Strategic Policing in Society - Essay Example

A Case for Community Policing Name: Institution: I disagree with the opinion of the UK’s Home Secretary that the delivery of policing services should shift away from community oriented approaches. Whereas it is still widely agreeable that the sole mission of the police is the reduction of crime rate, the police and other arms of law enforcement cannot afford to shift away from community-oriented approaches to tackle crime. A prescriptive enforcement led delivery of policing services would be better off when complemented with a community policing approach. Community policing has grown over the years to become a significant feature of any modern police force (Swanson, Territo & Taylor, 2008). This has been facilitated by the increasing rates of crime and their sophistication that has continued to pile more to the traditional enforcement led delivery of policing services. This paper would seek to put across a case for more integration of the community in the delivery of policing services. The paper will discuss the various ways through which the traditional institutionalized policing approach can be supplemented by community policing. Community policing is viewed differently from the traditional institutionalized policing because of its values, processes, accountability mechanisms and its goals (Cordner & Sheehan, 2007). Community policing aims at creating a heightened quality of life. It prioritizes the importance of having a mutual friendship with the community and its members. The work of the police in a community policing set up goes beyond solving crimes. Community policing encourages the solution of the social problems that led to the emergence of crime in the first place. In a community policing environment, accountability has been further broadened to make it possible for members of the community, in pursuing their legal interests, to summon members of the police force. With increased accountability comes increased transparency and efficiency. The traditional model of policing has tied the law enforcement agents into the bureaucracy that is characterized by institutions. The community policing philosophy has made it mandatory for law enforcement agents to change their value sets to include collaboration, power sharing and the respect for diversity (Cordner & Sheehan, 2007). The police force is charged with the responsibility of enforcing the law and order. The police undertake this responsibility by preventing crime, pursuing and bringing to justice the law breakers, helping, protecting and reassuring the community in matters regarding security and to be seen to do all this with sound judgment, common sense and integrity (Henry, 2012). The role of the police is often misunderstood, both from the community and the police’s front. Most instances of conflicts between the police and the community always arises as a result of this misunderstanding. The community thus needs to be properly informed on the role of the police. Such knowledge facilitation has always been left to be undertaken by civil societies. However, a community policing approach would be more effective. Without acceptance and understanding by the community, the police can achieve very little in their core work of tackling crime. The evolving nature of crime has also made it plausible to move the policing concept closer to the community (Cordner & Sheehan, 2007). New forms of crime are emerging as the society grows. Terrorism was not categorized as a major security threat in the nineteenth and twentieth century’s, however in the twenty first century; the fight against terrorism has taken centre stage. In 2008, 4946 acts of terrorism were reported globally compared to zero a century ago. Other form of newer security challenges includes drug trafficking, proliferation of arms, extremism, cyber crime and human trafficking. Perpetuators of such crimes are always the community members. As such it would me much easier to address such crimes is the community is somehow integrated into the police force. Information regarding the perpetuators of such crimes can easily be shared between the police and the community members. Community policing can also enable the police to have their hand on the pulse of the evolving nature of crime. The ever present issue of racial relations is poses another reason for the consideration of the community in the deployment of law enforcement services (Carr, 2012). The issue of race relations has always affected service delivery especially in the public sector. In the United States for example, members of the African American race have been frequent subject to police brutality as a result of obvious cases of racial profiling. Closer home in Australia, the Aborigines have undergone a similar discriminative phase in regards to the provision of state services. The best success story that can be told out of community policing in handling of the divisive issue of race relations is that of the creation of the Aboriginal liaison officers. The experimental positions of the liaison officers were first created in 1986 where four people from the Aboriginal community were selected to provide a link between the Aboriginal communities and the police force (Carr, 2012). The appointment of the four was an important turn around in police relations with the indigenous Australian race, and indeed community. The core function of the liaison officers included, but were not limited to dispute resolution between the indigenous people and the police, encouraging community members to share crime information with the police, helping the community and the police in developing crime prevention solution and the education of the police on the communities’ culture so as to improve their level of cultural awareness (Victoria, & Andrew, 2006). The liaison officers did not have the police powers such as use of force, search or arrest. The community policing arrangement was however inexplicably discontinued in 2006. Previously, just like the relation between the American’s blacks and the police has long been negative, so was the relation between the police and the indigenous community. The negative relations had been fuelled by the role of the police as enforcing agents for a state whose huge percentage was non-indigenous (Gaines & Worrall, 2011). Such is the traditional model of the police which is only accountable to the state leading to such high levels of mistrust and scepticism. The history of law enforcement especially in regards to policing is a key area of debate across a range of disciplines. Political science, sociology, criminology and history itself offer a differing account on the history of policing (Swanson, Territo & Taylor, 2008). The common agreement among the various disciplines is that the current form of institutionalized policing draws its origins in community policing. In the earlier stages of man’s evolution, individual communities were responsible for their own security (Carr, 2012). In fact, it can be argued that law enforcement has gone a full circle. From community driven law enforcement strategies, to institutionalized policing and now again back to community policing. Declaring community policing as irrelevant in the provision of police services can thus be equated to demeaning the foundation upon which the police service is formed. There is a growing correlation pattern between the practice of community policing and the visibility of restorative justice. Restorative justice, also referred as reparative justice, is the form of justice where focus is shifted to both the needs of the offenders, the community and as well as those of the victims (Henry, 2012). It draws its treatment of justice from the thoughts and believes of compassion. Restorative justice differs from the traditional dispensation of justice, which was more inclined towards the punishment of the offender in compliance of abstract legal principles. Comparatively, in instances where restorative justice is practiced, the offenders are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions whereas the victims are equally encouraged to take a participative and accommodative role in the process. Restorative justice is more applicable in instances of both individual crime and crimes against the community (Gaines & Miller, 2009). Although instances of crimes against communities have declined in post independent Australia, instances of individual crime are still common. The principles of restorative justice are increasingly guiding new approaches to the criminal justice practice and policy across the world. Central to the core ideals of restorative justice are human rights and dignity, prevention of harm, peacemaking and the empowerment of those who are disempowered. Currently, most of the focus in regards to the practice of restorative justice has been on the post crime events such as offender reintegration, conferencing, alternative sentencing, offender to victim mediation and restitution (Swanson, Territo & Taylor, 2008). Very little focus has been put on the early stages of the process especially in regards to policing. The unavoidable congruence between community policing and restorative justice has been necessitated by the rightful characterization of community policing as transparent, accountable and democratic (Hess & Orthmann, 2009). Such a characterization blends well with the popular thoughts in civil society that consider social institutions as those that represent the multiple interests and reflect the local needs within communities. Just like restorative justice, community policing seeks to engage the different factions within a community that are engaged in some sort of conflict and to offer non punitive community sourced alternatives such as referral to treatment or resources for the member of the community who is in need (Carr, 2012). Although their might exist some disagreement on the best implementation procedure of community policing approach and even on how far it has come, one thing is clear: the security challenges of the twenty first century like substance abuse, resource shortages, violence, economic and social injustice and intercultural conflict requires security policy makers to think creatively and more broadly about the future (Swanson, Territo & Taylor, 2008). Despite the imminent fragilities in the community policing model, its mere dismissal will not suffice. In the light of increased victim’s frustration, community alienation and sky rocketing moral and financial costs of punishments associated with the traditional policing methods, law enforcement agencies can only continue to find ways of improving the collaboration between their agents and the community which they serve (Whisenand, 2008). Some of the ways include the development of honest relationships between the police institution and the community. Community policing is essentially a collaborative efforts between the community and the police that identify and solves community problems. However, in most instances the police have felt intimidated by the wrongful believe that someone else would grab up their roles of being the sole custodians of law and order (Gaines & Miller, 2009). A good starting point would be to discard such misleading believes. Both the police and the members of the community should be active partners in the effort to enhance the quality of neighbourhoods and their safety. Involvement of the community is mandatory if issues of crime and a safer neighbourhood are to be addressed with finality. Community involvement in policing has greater and far reaching impact on the traditional policing system. An institutionalized police force is necessary for the smooth running of other social institutions. The battered housewives’ movement for example has clearly demonstrated that a police intervention might be required to guarantee personal safety within the family set up. The use of an institutionalized police force to intervene in social institutions such as workplaces, schools and families however, such an intervention is not without its problems (Carr, 2012). Information black out, feelings of intrusion into a perceived private space are just some of the problems. This is why the police need to come up with a community based policing model that may counter such problems. However, the creation of a winning partnership would require patience, understanding, creativity and energy. In many communities, the barriers of mistrust of the police force and general apathy can only be broken after a lengthy investment in time. Trust is the value that underlies any meaningful partnership. The same applies to the partnership between the police and the community (Swanson, Territo & Taylor, 2008). Fostering trust will make it possible for members of the police force to participate in much stronger relationships with community members to produce the desired achievements (Hess & Orthmann, 2009). Without trust between the citizens and the police, effective policing – whether it is through prescriptive enforcement or community policing – would be impossible. References Carr, P. J. (2012). 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