Transcript Chapter 5

Chapter 5
Community Policing, Problem
Solving Policing and Service
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Community Policing is one of the most
significant trends in policing history.
Community Policing is an organizationwide philosophy and management
approach that promotes community,
government, and police partnerships.
Community Policing is when everyone
assumes responsibility for the health of
their community.
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Community Policing is a belief that
working together can accomplish what
neither can do alone.
Community Policing is a philosophy that
stresses working proactively in partnership
with citizens to prevent and to solve
crime-related problems.
Recall Anglo-Saxon tithing system.
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Broken Windows: In unhealthy communities,
disorder and crime may flourish. If it appears
that no one cares, disorder and crime will thrive.
Citizens involvement in the law enforcement
community and in understanding policing has
taken the form of civilian review boards, citizen
patrols, citizen police academies, ride along and
similar programs.
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The two critical key elements of community
policing are partnership and problem solving.
Partnerships: cornerstone of community policing.
Exists on two levels:
1) Passive Level: Community assumes a
compliant role and shows support for law and
order by what they Don’t do.
2) Active Level: Community step beyond their
law-abiding lives and get directly involved in
projects, programs, and other specific efforts to
enhance their community safety.
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The core components of effective community
partnerships are:
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Stakeholders with a vested interest in the collaboration
Trusting vision and common goals for the collaboration.
Expertise
Teamwork strategies
Open communication
Motivated partners
Means to implement and sustain the collaborative effort
An Action Plan
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Medical Model: This is sometimes used to
explain the relationship between the community
and the police.
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Patients are responsible for their own health, with
physicians advising patients on how to be healthy. So,
too, in the community citizens are responsible for
public safety and keeping their neighborhoods
healthy, and they cannot expect the police to take
sole responsibility for it.
Police and the public share responsibility for the cause
of crime, the fear of crime, and actual crime.
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This model focuses on prevention rather than
cure, on being proactive rather than reactive. It
is easier to prevent than to cure.
Community Policing in Schools:
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Officer are assigned to school “community”
Problem oriented
Role of officer extended beyond law enforcement to
include prevention and early prevention activities.
Consistent responses to incidents.
Proactive
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Partnership with Media:
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This relationship can be a powerful ally or
formidable opponent.
It is important to build a positive working
partnership with media.
Community Policing, Partnerships and the
Decrease of Crime:
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Many researchers report a direct correlation
between the number of officers on the street
and the decline of crime.
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However, the decrease of crime cannot be
attributed to community policing alone.
The following can also be attributed to the
decrease of crime:
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Quality of life issues
Robust economy
Population with greater numbers of elderly
Fewer juveniles
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Problem oriented policing and community
oriented policing are sometimes equated.
Problem oriented policing is an essential
component of community policing.
Problem oriented policing is a
departmental wide strategy aimed at
solving persistent community problems.
Goldstein is known as the father of
problem oriented policing (POP)
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Problem solving requires police to group
incidents and thereby, identify underlying
causes of problems in the community.
Problem oriented policing, a vital
component of the community policing
philosophy, requires that police move
beyond a law enforcement perspective in
seeking solutions to problems.
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SARA Model:
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Eck and Spelman
Four Strategies are:
Scanning: grouping individual incidents into
meaningful “problems”
Analyzing: collecting information from all available
sources
Responding: selecting and implementing solutions.
Assessing: evaluating the impact of the solution
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The Crime Triangle:
Offender, victim and location.
If one of the three are removed, no crime.
Hot Spots: high crime areas
Common Mistakes in Problem Solving:
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Spending to much energy on unimportant details
Failing to resolve important issues
Being secretive about true feeling
Closed mind
Inability to decide or putting off decision to last minute
Failing to set deadlines
Making decisions under pressure
Using unreliable sources of information
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Implementing Community Policing:
Community Policing will require a change in
management style, mission statement and
department organization.
Leaders must have a vision for the department
and the community
A key to community service is linking policing to
the delivery of city services.
Community service translates into
customer service
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Police department provide a wide variety of
services including:
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Giving information (directions & advice)
Counseling
Licensing and vehicle registering,
Intervening in domestic arguments
Working with neglected/abused children
Emergency medical or rescue services
Dealing with people under the influence of substances
Dealing with stray animals
Controlling crowds
Providing community education programs
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The most common and often most dangerous
type of call made to the police department is
setting disputes or quarrels (domestic violence)
Police often have contact with the youth. The
youth of our country are of critical importance.
Programs for youth may include:
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PAL: Police Athletic League, provide youth the
opportunity to interact with police in sports.
School Resource Officers:
Operation CleanSweep: Retributive and Rehabilitative
for help youth not commit crimes in future.
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McGruff: “Take a bite out of Crime.”
Police Explorers: senior Scouts who
volunteer with police departments
Dare: Drug Resistance Education
Community Crime Prevention Programs:
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Crime prevention programs include
neighborhood or block watch programs,
operation identification programs, home
security, store security and auto security.
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Challenges to Community Policing:
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Resistance by police and the community
Perception that community policing goes against
aggressive law enforcement practices.
Benefits of Community Policing to Officers
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Job enrichment
Get to know the citizens with whom they work
Have greater responsibility and authority
Serving and protecting a increasingly diverse
population
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Our population is becoming older and has more
minorities, more immigrants, more homeless
people and more individuals with infectious
diseases. In addition, the gap between those
who live in poverty and those who are more
affluent is widening.
Major challenges presented by immigrants are
language barriers, unfamiliar customs, and
failure to report victimization.
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The challenge in dealing with homeless
people is to balance compassion for them
with the public’s right to be free from
interference.