Issues With Problem Oriented Policing (POP)

For this paper, I am choosing to talk about the topic of problem-oriented policing (POP). problem-oriented policing is defined as: “An approach to police work that is concerned primarily with identifying and solving community problems, with or without input from the community” (1). This paper will discuss the issues with problem-oriented policing, and I will also propose what I think are good solutions to these issues. This topic is important to me, because I believe with some work, problem-oriented policing could be extremely effective in helping reduce crime and making communities safer. There are some issues surrounding problem-oriented policing. Two of the issues are: implementation and lack of knowledge for the citizens. The first issue …show more content…
The community does not understand problem-oriented policing. Whether it is because they are confused, or it is not being explained by the police agencies, they don’t know the difference between the traditional police system and the problem-oriented police system. This causes two problems. One is that the community still does not trust the police. The second problem is that because the citizens are uninformed, they don’t pressure the police to fix the problems that problem-oriented policing would fix. The communities don’t understand that with the help of problem-oriented policing, the issues in their cities and neighborhoods could be fixed. The citizens think that policing is simple and straightforward; a crime happens and someone gets arrested and punished. Herman Goldstein stated in his article that “the public as a whole is woefully ignorant about the nature of the police function and the capacity of the police” (4). The citizens want traditional responses because they happen quickly. They don’t understand that this solution is only a temporary fix, and that until the root of the problem is found, the same crimes will keep happening in their neighborhoods. Problem-oriented policing will help get to the root of the problem, but the police agencies need the pressure and support from the …show more content…
Lack of knowledge about the problem-oriented policing seems to be the most common factor in these two issues. Both with the police forces and with the community. The best way to help with the first issue, implementation, is the set strict guidelines that is enforced throughout all the agencies in the country. It needs to be a uniformed set of guidelines that every agency needs to follow. The military, who has a set of guidelines that everyone has to follow, does this to keep the uniformity and to make sure that things don’t get confused or taught improperly. There needs to be a proper and thorough training at the beginning of the career of the police officers. The training needs to be focused on the SARA model, and each aspect of the model needs to be explained and tested on the officers. This training will help the officers understand problem-oriented policing much better, and they will be able to explain it to the