Community_Policing

Community policing is a strange beast that seems to be getting a lot of headlines lately. Community policing is basically a strategy that promotes a type of organizational strategy which brings together a partnership as well as problem solving techniques to address crime conditions in local neighborhoods all over the country (Trojanowicz, R, Bonnie, B, 1990). In other words a partnership between the public and law enforcement to proactively address current conditions that deal with public safety issues with crime. During the 1980s community policing was all the rage and sort of a buzz word which replaced terms such as police community relations (Trojanowicz, R, Bonnie, B, 1990). The idea at hand is to help law enforcement gain a better identity with the public in the form of trust. Community policing is also to improve relationships with local businesses in helping address and increase the levels of security by things such as training business employees on how to handle emergency situations and improving communications with local law enforcement to help combat crime. Although a great idea Mr Trojanowicz points out some of its advantages as well as some of its downfalls. Although a great idea in theory, community policing according to Trojanowicz claims that community policing cannot address the bigger picture when it comes to more serious crimes, such as gang activity and the never ending war on drugs (Trojanowicz, R, Bonnie, B, 1990). In a time when cops use to walk the beat and essentially know the entire area of a neighborhood and all the people that reside there, some areas have become too large for this type of relationship to exist. The idea was not to address the small rural towns of the country, but yet the more larger communities where law enforcement and minorities were not having the best relationships. Trojanowicz is also quick to point out that he does not want to dismiss the many will-meaning people that have tried their best to try and make this idea of community policing work (Trojanowicz, R, Bonnie, B, 1990). In a sense basically stating that it might be to large of a beast to tame or at the least take a long time to effectively implement. It is also pointed out that the implication is that law enforcement is just too small to protect and serve everybody all the time. The initiative in hind site was to teach the public how to better protect themselves and avoid victimization. While departments were instructed to make this happen so to speak, it was not without resistance. This can happen when anything is new due to no one really liking change, especially something as structured as law enforcement. Trojanowicz also mentions how in law enforcement information is power and information with the public is a must if this type of strategy is to succeed (Trojanowicz, R, Bonnie, B, 1990). Most crimes in essence are solved on the basis of information gathered, so what better way to gather the most information possible than with the largest form, the public. With incidents such as the Rodney King beating, or the many other minority beatings that do not get as much publicity, the public and law enforcement relationship has definitely suffered. Trojanowicz points out in performance measures that community policing might not be related to crime statistics going down but actually going up due to more people reporting crimes and getting involved (Trojanowicz, R, Bonnie, B, 1990). In the area of accountability community officers report to their supervisors, but also might feel the watchful eye of the public as another babysitter for them in their performance. Community officers in a sense do not really have the power they should have and basically are used as somewhat of a buffer, which to some might seem like a waste of time and money (Trojanowicz, R, Bonnie, B, 1990). Conclusion Trojanowicz take on community policing seems to be somewhat justified. The theory is well meant, but rounding it out he doesn't think its believable. One of the main reasons is the budget. Law Enforcement is constantly on a budget with constant budget cuts. These type of added costs cannot be healthy for an overall success of community policing. In a perfect world with no budget concerns and everybody on board including some reluctant agencies, community policing can work, but not without a lot of trial and error.