Community policing model is the method where the police agencies draw the community closer so that they collaborate in solving community’s criminal-related problems. Kelling (1988) argues that the shift to community policing resulted from the frustration that the citizens had with the traditional methodology by the police. The community, especially the minority,was disenchanted from the police services. Community policing seeks to improve the quality of life of the community members by reducing crime and disorder. The professional policing strategy failed in compacting corruption and police brutality. Fogelson(2007), state that the professional model only reacted to a problem when it arose. The community policing model however, seeks to detect and prevent a crime from taking place by engaging the community. According to Cassady (2018), police departments recognize the fact that police cannot manage to solve all problems alone but need collaboration as well as mutual responsibility from other partners.The Lowell Police Department, in Massachusetts and the Concord Police Department in California are the two law enforcement agencies that have utilized this model of community policing.The approach adopted by each of these departments may vary because of the unique nature of the communities they work with.
Lowell Police Department
Problem solving
The department divided the region to three geographical sectors, each headed by a captain. It also increased the number of police officers and civilian employees deployed in various stations and developed a system that aid in organizing crime information and tackling the problems. This system required that community representatives work with the captain at the sector level to solve problems. Representatives from the criminal analysis unit, captains, command staff and the civilian employees would meet on a monthly basis. They would discuss the potential crime areas, problems at hand and possible solutions, basing on the captains’ reports.
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Community Engagement
The department having increased its staffing, involved the community much easier than before (Devlin et al., 2009, p.134).The civilian employees bridged the gap between the community and the police officers. Volunteer citizen program was organized whereby, the agency employed two citizens who attended meetings in the community, community groups and coordinating with the sector captains on community issues. Coordination of city’s responses to community problems was done by the Lowell’s Department of Neighbourhood Services, which focused on positive change in the Lowell community as well as those of the police department. The captains formed the link between the community groups and the department. They would also attend community meetings alongside the civilian liaisons where they would discuss problems and chat the way forward.
Concord Police Department
Problem Solving
All the officers are trained to use the problem-oriented policing (Devlin et al, 2009, p.164). Their field trainings involve real experiences where they are required to solve real problems. The more experienced officers were given rigorous training by the Police Executive Research Forum and other consultants. Crime statistics were captured in a crime analysis system, where the data aided the sub-beat officers to locate, assess and make effort to solve community problems. Problems involving thugs and violent crime required more time and skills, and the department sought assistance from Special Engagement Teams.
Community Engagement
Community partnership is at the core of the Concord Police Department; hence they promoted this approach in the whole city. The city was divided into 48 geographical areas headed by an officer in charge of the community’s policing activities. Discussions of neighbourhoods’ problems and development of effective responses and resources was partnership between community representatives and district agencies, which brought all stakeholders together. Monthly meetings as well as annual citizen and business survey were carried out to boost the level of responsiveness to the citizens’ needs and priorities. The statistics gathered in these surveys include satisfaction with police services, strategies and approach to crime, and the citizens’ view about criminal activities. The department would then use the responses to crosscheck its annual objectives on these matters. The department went further to produce a television program that focused on police readiness to work with the community as well as discourage crime.
The notable difference in the approach used by the two agencies is that Concord Department included surveys in their interaction while Lowell Department, majorly depended on the report collected from the locals.
Importance of community involvement
The community members understand their environment and the problems they face more than the police officers who may be foreign to the area (Paruch 1998). The residents may offer practical solutions in the attempt to provide long lasting solutions to their problems. It is therefore critical that the community is included in the problem-solving process as well as in collecting data for criminal analysis. Introduction of community policing in Concord Police Department, led to a rise in the number of civilians working in the department. More volunteers were recruited regularly and given appropriate trainings. The police department aims at decentralizing investigators to each geographical sector to help in speeding up investigations and solving community’s problems within a relatively short time.The success report at Lowell is that, thepolice-community interaction bore more fruits than the patrol police system did. Communications and cooperation improved between the two parties hence promoting trust.
Keys to Successfully Engaging the Community
The following would help in effectively engaging the community in law enforcement.
Training the officers specifically on how to engage with the community as partners and not clients.
Emphasising to the officers that the volunteers from the community only subsidise their efforts but not taking over their jobs.
Encouraging resistant ethic communities to interact with the police for a common good of uplifting the standards of life in the community.
Having a follow-up in all crime related information that the members of the society raise so that they are encouraged to support the police more, knowing that their views are taken into consideration.
Conclusion
Policing that involves the community is very important to solving community problems compared to any other approach. Law enforcement agencies are supposed to be encouraged to apply this methodology for smooth running of their organisations as well as compacting crime. Training of police officers should also focus on how the officers would solve problems in collaboration with the communities they would be working with. Law enforcement would not be as complicated as it is when the community is not involved. The success of those who have applied this method serves as a motivation to those who doubt on the possibility of the method working.
References
Cassady,T. (2018) What is Community Based Policing? Lincoln Police Department. City of Lincoln, Nebraska , USA
Devlin,S., Fisher, J.,Gantley, M. and Garriby,M. (2009) Implementing Community Policing :Lessons from 12 Agencies. US Department of Justice: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. Washington D.C
Fogelson,R.M (2007). Big City Police. Harvard University Press,Cambridge
Keeling ,G.L., (1988). Police and Communities : The Quite Revolution .Perspectives on Policing .Department of Justice , Vol 1. Washington D.C, USA.
Paruch, G. (1998), Making sure Community Policing Initiative Works. Law and Order.
