Community and Problem-Solving Policing - Research Paper Example

on the way that communities and institutional arrangements themselves can replicate crime; honoring traditions of community policing and deputies; and partnerships with existing agencies rather than replacement of them. Community-oriented policing might seem to be a new approach, but it is in fact an incredibly old form. “The history of modern law enforcement began 166 years ago with the formation of the London Metropolitan Police District in 1829. By creating a new police force, the British Parliament hoped to address the soaring crime rate in and around the nations capital.

To implement fully the beat concept, Peel instituted his second most enduring innovation: The paramilitary command structure. While Peel believed overall civilian control to be essential, he also believed that only military discipline would ensure that constables actually walked their beats and enforced the law on Londons mean streets, something their nonmilitary predecessors, the watchmen, had failed to do” (Patterson). Ironically, elements that community-policing advocates nowadays think are opposed to community policing actually were part and parcel of it: A regular beat, centralized authority established in the community, etc.

The regular beat of his “bobbies” let people become familiar with established authorities and let the officers become intimately familiar with the community, being able to identify hot spots. Community-oriented policing in the modern era is defined as follows: “Community Policing is a collaborative effort between a police department and community that identifies problems of crime and disorder and involves all elements of the community in the search for solutions to these problems. It is founded on close, mutually beneficial ties between police and community members.

At the center of community policing are three essential and complementary core components: Partnerships between the police and the community. Problem Solving as a method to identify and