MODEL ACADEMIC CURRICULUM
MODULE 2
Community Policing
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Module 2 Topics
• History of Community Policing
• Community Policing
• Problem-Oriented Policing and
Community-Oriented Policing
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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
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History of
Community Policing
• 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.
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History of
Community Policing
• Research
– Congress allocated monies for research, which
produced the;
• Kansas City Preventive Patrol Study
• Rand Investigation Experiment.
– Response time studies suggested that police
rarely respond to crimes in progress
– Evidence from these studies indicated that police
were limited in their ability to affect crime levels 5
History of
Community Policing
• Implications of the Research Findings
– Increased interest in how to best involve
citizens in the crime problem/solution
– Increased experimentation on methods for
preventing crime, including a number of
studies on the impact of foot patrol.
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What is Community Policing?
• 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 problemsolving centered on the causes of crime and disorder.
• Community policing requires police and citizens to join
together as partners.
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Some Core Elements of
Community Policing
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COMMUNITY POLICING
Community Policing Definition
Community Policing Elements
Community Partnerships
Problem Solving
Organizational Transformation
Collaborative partnerships between the law
enforcement agency and the individuals
and organizations that serve or include
anyone with a stake in the community.
The process and effect of problem solving
should be assessed at each stage of the
problem solving process.
1. Agency management
• Leadership
• Decision-making
• Planning and Policies
• Organizational evaluations
• Agency Accountability
• Transparency
2. Organizational structure
• Geographic assignment of
officers
• De-specialization
• Flatten organizational structure
• Resources and finances
3. Personnel
• Recruitment, hiring and
selection
• Personnel evaluation and
supervision
• Training
4. Technology/information systems
• Communication/Access to9Data
• Quality and Accuracy of Data
1. Agency has multi-disciplinary
partnerships with indicated community
partners, including other government
agencies, non-profit and community
groups, businesses, the media, and
individuals.
2. Existing partnerships bring appropriate
resources and level of commitment to
community policing activities.
3. Level of interaction between law
enforcement agency and community
partners: communication, coordination,
or collaboration.
1. General Problem Solving Approach
2. Problem Solving Processes
• Scanning
• Analysis
• Response
• Assessment
3. General Skill in Problem Solving
Other Ways of Defining
Community Policing
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Organizational Elements
1.
CP Philosophy is Adopted Throughout the
Organization
2.
Decentralized Decision-Making and Accountability
3.
Fixed Geographic Accountability and Generalist
Responsibilities
4.
Utilization of Volunteer Resources/Services
5.
Enhancers
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Tactical Elements
1. Enforcement of Laws
2. Proactive, Crime Prevention Oriented
3. Problem-solving
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External Elements
1. Public Involvement in Community
Partnerships
2. Government and Other Agency
Partnerships
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Philosophical Dimension
• Citizen Input - Police agencies need extensive
input from citizens on problems, priorities,
policies, etc.
• Broad Function - Policing is a broad function - it
is much more than just law enforcement.
• Personal Service - Policing works best when
officers know citizens and deliver personalized
service - the opposite of “stranger” policing.
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Strategic Dimension
• Re-Oriented Operations - Police look beyond traditional
strategies of routine patrol, rapid response, and detective
investigations and utilize proactive strategies and tactics.
• Prevention Emphasis - Whenever possible, police
should emphasize preventing crime rather than simply
reacting after the fact.
• Geographic Focus - Policing should be organized and
deployed to maximize the extent of identification
between specific officers and specific neighborhoods.
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Tactical Dimension
•
Positive Interaction - Police should positively interact
with all segments of the community - especially since
the nature of police work guarantees that some
negative interaction is inevitable.
•
Partnerships - Police should partner with the
community to deal with crime/problems, including
collaborating with public and private agencies.
•
Problem Solving - Police and citizens should take
every opportunity to address the conditions that cause
incidents and crimes.
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Organizational Dimension
• Structure - Police agencies should re-examine
their structures to assure that they support and
facilitate community policing.
• Management - Police agencies should reexamine the way people are supervised and
managed to assure consistency with community
policing.
• Information - Police agencies should reexamine their information systems to make sure
they support and facilitate community policing.
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Variations in Community Policing
• Community policing varies from one community to
the next.
• Community policing in a large, metropolitan city
may be different than community policing in a
small, rural area.
• Community policing is dynamic and it changes
with the community, crime rates, mobilization of
citizens, region of the country, and other social
and environmental factors.
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The 1994 “Crime Act”
Community Oriented Policing
Services (COPS)
• COPS Mission - Advance the practice of
community policing to improve public safety.
• Provided grants to hire and train community
policing professionals, improve technology, and
develop innovative strategies.
• By 2005, COPS had invested $11.3 billion to add
118,768 community policing officers and deputies
to the our streets and schools
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Problem-Oriented
Policing and
Community-Oriented
Policing
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Selected Comparisons Between Problem-Oriented Policing
and Community Policing Principles
Principle
Problem-Oriented Policing
Community-Oriented Policing
Primary emphasis
Substantive social problems within police
mandate
Engaging the community in the policing
process
When police and community collaborate
Determined on a problem by problem basis
Always or nearly always
Emphasis on problem analysis
Highest priority given to thorough analysis
Encouraged, but less important than
community collaboration
Preference for responses
Strong preference that alternatives to
criminal law enforcement be explored
Preference for collaborative responses with
community
Role for police in organizing and
mobilizing community
Advocated only if warranted within the
context of the specific problem being
addressed
Emphasizes strong role for police
Importance of geographic
decentralization of police and continuity
of officer assignment to community
Preferred, but not essential
Essential
Degree to which police share decisionmaking authority with community
Strongly encourages input from community
while preserving ultimate decision-making
authority to police
Emphasizes sharing decision-making
authority with community
Emphasis on officer skills
Emphasizes intellectual and analytical
skills
Emphasizes interpersonal skills
View of the role or mandate of police
Encourages broad, but not unlimited role
for police, stresses limited capacities of
police and guards against creating
unrealistic expectations of police
Encourages expansive role for police to
achieve ambitious social objectives
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POP and COP
• Historically, many considered these two
concepts to be mutually exclusive.
• Police leaders and academics tend to agree
that these concepts overlap in philosophy
and practice.
• Bottom line – It’s not one or the other, it’s
one and the other…
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