Rethinking Community Policing

Community policing is in decline, threatened with obsolescence by data-driven practices like COMPSTAT and Intelligence-Led Policing. Efficiency driven and aided by technology, these practices are delivering on the crime reduction promises community policing aspired to. Ray argues that much of community policing¿s difficulties lie in the lack of a clear theoretical foundation informing its community engagement mandate. The uncritical incorporation of pluralism needlessly highlights the differences between police and community groups. Deliberative democratic theory offers a theoretical foundation that may save community policing. Moreover, Ray uses historical sources to suggest the inevitability of community policing in America.

Community policing has often been promoted, particularly in liberal democratic societies, as the best approach to align police services with the principles of good security sector governance (SSG). The stated goal of the community policing approach is to reduce fear of crime within communities, and to overcome mutual distrust between the police and the communities they serve by promoting police-citizen partnerships. This SSR Paper traces the historical origins of the concept of community policing in Victorian Great Britain and analyses the processes of transfer, implementation, and adaptation of approaches to community policing in Imperialand post-war Japan, Singapore, and Timor-Leste. The study identifies the factors that were conducive or constraining to the establishment of community policing in each case. It concludes that basic elements of police professionalism and local ownership are necessary preconditions for successfully implementing community policing according to the principles of good SSG. Moreover, external initiatives for community policing must be more closely aligned to the realities of the local context.

Community policing has often been promoted, particularly in liberal democratic societies, as the best approach to align police services with the principles of good security sector governance (SSG). The stated goal of the community policing approach is to reduce fear of crime within communities, and to overcome mutual distrust between the police and the communities they serve by promoting police citizen partnerships. This SSR Paper traces the historical origins of the concept of community policing in Victorian Great Britain and analyses the processes of transfer, implementation, and adaptation of approaches to community policing in Imperial and post-war Japan, Singapore, and Timor-Leste. The study identifies the factors that were conducive or constraining to the establishment of community policing in each case. It concludes that basic elements of police professionalism and local ownership are necessary preconditions for successfully implementing community policing according to the principles of good SSG. Moreover, external initiatives for community policing must be more closely aligned to the realities of the local context. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

Policing in the US and many western nations is in an era of crisis, facing extensive calls for reformation and change. This edited book outlines the major challenges and changes needed to achieve a more stable future for the policing profession and police organizations. The chapters come from innovative police leaders and officers as well as academics with subject matter expertise, to provide insight into how reform can be done with the police. It focusses on how leaders should understand and approach their role during times of instability and uncertainty. It starts with an examination of how policing reached this state of crisis and discusses some interviews conducted with police leaders, particularly chiefs as agents of change and reform. This is followed by chapters from several veteran police leaders and personnel describing some of the factors that brought policing to this critical time of change and reform, how has policing evolved in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and how that impacts the current environment, and some potential strategies to create meaningful change while considering unintended consequences. The following chapters from academics seek to define paths that policing can take toward needed changes that will increase legitimacy, trust, and equality of policing services. It speaks to students, academics and professionals interested in police organization and administration, police leadership, and contemporary issues in policing and criminal justice.

It has become somewhat axiomatic to refer to the police as the ‘gatekeepers’ of the criminal justice system and thus as a mechanism for the provision of justice. And yet, when we conceptualize the police in this way, what is often taken for granted is the exact nature of that role and its larger social meaning. Indeed, we know that police deliver justice more efficiently to some and injustice to others. Rethinking Policing and Justice critically examines the role of policing (both state and non-state forms) in the provision of justice (and injustice). In essence, it presents work that highlights how different communities and groups have sought alternatives to policing, sometimes taking over the functions of policing. It also shows a variety of theoretical, methodology, and other approaches for the critical evaluation of law enforcement, highlighing different insights into alternative modes of policing, as we seek to understand and redraft the relationship between policing and justice. This book was originally published as a special issue of Contemporary Justice Review.

Community Policing: A Contemporary Perspective, 8th Edition, provides comprehensive coverage of the philosophy and organizational strategy that expands the traditional police mandate of fighting crime to include forming partnerships with citizenry that endorse mutual support and participation. The first textbook of its kind, Community Policing delineates this progressive approach, combining the accrued wisdom and experience of its established authors with the latest research-based insights to help students apply what is on the page to the world beyond. The book extends the road map presented by Robert Trojanowicz, the father of community policing, and brings it into contemporary focus. The text has been revised throughout to include the most current developments in the field, including discussions of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing and "Spotlight on Community Policing Practice" features that focus on real-life community policing programs in various cities as well as problem-solving case studies. Also assisting the reader in understanding the material are Learning Objectives, Key Terms, and Discussion Questions, in addition to numerous links to resources outside the text. A glossary and an appendix, "The Ten Principles of Community Policing," further enhance learning of the material. An excellent resource for any undergraduate Policing curriculum, this textbook is also suitable for introducing graduate students to the principles of community policing.

The massive uprising following the police killing of George Floyd in the summer of 2020--by some estimates the largest protests in US history--thrust the argument to defund the police to the forefront of international politics. It also made The End of Policing a bestseller and Alex Vitale, its author, a leading figure in the urgent public discussion over police and racial justice. As the writer Rachel Kushner put it in an article called "Things I Can't Live Without", this book explains that "unfortunately, no increased diversity on police forces, nor body cameras, nor better training, has made any seeming difference" in reducing police killings and abuse. "We need to restructure our society and put resources into communities themselves, an argument Alex Vitale makes very persuasively." The problem, Vitale demonstrates, is policing itself-the dramatic expansion of the police role over the last forty years. Drawing on first-hand research from across the globe, The End of Policing describes how the implementation of alternatives to policing, like drug legalization, regulation, and harm reduction instead of the policing of drugs, has led to reductions in crime, spending, and injustice. This edition includes a new introduction that takes stock of the renewed movement to challenge police impunity and shows how we move forward, evaluating protest, policy, and the political situation.

This Brief reviews the history of foot patrol and the recent, research-driven resurgence of foot patrol in places such as Philadelphia. It summarizes and critiques existing literature on the subject, examining the efficacy of foot patrol. At the time the Philadelphia Foot Patrol Experiment was published, popular opinion about foot patrol was that it might improve community perception of police and reduce fear of crime, but it did not have a concrete crime prevention benefit. The Philadelphia Experiment represented a major examination of this concept, involving over 200 officers in 60 locations over a two-year period, in some of the highest violent crime areas of Philadelphia. The results suggested that a targeted hot spots-oriented foot patrol strategy did contribute to violent crime reduction. Four years later, the lead author of that seminal experiment explores its findings, together with the findings of the Philadelphia Policing Tactics Experiment, and examines their differences. This work also explores officer experiences with foot patrol. This Brief concludes with policy recommendations about foot patrol, when and how to implement it, and the benefits it can add to a police department. This Brief will be of interest to researchers in Criminology and Criminal Justice, particularly with an interest in Police Studies, and related fields such as sociology and public policy. It will also be of interest to practitioners and policy makers interested in evidence-based policing.

This critical textbook looks beyond the immediate data on knife crime to try and make sense of what is a global phenomenon. Yet it especially explores why the UK in particular has become so preoccupied by this form of interpersonal, often youthful, violence. The book explores knife crime in its global and historical context and examines crime patterns including the “second wave” of knife crime in Britain. It then incorporates new empirical data to explore key themes including: police responses, popular narratives, and the various interests benefiting from the 'knife crime industry'. It captures the “voices” of those impacted by knife crime including young people, community leaders, and youth work practitioners. Drawing on criminology, sociology, cultural studies and history, the book argues that the problem is firmly located at the intersection of a series of concerns about class, race, gender and generation that are a product of British history and its global past. It seeks to trace the several roots of the contemporary knife crime 'epidemic', ultimately to propose newer and alternative strategies for responding to it. It encourages a critical engagement with this subject, with the inclusion of some learning exercises for undergraduate students and above in the the social sciences, whilst also speaking to researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.