Effective reduction of crime in the community demands the partnership of the police force and the community. According to the broken window theory, the community is pertinent in crime solving. Disorder in the community and low-level crimes lead to serious crimes. This demands the incorporation of community policing to replace traditional policing that aimed at answering many emergency calls as swiftly as possible, apprehending criminals and gathering evidence that will lead to their conviction. Community policing, in contrast, involves working with the community to solve crimes that are important to them. This paper analyzes community policing with the aim of determining its effectiveness in reducing crime in the society.
Modern policing is based on the nine peelian principles that were developed by Robert Peel in 1829 when he formed the Metropolitan Police in London. The leading role of police was to prevent crime and disorder through a pre-described behavior that catered for a public corporation. The principles stated that the behavior of police should exclusively ensure the affection and approval of the society. It is based on these principles that community policing bases it development from. These principles were ignored in the 20th century with the development of telecommunications, suburbanization, and automobile. The police force took on a reactive strategy that relied on motor patrols to fight crime. This approach involved answering as many emergency calls as possible and responding to them. There was less interaction between police and the community due to fewer foot patrols. Some police, like the Chicago Police Department, started rotating officers in various neighborhoods to prevent corruption. This reactive method of policing was proven not to be effective in ending crime as it was seen as aimless (Crowl, 2017).
Community policing was introduced when policing agencies determined that reported crimes were not all the crimes that existed. Instead, many crimes went unreported due to the mistrust between the community and police. In the United States, President Lyndon Johnson issues a derivative for further research on Community Policing. It further gained relevance with the Broken Window Theory in 1982 by George Keeling and James Wilson (Welsh, Braga, & Bruinsma, 2015). The criminology theory stated that an urban environment with visible signs of civil disorders, anti-social behavior, and small crimes encouraged the development of further crimes and disorder at a higher propensity. In an article in the Atlantic Monthly, the two criminology theorist states that small crimes, like a broken window in a building, when ignored increases the tendency for vandals to commit more crime (break more windows), and eventually may lead to larger crimes (breaking into the building) (Welsh, Braga, & Bruinsma, 2015). The theorist encouraged the police force to deal with crimes when they are small and hence prevent accumulation and escalation of crime. They further state that police cannot work alone to ensure the safety of a city and a crime free city. The community plays a huge role in crime prevention, as they have a sense of responsibility and ownership towards the area and hence more willing to protect their spaces. Small crimes like broken window and littering, might be ignored by the traditional policing, mostly as no crime is usually committed (Welsh, Braga, & Bruinsma, 2015). The community though is affected directly with this disorder and hence plays a huge role in spotlighting the issue and hence preventing further crimes based on this community policing gained relevance in modern policing (McCabe, 2008).
The strategy for community policing involves the incorporation of the community in standard police works. Policing is decentralized and made proactive through partnering with citizens to identify and solve crimes. The relationship between the police and the community is developed through constraint interaction with members of the public and local agencies. Through this interaction, partnerships are created and strategies for solving and reducing crimes redeveloped (Sytsma & Piza, 2018).
Police departments that have incorporated community policing in their strategy have accomplished this through constant interaction with the community. A common structure includes assigning specific police to a specific area called a ‘beat.' The officers are expected to carry out a beat profiling and hence create an effective strategy for fighting the crimes that are prevalent in the area. The duties of police officers are also broadened and individualized based on the community they are serving. Lower ranking officers are also allowed more discretion through a decentralized police authority (Crowl, 2017). The efforts of police are refocused on face to face interactions with the community. This is achieved through increasing cycle or foot patrols, clear communication between the community and police and encouraging community watch groups and providing advice to the community on a variety of techniques (Sytsma & Piza, 2018). Partnerships between the police, the media, non-governmental and governmental organizations, private businesses and the members of the community should be developed. This will create an avenue for communication amongst the police and the community.
The principal objective of community policing is to prevent crime rather than to respond to it. The input of the community is quite significant in this quest. The police communicate with the community through polls, meetings, call in programs and surveys (Crowl, 2017). These interactions allow them to get a better understanding of the needs of the community. Unlike traditional policing that aims at apprehending criminals, the main goal of community policing is to solve crimes through the assistance of the community. The integration of police officers in the community encourages proactive law enforcement by the community. An effective community policing ensures that crime is prevented, problems of the community are solved, and law enforcement is more quality than quantity oriented, and dynamic in its interaction with the community.
Studies on the effectiveness of community policing have shown that it is effective in reducing crime in the community. This strategy focuses on proactive problem solving rather than crime response model. There is a systematic approach to identification and addressing of social issues that lead to crime and therefore preventing crime. The problem-oriented approach is set to encourage the community member’s analysis and police officers to identify the cause of crime and address the issue. An example is a strategy used in the Anaheim Police Department in the 1990s to reduce blight and disorder in the community. A partnership was formed with the Office of Neighborhood service, tenants and landlord were formed and called the Neighborhoods advisory committee. The task of the committee was to reduce overcrowding and solve tenants' problems. The committee was successful with the rate of safety increasing considerably. There were reduced crimes and increased vacancy rates and building safety (McCabe, 2008).
It can be seen that the community policing strategy is necessary for reduced crime in the community. Long-term partnerships should be created between the community and the police force to ensure an effective proactive crime fighting process. The community policing has become an essential component of modern police systems due to its practical nature and ability not only to solve crimes but also reduce crime rates in the community. The strategy should be encouraged in all police departments as the including of the community is pertinent in ensuring an orderly community and fewer crimes.