COMMUNITY POLICING PHILOSOPHY AND STRATEGY
This requires continuous change in style of management, training
and general attitude.
1.2.10 Building for the Future
Community policing requires that the JCF continues to strengthen its
institutional capacity, expand external partnerships, and constantly
review policies and procedures in order to keep them relevant to the
philosophy. It should be noted that it is not a tactic to be applied
and then abandoned, but a philosophy and organizational strategy
that provides the flexibility to meet local needs and priorities as they
change over time.
The practice of community policing is framed by nine fundamental
characteristics that are often referred to as “The Nine P’s”.
The principles of community policing are often summarized as
follows:
Philosophy
The CBP philosophy asserts that the problems
of crime, fear of crime, public disorder and
community
safety
require
the
police
to
provide twenty-four hours full service policing,
both proactive and reactive, by involving the
communities directly as partners in the process
of identifying, setting priorities and solving
problems.
Personalized
By providing the community with its own
community
policing
officer(s),
community-
based policing breaks down the anonymity on
both sides—police officers and citizens get to
know each other as individuals.
Policing
Community-based
police
officers
maintain
effective law enforcement focus. They answer
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MANUAL ON THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF COMMUNITY POLICING IN JAMAICA
“Building Safer Communities Through Partnership”
calls and make arrest like any other officer, but
they also concentrate on proactive, practical
problem-solving in their area.
Patrol
Community police officers work and patrol their
communities mainly on foot, thereby having
regular
personal
contact
with
community
members. This removes them from the isolation
of the police car. Community police officers
have also found the use of bicycles to be highly
effective, particularly in open spaces.
Permanent
Community-based policing requires assigning
community policing officers over a longer term
to a beat or a neighbourhood, in which they
develop relationships and build partnerships with
community members.
Place
CBP officers work directly from neighbourhood
localities, where they carry out, among other
things, criminal investigation. CBP officers feel
a sense of responsibility for their assigned areas,
which gives them a chance to tailor their response
to meet the needs of the community. This kind
of decentralization allows police officers to make
decisions and to deal directly in problem-solving.
Proactive
Community-based policing balances reactive
responses to crime incidents and emergencies
with proactive initiatives with residents to
preventing problems before they occur or
escalate. This is extremely important for high
crime areas: responding to crime does not
reduce the incidence of crime. Addressing
problems that cause conflicts to escalate does
reduce the incidence crime.
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COMMUNITY POLICING PHILOSOPHY AND STRATEGY
Partnership
Community policing encourages partnershipbuilding between the citizens and their police
based on mutual respect, trust and support.
If the citizens trust that their police officer will
faithfully and even-handedly execute the law
and apprehend individuals who break the law,
they will have confidence in the officer’s integrity
and will work with the officer to create a more
secure community.
Problem-solving Community-based policing redefines the role of
the police to focus on helping to solve problems,
so that success or failure depends on problems
solved (qualitative outcome), rather than just
solely on arrests made and summonses served,
i.e., “numbers policing” (or quantitative results).
However, the police needs to be accountable for
their performance on behalf of the public they
serve. Therefore, both qualitative and quantitative
measures are necessary.
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MANUAL ON THE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF COMMUNITY POLICING IN JAMAICA
“Building Safer Communities Through Partnership”
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