Community Policing While past incidences have affected police and minority relationships, the media has been no stranger in further causing distrust and fear. The role of the media needs to change by working with police to educate the public about the positive aspects involved in fostering positive relationships with local officers to truly affect change. Our police officers are the eyes and the ears of society to serve and protect citizens. However, the police do not have the resources to be everywhere to combat crime, so they need the cooperation of the community to become more involved; although, this is difficult when relationships are continuously damaged. When citizens do not possess trust it makes them less likely to work with the police
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This is largely due to many challenges associated with implementing the community policing program. According to Gaines and Kappeler (2011), the first challenge is that some officers and departments do not see the positive aspects that community relations pose. This is certainly a cause for concern because if supervisors do not see the importance, neither will the officers who are working on the streets every day. However, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (1994), management is starting to understand the importance of police having a say in their work and better understand the community’s needs. Since there are so many variations of community policing, specific dimensions such as philosophical, strategic, and programmatic elements can help officers increase citizen relationships and help officers move past bad perceptions and other …show more content…
Traditionally, police bureaucracies have been very involved in reactive police work instead of those of proactive level such as those found in community policing. However, under the philosophical ideal, police are required to have broader functions to reduce fear and provide order maintenance as their primary goal. With this in mind, community policing means officers must do more than respond to calls for service and general patrol and citation quotas. It means officers must engage citizens in complex issues contributing to crime and social disorder. While change is not always met with positive attitudes, the tradition goals need to be reorganized because officers not only need to work with citizens, but they must also actively work with community service
This is largely due to many challenges associated with implementing the community policing program. According to Gaines and Kappeler (2011), the first challenge is that some officers and departments do not see the positive aspects that community relations pose. This is certainly a cause for concern because if supervisors do not see the importance, neither will the officers who are working on the streets every day. However, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (1994), management is starting to understand the importance of police having a say in their work and better understand the community’s needs. Since there are so many variations of community policing, specific dimensions such as philosophical, strategic, and programmatic elements can help officers increase citizen relationships and help officers move past bad perceptions and other …show more content…
Traditionally, police bureaucracies have been very involved in reactive police work instead of those of proactive level such as those found in community policing. However, under the philosophical ideal, police are required to have broader functions to reduce fear and provide order maintenance as their primary goal. With this in mind, community policing means officers must do more than respond to calls for service and general patrol and citation quotas. It means officers must engage citizens in complex issues contributing to crime and social disorder. While change is not always met with positive attitudes, the tradition goals need to be reorganized because officers not only need to work with citizens, but they must also actively work with community service