The Role of the Police in Community Policing
Abstraction
Traditionally, jurisprudence enforcement is called after a offense has already occurred. Law enforcement is designed to react to exigency calls necessitating a speedy response, topographic point felons under apprehension, behavior and followup on probes, every bit good as everyday vicinity cheques.
When discoursing community-oriented policing ( COP ) , there is a broader constabulary focal point which is the bar of offense and upset. COP requires a more strategic attack to working in the community as the community and the Police are encouraged to come together and organize a partnership in which both ( community members and constabularies ) portion a common end of doing the community safer.
This paper is traveling to discourse the function of the constabulary in community patroling such as how and why community policing was developed, the function of the COP officer and how the COP officer and community can work together to do COP effectual.
The Role of the Police in Community Policing
The construct of policing has been in being for many old ages. The constabulary are expected to execute many community responsibilities that in the yesteryear were the duty of the local citizen such as: maintaining the peace, managing exigency services, covering with household jobs, and assisting during civil exigencies. But now police officers are called in to work out these societal jobs that citizens create. Due to this function struggle, more sections are following new theoretical accounts of patroling that reflect this changing function.
What is community patroling? Community policing is a working relationship, between the constabulary and local occupants, with the mission to do the vicinity a safer and better environment to populate in and increase trust in the constabulary ( hypertext transfer protocol: //www.cops.usdoj.gov ) . By organizing this relationship, the community and constabulary work together on ends such as cut downing offense in the vicinity, cut downing fright of offense and bettering the quality of life in the community. With the cooperation of both the constabulary and the community, community patroling identifies jobs of offense and pandemonium and so affect the community in happening solutions to cut down such and do the community and a better, safer vicinity to populate.
Community policing goes beyond traditional policing as the constabulary are no longer the exclusive defenders of the jurisprudence and societal order as all members of the community take an active portion in the attempt to heighten the safety and quality of vicinities. Community policing can be defined as the coaction between the constabulary and the community ( occupants ) in which together they can place and work out community issues. Together the occupants and the constabulary can promote active citizen engagement in patroling attempts, concentrate on issues of ongoing public concern, provide continuity of service to the community, develop, beef up and/or physique groups and organisations so occupants can recommend for their ain involvements ( www.cops.usdoj.gov ) .
Although, community oriented policing is a partnership between the constabulary and the community members, the constabulary play a major function as the constabulary officer is the foundation of community-oriented policing ( Oliver, 2008 ) . The officer’s goal/purpose is to educate the populace about its local constabulary section, maintain or increase public assurance and trust in jurisprudence enforcement, lessening fright of offense, listening to and turn toing citizen concerns, and implementing community plans together with community members in an attempt to work out jobs.
Community oriented policing is besides intended to promote community engagement and engagement. The values of community patroling include developing enduring community partnerships and job resolution in coaction with the community along with organisational alteration within the constabulary section. Alternatively of merely siting through the community reacting to calls, some constabulary sections have implemented community patroling as a more collaborative attack with the community members in an attempt to hold better job work outing for the constabulary and learn the citizens ways to better prepare, identify and prevent offense and fright of offense in the community.
The constabulary can play an active function in the COP by taking the lead in doing certain the community safe. It is believed that if the constabulary demonstrate an involvement in the community, they will bring forth a better response from the community response as the citizens will look at the constabulary more as Alliess instead than enemies. Below are ways that the constabulary can show their concern for the community while constructing trust from the community members. In order for COP to be effectual the following partnership tactics must work expeditiously:
Routine Patrol
Routine patrol, whether on pes, auto, or horseback, should be portion of community outreach schemes to increase constabulary visibleness in an attempt to cut down fright of offense or as a bar step for crime-reduction in a peculiar hot-spot vicinity. This will besides give the chance for the community members and officers to go more familiar with each other and besides let the constabulary to hold better penetration of the community needs sing offense disincentive.
Information Sharing/Ongoing Communication p94
Community patroling advocators for a consistent flow of information between jurisprudence enforcement and the community, sing potentially effectual solutions to offense and perturb jobs and assorted offense tendencies and forms. As a consequence of sharing information, the constabulary can be more proactive and focused on developing long term solutions to the citizen’s concerns instead than be reactive and delay until they are called to find how to rectify a known job
Crime Prevention Programs
The chief aim of community offense bar is to be proactive and convey consciousness to community members/groups that may be a possible mark for offense every bit good as unfastened the lines of communicating between the constabulary and the community ( Oliver, 2008 ) . In most of the community offense bar plans, the constabulary facilitate the plan, nevertheless needs the support of the community to back up and take part in the plans in order for the plan to be effectual and successful.
Social control
The end of societal control is for the constabulary and community to join forces and work toward keeping, heightening, and reconstructing societal control over the full community. It is thought that if community members have an fond regard or are dedicated to doing the community a better and safer topographic point, people would less likely commit a offense than those persons who are missing in one or more countries.
The above plans should be utilized based on the community members’ demands and their perceptual experiences of the local jobs ( Oliver, 2008 ) . Whether implemented on their ain or with the aid of the constabulary, the above mentioned plans must be created, implemented, and maintained with the aid and cooperation of the community in order to stay relevant.
In decision, Community oriented policing is both a doctrine and an organisational scheme that allows constabulary and community occupants to work closely together in new ways to work out the jobs of offense, fright of offense, physical and societal upsets, and neighborhood impairment. Community-oriented policing is good non merely to the community and the constabulary section but besides the constabulary officer ( Oliver, 2008 ) .
Mentions
Bull: Community Oriented Policing Services ( nd ) . Community Policing Defined. Retrieved on February 2, 2014 from hypertext transfer protocol: // www.cops.usdoj.gov
Oliver, W. ( 2008 ) . Community-Oriented Policing. A Systemic Approach to Policing ( 4th Ed ) . Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
