Community Oriented Policing Program - Research Paper Example

Community Oriented Policing Program Abstract Community-oriented policing is a new terminology for law implementation. Community policing has transformed to the national intonation of the American police force. The symbolism, language and programs of community policing have cropped up in the rural, urban, suburban police departments across United States. For almost two decades, community policing has been advanced by its advocates as a powerful organization of themes for a budding panache of public safety. How these themes have affected American security is still unclear. The intricacy and assortment of community-oriented policing have often barred systematic investigation. Additionally, community policing is itself modifying and shifting in the turbulent law enforcement environment. However, various studies have acknowledged that community-oriented policing has been successful. This paper discusses the factors that have attributed to its success in reducing crime in United States. Introduction Community-oriented policing is a law implementation viewpoint that engrosses a variety of strategies concerning the community such as neighbourhood policing, community policing and problem solving. Community-oriented policing is centred around the principle that the law enforcers are not restricted to the traditional law enactment authority to carry out their duties, and in particular should focus on community participation to avert security glitches. Community-oriented policing was implemented after the public had portrayed dissatisfaction with the standard police practices (Miller et al., 2013). Since the implementation of the community-oriented policing, there have been significant changes with the organization of policing in United States. The effectiveness of the community-oriented policing has been attributed to various factors. Community-oriented policing breaks down the barriers separating the community from the police, while at the same time instilling a wider set of community ideals to the police officers (Dempsey & Forst, 2010). Organizationally, community-oriented policing shifted the police policy making from a traditional officialdom to one that stresses on greater environmental-organizational association and coordination. Concurrently, the change to the use of community-oriented policing came along with the crushing of the police hierarchy and the establishment of the harmonized service delivery with a huge number of private and public agencies that impact on the neighborhood safety (Oliver, 2008). These factors have contributed to the effectiveness of community-oriented policing in the reduction of crime in the society. Engaging the Community Community-oriented policing has from its onset sought to involve the community in public safety matters while establishing and solidifying the ability of the society to fight crime. For example, Operation Weed and Seed stresses on generating an active and noticeable police incidence to impact distressed communities and at the same time do capacity building in the same communities to sustain the benefits once attained (Rogers, 2009). Additionally, other focused crime interventions such as the Boston Gun Project also follow the two strategies. In the example of the Boston gun project, the first approach pursued was the identification of the youths who were probable of using guns to settle their issues, while at the same time rallying the community social organizations and the government to deal with the severe and dangerous society problem on various fronts and in a harmonized and methodical way (Dempsey & Forst, 2010). Re-contextualization of the police Apart from maintaining order in the neighbourhoods, community-oriented policing re-contextualized the police force. This is to say, community-oriented policing involves efforts that aim at improving the link between the police and the community. This has for long improved on various things, with the improvements of the police officer’s community acceptance and local knowledge, support and evaluation of the police services being the most noticeable (Oliver, 2008). The use of the community-oriented policing puts the police closer to the local economic and social organizations, which assisted in generating stronger ties and alliances between the society and the police while at the same time making efforts to address stubborn and intricate community crimes and problems (Dempsey & Forst, 2010). Cumulatively, these attempts stabilize the communities and make them less prone to crime. Additionally, the police were made less bureaucratic, hierarchical and specialized. The police force was altered to generalists, which marked the beginning of collaborations with the community. Capacity Building Much of the community-oriented policing centres on community capacity building. This involves building and maintaining a community partner to partner with the police on issues relating to community crime and disorder. Miller et al. (2013) note that community-oriented policing centres on preventing crime, assisting victims and building a good rapport with the communities. The police through the community-oriented policing strengthened the capacity of the people to prevent crime and recuperate from it. This improved the relations of the police with the communities. The police engaged the community in an uncluttered and candid discussion on community life and the purpose and function of the police in creating order (Rogers, 2009). However, this was depended on the relations that the police had built with the community. For example, the Town Watch was successful because the community had a good relation with the police and would communicate on crime matters thus facilitating police interventions. Partnership with the communities plays a critical role in ensuring the success of the community-oriented policing. In almost all programs, police partner with the private and public agencies and the community. This enhances the quality of life of the communities. In reference to Dempsey and Forst (2010), raising allied police and public support produces positive effects on the efforts of preventing crime and disorder in the communities. Conclusion Community-oriented policing is successful in preventing crimes across United States. The idea behind the success of this program was the involvement of the community to solve the imminent problems. It is through police-community partnerships that the police have attained its objectives of creating law and order. Additionally, the crushing of the bureaucracies and hierarchy of the police played a role in enhancing the relationships with the community. References Dempsey, J. S., & Forst, L. S. (2010). An introduction to policing (5th ed.). Australia: Delmar Cengage Learning. Miller, L., Hess, K., & Orthmann, C. (2013). Community Policing: Partnerships for Problem Solving. Cengage Learning. Oliver, W. M. (2008). Community-oriented policing: A systemic approach to policing. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall. Rogers, S. L. (2009). Proven strategies for effective community oriented policing. Flushing, NY: Looseleaf Law Publications. Read More