Disadvantage and Advantage of Policy

Community Policing brings police and citizens together to prevent crime and solve neighborhood problems. With community policing, the emphasis is on stopping crime before it happens, not responding to calls for service after the crime occurs. Community policing gives citizens more control over the quality of life in their community. Community policing means police become part of the neighborhood. This helps police get a better sense of resident's needs and helps residents to develop greater trust in the police. In essence the community joins the police department. Those "who believe that community policing is practiced in their neighborhood are more likely to express favorable opinions of the police."(Weitzer & Tuch, 2006, p. 45) Together, in partnership, the community and police department work together to achieve a common goal of a safer, better place to live. It is "democracy in action."(BJA, August 1994, p. 4).
Community policing is seen as an effective way to promote public safety and to enhance the quality of life in a community. Community policing plays a pivotal role in the two defining elements of policing: police-community relations and problem-solving. "First, it should broaden police organization goals ...Second, it should alter the way police are organized to accomplish their goals." (Weisburd & Braga, 2007, p. 47) Active participation is required from the local government to the average citizen in order for community policing to work. Everyone is responsible for safeguarding the welfare of the neighborhood. Unlike traditional policing methods, the goals of policing are expanded and the perception of community is changed. Traditional policing assumes that the problems of society are not within the realm of the police department. Traditional police departments are strictly reactive and don't look beyond efficiently resolving the immediate incident at hand. Police officers are tied to the dispatcher and rarely have time to do more than answer