Community Policing as an Important Approach to Fighting Crimes - Essay Example

Introduction Community policing can be defined as the philosophy whose purpose is to forge greater partnership between the police and the community (Leord, 2005). The main objective of community policing is to proactively reduce crime risks through educational programs, communication and through contact between the two main stakeholders (community and the police). This is done in order to promote tranquillity and peace in and within the community. The advent of the community policing concept was fuelled by the increasing number of crimes as well as the increase in more sophisticated methods of committing crimes in different regions around the world. The purpose of this paper is to explore the structural conditions that impact upon policing communication and practice. The structural conditions identified will be divided into two categories. The first category will be the structural conditions that impact upon policing communication, while the, second category, will comprise of the structural conditions that impact upon policing practice within the community policing context. Structural conditions that impact upon policing communication According to Marshall (1998) structural conditions refer to the recurring pattern of social behaviour or more specifically to the ordered interrelationships between the different elements of a social system or society (Marshall, p.648). One of the structural conditions identified as having an impact upon policing communication is education. Education is perceived as the general knowledge acquired by members of the communities as well as the members of the police force through going to school. It is imperative to note that policing strategies such as community policing are highly dependent upon the education held by the police staff and the members of the community particularly in the facilitation of communication (Lau, 2004). A good level of education such as college education among the police staff and the members of the community impact positively on policing communication. However, lack of education or lower levels of education among the police staff and the members of the community impact negatively on policing communication (Lau, 2004). The level of education thus creates a barrier to policing communication or it eliminates barriers in policing communication. Education level affects the police in that it determines how easily the police can relate and communicate with the community members in the course of their duty. It also affects the police because policing communication is an important ingredient in community policing because it enhances the cooperation and partnership of the police and the community (William, 1990). Nevertheless, the low levels of education among the community members particularly among the minority and the marginalised communities impacts negatively upon policing communication. The second structural condition that impact upon policing communication is unemployment. The contemporary societies or communities are characterised by large number of educated, skilful and knowledgeable people searching for jobs but who have no jobs to do. Such groups of people resort to earning their living through crude methods such as committing crimes within and outside their community boundaries. Undoubtedly, these are the same people required by the police to enhance community policing because they are adequately equipped with skills that can enhance policing communication (William, 1990). In order to survive and earn a living, the unemployed people collude with the police staff and either commit crimes or participate in community policing by giving false information that mislead the police. Similarly, the adults in the society and in the communities perceive and relate the unemployment woes that befall their community members as necessitated by poor government policies. In this regard, they also become reluctant to communicate to the police regarding the criminal activities and the criminals in their midst (William, 2007). Unemployment levels therefore affect the amount of information the members of the community give to the police because they regard the crimes committed by their fellow and unemployed community members as methods of survival. This affects the police response to crimes and it makes it difficult for the police to identify and deal with criminals in the society Unemployment is therefore one of the structural conditions that impact negatively on policing communication because it makes the community members reluctant to issue vital information that can enhance community policing. The third structural condition that impact on policing communication is technological advancements of a community. Technological advancement in the society or community can be viewed from the perspective of the number of electronic communication gadgets such as mobile phones or the use of the internet by the community members. It is worth noting that fighting crimes require extensive communication between the police and the community members (William, 2007). This is only possible when the community member and the police have adequate communication equipments and gadgets to facilitate communication even in the odd hours of the day. Policing communication is therefore facilitated by the presence of mobile phones among the community members and it is also hindered by lack of communication gadgets the members of the community can use to alert the police about criminal activities within the community. Lack of technological devices high enhances communication between the police and the communities’ affects the police in that it delays the police response to crimes and thus makes it difficult to stamp out crimes from the society. Structural conditions that impact upon policing practice These can be defined as conditions that facilitate or impend the policing practice. In other words, they are conditions that either affect or necessitate the proper execution of policing activities. One of the structural conditions that impact upon policing practice is public housing. Public housing involves the manner in which public houses are built and the measures taken to ensure that the police can reach every member of the community with ease in order to answer a distress a call from the members of the public (Casey, 2000). It is important to state that the police are able to carry out their duties of fighting crimes effectively in areas where numbering of public houses is done and the police have in their register the number of public houses within a particular geographical area. This makes it easy for the police to reach and specifically address the crime issues that occur within a particular geographical area. However, this is not the case among the minority and the marginalised communities who live in either slums or ghettos without proper infrastructure and without specific house numbers that can be used by the police to reach them during the distress calls (George, 2008). Hence, public housing is a great impediment to policing practice particularly among the minority and the marginalised communities because it affects the speed with which the police can penetrate and reach the affected areas and hot spots in the society. The second structural condition that impact upon the policing practice is cohesion ad stability of the community. Shared values and political stability among the community members makes it possible for the police to carry out their duties of protecting the lives of the communities (George, 2008). However, political turmoil and factionalism in the society makes it difficult for the collaboration of the communities and police. It also makes it difficult for police outreach to effectively take place due to lack of cohesion among the community members which makes policing practice difficult. Strained relationships among the community members affects the police work in that every member of the community pulls away from giving information to the police for fear of being termed as a traitor or a spy thus increasing tension between the community members. The third condition is morale, motivation and pay for the police staff. Police who are poorly paid have low morale as a result of serious management problems and corruptions are not likely to be motivated to cooperate with the community. Low pay also means that policing trends to attract police staff who are poorly educated. This makes the police occupation less respectable and thus policing practice is greatly affected. It affects the police in that a low motivated policeman is unable to perform his duties effectively and sometimes the police deliberately delay their response to distress calls from the community. The fourth structural condition that impact upon policing practice is strong networks of community organizations. It is important to note that numerous strategies associated with policing practice and particularly community policing can be implemented and executed easily if there are strong counterpart community organizations that enhance collaboration with the police (Mark & Robert, 2008). This affects the police in that lack of community networks makes policing practice difficult and the police lack specific avenues or organizations that can link them to the community. The sixth structural condition that impact upon policing practice is trust in police. This is considered as one of the most important elements of policing practice especially in enhancing community policing (Mark & Robert, 2008). The level of trust that the society and the communities have towards the police necessitates policing practice since the members of the society are ready to collaborate with the police in identifying the crime hot spots as well as identifying the members of the community involved in criminal activities. In conclusion, community policing is an important approach to fighting crimes. However, there are structural conditions such as education, unemployment, public housing, trust towards the police, networks of community organizations, cohesion and stability, technology in the society that impact upon policing communication and practice. These factors either impact policing communication positively or negatively as discussed above. References Casey, J. 2000. Policing the World: The practice of International and Transnational Policing George, K. 2008. Police and communities: The Quiet Revolution, Perspectives on policing, Washington Post. Lau, R. (2004). Community Policing in Hong Kong: Transplanting a questionable model, criminal justice, 4 (1): 61-80. Leord, L. (2005). Conditions that impact upon community policing, New York: Sage Publishers. Mark, H, & Robert, C. (2008). Corporate Strategies for Policing, Washington Post. Marshall, G. (1998), Oxford Dictionary of Sociology, Oxford University Press: Oxford. William, L. 1990. The Future of Policing, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 15. William, M. 2007. Neighbourhood Based Policing, Los Angeles Police Department. Read More