Application: Community Policing

Since the early 1970s, police organizations have made greater efforts to actively engage the communities they serve in crime prevention and response. They have done this through a model of community policing called Community-Oriented Policing (COP). The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program is representative of the COP model in that it requires law enforcement professionals visit communities, meet with youth, and discourage them from using illegal drugs. While DARE provides forums for officers to meet youth in a nonthreatening environment, it has also been criticized as ineffective in communities that are urban and poor and lack public assistance. A related model of community policing called Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) suggests that an in-depth analysis of crime problems should inform police efforts in communities. In 1981, the city of Madison, Wisconsin, partnered with researchers Herman Goldstein and Charles E. Susmilch to test how POP could improve police service. Since then, other police departments have been continuously reexamining police service to keep up with changing community needs. Both the COP and POP models fall under the umbrella of the Community-Oriented Policing and Problem-Solving (COPPS) philosophy, which is explained in this week’s Learning Resources.

To prepare for this assignment:

• Review the article “Community Policing: Exploring the Philosophy.” Reflect on the definition of community policing.

• Review Chapter 4 of your course text, Policing America: Challenges and Best Practices. Consider the strengths and limitations of community policing.

• Review the articles “Conflicting Values in Community Policing” and “Community Policing: Implementation Issues.” Think about how specific community characteristics impact police-community partnerships and community policing in general.

• Identify two strengths and two limitations of community policing in the context of your community.

• Reflect on how political, economic, and demographic characteristics of a community impact community policing. Consider specific examples from your community.

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  Submit a (2 page) assignment by Sunday September 18, 2016:

   

• Explain two strengths and two limitations of community policing. Support your explanation with specific examples from your community.

• Explain how political, economic, and demographic characteristics of a community impact community policing. Again, support your explanation with specific examples from your community.

   

  Support your work with proper APA citations from the Learning Resources and any other sources.