Community Policing Research Paper Sample

Commonly known as COPS, Community Oriented Police officers are important in the police department. There are two major types of COPS; Patrol and Foot PatrolDra14. The significant difference between the two is how involved they are with the community. Foot patrol has more contact with the community than Patrol officers. Community policing involves the interaction between the police and the community. With ears on the field, the police and the community can work together to fight crime. Their ability to move around the neighborhood communicating with the residents helps the other high ranking officers in their pursuit of crime.
They are the backbone of the police department since they have more information than any other department (Dragon, 2014). Community policing helps the citizens in fighting crime around the neighborhood and solve petty crimes in the area. They also help in keeping the streets crime free due to their presence in the neighborhood. Having community policing in a department has its pros and cons. However, its pros out way the cons since it comes down to a win-win situation for the community and police department. The paper will look into the various ways community policing helped or compromised the relationship between the police and the people.
Community policing came to help the police to establish a good relation with the people. It came to face out the traditional way that police used (Meares, 2002). Having a good relationship with the people is key in fighting crime. The community has the information necessary for an officer to take on a case or investigate. Most cases in the past went uninvestigated because people did not trust the police to work to their level best. They thought the police will only keep the information in their files and forget about the case. However, since its inspection in the 70s, crime rate decreased, and the police were in a position to put criminals and offenders behind bars (Meares, 2002). The example shows how essential a good relationship between the police and the community will bear fruits, in the long run.
Other agencies have come up with ways to establish a firmer relationship through various activities. They engage the people in community social drives like cleanups, fundraising, volunteering and sports. Through such activities, the police get closer to the people and harness the relation together. Through patrols, the cops get to interact with the community in their workplaces or during their leisure times. Such places are the best for a police officer to interact with the people on the group. Through these interactions, a police get to record information of the happenings in the community. Apart from that, they can follow up with the community in certain cases reported to the station. A community that trusts its police will help them in whatever information or evidence they want.
Community policing came to help the police in solving problems within the community. The traditional way of policing based itself on response (Dragon, 2014). The police would wait in the office till a citizen reports a crime for them to act upon it. The system did not bear results because at times the criminals are not there by the time the police arrived. In the end, the community lacked faith in the police response or motives to fight rising crime rates in the city (Dragon, 2014). However, the community policing came to help to fill in the gap.
The cops help out in solving simple discrepancies within the community. The officers handle petty crimes that happen such as domestic violence, bullying and street brawls. Through such kinds of actions, people have a reason to trust that the police will look after them. Solving petty issues, while the officers are going about the duties in the field, decreases the regular visit to the police station to report a crime.
The various powers given to police officers gives them the authority to execute charges on a criminal at sight. Patrol officers have the authority to issue tickets to traffic offenders hence easing the congestion of people queuing in the station as they await their charges. Through community policing, domestic violence decreases since police are in a position to help out affected couples sort their problems before they escalate. It is one of the good gestures that come with community policing; ability to serve the citizen at their convenience.
However, not everything that associates with community policing leads to success. There are a few disadvantages of community policing. Some of the police officers assigned to community policing have gone rogue (Loimo, Meadows, Becton, Tears, & Charles, 2007). The cause of such behaviors is too much involvement with the wrong people. For instance, a cop might on patrol and meet up with a gang of drug lords. A good officer will take action by cornering the gang, call for backup and ensure that the matter does not slip further. However, they take the wrong route a created relationship with the gang.
Such kind of scenarios brings about bad imagery towards the police department. In other instances, the cops tend to take the matter too far. Some citizens complain about the police using too much force when making arrests. Others complain that the cops mishandle their issues or treat them with little respect. Some other police take advantage of their roles and go around spreading fear among business owners for them to pay protection money.
Since the implementation of community policing, thugs were put on high alert and the much attention fun them made them resilient. Most of them acquire illegal guns and other harmful weapons to equip themselves just in case of an ambush. However, when the officers ambush their territories, some end up dead from stray bullets. The scenario shows that community policing might result in the death of an officer (Phillips & Gayadeen, 2014). Apart from deaths from ambushes, some officers die while undertaking their duties.
Some scenarios within the country state that thugs might ambush an officer while on patrol and injure or kill him/her just to send a message. Such kind of attacks are random, and the attacked officer is not in a position to radio for backup. Sad as it is, it is what most officers have to deal with as they work. Other members of the community tend not to cooperate with the officers due to a previous scenario made by fellow officer.
Other times, officers die from crossfire battles between rival gangs. While on patrol, a police officer might walk into a rival’s playground without knowing what will happen next. The different scenario illustrates what officers go through in their day to day duties. Being a police officer is a calling, and not everyone can manage to cope with such a hard life. Those that do feel honored to have the position and used it in a good way.
Having a good glimpse of the good and bad side of community policing, it is evident that the city is important for the system to be in place in a community. Community policing is the fundamental to the police department and the community. The virtual police department requires the resources and d efforts of community police officers, both officers, and civilians, to work together to create a better community. Though it has a few disadvantages, there is no way they compare with the advantages. Some of the disadvantages come to be because of a person’s greed or selfishness. Though it impacts the image of the whole department as a whole, the damage caused is easily dealt with through firm laws and restrictions.
However, the serious cases like death while on duty is quite unfortunate, and the best thing the department can do is ensure a good insurance cover for police officers. The safety and insurance of the officer are equal to the citizens he/she will cover. Placing such measures in check will help mobilize the officers to take up their positions in fighting crime on the ground. In conclusion, adopting the system will help greatly in the crime fighting across the city. That is all that the citizens need from their leaders: they need to feel safe regardless of the location or time.
The satisfaction of the citizen is key to ensuring the continued support and help form the community. Having a weak relationship with them will lead to unhealthy interaction. The state will incur several losses in terms of financing because of hiring officers and repairing equipment. Indeed it is a costly venture and it is evident the mayor would like to cut down on unnecessary expenditure. However, the venture is not unnecessary as per the arguments mentioned within the paper. The benefits out way the bad side by a mile. Adoption of the community policing strategy will boosts the mayor’s popularity among the citizens. They will know the mayor to be a good person who cares about their lives.

References

Dragon, M. (2014). Community Policing: Bringing A Practical Ideal Type Model To Justice. 11-27. https://digital.library.txstate.edu/bitstream/handle/10877/5390/DragonMark.pdf?sequence=1
Loimo, R., Meadows, L. A., Becton, J. B., Tears, R. S., & Charles, M. T. (2007). The Citizens' Views on Biased Policing. Bias-Based Policing, 10-13. https://kucampus.kaplan.edu/documentstore/docs09/pdf/picj/vol3/issue1/The_Citizens_Views_on_Biased_Policing_Vol3_1.pdf
Meares, T. L. (2002). Praying for Community Policing. Faculty Scholarship Series, 1594-1634. http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1517&context=fss_papers
Phillips, S. W., & Gayadeen, S. M. (2014). The Innovation of Community Policing and the COPS Office: Does Diffusion of Innovation Theory Hold in a Manipulated Environment? International Journal of Police Science & Management Volume 16 Number 3, 228-239. http://psm.sagepub.com/content/16/3/228.full.pdf