Community Policing Essay

The concept of community policing was introduced and used as a police philosophy in implementing crime prevention . It is a term often used to describe the process of engagement between the police and community and at its core is the recognition that by working with the community, law enforcement agencies can find local solutions to local problems. Community policing is a dynamic concept that requires the police and the community to work together as comrades in identifying effective actions and address the related issues of crime and social ills in their own community . It is a first step to support the community closely to provide assurance about the police presence with them in an effort to prevent crime. This method will provide an opportunity
for police officers to interact directly with members of the local community .
The fundamental cornerstone of community policing is forming a workable partnership with the community, where the community plays a more proactive role in helping develop crime prevention strategies .
There are essentially four facets of community policing . These are i)the philosophical, where the community’s role is fundamental and the police’s role is expanded from traditional policing duties; ii)thestrategic, where ideas from community policing are developed into strategies for practice; iii) thetactical, which focuses on the implementation of the strategies developed; and iv) theorganizational; where the support offered at an organizational level should be encouraged to promote community policing. According to Anderson J (2007), there are many reasons why community policing is beneficial to society. These arguments can generally be broken down into three areas. The first is community-specific advantages, which include mobilization and empowerment of communities to identify and respond to their concerns; improve local physical and social environment; increase in positive attitudes towards police and reduced fear of crime. The second is police-specific benefits in which community policing would improve police–community relationship; improve community perception of police ‘legitimacy’ and an increase in officer satisfaction with their work. The third is shared benefits both for the community and the police. This may include a decreasing potential for police–citizen
conflict; a reduction in crime rates; a better flow of information between the police and community; and better implementation of crime prevention and crime control activities, as a result of both parties working towards shared goals.
However, we should note that not all community policing initiatives will achieve each and every benefit listed here. An increasing number of studies conducted on community policing showed that the challenges and problems that reduce the benefits can manifest in three different areas: a) within the police service ; b) within the community ; and c) in the implementation of community policing initiatives . According to Giacomozzi et al (2004): the barriers within the police service, which negatively impact on community policing practices are the police organizational structure and the organizational climate; absence of strong leadership and encouragement in community policing strategies; and reluctance of the police to make community policing as their priority due. Long J et al (2002) also indicated that reluctance of community members to seek and develop a sustainable partnership with law enforcement, and constraints of communication can often hinder community policing success.
Furthermore, Haimberg L (2005) specified that low levels of professionalism, disrespect for law enforcement, and ignorance of different cultural contexts are the major hurdles in successful community policing implementation.
Therefore, the attempts to have a more developed and stabilize community demand a need for the whole community to collaborate with the law enforcements in maintaining social order and putting crime reduction strategies to create a safe environment for people to operate. There are various ways in which community can be developed and one of the debatable issues with regards to community development is community policing . Accordingly, community policing is a philosophical idea for an efficient delivery of police services. Community policing represent an acceptance which the community has a vital and crucial role to place in having a successful resolution of social order and crime problems, and such partnerships with the community can be much more efficient
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Community policing also indicates the involvement of the community in terms of the police decision making at the community unit . The definition states that community policing is a context which promotes pro-active policing by a working partnership and relationship between the wider community and the policy aiming on the crime reduction even fear of crime reduction and improving the safety of community .
In addition, it also aims on assisting in the provision of resolutions for other community issues . Moreover, there are no many studies on the role played by community policing in community development, this aspect has considered in analyzing its significance to the entire community. The main goal of this study was to investigate the practices of community policing and its impacts on the community development by taking two districts from the west shewa Oromia zone.