Community policing is an initiative or strategy propelled by police services or government to foster working relationship between police and citizens to prevent or combat crime. This policy is steadily and increasingly becoming popular to communities who have long suffered under criminal extortion vices. There is recorded decline in crime rates in recent years across American cities that have implemented community policing. This is assumed to have being possible due to paradigm shift initiated by many police departments from their usual approach of running to solve committed crime to halting or preventing felony origin conditions (Palmiotto, 2000). Community policing aims at maintaining safety and prosperity by engaging community in partnership to bring forth safer society.
Facts
To have an effective community policing the society must be ready and willing to collaborate with police officers in stopping crime. Since, police cannot control crime and uphold law and order simultaneously hence, the dire need for citizen to help them identify the epicenter of crime. For better service delivery, restructuring of police force is inevitable to facilitate smooth integration between citizens and police. There has been long lasting mistrust between these two groups as their conducts more often infringe the freedom and peace of the other one, thus many a times police and public have been at loggerheads (Erickson & Breci, 1998).
To measure effectiveness we are supposed to classify and track measurable and realistic goals for example crime rate. Therefore, effective community policing is of paramount importance to citizens as well as a country at large in safeguarding it prosperity and safety of its people. Crime vulnerable citizens tend to migrate to secure places to protect their properties and lives thus leaving the migrated area under developed. The government should therefore fund more community policing to bring up safer society where developers can feel safe to invest their money.
Violence Reduction
An area free from crime is popular among citizen as prices of such areas escalate tremendously for everyone aspires to reside there. This is then why a crime-infested area is deserted and little or no development takes place whilst reducing violence in such an area attract communities and business environment booms. However, effectiveness of community policing is not clear as carried out research states that foot patrols and community watch programs have no visible effects on violent crime. Other studies dispute community policing by stating that it has done little on elimination of urban aggression. For example according to MacDonald (2002) it is not community policing but upbeat and aggressive police tactics that minimizes homicides and robbery rates.
In spite of these opinions, police interviewed views otherwise, they says that community policing is effective and a fast means of restoring security, but it is only possible through cooperating community. They cite misunderstanding and community lack of cooperation as the greatest obstacle hindering effectiveness of community policing. They further claim that law offenders and criminals exist within communities hence, are well known and sheltered by some people in the very community they terrorize. This unearthing of events lives citizens as the best operators with capacity to terminate crime completely by collaborating with police officers.
Business Development
According to survey mandated by United States conference of mayors, community policing has been rated as an effective means of nurturing business development and participation in major states contrary to mixed outcome experienced in tackling atrocious crime. This was reinforced by frequent meetings made by community police men and women together with merchants and residents. For example in Denton, Norwalk, Texas and Connecticut residents of these states met and held constructive gathering where they resolved to identify and raise quality of security and order in their surrounding (Miller, Hess & Orthmann, 2010). This scenario opened the door for others as they imitated the same action as their role model, where faith-based and commercial units in Louisiana joined the fray to make crime a history.
Community policing led to escalation of gated community where a particular community was easily able to familiarize with its neighborhood by identifying any suspicious character. In some states like Florida they went high tech by using city enforcement codes to ease the operation of cracking down criminals and creating conducive environment for business and residence. Majority of cities indicated optimistic report from their community policing implementation for almost a decade. Further a report from Department of Justice in smaller towns on community policing advocated perpetuation of community policing strategies more so oral contact. It was found out that face-to-face interaction boosted trust and confidence among police, residents, faith based organizations and commercial entity resulting to apparent mutual cooperative projects.
Strategies in Community Policing
The origin of community policing idea was to foster relationship between community and police to eradicate numerous disorders and rampant crime that besieged that community. It had emerged openly that police were overwhelmed in combating crime; this could not be concealed anymore as it was a potential bomb that could explode unexpectedly. With this glaring reality in their mind, police departments moved with speed to craft community policing strategy to increase crime mitigation techniques through collaborating with citizens (Miller, Hess & Orthmann, 2010). This idea has proved to be worthy as crime rates in a city like Chicago has reduced drastically. However, for this strategies to be viable police must accommodate community in the process from its commencement.
The main goal of initiating this project was to enhance police community partnership. This new phenomenon of problem solving aims at addressing quality of life issues, crime phobia and origins of crime. Ostensibly many police are still reluctant to change making implementation of this idea drag behind. Their change resistance is an ineffective means of managing a police agency where they want to cling to old habit of ‘we can conquer alone attitude.’ For a robust effective community policing tactic there must be positive perceptions about community policing by the law enforcement officers. Second it matters a lot how administrators implement the policy of community policing in their stations and finally, police officers need to be thoroughly skilled with feasible skills needed in community policing. Albeit this strategy was commenced with utmost good faith some of administrators are taking its advantage by embezzling federal subsidies meant for improving community policing. Many questions are being raised about viability of this project if the already released funds are ending in the pockets of officers. Communities have started losing faith with some police department arguing that much of the money is used to hire officers who are in reciprocal doing little or none to fight crime.
Security concern is matter every sane individual care about. When a person wants to settle somewhere one of the major criteria he or she use is personal safety. An area manifested by crime is not conducive to reside as there is no assurance of seeing tomorrow. As a result of this, how to address community policing and who is in charge of limiting lawbreaking is an issue. To successfully employ radical surgery to police service for maximum utilization of community policing departments need to come up with long term orchestrated strategy. To portray in detail how this policy works we shall assess the case of Chicago.
Chicago’s Community Policing
Community policing in Chicago has been hyped as the best remedy for city crime albeit many hurdles experienced in making it a reality. Chicago community policing almost two decades old as it was founded in 1993 (Peak & Glensor, 1999). It began as an alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) and developed to overall patrol division. CAPS changed citizen perception of police as majority of the resident rated police optimistically on performance, demeanor and responsiveness. Community policing was hoped to bridge the perception gap among different races that were present during introduction of the initiative. A research conducted in five neighborhoods shows that the initiative is upbeat and running citywide. It has been made possible by the support it receives from a well-entrenched mayor in addition to decisive inclusive grassroots participation.