Discuss the Transition to Community Policing Philosophies

The Transition to Community Policing

Identify and explain three differences between traditional and community policing philosophies. What historical perspectives have influenced the transition from traditional policing to community policing within many departments across the country? What impact did this transition have with regard to law enforcement administration and management?  

The first difference to discuss is that in a traditional policing concept, the police are not around until a crime is committed and then the officers respond to apprehend the suspect or investigate the crime itself.  This is a reaction type of response instead of a preventative response which is community policing.  Community policing puts the police department in the public and community and many times where available, they have a beat or patrol that remains the same and keeps the same officers in the neighborhood.  This allows them to build relationships with the community and make their presence known.

Traditional policing also handles crimes by themselves as a department and community policing involves the community in the policing activity.  Not necessarily apprehending suspects or investigating calls but programs such as neighborhood watch which allows the citizens to be vigilant in their own neighborhood for criminal activity.

The final comparison is that traditional policing does not take the community in account when decisions are made or when policy is developed.  Community policing allows input from the community and often a board is created to work with city officials to get the community’s opinion so they help develop and own the solution or new program.

Policing in the United States is once again undergoing a period of rapid change in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. While police departments across the United States have been implementing the principles of community-oriented policing for nearly two decades, the threat of terrorism and the concentrated efforts of Homeland Security have forced the police to rethink their role (Oliver, 2008).  After 9/11, police departments had to change their method of policing to not only look out for traditional criminals but now terrorists.  This involved many training programs and funding.

The affect on law enforcement and management was that new programs had to be developed to handle the new threat and funding had to be secured as well.  The Federal government also became more involved in local departments in items such as sharing data bases and information.  The local departments had to also reach into the community and gain their support for the changes from traditional to community policing.

References

Oliver, W. (2008). Community Oriented Policing A Sytematic Approach To Policing. New Jersey: Pearson Education Company.

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