Final Sunday December 07 2014 Community Policing History of community policing An outgrowth of two major forces in the 1960s Concerns about rising crime rates and The national civil rights movement These movements lead to increased attention and funding for research and policy development Various crime commissions discovered that most crimes were not reported to police The first use of victimization studies in the early 1970s indicated that there were significant levels of crime that were not reported to police Fear of crime was also a significant concern for both police and citizens Also in the 1960s a due process revolution was also occurring and the country was demanding improved police community relations increased education for officers diversity in the ranks and controls on police discrimination Research on community policing Congressional funded projects Foot patrols Defining community policing often decreases fear of crime although the impact of foot patrol on actual crime is less certain See Police Foundation 1981 The Newark Foot Patrol Experiment Washington D C Community policing focuses on crime and social disorder through the delivery of police services that includes aspects of traditional law enforcement as well as prevention problem solving community engagement and partnerships The community policing model balances reactive responses to calls for service with proactive problem solving centered on the causes of crime and disorder Community policing requires police and citizens to join together as partners Other ways of defining community policing Organizational Philosophy adopted organization wide Department wide adoption of community policing is evidenced by the integration of the philosophy into mission statements policies and procedures performance evaluations and hiring and promotional practices training programs and other systems and activities that define organizational culture and activities Organizational systems support and value a service orientation and stress the importance of different units within the agency working cooperatively in support of community policing Implementation of the community policing philosophy may occur incrementally and within specialized units Final Page 1 working cooperatively in support of community policing Implementation of the community policing philosophy may occur incrementally and within specialized units at first but a defined path leads towards full department wide implementation Decentralized decision making and accountability In community policing individual line officers are given the authority to solve problems and make operational decisions suitable to their roles both individually and collectively Leadership is required and rewarded at every level with managers supervisors and officers held accountable for decisions and the effects of their efforts at solving problems and reducing crime and disorder with the community Fixed geographic accountability and generalist responsibilities In community policing the majority of staffing command deployment and tactical decision making are geographically based Appropriate personnel are assigned to fixed geographic areas for extended periods of time in order to foster communication and partnerships between individual officers and their community and are accountable for reducing crime and disorder within their assigned area The geographic boundaries are naturally determined based more on communities rather than statistical divisions Utilization of Volunteer Resources Community policing encourages the use of non law enforcement resources within a law enforcement agency Volunteerism involves active citizen participation with their law enforcement agency The law enforcement organization educates the public about ways that they can partner with the organization and its members to further community policing and provides an effective means for citizen input Volunteer efforts can help to free up officer time and allow sworn personnel to be more proactive and prevention oriented Examples of such resources might include police reserves volunteers Explorer Scouts service organizations and citizen or youth police academies Enhancers There are a number of enhancers and facilitators that may assist departments in their transition to community policing For example updated technology and information systems can facilitate community policing by providing officers access to crime and incident data which supports problem analysis or increases uncommitted officer time by reducing time spent on administrative duties This results in enabling officers to spend more time in the community In addition enhanced technological and analytical capabilities allow the agency to gather timely information about crime problems which supports better resource and personnel deployment while providing officers a better understanding of the problems within their beat In addition information must be made accessible not only to police officers but also to the community If officers are to be responsible for problems in their beat and if the community is to be an equal partner in combating crime and disorder both must have access to timely and complete information Finally community policing training for all sworn and civilian personnel can serve as a facilitator to successful implementation of the philosophy Training opportunities support community policing through alternative means of enforcing the law and impacting crime and disorder problems Community policing training must be incorporated into all facets of training and required for all department personnel and available to the community and expanded well beyond the definition and basic elements Tactical Elements Enforcement of laws Community policing complements the use of proven and established enforcement strategies becoming one of many tools available to officers that can be collectively employed to prevent and combat crime As the philosophical foundation emphasis is placed on the quality of individual and group efforts In Final Page 2 foundation emphasis is placed on the quality of individual and group efforts In addition police departments should be active partners in identifying laws that need to be amended or enacted then working with lawmakers and organizing citizen support efforts to change them Collectively these activities allow police agencies to address underlying conditions that lead to crime while strongly enforcing breaches in the law Proactive crime