Community Policing Essay
I define community policing as an effort for law enforcement to involve the community in improving social capital. Community policing is an important factor in promoting a decrease in crime. Community leaders and its citizens work with police officers to improve neighborhoods through community projects and services. For example, there are neighborhood watch teams, which help patrol the community to improve safety. Law enforcement also has community initiative programs that work with and help at-risk youth. Community policing is more than just answering service calls. Police officers become familiar with the citizens they serve and develop a trust within the community. When the community views police officers as legitimate agents, they are more
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likely to trust the police department.
The functionality of community policing displays a venue for law enforcement and the community and its citizens to form partnerships to improve the neighborhood by addressing concerns and by relying on each other to problem solve these issues.
Developing alliances with the community open the door to enhance transparency which also establishes trust. Another area where police are involved in communities around the nation is the Police Athletic League (PAL). According to PAL (n.d.) in 1914 Police, Commissioner Arthur Woods began this movement. He converted vacant lots into playgrounds. The goal of his program was to reduce tensions between police officers and youth as well as provide wholesome play under proper supervision, and it would reduce the temptation for delinquency. The league was recognized in 1936. Through the years, the program has expanded to offer social services as well. In 1949 the Placement Division helped young people find jobs in addition to vocational guidance. As part of President Johnson’s war on crime, the Headstart pre-school was initiated through PAL’s educational program in 1964. In the 70’s and 80’s, we begin to see drug and arts programs starting to flourish through Pal. State-of-art community centers were erected in the 90’s, a $40 million Capital Campaign was launched for the project as well as renovating existing centers. 2000 and present day, PAL enhanced after-school and summer programs that focused on academic achievement and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). In 2004, they started Youth Link which focused on young people involved in the juvenile justice system. RISE was launched later to serve 16 to 21-year-old who were released from Riker’s
Island.
Maguire (2004) writes about police agencies collecting information to discover patterns and trends inside as well as outside of the environment. Departments fail to collect or assemble information useful for assessing their performance. Listening to community leaders and their concerns beyond a documented report is imperative. According to Maguire (2004), police department performance should extend past department evaluations. General community surveys, citizen contact surveys, employee surveys, direct observation, and independent testing or simulation studies collectively can aid in organizational improvement. After this information is gathered, it is suggested that performance measures can be presented in simple, intuitive visual presentations rather than complex tables containing dozens or hundreds of numbers (Maguire, 2004). When measuring performances, a couple of things need to be considered. First, it must be decided how much weight is given to an area concerning relative importance. The example Maguire (2004) used the comparison question, was a low crime rate more important than treating citizens fairly? Maguire argues that the relative importance of different dimensions is useful in clarifying the goals of the agency. Second is ensuring fair comparisons. Police departments are located in various environments, and the differences need to be taken into consideration when comparing organizations. Choo (1995) contends that “a variety of evidence from research in the information sciences suggests that organizations which engage in greater levels of “environmental scanning” have higher levels of performance (as cited by Maguire, 2004). According to Maguire (2004), comparison motivates change.
likely to trust the police department.
The functionality of community policing displays a venue for law enforcement and the community and its citizens to form partnerships to improve the neighborhood by addressing concerns and by relying on each other to problem solve these issues.
Developing alliances with the community open the door to enhance transparency which also establishes trust. Another area where police are involved in communities around the nation is the Police Athletic League (PAL). According to PAL (n.d.) in 1914 Police, Commissioner Arthur Woods began this movement. He converted vacant lots into playgrounds. The goal of his program was to reduce tensions between police officers and youth as well as provide wholesome play under proper supervision, and it would reduce the temptation for delinquency. The league was recognized in 1936. Through the years, the program has expanded to offer social services as well. In 1949 the Placement Division helped young people find jobs in addition to vocational guidance. As part of President Johnson’s war on crime, the Headstart pre-school was initiated through PAL’s educational program in 1964. In the 70’s and 80’s, we begin to see drug and arts programs starting to flourish through Pal. State-of-art community centers were erected in the 90’s, a $40 million Capital Campaign was launched for the project as well as renovating existing centers. 2000 and present day, PAL enhanced after-school and summer programs that focused on academic achievement and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). In 2004, they started Youth Link which focused on young people involved in the juvenile justice system. RISE was launched later to serve 16 to 21-year-old who were released from Riker’s
Island.
Maguire (2004) writes about police agencies collecting information to discover patterns and trends inside as well as outside of the environment. Departments fail to collect or assemble information useful for assessing their performance. Listening to community leaders and their concerns beyond a documented report is imperative. According to Maguire (2004), police department performance should extend past department evaluations. General community surveys, citizen contact surveys, employee surveys, direct observation, and independent testing or simulation studies collectively can aid in organizational improvement. After this information is gathered, it is suggested that performance measures can be presented in simple, intuitive visual presentations rather than complex tables containing dozens or hundreds of numbers (Maguire, 2004). When measuring performances, a couple of things need to be considered. First, it must be decided how much weight is given to an area concerning relative importance. The example Maguire (2004) used the comparison question, was a low crime rate more important than treating citizens fairly? Maguire argues that the relative importance of different dimensions is useful in clarifying the goals of the agency. Second is ensuring fair comparisons. Police departments are located in various environments, and the differences need to be taken into consideration when comparing organizations. Choo (1995) contends that “a variety of evidence from research in the information sciences suggests that organizations which engage in greater levels of “environmental scanning” have higher levels of performance (as cited by Maguire, 2004). According to Maguire (2004), comparison motivates change.