Community Policing Essay

Patrol can be defined as, “of a police officer or soldier, to pass along a road, beat, etc., or around or through a specified area in order to maintain order and security” (Patrol , 2015). Patrolling makes up the majority of a police officer’s work. It is what they do while they are not handling calls. Police officers mostly patrol in cars, but from time to time they patrol on foot, bicycles, and even horseback. Foot patrol dates back to the early 1800s and 1900s, when night watchmen would watch for crime in the town, but as the innovation of automobiles was introduced, it greatly affected the way police officers patrolled. Motorized patrol became more efficient than non-motorized patrol, because it allowed officers to patrol larger areas and it was easier to enforce traffic laws. A “major research contribution in the early 1980s was the rediscovery of foot patrol. The studies suggested that foot patrols …show more content…
According to the Community Oriented Policing Services(COPS), community policing is “a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies, which support the systematic use of partnerships and problem solving techniques, to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues, such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime” (Community Policing Nugget , 2008). Foot patrol made it easier for officers to become familiarized with a neighborhood and its residents, to address neighborhood issues. Community policing encourages officers to think proactive and discover problems ahead of time, rather than addressing the problems afterwards. “Community policing recognizes that social disorder and fear of crime are also important issues to be addressed by the police. Both significantly affect quality of life and have been shown to be important contributors to crime” (Community Policing Nugget ,