I. From an academic perspective, community policing can be summarized:
"The prevailing community-oriented philosophy is committed to (1) increasing
accountability to local communities, (2) reorienting patrol activities to
emphasize service, (3) organizing community-based crime prevention, (4)
improving communication with the community, and (5) decentralizing the
police authority structure. (Barry and Cronkhite 1992)."
II. Interestingly, both the Atherton, California Police Department and the
Anderson County, South Carolina, Sherrif's Department, both of whom practice
community-orfiented policing, have the identical descriptions on their
websites. (Thus, I assume the following is a well-accepted police
perspective on community policing):
"The purpose of Community Oriented Policing is, simply stated, to make us as
efficient as we possibly can be within a legal and ethical framework.
Efficiency can be defined as protecting the law abiding and innocent from
the violent or criminally inclined. This is done first by making every
effort to prevent crime.
"In an effort to better understand what Community Oriented Policing is, we'd
like to describe what it is not. It is not a program. Programs have a
beginning, a middle, and an end. Communtiy Oriented Policing must be the
dominant philosophy of the organization. It is not a public relations scheme
or designed to provide political advantage for certain persons. It is not
"Soft on Crime" or social work.
"It does allow the citizen's of this town to share the responsibility for
resolving problems in our community. Community Oriented Policing will
succeed or fail based on the efforts of all of us, especially those of us
who will be on the front lines.
"Community Oriented Policing is built on the premise that the peace officers
are much more efficient when they know what they are looking for, as opposed
to driving aimlessly about hoping to stumble upon a criminal act or waiting
to be called after the fact. We gain this knowledge by talking to persons
who have such knowledge, including school officials, students, citizen's
groups, business owners or employees, as well as those suspected of or
convicted of crime. This communication occurs when the civilian who has the
information both knows and trusts the officer and is confident the officer
will help and will act appropriately on the information.
"This trust is further built through the rapport that develops naturally
between the citizen and the single peace officer; it will not develop if the
person who has the information is required to share it with an endless
parade of uniformed strangers. It is our belief that good citizens are
reluctant to contact their law enforcement agencies about potential criminal
activity. They will share it if afforded the opportunity to engage in casual
conversation with someone they trust. This relationship will not develop if
the information, or at least some of it, is not used, and that use is
communicated back to its point of origin, closing the loop. Historically,
intelligence failures are as often failures to use useful information as it
is failure to gather it.
"In essence, Community Oriented Policing is a matter of giving people what
they deserve. The innocent deserve the highest level of protection we can
give. They also have the right to feel secure, and this may be as important
as actually being secure. The guilty, on the other hand, must feel that
criminal acts will be discovered and prosecuted, or at the very least they
will become an object of our unremitting attention.
"It may be difficult to measure the results of Community Oriented Policing,
but persons who are its beneficiaries and practitioners will know
intuitively when it is successful. This endeavor depends on the cooperation
of the citizenry and will succeed or fail based on the effort, industry,
imagination, and social skills of the person who actually does the work. The
role of the administration, including supervision, is to allow the people
doing the work the maximum latitude and freedom to get the job done."
peace,
Lou S.
Lou Sternberg, Ph.D. (208)343-0555
5017 Bel Air loustern@primenet.com
Boise ID 83705-2777