COMMUNITY POLICING

Community Policing

Community Policing Strategies

Introduction

There exists among law enforcement personnel in the United States and the general population an image of a 'war on crime', in which lawbreakers stand in opposition to the law abiding public. The image, of course, is far from accurate. In reality, almost all U.S. citizens commit acts for which they could spend time in jail if caught and convicted (Pepinsky, 2000: 66). Rather, we are at peace with most lawbreakers. In the United States, we are at war with one segment of our population: the under classg criminal. It is here that we press our efforts to capture the enemy and place them in prison until the war has concluded (that is, until there is little or no street crime). Such a policy cannot be enforced. In the long run, U.S. citizens will revolt at the tax and social burdens caused by incarcerating additional hundreds of thousands of individuals. Rather, peacemaking criminology (Pepinsky and Quinney, 2001: 20) suggests that we would be best served by a negotiated settlement between the factions.

The basis of peacemaking criminology 'lies in learning something new to do by listening to those who will most be affected by what you do next...showing interest in and drawing out the voices which are least heard in whatever setting or reference group you find yourself, in order to introduce balance into the conversation -- the structural manifestation that peace is being made (Pepinsky, 2008: 63)'. Hal Pepinsky (2009: 57) describes four steps to implementing peacemaking:

Community policing may be a mechanism for starting such a process. At a minimum, the evolving model calls for neighborhood residents and their police to work together to improve the social health of the community. There are seven components of community policing which are as follows:

Identifying Partners Throughout The Community

Police department leaders recognized early on that it was important to form partnerships with other public agencies and the community. This resulted in the active solicitation by the Police Department of partnerships with new and existing organizations in order to identify problems and work towards solutions. Efforts were made to identify the needs of the populace and organize its communities. Endeavors included the initiation of partnerships to identify problems, assistance in the analysis of the conditions that cause those problems, and collaboration on interventions to bring about long term improvement.

Developing A Profile Of The Community

Identifying The Issues

Identified issues include items such as illegal parking, gang activity, and burglary. Gangs, for example, were a common consideration. In the developmental district, School Resource Officers (SRO) worked with schools to identify the concerns of surrounding neighborhoods, and in some instances, a response was introduced. One school located in a heavily populated gang area cooperated with the SRO to educate parents and students on anti-gang involvement. Parents (more than 150) attended meetings that provided information on parenting, educated them on how to recognize gang activity by their children, and informed them about the police response to gang ...