Community Policing Case Study

The Faulkner Police Department is applying for a grant that will assist this agency to move into a model of community policing. Community policing is different than the traditional policing model. This difference will be explained in this request. This grant can only be awarded if the funds are matched by the municipality that the funding is going to. Therefore, I need the City Council to help match this funding. This agency understands that the City Council members feel that community policing has already been implemented in the police department, however, we are not fully utilizing the methods of the community policing model. We are utilizing a traditional model of policing. The following will describe each model and why one is preferred …show more content…
Community policing reflects a change in thinking regarding the effective delivery of police services. This relationship identifies problems in a neighborhood, whether criminal or social, and allows the police and citizens to work together in order to solve those problems. This program also empowers members of each community to combat crime. As cooperation between police and citizens in solving neighborhood problems increase, the residents will feel more secure in their neighborhoods. ”Community policing is not a single coherent program; rather, it can encompass a variety of programs or strategies that rest on the assumption that policing must involve the community. This program promotes organizational strategies that 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. Some examples of these strategies are 1) the empowerment of the community; 2) a more broad police function; 3) police relying on citizens for information and collaboration; 4) decentralized authority to better respond to community needs."(Development Services Group, Inc., …show more content…
Decision making allows frontline officers to take responsibility for their role in community policing. When an officer is able to create solutions to problems and take risks, he or she ultimately feels ownership in providing those solutions to help his or her community. Decision making that comes from the individual officers involve flattening the hierarchy of the agency, increasing tolerance for risk taking, and allowing officers discretion in handling calls. In addition, providing sufficient authority to coordinate various resources to attack a problem and allowing officers the autonomy to establish relationships with the community will help define problems and develop possible