Community Policing in Your Neighborhood - Essay Example

Community Policing (College Community Policing Community policing is considered as the policing concept ofthe twenty-first century. This concept has its birth on the belief that close interaction with the community will help prevent crimes more effectively. While traditionally police officers had a totally detached life from the communities they served and treated people dispassionately, the concept of community policing considers the prevention of crime a joint responsibility of the police and the public.

As a part of this concept, police officers make constant personal contacts with the members of community and the interactions are always friendly and compassionate. As the initial step of this strategy, police departments strengthen their relationship with local people, thus increasing the rapport. As a part of this strategy, door-to-door visits and residential area meetings are conducted. Through such interactions, citizens are educated on ‘crime prevention, observing the neighborhood, and helping the victims’ (Understanding Community Policing, A Framework for Action, n.d.) This method has its value in military too.

The US military is using this strategy to improve the relation with local people, and this is evidently seen in Iraq. Thompson (2009) writes about ‘Operation Backpack’, a mission in which school supplies backpacks are distributed among school children in Iraq. The purpose, as he observes, is to improve the relation between the local people and the coalition forces. From the Iraq issue, it becomes evident that this approach is of high value to military especially for handling insurgencies and in community issues where one person’s foe is another person’s father.

In such cases, suppression or the police way of investigation may be considerably ineffective. In fact, the army principles recognize the importance of community-focused policing, especially for rebuilding operations during insurgencies as is evident from Afghanistan and Iraq. Now the military has started its community policing strategies and as a part of it, Afghan Border Police are given classes on community policing and on conducting humanitarian missions including planting trees and cleaning canals.

Currently, majority of the policies forces in the western countries have adopted community policing not only as a concept, but as an active strategy in controlling issues like drugs, fear of crime and neighborhood decay. As Shah (2009) reports, the military is adopting the same method in Pakistan, where youngsters from the local communities are recruited to make a community police force. The benefits are obvious, especially in anti-terrorism operations. In such areas, the killing of a foreign military person evokes no emotional response or no rage among the local people.

However, the involvement of people from their own community makes the people feel more responsible in the operations. They are indirectly getting involved in the operation and an anti-terrorism feeling is instilled in their minds. Thus, it becomes evident that community policing can be effectively used as it is presently done in Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan, to make people more cooperative to military operations. In total, it becomes evident that military can use its armed force to suppress agitation.

However, as history proves, a more civilian way is required if a social reform is to be achieved. In other words, if the attitude of people towards government and authority is to be changed, armed suppression is of no value. What is required is a community policing strategy that reminds people that the military is acting for benevolent purposes, thus encouraging the people to cooperate with the military. References Shah, P. Z. (August 27, 2009). “Community policing, with a vengeance”. NY Times.

Retrieved 3 March 2011 from http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/community-policing-with-a-vengeance/ Thompson, J. (May 13, 2009). “Iraqi and Military Police Partner to Improve Community relations”. Massachusetts National Guard. Retrieved 3 March, 2011 from http://states.ng.mil/sites/MA/News/Pages/Iraqi%20and%20Military%20Police%20Partner%20to%20Improve%20Community%20Relations.aspx “Understanding Community Policing: A Framework for Action”. (n.d.). Office of Justice Programs. Retrieved 3 March 2011 from http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/commp.pdf