Proactive Community Policing

Community policing presents an opportunity for law enforcement to connect with the surrounding community and build a relationship that benefits the criminal justice field but also the community. Unfortunately, majority of officers only interact with citizens when a crime occurs. Traditional policing is reactive verse being proactive. In the traditional approach, there has to be a criminal act before officers intervene which in turn means that someone has to be a victim first. If officers continue to only respond to crime, the issues that cause these incidents will not be addressed which can cause an increase in the crime rate (Xu, Fiedler, & Flaming, 2005). In order to combat crime, a more proactive method must be utilized. Community policing allows officers to be more proactive verse reactive.
Community policing addresses the issues that lead to criminal activity and a have a hand in shaping the local community. Reducing the number of criminals can have a great financial impact for citizens. Reducing the need to use taxpayer money in order to house criminals in the correctional facility. Proactive policing examines the social conditions that lead to criminal activity and find the root causes, such as racism and poverty (Xu, Fiedler, & Flaming, 2005). In order to enact community-policing officers must take the time to walk through neighborhoods even when a crime has not taken place. This gives officers an opportunity to speak to citizens and establish a positive