Comtempory Policing - Essay Example

Heading: Contemporary Policing Your name Course name Professors’ name Date: Outline 1) Introduction. 2) Structural conditions impacting police communication and practice. 3) Conclusion. Introduction Police communication and practice is one of the major changes that have been introduced in fighting crime and improving security in the contemporary society, part of the implementation process includes community policing. Community policing is a term that refers to cooperation between the police and the public with regard to security issues affecting that particular community. This has become one of the contemporary policing reforms that governments have embraced in fighting crime and calls for collaboration with all the stake holders in society including civilians, policemen, non-government organizations and organized groups to work together in ensuring that this is achieved. In many countries around the world, community policing has become a major part of police operation and many of them have made major structural changes from the traditional methods of exclusive police responsibility in fighting crime to a more accommodative approach and participation from all members of the society (Hess & Orthmann 2008). The core value of community policing is better communication between the police and the citizens, this is achieved by focusing on local solutions in resolving disputes affecting the community. This also involves the decentralization of the police authority to include representatives of the community as part and parcel of police operation consequently encouraging the public to cooperate and establishing strategies for crime prevention. Civic education on police operation is necessary in enabling civilians to take charge of their own security and ensuring the safety of the community. This is the value that community policing seeks to achieve; it does so by empowering members of the society to gain confidence in handling criminal issues at a local level. The central government is usually slower in handling such tasks (Jones 2007). Structural conditions impacting Police communication and practice In order for policing communication and practice to be successful, there are certain structural conditions that need to be instituted in fostering success. The approach used appears to be more theoretical than practical and has received criticism for being lenient to criminals. Countries that have made community policing as part of their reforms have encountered problems because of the poor structural guidelines available in the country. The conditions necessary and core to community policing in the society are as discussed below; Policing communication and practice needs to get the support and political will from the government without which it cannot succeed. The government needs to have total commitment from all senior government officials down to the junior official in the system. This has largely been successful in industrialized economies like the United States and in the United Kingdom which became the champions of this philosophy in the 1960`s and 70`s. The structure of police administration was changed to accommodate public, private and non-governmental organizations (Gutierrez 2003). The focus was therefore shifted to effective policing based on local solutions in solving community problems. Community policing has been the key to the success which is attributed to police officers being accountable to the public along with initiatives like the neighborhood watch and public boards that encourage dialogue between civilians and the police. The government needs also to ensure that the civilian rights of the community members are observed. Police brutality should not be practiced in any form; measures to mitigate corruption in the force should also be enhanced. Community stability and cohesion is another structural condition that impacts directly on police communication and practice. The success of this system requires any country to stabilize the political and public environment to have shared ideals which makes it easy for the police to work together with the public. It is usually difficult to practice this where there is political instability and public division encouraged racism, ethnicity and fascism which are great impediments to the success of this practice. These obstacles can be overcome when communities find common shared values like the need for peace and security for all and the rights and freedoms of each individual is respected by authority. According to McCulloch (2001) it is therefore important to have a cohesive society and a stable political environment to enjoy the benefits of this communication between the public and the jurisdiction body in the society. Police administration is a critical element to the success of a good policing communication and practice in the society. This requires that the positions in the police be given to competent local individuals capable of exercising authority in the right and just manner. However these individuals need to have the necessary skills and knowledge to deal with the challenges that face the society and not occupy the positions by simply being members of that particular community. Appropriate vetting process must therefore be followed to ensure that those taking the positions are responsible enough to serve the interests of the community and also have the support of the community at large. On the other hand the police forces need to have the willingness to offer these positions to the individuals and should be committed to work hand in hand with them in order to attain the goal. Another critical component to the success of police communication and community policing is proper motivation through decent pay necessary to boost the morale of serving the community. Poor pay to the police only serves to increase corruption in the force through extortion and unfair treatment to members of the public. It also discourages competent professionals from joining the police service hence left with less educated people who provide low quality service which ends up discrediting the name of the police and the profession in general. On the contrary, when the policemen are well paid, they are encouraged to work harder and they get motivated to serve the community in a proper manner. It also means that they get to meet their daily needs hence reducing the level of corruption within the force. The police service will also attract professionals who are well trained to meet the needs of the community and serve the public better (Chappell & Wilson 2009). The police needs to work closely with community organizations such as non-governmental organizations and professional bodies like the law societies among others. This would help bring stronger ties and collaboration in the best interest of the community and will also ensure that their ideas about community policing are brought to the table and incorporated thereby increasing better communication between all the parties involved. Proper communication policing and practice requires that the police are allocated all the necessary resources by the government to promote change in the police service. This calls upon the government to allot more money for training police officers by taking them to better schools where they can learn how to offer good services to its citizens. They also need new equipments for fighting crime, such equipments includes new boots, bullet vests, and proper uniform along with communication gadgets to enable them perform their work without much obscurity. Without this, it would be hard for the police service to serve the community well, it is thus necessary for the government to understand this fact for community policing to succeed. Countries need to invest in the police force in order to get the proper services that the public desire. Trust is also a critical component to the success of communication policing and practice in a community despite the hitch. The public trust in the police will only be evident when there is a genuine desire by the police to work together with their communities to bring about changes in the society. The only way that trust can be built is through dialogue and the police must ensure that their doors are always open to the public to discuss any issues facing the community. On the other hand, the public needs to understand and appreciate the efforts that the police are doing in ensuring their safety and should therefore cooperate with them. Since it is difficult to trust anyone especially when their part of the bargain is not met it therefore the trust between the two entities is a very sensitive. Proper communication is critical in ensuring that the public gains trust with the police (Brogden 2005). Finally communication policing and practice requires the support from donors and proper strategies implementation necessary to bring about the changes required in the police service. Donor communities assist in bringing reforms to the police service; they also oversee special programs that need to be implemented by the police departments. They also set international standards for the police that needs to be adhered to and also help in advocating for human rights and dignity in society often abused by the police force in many countries. Conclusion Police communication and practice is the basis of police reforms that countries should adopt in order to serve their communities better and to increase public confidence. This usually calls for close working partnership and collaboration with the civilians and organized groups in ensuring that the goals of public security and safety are achieved. This discussion has revealed major strategies at the disposal of the government in encouraging community policing. Trust, increase of pay and bridge of the barrier between the police and the public is critical in achieving proper communication and practice. Lastly the support of other non-governmental organization and a combined political and public will is imperative in achieving the desired results. References Brogden, M & Nijhar, P 2005, Community policing: National and international models and approaches, Willan publishing, Canberra. Chappell, D, & Wilson, PR 2009, Australian policing: Contemporary issues, the University of Virginia, New York. Gutierrez, RS 2003, Social Equity and the Funding of Community Policing, Scholarly Publishing LLC, New York. Jones, BR 2007, Comment: Virtual Neighborhood Watch: Open Source Software and Community Policing against Cybercrime, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Vol. 97, no 3, pp.44-46. Hess, KM., & Orthmann, CH 2008, Introduction to Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, Cengage Learning, London. McCulloch, J 2001, Blue army: Paramilitary policing in Australia, Melbourne Univ. Publishing, Canberra. Read More