A critical element of community policing is problem solving. Officers are expected to be proactive and creative not only in addressing, but in preventing, problems.
To implement this approach, APD uses a geographic policing model, assigning officers, beat sergeants, and sector lieutenants to a predetermined geographic boundary.
These individuals keep their assignments for long periods to forge relationships with neighbors, business owners, and the faith community.
Working with them, officers apply problem-solving methods to reduce crime and disorder while improving the overall quality of life in their beats.
But these officers do more than meet and greet people; they take the time to share information and learn what is of interest in different sub communities within their area—geographic, business, ethnic, age related, and otherwise.
Many of them get deeply involved, especially with the kids. Some teach special projects in the local school and many mentor young people. Others are involved in athletic mentor coaching programs, which are especially important because athletes are often the most respected leaders in their schools, but are just as often at risk for disruptive behavior. Building relationships like these helps us all in the long-run.
Young people develop a positive image of police and officers are safer when they are known and respected. Officers also enjoy the feelings of goodwill, personal connection, and individual accomplishment. This leads to more job satisfaction. But, ironically, these relationships can negatively skew the data on crime rates. Because residents trust the police, they are more willing to report crime or suspicious behavior.
Increases in arrests can be interpreted as increases in crime. Another distinguishing feature of community policing is that it emphasizes proactivity rather than just reactivity. Our focus is on preventing crime—solving problems by getting to the underlying cause. One of the tactics we use is the SARA method: scanning, analysis, response, and assessment, a method which has been determined to be successful in reducing crime and increasing officer awareness of community issues.
Giacomazzi Community crime prevention program leads to overall decrease in crime and increase in resident quality of life. Jim et al. Community-oriented policing in a retail shopping center led to reduced perception of gang activity and fear of crime. Laycock Burglary declines 62 percent after door-to-door visits to gain community intelligence and increase property marking.
Burglary reduced for 18 months after initiation of community policing and neighborhood watch program. Mazerolle et al. Beat policing associated with a reduction in overall neighborhood crime rates and a reduction in calls for police service over a long period.
Program to increase the quantity and quality of police-citizen contacts and to reduce disorder was successful in improving evaluations of police service and in reducing perceived levels of social disorder. Skogan et al. After 18 monthly police-community meetings, reductions in some crimes and victimization using some measures but not others.
Trojanowicz Tuffin et al. POP program resulted in positive changes in crime, perceptions of antisocial behavior, and feelings of safety after dark. SARA stands for Scanning, Analysis, Response, and Assessment and involves recurring issues in the community being identified and analyzed, and community members being consulted, in order to determine the root causes of the issues and find long-term solutions to address them.
Evidence suggests shared problem solving based on the SARA Model can achieve significant reductions in crime over traditional response models. A review found proactive problem solving had a significant impact on improving public safety and that the shift from reactive crime response had resulted in specific social issues being resolved and crimes being prevented before they happen.
Technology features significantly in all three key components of community policing and beyond. Good communications technology is essential for organizational transformation, developing community partnerships, and shared problem solving; and, in a COPS Survey, nearly every jurisdiction with a community policing program provided a website through which citizens could receive crime alerts or provide tips, give feedback, or communicate concerns.
Over the past decade, mobile technology has transformed community policing. The introduction of cost-effective anonymous tip texting services — in which text messages are stripped of any identifying information before being received by law enforcement agencies — has resulted in a huge increase in community engagement, albeit anonymously, which has enabled law enforcement agencies to gain further insights into recurring issues in the community and their causes.
Modern tip texting services support two-way encrypted conversations and real-time logging so that trends and incident patterns can be identified over time. Community policing promotes organizational strategies supporting the use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques that proactively address immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues.
Through the past few decades, rates of both violent and property crime have dropped dramatically across the country. However, some communities and segments of the population have not benefited from the decrease as much as others, and some not at all.
Community policing combines a focus on intervention and prevention through problem solving by forming collaborative partnerships with schools, social services and other stakeholders. In this way, community policing not only improves public safety, but also enhances social connectivity and economic strength, which increases community resilience to crime.
Any prevention strategy that unintentionally violates civil rights, compromises police legitimacy or undermines trust is counterproductive. It must also be stressed that the absence of crime is not the final goal of law enforcement. Rather, it is the promotion and protection of public safety while respecting the dignity and rights of all.
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