywhere. In most places the military suppressed crime, there was vigilantes, or the entire community kept a watchful eye out for crime. (Hunter, Baker, Mayhall 59). None of these models would work in the sprawling metropolis of London or other cities around the world. Robert Peel recognized this and created any answer to the rising crime and the lack of order.

Robert Peel introduced Metropolitan Police Act of 1829 and created the world’s first real police force (Hunter, Baker, Mayhall 60). Peel’s idea for a new police force was one that worked for the public not repress it, he put an emphasis on prevention of crime by patrolling London, he would not let his officers carry guns, and he would not allow his officers to “alienate” the public as well as put an emphasis on cooperation, impartiality, and restraint in terms of physical force. (Hunter, Baker, Mayhall 60-61). Peel’s metropolitan police for was taken to well by the public and his model spread across England and soon the rest of the world (Hunter, Baker, Mayhall 60).

In America in the nineteenth century police forces were plagued by a political tug of war. In most major cities ethnic minority groups swelled the ranks of the local police forces. In many places the mostly white state legislatures tried taking over police forces with little success (Hunter, Baker, Mayhall 62-63). By the twentieth century many reforms began to change the way police department run. There was more education and training provided for officers, departments expanded their administrative branches, and criminology became a serious course of study at colleges around the country (Hunter, Baker, Mayhall 63). Though police departments got out of politics and became better trained, police in America would be scarred for the rest of the century by abuses of police in the south dealing with black protesters, the police in Chicago after their handling of the Democratic National Convention, corruption in the New York Police Department, the police response to other Vietnam protests and lastly the Rodney King beating a subsequent riot. People no longer trusted law enforcement. In stead of been seen as public servants, they were seen as repressors and evil.

It became clear that policing in America needed reform. And thus, reformers emerged. People like New York City Police Commissioner Patrick Murphy. Police departments began to use techniques that put an emphasis on community relations. Higher standards for conduct of police officers were set (Hunter, Baker, Mayhall 66). Agencies experimented with patrols that involved the community to help deter crime and catch criminals. Crime rates lowered and community policing continued to expand (Hunter, Baker, Mayhall 66).

People began to notice the effects of the enhanced patrols and a structure known as community oriented policing services (COPS) otherwise known as community policing was developed. In 1994 congress passed a bill authorizing 8.8 billion dollars for law enforcement agencies and the creation of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (). This got the ball rolling for community policing. Now, departments had federal backing, and funding to start up community policing in their areas. Or if they already had a community policing program, the funding would augment their efforts. One visit to the COPS website shows that the Office of Community Oriented Policing also distributes news letters, training manuals, organizes events, training, and seminars, and even offers ways to contact someone at the department of justice with questions about community policing. To date The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services has allocated billions of dollars for law enforcement agencies to implement and supplement their community policing programs. The office also funded thousands of new officers to help law enforcement agencies everywhere ().

Even with all this funding and structure community policing still faced many problems it still has to over come. There is distrust between lots of communities and law enforcement because police abuses of the past. Also, the diversity of the various communities has made it very hard for some agencies to adapt (Hunter, Baker, Mayhall 68-69). Nevertheless law enforcement agencies around the country are moving away from reactionary policing, that is, strictly responding to calls, to preventative, public oriented policing that was first introduced by Robert Peel nearly two hundred years ago. Community policing has a long history that has made it what it is today. It is not a perfect science and is still being perfected and the complete history of community policing is still being written.

But what is community policing? What do officers do that turns their actions in to a community policing effort? It is not something that just one officer or unit that can do, it is a philosophy that must be implemented throughout an entire police force (Greene 312). Organizations build crime prevention programs in their communities. If one searches the web for law enforcement agency websites, it is easy to find. Several websites for police departments like the Portland Police Bureau and San Francisco Police Department you find long list of programs in crime prevention. How to obtain alarms, protect your car from break-ins, also traffic and auto safety courses and guide lines. There are even anti-hunger divisions.

Officers no longer simply react to crimes that have been committed. They take an active role with the community to prevent crime. Citizen academies are available through some organizations. This reduces the public’s fear of crime and gives trust to the police and puts trust in the community members themselves (Greene 131). Neighborhood watch is organized by designated officers. If there is a crime and a member of the community sees it, the information is relayed directly to police officers responding to the call.

On the lowest level, community policing is simple, officers are nice to the public. They have casual conversations and get to know the people in their area of responsibility. Trust and even friendships are built.

Community policing many positive social effects on places where it is implemented. Wesley Skogan researched the effects of community policing in several cities and reported that fear of crime was reducing in almost every city, disorder and victimization also went down in half the cities (Skogan 180). He also found that the view of police remained the same or became more favorable and the availability of drugs went down.

Officers that participate in community policing reap benefits that are not always tangible. Eighteen out of every one hundred thousand police officers commit suicide (Ritter, Suicide Rates). This is brought on by stressful situations at work. In the past, the have not been well liked by members of the community. Officers in high crime areas must always be alert and fear for their own safety. This plus the access to firearms is a deadly combination. Community policing has been changing that. Jack Greene, in his article about community policing titled, Community Policing in America: Changing the Nature, the Structure, and the Function of the Police, states that community policing fosters, “Increased police officer Autonomy effectiveness Feedback Increased performance Skills Increased job satisfaction Broadened role definition Greater job attachment/investment” (Greene 324). Any positive mental changes for police officers is good, a more positive outlook can also help police officers be more productive.

Community policing is a good model for policing but it does have its draw backs. Law enforcement agencies have a hard time getting the public involved in their community policing strategies and getting things up and running (Garcia, Gu 3). Members of high crime areas are also afraid to participate and help policing efforts because of fear of retaliation by criminals (Garcia, Gu 4). A history of mistrust and even hate is also a determinant in citizen participation. In communities with high crime or a mostly minority population sometimes fear, do not trust, and do not like law enforcement because of a jaded past (Garcia, Gu 4). Also, some agencies claim that they use a community policing model but they actually do not use most of the common community policing model (Garcia, Gu 13). Community policing is also ineffective when members of the community are not in agreement on how to participate with police. Also, some law enforcement agencies foster an “us versus them” mentality that makes it hard to get officers involved with members of the community. (Garcia, Gu 13).

Community policing has its drawbacks such as people may not want to participate, officers may not want to participate, or community policing strategies may struggle to get off the ground. But despite these drawbacks its benefits outweigh them easily. Crime rates are down, trust between the public and law enforcement is emboldened, police officers enjoy their work more and gain more satisfaction lowering stress, and citizens play an active role in their safety. Community policing is the superior model of policing compared to older models and should be embraced by law enforcement agencies that do not have trust with their community members.

Works Cited

COPS: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services 3 February 2009. U.S. Department of Justice. 3 February 2009 < >

Garcia, Luis and Gu, Joann and Pattavinna, April and Pierce, Glenn. “Determinants of Citizens and Police Involvement In Community Policing, Final Report” Baltimore Police Department January 2002: National Criminal Justice Reference Service. Clackamas Community College Library, Oregon City, Oregon. February 3 2009

Greene, Jack. “Community Policing in America: Changing the Nature, Structure, and function of Police” National Institute of Justice 2000: National Criminal Justice Reference Service. Clackamas Community College Library, Oregon City, Oregon. February 3 2009.

Hunter, Ronald and Barker, Thomas and Mayhall, Pamela. Police Community Relations and The Administration of Justice Upper Saddle River: New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 2004

Langworthy, Robert and Travis III, Lawrence. Policing in America A Balance of Forces Upper Saddle River: New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 2003

Portland Police Web site. 2009. Portland Police Bureau. 24 February 2009

Ritter, John Suicide Rates Jolt Police Culture 8 February 2007. 24 February 2009



SFPD Web site. 2009. San Francisco Police Department. 24 February 2009

Skogan, W.G. 1998. Community policing in Chicago. In Community policing:Contemporary readings, edited by G. Alpert and A. Piquero. Prospect Heights,Illinois: Waveland Press

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