By
Ryan Montgomery
Dr. V. Batchelor
GEN 411
April 2017
Abstract
Community policing, a model that basically entails a collaboration between police officers and the communities that they serve, has been touted as a promising avenue through which police departments can improve the quality of service and foster better public safety. In response, police departments across the United States took to this new model of policing. The purpose of the present paper is to provide an understanding of community policing in the United States today. After a scan of relevant literature on four police departments; Chicago police department, Baltimore police department, San Diego police department, and Rochester police department, it was established that despite the recognized value of community policing, police departments in the United States have failed to properly implement this new model. As a result, the trust between police officers and the communities they serve has bene broken undermining proper law enforcement. Therefore, more research should be done to establish how these departments can be incentivized to make community policing a priority and implement it effectively to foster better service and improve public safety. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 4 Problem statement 4 Definition of community policing 5 Background 7 The origin of the idea 7 A historical examination of the role of the police 8 Project objectives 10 Methods 11 Discussion of insights 12 Police departments 12 Chicago police department 12 Baltimore police department 14 San Diego Police department 16 Rochester police department 19 Community officers and their training 20 Community feedback 21 Concluding remarks 22 References 24 Appendix 26 Appendix A – City of Chicago Police Districts and Community Areas Map 26 Appendix B – City of Baltimore map 27 Appendix D: Map of Rochester 29 Introduction Problem statement The world is a highly dynamic place. Each and every day, individuals, industries, and nations conjure up new ways of doing things and find effective approached to better address the problems and challenges that they face. In the United States, the policing department is tasked with one of the most important roles. As part and parcel of the law enforcement function, police officers and departments ensure law and order is maintained by monitoring criminal activity, investigating crimes and testifying in court, making arrests, respond to emergencies, and take part in community patrols. However, as the world continues to constantly and continuously evolve, the degree and nature of crime as well as people’s expectations and their perspectives on the role of the policing departments also changes. The responsibilities of the police officers’ stops being viewed in light of merely fighting crime, but extends to crime prevention, dispute resolution, and social assistance. To respond to these new expectations and ensure that public safety has been effectively maintained and that the quality of life is properly promoted, it is important that the police …show more content…
The fact that most research studies have highlighted the great potential that community policing has on the quality of service within police departments, and transformations in the police force during the community era have focused on community policing does not mean that these departments are implementing the practice properly. Therefore, this objective is meant to explore how community policing practices are being implemented within the police department so as to provide a clear and practical picture of what is really happening in policing departments within the United …show more content…
The department appointed a new deputy chief of community relationships to help organize and implement programs and initiatives that will enable the police department to maintain and advance trust levels with between the community and the police officers at a time when such relationships continue to be strained in many parts of the country. To further enhance community policing and improved collaborations and engagement with the members of the community, the Rochester police department, in coordination with the teen empowerment and the Rochester institute of technology, has developed the Real Talk, Real Walk model to improve police engagement with the youth (Duda, Klofas, & Drake, 2011). The department works closely with teen empowerment to improve the relationship between law enforcement and the youth so as to improve the fragile relationships between the police and the