The Rise of Militarization of American Police - Term Paper Example

Community-Based Policing Community Based Policing Introduction Community-based policing is a policing strategy that emphasizes on establishing connections with the communities and building good relations with them. The overall target of community-based strategy is to reduce crimes that the community faces. The strategy promotes the establishment of such ties and other friendly techniques to help address the safety issues that the public faces and finding solutions to the situations that the immediate community is most concerned about. The normal policing strategy entails responding to crime and other incidents swiftly, solving crimes with the most value and responding to calls of distress from the members of the public. On the other hand, community, policing is most concerned with addressing the issues that the community is most concerned about and other concerns that the members of the community may have. Ties are established by assigning officers to certain regions for extended periods so as to get to know the people and to have a better understanding of the geographical location. Call-in programs and town meetings are some of the ways in which rapport is created. This paper looks at the effectiveness of community policing and the reasons as to why it is being adopted by many police departments. Background and History of Community Policing Community policing has over the years been evolving and is being changed to become more adaptable with the different setting in which it is to be applied. Its origin is traced to the civil rights movements of the 1960s. It was meant to address the challenges and social upheavals that were made manifest during this time. Riots and racial injustices caused many tensions and led many to view the police service as a symbol of political authority causing wide public criticism. As a result, the president of the Unite States at the time set up a commission in 1967. The committee findings were that the police service ought to be made more sensitive and responsive a rapidly changing society (Kappeler & Gaine, 2012). Over the years, a few factors have led to its evolving in into the many forms of community policing that exist today.. The concern of most of the people was the unfair treatment of the minorities, especially black people by the police. The treatment led to the restructuring of the police service into geographical regions and aspects such as foot patrol and line officers being introduced. In the 1970s, academic interest in this discipline increased as the many researchers began examining the role and the effectiveness of the traditional strategies that the police service employed. Palmiotto (2008) noted that the findings of the intellectuals was of great value in policing and resulted in increased preventive approaches, a good example of such preventive measures adopted the introduction of police patrols. It was around this time when the concept of the community and the police force working together to reduce the levels of crime began to come to surface. It was not until in the 1980s era that a coherent community policing approach was adopted. By the 1990s, community, policing had already become a powerful national movement that had been adopted in the police service. Departments of police throughout USA shifted focus to establish community policing reforms further supported by the funds that the central government was releasing to support this initiative (Fielding & Innes, 2006).. Annual conferences and further research continues to be at the center of community policing as there are aspects that need to be reviewed from time to time. Impact of Community Policing Community policing has greatly enhanced police service in a variety of ways. From its inception, it has led to a more sensitive, community-centered police force and this has been of great benefit to everybody. Community policing is all about the people, giving their concerns and needs priority. Emsley (2007) observed that when policing is enforced in such a manner, the natives get to feel more protected and get to appreciate more the role that the service plays. In return, the police get the support of the community, and the people now readily give any relevant information that would otherwise have taken a lot of investigation to come by. Community policing has brought about in this service this great benefit. The barriers that existed before between the people and the police no longer exist. The police have worked to create working ties with the communities ensuring that the feedback, complaints and intelligence are readily made available. The challenge of the unfair treatment of the minorities from the police has been dealt with overtime. Other benefits that community policing has brought about in the police service include making the roles of the police not only responsive but most importantly preventive. Previously, the role of the police mostly entailed responding to calls of distress and other criminal related activities. With a community policing, the police service takes up more the role of being a preventive agency (Barnes & Eagle, 2007). This is the case because the police can get vital information from the public of any pertinent issues in the location that the police can use to address any crime related activities ahead of time. With the establishment of ties with the community, the police are no longer viewed as outsiders but rather as people providing an essential service in the community. Community policing helps reduce fear within the community thereby enhancing the quality of life to a great extent. The society is directly involved in the activities of the police in a given area, and this helps reduce criminal activities and improve the well-being of the people. Palmiotto (2008) argues that in the places where community policing has been successfully implemented. There is efficiency improvement of the police in dealing with safety issues and, as a result, improving the well-being of the people. One of the reasons that led to research on better methods of policing was the realization that traditional policing was not very effective in dealing with criminal activities. Community policing as an alternative has helped reduce such and helped do so preventively. Community policing is a flexible and adaptable method of policing. Depending with the specific needs of the area, the structure of policing can be changed perfectly to match the kind of services that the people would need (Barnes & Eagle, 2007). Traditional policing is more complex, slow and rigid making it not convenient in some instances. The great impact that community policing has had on the dissemination of police services has been evident to many. As a result, the concept is now being adopted in many regions as well as a better alternative to the traditional policing. Limitations of community policing Despite the great benefits that community policing has had, there are still some challenges that go with it. One of such challenges being the need for commitment to establish ties with the community. Building trust takes time and commitment and if the officers concerned are impatient and not committed to this; no tangible benefits can be witnessed. For a community policing to be effective, cooperation is necessary. If the officers tasked with establishing relations with the community are corrupt or unreliable, what may have been a good initiative can turn out to be one of the real causes of insecurity in the area. Analyzes of the effects of community policing Community policing has made the police service more approachable by the people. Police officers are meant to protect the people and their property; this creates a great need for the people to have connections to the police. The community has all the information that the police would need in carrying out their function. They also know how best the police can tackle the security challenges that may be prevalent in a given area. Evidently, it is for the good of all if the police officers and the community work together. Since this will improve the community well-being and make police work much easier (Kappeler & Gaine, 2012). With a community policing, the structure of administration of the police in a given area should be made more adaptable to that location. There is no specific structure that will work everywhere as the security needs of different places and the crime rates vary (Fielding & Innes, 2006). This is one of the top areas that are open to more research and contributions from the scholars as there is not enough available literature on this. Recommendations Though the fruits of community policing are evident to all and thoroughly discussed in many forums, there is not enough information on the structure models of policing that exist to support this. More information should be made available as to the type of structures that are available and applicable in the different settings. Such information will be very beneficial to enhance consistency in the different police departments and also help establish proper models in the regions where this has not been tried out. Community policing has changed how police go about their duties. There are slight changes that should be made from time to time to maximize the benefits of building ties with the communities. No single policy however effective will no need modifications with time. The case is not any different with community policing; changes are inevitable especially because the social, cultural environment is changing from time to time. Community policing is the one of the best approaches that have been developed to not only combat crime but also as an important preventive technique. Abandoning it would be ill-advised especially in the light of all the achievements that it has helped bring about. It should be continued with modifications from time to time to adjust to a different environment that it is to be implemented. References Barnes, I., & Eagle, T. (2007). The Role of Community Engagement in Neighbourhood Policing. Policing, 1(2), 161-172. doi:10.1093/police/pam033 Emsley, C. (2007). Community Policing/Policing and Communities: Some Historical Perspectives. Policing, 1(2), 235-243. doi:10.1093/police/pam028 Fielding, N., & Innes, M. (2006). Reassurance Policing, Community Policing and Measuring Police Performance. Policing And Society, 16(2), 127-145. doi:10.1080/10439460600662122 Kappeler, V., & Gaines, L. (2012). Community Policing. Burlington: Elsevier Science. Palmiotto, M. (2008). Community policing. Gaithersburg, Md.: Aspen. Read More