Community Policing: Enhancing Public Safety Through Collaboration - Research Paper

Introduction

Community policing requires collaboration between community members and police; problem-solving partnerships characterize this cooperation, thus help in enhancing public safety (Becker, 2017). Community policing was universally adopted among the law enforcement agencies in the 1990s, with the main aim of improving trust between police and the community members. It also involves leveraging police resources through voluntary assistance by the community members to achieve public safety measures (Becker, 2017). This movement towards community policing has recently gained momentum as the community leaders and the police search for more effective ways on how to enhance the quality of life and promote public safety in their neighborhood (Diamond & Weiss, 2016). Sheriffs, chiefs, and other policing officials are currently assessing changes in organizations, orientations, and operations that can benefit the communities they serve by generally improving the quality of the services they provide (Stein, & Griffith, 2017).

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Community policing usually incorporates a variety of practical and philosophical approaches, and it evolves rapidly. Its strategies vary depending on the responses and needs of the communities involved (Stein & Griffith, 2017). For instance, cities with more human capacity are likely to attend arranged meetings and deal with their problems than the population without such investment (Morcol & Zimmermann, 2017). This paper therefore identifies and discusses possible challenges that may make community policing complex to implement in metropolitan cities in the USA.

Literature Review

Community policing is globally described as a modern-day policing approach in response to the decline in public confidence in the police and the increase of implications that police cannot fight crime by themselves. U.S. Department of Justice outlines community policing as a philosophy that promotes organizational policies supporting the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques (Diamond & Weiss, 2016). Policing requires communal responsibility both at the individual level and corporate level outside, with the law enservicemen beyond the public sector. Generally, community participation or contribution towards community policing is essential; it helps to address public fear of crime, identifies community issues, and increases police visibility, thus enhance increased trust in the police (Diamond & Weiss, 2016). Community policing thus can be adequately enhanced through the stakeholders' participation or cooperation; however, it does not only involves the community members but also incorporates police responsiveness to the community interests ensuring the full benefits of policing (Albrecht, 2019). It, therefore, integrates communal identification of their security needs, which in turn makes the police take up the matter seriously even if the problems they defined vary from policy priorities (Albrecht, 2019). It is preferred that the community identifies problems, assists police in driving the solutions, and indeed maintains the community ownership of the issues.

Various mechanisms have been employed to achieve community engagement; this mechanism may include community policing forums, systematic and periodic community surveys, community meetings, and meetings with advisory groups and businesses (Diamond & Weiss, 2016). Researchers have acknowledged that the public has a great deal in informing the police and that the citizens are grateful for the opportunity to have their voices heard.

Despite various milestones achieved through community policing, there have been some challenges that make it difficult for implementing this strategy in metropolitan cities in the USA (Stein, & Griffith, 2017). Some of these challenges may include limited community policing resources, lack of awareness of basic policing principles, socio-cultural problems, structural and administrative weaknesses. The challenges have hampered mainly the attainment of objectives and goals of this strategy of combating crime in the densely populated cities of the USA (Rukus et al., 2018). Usually, crime prevention is the ultimate central goal and the main concept of community policing. The community capacity to prevent crime ensures community safety and thus has long term benefits (Stein, & Griffith, 2017).

The Extent of Community Policing in the USA

There Is No Trust Between the Community and Police

Polling tracks of community confidence by Gallup in various institutions found that the public's level of confidence in police decreased in the year 2014 and 2015. In 2013, 57% of Americans reported that they had confidence in the police; however, this level of confidence decreased to 53% in 2014 and further reduced to 52% in 2015 (Horner & Ivacko, 2018). The level of confidence in 2015 was the historical low in Gallup polling; however, even at its lowest level in 2015, the public still had more confidence in the police that many other institutions. In the year 2017, 57% of Americans that were interviewed said they had a great deal and quite a lot of confidence in the police; this matched the 25-year average for Gallup polling (Horner & Ivacko, 2018).

Generally, confidence in police varies by public ideology, ethnicity or race, and age. Whites were likely to say they had more confidence in the police than black Americans, Hispanics, and Latin Americans. Besides, Gallup polling indicated that the White's trust in police increased while that of black Americans and Hispanics has decreased (Horner & Ivacko, 2018). The variation in confidence is also evidenced among the individuals who identity as moderate, conservative, and liberal. Conservatives are more likely to have more confidence than moderates and liberals (Rukus et al., 2018). The conservative confidence in the police has also increased in recent years than that of Hispanic and black Americans. Also, people aged 35 years and above tend to have more confidence in the police than people aged 34 years and below (Horner & Ivacko, 2018).

Many Cases of Abuse by Police

American society has long entrusted to its police the authority to use force in pursuit of law, justice, and order; this authority is often glorified in media where the police are seen continuously responding to violent felons with equally passionate reactions (Cordner, 2016). But sometimes the reality of police use of force is much less dramatic, with the boundaries of legitimate police use of force much more constrained. Indeed, the police have the discretion to use violence when necessary; however, the actual abuse and the potential abuse of such authority remain both central public policy concerns and a fundamental problem for police agencies (Gottdiener, 2019). Police officers have indeed beaten members of the public, used their authority to harass women and other minority groups, and have also planted evidence on some innocent members of the public. For instance, torture of Abner Louima by New York City police (King, 2020). They have stolen, lied, dealt with drugs, abuse their spouses, and even driven drunk. Despite taking the oath to protect the communities, they have avoided public scrutiny for their misdeeds (Louis & Grantham, 2019). The records of their misconduct are filed away and are rarely seen by people outside their departments. Their political allies and police unions have protected them, ensuring some records are shielded from public view and eventually destroying the records (Louis & Grantham, 2019).

Difficulties of Communities Policing

Not Enough Officers

Economic theory suggests that crime and police are negatively correlated; usually, police are seen to be in the front line in the fight of crime (Albrecht, 2019). They are also the most visible sign of the fight to the general public; thus, one of the most popular strategies in the fight against crime is to increase the number of police officers (Rukus et al., 2018). Much of progressive turn against community policing and law enforcement has been driven not by skepticism about the police officers, their number, and their ability to detect crime (Gottdiener, 2019). There is some evidence that increased police staffing levels could reduce the amount of excessive force cases and thus promote community policing (Cordner, 2016). Lack of qualified police social workers and human resources as police officers has reduced the effectiveness of investigation and proactive policing, thus slowly eroding the public trusts in the police (Gottdiener, 2019). Currently, numerous police departments within the state are desperately losing the workforce by reducing the number of recruits and the reduced number of police officers due to lay off. The departments are struggling to recruits due to competition by other higher-paying sectors in the economy, thus getting interested and qualified candidates have been a challenge (Gottdiener, 2019). Law enforcement thus has become less desirable career choice due to high risk, diminishing pay, and of course, the recent bad rap. Therefore these trends have reduced community policing effectiveness and also have put public safety at risk in various metropolitan cities within the USA (Louis & Grantham, 2019).

Financial Shortages

Overspending and slumping tax have resulted in budget shortfalls in different metropolitan cities in the USA; the current economic crisis thus is forcing the government to take dramatic steps to help balance the budget (Morcol & Zimmermann, 2017). These steps may include cutting services, laying off employees, eliminating expenditures, and reducing overtime. Since the financial crisis has deepened, law enforcement agencies have to face the new realities of shrinking budgets, decreasing services to the public as well as laying off some of their officers (Morcol & Zimmermann, 2017). The laying-off large number of officers brings about another level of problem in law enforcement. Some police agencies have warned that deeper cuts may become. Thus some police departments are reducing training, streaming patrols, cutting back some programs, and evaluating the non-personnel related expenses due to financial crisis and the struggling economy. Hence it affects the departments' abilities to meet the standards of professionalism (Sedgwick et al., 2020). These dramatic steps thus reduce the effectiveness of community policing in the densely populated cities in the USA (Przeszlowski & Crichlow, 2018).

Improving Community Policing

Building the Trust Between Community and Police

Community trust as an essential and highly honored relationship between police and the public it has been entrusted to serve. In an effort to improve community trust, managing supervisors and chiefs of police should foster an environment that ensures ethical behavior is observed, and each individual is responsible for achieving those expectations (Cordner, 2016). The transparent police chiefs should acknowledge misconduct and deal with misconduct appropriately when it occurs; this obtains and sustains the respect and confidence of the public in their jurisdictions. The police department should, therefore, adhere to principles of professionalism and integrity as cornerstones of building public trust since misuse of their authority erodes the community, destroy and reduce their credibility within the community they serve (Louis & Grantham, 2019). Although transparent internal Affairs are critical and essential to the police agencies, it can be a challenge in maintaining public trust (Cordner, 2016).

Training and culture-changing policies programs can be useful and meaningful not...