Annotated Bibliography: Does Community Policing Work?

Community policing is the process of allocating police officers to a specific area so that they can become familiar and known to the members of the community (Segrave & Ratcliffe, 2017). This is done so that the members of society can feel that the law enforcement officer is part of their culture. Therefore it will be much easier for them to report incidents of crime compared to if they were not familiar with the law enforcement officers. Moreover, when police officers are stationed within a particular community, it will be easier for them to learn the patterns within the given population and in the process make it possible for them to tell when things are not standard in the community, especially concerning the peace, law, and order of the population (Segrave & Ratcliffe, 2017). The use of community policing has been therefore suggested as a modern solution to the increasing criminal activities in the society. There have, however, been arguments that the police should be left to do their investigative work since community policing does not work. Therefore, this paper will critically explore the issues associated with community policing through reviewing peer-reviewed articles on the subject matter and work towards the establishment of the fact on whether or not the practice of community policing works.

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Segrave, M., & Ratcliffe, J. (2017). Community policing: A descriptive overview.

This article gives an overview of the issues in and around community policing that will determine the possibility of success or failure of the endeavours of the efforts towards community policing. The process of community policing involves the use of different strategies and approaches towards the tackling of issues associated with law and order of the area in question. Through community policing, law enforcement officers are allocated to specific areas of operation so that they can become familiar to the environment, with the community also enjoying the confidence of reassurance that the officers stationed there are specifically assigned for the promotion of the peace, law, and order of the areas concerned. Therefore, community policing will, in turn, create the possibility of the areas in question becoming more secure through the ability of the officers stationed in the regions using their investigative skills to study the dynamics of the locations that they have been assigned to and in the process successfully learn the possible weaknesses in the security balance in the area.

Additionally, the negative perception of the public towards police officers will change, since community policing requires that the officers allocated to communities become friendly with the members of the city and work collaboratively with them to arrive at the desired ends, which are the establishment of peaceful societies which will, in turn, be the needed breeding grounds for socioeconomic development. Through the friendly and collaborative approach to crime investigation and solving, the possibility of the law enforcement officers achieving success in their endeavours is increased since they will be able to befriend the members of society and turn them into informers who will help them in improving the success rates of solving crimes. Members of the organization may have information that may not be known to the law enforcement officers. Therefore, through community policing, they will be able to provide the needed information to the law enforcers for them to solve the security concerns more effectively and in the timeliest manner possible.

Demirkol, I. C., & Nalla, M. K. (2017). How does police culture shape officers’ support for community policing?. Policing and Society.

The culture upheld by police officers is a determinant to the success or failure of the efforts towards community policing. Police officers are indoctrinated into a different culture when they go through their training, and this culture shapes their lives and how they interact with each other socially or professionally. The police culture recognizes the ranks in which one is, and the higher-ranked officers are treated with respect. The literature also is adherent to issues such as integrity and formality of the interactions, even when the people interacting are within the same rank. The dynamics of the community are different, and therefore some officers may find it challenging to operate within the community policing standards. Community policing means becoming a part of the community in which one is sent out to, and this means that the officers have to shed off some of the professional cultures in them and develop ones that will help them become a part of the community that they are sent out to.

The possibility of success of the efforts of community policing is dependent on the ability of law enforcers in the society to adapt to the dynamics of the society in which they are sent. Community policing demands the ability to blend in and accept that it is easier for the officers, the professionals, to be changed more than the members of society. Therefore, the officers have to admit the lack of formality and recognition of rank when dealing with the members of the community, since the members of society will behave towards the officers as they would with a member of the organization. Therefore, if the officers accept this change of culture, it will be easier for them to move to a point where they will be taken wholeheartedly by the members of society and in the process work towards the full elimination of crime from the community.

Lamin, S. A., & Teboh, C. (2016). Police social work and community policing. Cogent Social Sciences, 2(1), 1212636.

Among the roles of police officers under community policing programs is to provide social work services to the communities that they are assigned to. Cities in every society require social work services, whereby the different aspects of communal need such as education, mental and physical healthcare, counselling and crisis intervention, and lobbying should be provided by the various categories of organizations and personalities in the social organization. To carve out a niche for themselves in the communities where they are assigned, police officers under city policing programs will have to develop social working skills so that they may be relevant in meeting the needs of the society. The majority of the criminal activities in the organization come from the existence of social problems, and the recognition of this fact will help in addressing the issues in and around the problems in a manner that is beneficial to both the law enforcers and the communities concerned.

There is, therefore, need for the officers to be sent out to community policing missions to be retrained on some unique ways through which they can contribute to the social welfare of the areas where they are to be sent out to, in the process changing the dynamics of crime and other social issues in the area. For example, the officers can be trained on crisis intervention and counselling, since as first respondents, police officers face situations whereby they have to provide counselling services to the people in different locations, to calm them down and help in reducing the possibility of the individuals committing crimes. The social work skills should also be coupled with social interactions and communication skills which will help the officers in blending in with the community members, contribute towards the social order of the area, and in the end lead to the possibility of reducing the criminal activities in the regions through solving the social disorder in the communities.

Makin, D. A., & Marenin, O. (2017). Let’s dance: Variations of partnerships in community policing. Policing: a journal of policy and practice, 11(4), 421-436.

There are three Ps that lead to the development of the possibility of thriving community policing practices. The three Ps are People, Policies, and Processes. These three Ps of community policing are dependent on the ability of the people concerned with the process of community guarding to form successful partnerships that will address the issues that the community policing partnerships are set out to solve. This means that the process of community policing requires the collaboration of the members of the society with the law enforcement officers in the community so that they can use the advantage held by the members of the city by being part of the organization. The professional skills held by the officers through training to work collaboratively towards the achievement of a secure society which is free from the threat of any form of crime.

There is also a need for partnership between the policies of the law enforcement units and those of the community so that in the end, the two strategies can gel into a synchronized one, which can effectively help in solving crime in the communities concerned. When the policies of the communities in question and those of the law enforcers collide, then the possibility of the community policing efforts working is reduced, since there is increased resistance from the parties involved in the community policing efforts. Therefore, there is a need for the players in the community policing efforts to work towards the achievement of a state whereby they can coexist and work collaboratively towards ridding the society of crime. Finally, the processes and modes of operations of the community and the law enforcers should be synchronized so that they can work collaboratively without either party losing their sense of being and pride in their culture. When collaborative working does not lead to the loss of one’s identity, then the possibility of the community policing efforts working out will be increased.

Crowl, J. N. (2017). The effect of community policing on fear and crime reduction, police legitimacy, and job satisfaction: an empirical review of the evidence. Police Practice and Research, 18(5), 449-462.

This article explores the effects of community policing on the communities where it is practised as well as the police officers who are involved in community policing efforts. The existence of police presence in a community can reduce the possibility of the members of the population becoming fearful since the life of police officers means that the criminal activities in the area are minimized. When this happens, then this means that the main aim of community policing has been achieved. Among the goals of community policing is the changing of the public perception of the people towards law enforcement officers. When the attitudes are positive, the members of society will be able to freely and confidently work collaboratively with law enforcement officers towards the achievement of a crime-free society. The riddance of the community of criminal activities creates the conditions necessary for the accomplishment of the highest standards of socioeconomic growth.

Police legitimacy means the extent to which the members of the society view the police as being backed by legal grounds in being in their community. The feelings of police legitimacy in a community will help towards creating confidence in the members of the society towards the law enforcement officers, which will, in turn, mean that the members of society will be more willing to work with the police officers if they feel confident with their legitimacy and offer no support or collaboration to them if they think that their operations there are illegitimate. There needs to exist a cordial relationship between the members of society and the police officers so that the establishment of a thriving community policing practice can be achieved.