Community Engagement in Policing - Coursework Example

Introduction In their course of work, police usually interacts with the community in which they are serving in numerous ways. The community relies on police in control of various disorders and in times of emergency. However, the police also will rely on community in order to report any crime as well as providing to the police with vital information that will be of help in addressing the concerns of the community and solving issue on crime. Recent decades has shown development in the relationship between the community and the police, as they tend to expect more from one another due to recognition of increased importance of working together. In general, the issue of community policing marked a shift from centralised departments of police that practiced policing in a reactive manner to police structures that are decentralised and practice policing in a proactive manner. This is achieved using a problem solving approach as police work closely through partnerships with the community. Since 1970, Victoria and other Australian states has been working hard in order to develop and promote community policing through development of programs such as a program in community involvement(PCIP) in early 80’s with an aim of addressing specific problems within the community (Seagrave & Ratcliffe, 2004). The issue of community policing in Australia came because of difficulties experienced by police due to high unemployment, great urbanisation, and disconnected youths who were also casualties of unemployment in 80’s. This called for new resolution in order to control crime. At that time, Wildavsky and Anderson (1984) observed that many people were exposed crime and they saw the need for community policing as they became aware that addressing crime was not just the problem of the police forces. Thus, Victoria described community policing to consist of routine interaction of police with the public, formal encouragement of public assistance by the police, police liaison officers, community projects, departments on public relations, crime prevention bureaux, and police community committees on consultation and involvement of programs. Barley (1984) identified the four key elements in respect to community policing; crime prevention which was based on community, deployment of police for public interaction, development of mechanisms for feedback to the community at grassroots and active solicitation of service request that doesn’t involve criminal matters. This essay discusses on the importance of community engagement, the benefits associated with community engagement as well as the required improvements for effective community policing in Victoria. Importance of community engagement There are various compelling reasons that led to consideration of community policing. These reasons are grounded on the change in the nature of communities, shifting characteristics in violence, crime, and disorder. There has been a need for practices that are innovative in order to curb crisis of violence in various communities (Giacomazzi, Riley & Merz, 2004). With the changing nature of crime and its elevated level, there has been a need to look for methods that are more effective in order to manage crime and curb mayhem. It has also come to recognition that fighting crime, curbing disorder, and increasing the safety of people requires police and public commitment. Most departments of police adopted a top down hierarchical system of management that emphasised on professionalism of the police and greater accountability of police commissioners. Thus, the police officers did not even know the residents that they were serving. This led to less awareness and poor involvement in solving the problems within the community in which these officers served. In addition, police frequently changed routes in their efforts to stop crime. As a result, the ability of the community to interact with local police was lost and in turn, the police were perceived as strangers as they disengaged from the community itself and their issues. Due to this, the police were less concerned with the problems within the community and their rapid response to crime scene showed that they were acting fast but on the other hand, they were not necessarily effective. This called for engagement of the community for the police to deliver their services effectively (Fleming & O'Reilly, 2007.). The urban riots especially from unemployed groups, increased gang violence and assassinations made the relationship between the police and the community weak. This led to viewing of the police as an oppressive force. In addition, police brutality promoted urban disorder and members of the public viewed the police who were supposed to protect them as a forefront in maintenance of discriminatory and unjust society. This affected the community’s perception of police. This shows that lack of confidence in police makes the citizens reluctant to cooperate as victims, witnesses or suspects. In such a situation, the efforts to stop crime and maintaining of social order will be disabled. In connection to this, the public’s perception of injustice generates behaviour that is more criminal. For, instance, unfair penalties will lead to lack of faith in the system of justice and this sets a criminal offending stage. Thus, the diminished public confidence can only be regained through the efforts of cooperation between the police and the public. This shows the importance of community engagement through community policing. For police to act quickly on the demands of the community and address their concerns, they need to improve the number and the quality of the connections between them and the community. The Victorian police address such issues by focus on empowerment and engagement of the community through collaboration. On the other, the communities must also engage and work with police in order to solve daily problems within the community (Casey & Pike, 2008). For a successful community policing, there is a need to develop and maintain trust within the community. The engagement of the community requires a policing view that is beyond the standard emphasis on law enforcement. This is achieved through recognition of the activities of police that will contribute to the well being within a community. Some of the activities practised by Victorian police include provision of emergency service for people at risk, working and collaborating with residents in order to improve the conditions in the neighbourhood, conduction of door-to-door services as a way of increasing the community’s perception concerning personal safety. Such activities are of great help in development of trust between the community and police. This will allow the police to easily access crucial information from the public that will lead to increase in supporting the measures for controlling crime, preventing crimes and providing way for the police in order to create a good working relationship between them and the community. The Victorian police assist the organisations in the community in planning projects on crime prevention. This enables them to share information on the local problems of crime through community-based organisations (Bodson, 2008). The engagement of the community is also supported by active participation of people within the community. This is achieved by actively engaging the community to enhance their safety. In this case, the residents must be helpful by providing the police with adequate information and to report the crimes promptly as soon as they occur. The involvement of citizen also requires them to participate in various activities such as youth-oriented projects for crime prevention. In addition, assigning some officers within the community for a long period builds trust and encourages community response as the people become more comfortable with familiar officers (Cameron & Laycock, 2002). Benefits of community engagement in policing There are various benefits associated with community engagement in policing. Effective policing is because the police and community must accept that it involves a two-way communication. Thus, the public is able to report or provide information on criminal activities where the police are able to act before it is out of hand. This ensures the safety of the community. It is difficult for police to detect crimes without the help of the public hence; community engagement will enable detection of crimes that could not be recognised through the efforts of police alone. Thus, the power of police in fulfilment of their duties depends on the approval of public and this approval is based on behaviour, actions and existence of police as well as the ability to maintain and secure public interest. Public support is necessary for successful operations of the police and they cannot maintain law and order without the confidence and support of the public. Departments of public relations in the police are meant to improve the police image to the public on the basis that, the improved image will improve cooperation as well as handling the information related to crime (Cherney & Sutton, 2007). Casey & Pike (2008) realised that the engagement of the community in policing leads to the following benefits; increasing the effectiveness of the police, avoidance of authoritarianism of the police and understanding of the problems facing the public. They added that if the public supports the police, there would be enhancement of the effectiveness of police through increased cooperation and information that will be supplied to the police. Public interaction and effective policing will give the public a better chance to understand the police thus, being less judgemental. To achieve this, the police needs to be less secretive and be prepared to confidently take public in planning and embarking on programs that will enhance the objective of law enforcement in respect to the totality of the values and interests of the community. Community policing avoids authoritarianism, as the community becomes a part of the process of policing. If the police effort lacks intervention and direction, then it might lead to an army attitude occupation. If the public has increased involvement in policing, the pressure of the police to try and secure a greater control from outside bodies will be reduced. This means that, if there is more involvement from the community, their relationship with police will be better as well as great trust and less interference (Bayley & Shearing, 1996). Improvements in community policing There is a need to build the capacity of police in order to support the prevention of crime. With various challenges of crime in modern world, Victorian police might be required to direct attention and resources on various tasks of improvement of skill base and access to the resources for the people engaged in the action of crime prevention. For effective collaboration in prevention of crime, the key competencies that are critical include analytical skills and problem solving, management and evaluation of projects, networking and interpersonal skills. In addition, there is a need to understand different causes of crime and approaches for prevention. It is also important for crime prevention police to understand the trends in local crime, conditions leading to crime and the successful strategies in various regions for addressing these problems. It should be noted that effective partnerships would require long-term investment as well as an upfront of shared goals, time, resources and objectives (Fleming & Scott, 2008). It is clear that Victorian police usually play a significant role in various projects in the community with an aim of increasing the safety of the community or reducing crime. However, with the significant efforts by the police to prevent the community from criminal activities, the results for their role have been modest. Thus, the challenges from the organisation that are working with the police show presence of provisions for improvement. Thus, the effectiveness of the programs and projects for crime prevention that involve the police can be improved by better arrangements in sharing of information, providing a clear definition on the role of police in prevention of crime, a systematic approach in order to decide the appropriate initiative to support and they way of doing it, and improved project evaluation especially the ones involving partnerships. It is worth noting that development of trust and community mobilization is a challenging process and cannot be achieve overnight. This means that citizens needs to be treated with respect and dignity as use of force, rudeness, and arrogance will diminish the efforts and willingness of the community in engaging with the police as well as providing information to them. The police must also put into consideration that community mobilization and engagement may be easier to achieve for some members of the community than others. Understanding of these conditions will serve as a way of improving engagement of community in policing and in turn, the police will be in a condition to gather information on crime from the public in a more comfortable and effective way (Cordner & Perkins, 2005). Conclusion Community engagement policing involves development of a good working relationship between the community and the police for the safety of the entire country. The call for community policing is grounded on the change in the nature of communities, shifting characteristics in violence, crime, disorder among others. In order to address these conditions, Victoria’s community policing is based on routine interaction of police with the public, formal encouragement of assistance to the public by the police, police liaison officers, community projects, departments on public relations, crime prevention bureaux, police community committees on consultation and involvement programs. Community in policing is of benefit to the entire state as it leads to increase in the effectiveness of the police, avoidance of authoritarianism of the police and understanding of the problems facing the public among others. Community policing fundamental element is that the police will become the integral part of community and on the other hand, the community will help in determination of goals and priorities in addition to resource allocation. The promise of community engagement in policing is strengthening of the communities’ capacity to address the issues of disorder and crime on their own. References Bayley, D. H. & Shearing, C.H. (1996). The future of policing, Law and Society Review 30(3), 585–596. Bodson, J. (2008). Crime prevention and community safety: Trends and perspectives. Canada: International Centre for the Prevention of Crime. Barley, D. H. (1984). Community Policing: Community policing in Japan and Singapore, ed. J. Morgan, Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra. Casey, J. & Pike, D. (2008). Fit for purpose: Working with the community to strengthen policing in Victoria, Australia. Flinders Journal of Law Reform (10)1, 373–402. Cordner, G. & Perkins, E. (2005). Problem-oriented policing in practice. Criminology and Public Policy 4(2), 155–180. Cameron, M. & Laycock, G. (2002). Crime prevention in Australia, in Graycar A & Grabosky P (eds), The Cambridge handbook of Australian criminology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 313–331 Cherney, A. & Sutton, A. (2007). Crime prevention in Australia: Beyond 'what works'? The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology 40(1), 65–81. Fleming, J. & O'Reilly, J. (2007). The 'small-scale' initiative: The rhetoric and the reality of community policing in Australia. Policing, A Journal of Policy and Practice 1(2), 1-17. Fleming, J. & Scott, A. (2008). Performance management in Australian police organisations, Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice 2(3): 322–330. Giacomazzi, A., S. Riley & Merz, R. (2004). Internal and external challenges to implementing community policing: Examining comprehensive assessment reports from multiple sites. Criminal Justice Studies, 17(2), 223-238. Segrave, M. & Ratcliffe, J. (2004). Community policing in Australia: A descriptive overview. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. Wildavsky & Anderson, P.T. (1984). Opening address' in Community Policing, Seminar Proceedings No. 4. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. Read More

The urban riots especially from unemployed groups, increased gang violence and assassinations made the relationship between the police and the community weak. This led to viewing of the police as an oppressive force. In addition, police brutality promoted urban disorder and members of the public viewed the police who were supposed to protect them as a forefront in maintenance of discriminatory and unjust society. This affected the community’s perception of police. This shows that lack of confidence in police makes the citizens reluctant to cooperate as victims, witnesses or suspects.

In such a situation, the efforts to stop crime and maintaining of social order will be disabled. In connection to this, the public’s perception of injustice generates behaviour that is more criminal. For, instance, unfair penalties will lead to lack of faith in the system of justice and this sets a criminal offending stage. Thus, the diminished public confidence can only be regained through the efforts of cooperation between the police and the public. This shows the importance of community engagement through community policing.

For police to act quickly on the demands of the community and address their concerns, they need to improve the number and the quality of the connections between them and the community. The Victorian police address such issues by focus on empowerment and engagement of the community through collaboration. On the other, the communities must also engage and work with police in order to solve daily problems within the community (Casey & Pike, 2008). For a successful community policing, there is a need to develop and maintain trust within the community.

The engagement of the community requires a policing view that is beyond the standard emphasis on law enforcement. This is achieved through recognition of the activities of police that will contribute to the well being within a community. Some of the activities practised by Victorian police include provision of emergency service for people at risk, working and collaborating with residents in order to improve the conditions in the neighbourhood, conduction of door-to-door services as a way of increasing the community’s perception concerning personal safety.

Such activities are of great help in development of trust between the community and police. This will allow the police to easily access crucial information from the public that will lead to increase in supporting the measures for controlling crime, preventing crimes and providing way for the police in order to create a good working relationship between them and the community. The Victorian police assist the organisations in the community in planning projects on crime prevention. This enables them to share information on the local problems of crime through community-based organisations (Bodson, 2008).

The engagement of the community is also supported by active participation of people within the community. This is achieved by actively engaging the community to enhance their safety. In this case, the residents must be helpful by providing the police with adequate information and to report the crimes promptly as soon as they occur. The involvement of citizen also requires them to participate in various activities such as youth-oriented projects for crime prevention. In addition, assigning some officers within the community for a long period builds trust and encourages community response as the people become more comfortable with familiar officers (Cameron & Laycock, 2002).

Benefits of community engagement in policing There are various benefits associated with community engagement in policing. Effective policing is because the police and community must accept that it involves a two-way communication. Thus, the public is able to report or provide information on criminal activities where the police are able to act before it is out of hand. This ensures the safety of the community. It is difficult for police to detect crimes without the help of the public hence; community engagement will enable detection of crimes that could not be recognised through the efforts of police alone.

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