Community Policing - Essay Example

Community Policing affiliation Community Policing Community policing deals with crime and social disorder by delivering police services through policies of traditional law enforcement on crime prevention, community engagement and partnerships (Sozer, 2010). It involves joint action of the police and citizen partnership. Community policing involves ameliorating the relationship between the police departments and the general public so that the sustentation of the rule of law is simplified. In most societies, police departments have a negative image, and hence, community policies are implemented to pursue a positive image of the police departments. This research paper is aimed at discussing community policing by providing its pros and cons and presenting a final decision on whether to implement community policing or not. The rate of crime in the United States has significantly risen over the past decade. Crime has become a topic of discussion and an important debate in a bid to solve the issue. The American society has started living lives full of fear of crime and hence it is the high time that better policing policies are implemented. The government has devoted a lot of funds to crime fighting, but it has not produced positive results. The society alone cannot control crime since they have no right to taking the law on their hands. Increasing police resource at this period of a global economic crisis has posed a great challenge to the government. The crime situation is, therefore, beyond the ability of the community alone or the police department alone. The situation calls for a collaboration of the community and the police departments in a bid to solve crime and disorder, and the collaboration is called community policing. Involving the community in controlling crime is the most dependable solution to the breaking deadlock of crime. The community has more knowledge about their neighborhoods and hence identifying criminal is very easy. It is expected that due to the current high crime rates, the community will be motivated to collaborate with the police so as to eliminate their fear or crime. On the other hand, the police are working under minimal finances and resources and hence they will be motivated to have the support of the community in accomplishing their mission. Community policing policy is, therefore, expected to work out well since the two major partnerships have a high need for assistance (Sozer, 2010). Advantages of Community Policing Community policing encourages collaboration between organizations, departments and the community and hence reduces their resistance and promotes commitment between the involved parties. Community policing has mutual advantage between the police officers and the society since the officer’s mission is simplified, and the community lives in harmony (Kappeler & Gaines, 2012). The police officers have a chance to know the roots of crimes and hence offer a permanent solution as opposed to offering temporary solution by arresting criminals. Community policing strategies give the officers room to be creative and groundbreaking as opposed to being restricted to using preset policing strategies. The rate at which crime is solved under the community policing is high and hence police officers experience job satisfaction that motivated them to work harder and smarter (Kappeler & Gaines, 2012). While working together, the community and the police get to know each other fuller and hence the effectiveness of the policy is expected to get better with time. In a normal society, the police officers are viewed with negativity and are seen as corrupt. However, the continuous collaboration of the police and community will change the police image to people with worth and value. Teamwork of the parties involved will improve the relationship between people in the society since everybody will be focused to service for one another. Reducing crime will not only bring peace in the society but will also foster better life quality and better living environments. Community policing will lay foundation to the community collaborating in other activities and hence will promote community development. Community policing encourages the need to support one another and hence creates a working environment in the society whereby people will be ready to assist one another and appreciate individual’s success (Mastrofski, Worden, & Snipes, 1995). Community policing will give the police officers better ideas on the style of policing within the community and hence improve the efficiency of the police department (Kappeler & Gaines, 2012). Sharing ideas between the police and then community will bring up a problem-solving community with unity and friendliness. In the past, the community has not interacted with the police directly, and they have judged them based on the media. Community policing will allow people to have a true perspective of the police officers as they work together. Maintaining low crime rates in a great challenge and people have overlooked the efforts of the police officers. Under the policy of community policing, the public will experience the difficulty of reducing crime rates and hence they will learn to appreciate the police departments. Disadvantages of community policing Community policing is an expensive form of patrol since an officer has a limited area of coverage. In the system of community policing, a police officer is vulnerable to attack and ambushes since their mobility is limited. Community policing dictates that police officers move on foot so that they interact with the public and get information on crime from them (Peak, & Glensor, 2012). While walking on foot, the police officer is not able to cover large areas and cannot timely respond to calls from other areas. The operation of police officers is limited to certain weather conditions. The number of police equipment a police officer will be able to carry is limited, and hence, they may not be able to overcome dangerous criminals (Peak, & Glensor, 2012). The overall commanding officer will have difficulty in managing the on foot police officers, and hence, the policy is subject to failure. Criminals operating in vehicles will not be easily tracked down and hence the policy will not eliminate all forms of crime. Criminals will have to be walked back to the stations after being arrested, and they may have a chance of escaping or even being helped out by their partners. A non-supportive community will tend to cover for the criminals and hence lowering the chances of police officers arresting the criminals. The rate at which crime is controlled will be slow due to the propensity of the public to fear police officers. Community policing may serve its purpose but is subject to being drawn back the corrupt and unfair judicial systems. Community policing is expensive since high costs are inevitable if an impact is to be made. While in the stations, officers have free lunch but while policing they will always have to purchase foods elsewhere and hence it’s an expense to police officers. Community policing can frustrate the police officers if they fail to get the expected support. Community policing will demand a change in the training systems of the police officers and hence will incur a high cost which may not be available due to economic constraints. Position in community policing After evaluation of community policing policies, it evident that it may provide a result to the current stalemate of high crime rate. Although the program may not be 100% efficient, it will provide better solutions than the existing policing systems and is hence worth implementing. Community policing will call for cooperating between the community, various organization and the police departments and hence will unite the people that is the base for lowering crime rates. Effectiveness of the police departments depends on the supportiveness of the community that is guaranteed in community policing (Peak, & Glensor, 2012). In this system, the police officers will be very reactive and committed to serving the community and hence the probability of reducing crime rate is very high. Unlike the old system of the police “crime fighter in blue” which entailed purely police efforts, community policing will be based on helping one another to fight crime. The basics of community policing are easily understandable and hence the police officers will adapt easily to the system. Community policing policy will ensure that the stained picture of the police officers is cleaned, and hence, they will be valued and consequently will have the thirst to combat crime (Mastrofski, Worden, & Snipes, 1995). Police officers will have their role appreciated and hence will work under better conditions that will improve their ability to deal with crime. Therefore, the mayor should consider implementing community policing since its advantages are numerous, and the negligible disadvantages will not limit its workability. Conclusion A police officer who is backed up by the community around them has the motivation to work and produce the best outcome. The coaction between the police and the society creates a good working environment and increases the chances of eradicating criminals. The information about criminals given by the community has an eminent chance of being true and hence the suspects arrested will most likely be the criminals being looked for (Kappeler & Gaines, 2012). Apart from solving the problem of crime, community policing will create a base for better collaboration between the government and the citizens in other occasions in the future. In conclusion, community policing will help solve the security problem at hand and hence the mayor should implement it and expect good results. References Kappeler, V. E., & Gaines, L. K. (2012). Community Policing: A Contemporary Perspective. Burlington: Elsevier Science. Mastrofski, S. D., Worden, R. E., & Snipes, J. B. (1995). Law Enforcement In A Time Of Community Policing. Criminology, 33(4), 539-563. Peak, K. J., & Glensor, R. W. (2012). Community policing and problem solving: Strategies and practices. Boston: Pearson. Sozer, M. A. (2010). Crime and Community Policing. El Paso: LFB Scholarly Pub. LLC. Read More