Essay Example on Community Policing: 4 Elements to Empower Communities

Introduction

Community policing is an ideal form that addresses both the community concerns and its traditional philosophy way of empowering the community rather than dictating it (Kappeler & Gaines, 2015). A crime is an offense against the community, while fear of crime is an emotion induced which is perceived by danger or threat. In a community, daily occurrences of activities involve both the good and bad actions of the citizens. In this article, a discussion of four elements concerning community policing is discussed. One is the case of Chris Braden, who discovered that bike theft resulted in fifteen times the dollar when compared to the bank robbery. Second is the reasons why citizens delay when calling the police; the third is fear of crime, and lastly, the impact of media on citizen's fear of crime.

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Implications of Chris Braden investigation

Rising in the bike theft cases over bank robbery, as investigated by Chris Braiden, implies that the police service should comprehend assessment measures on abuse and abuse rates (Kappeler, & Gaines, 2015). Having only two means of doing this, the Uniform Crime Reporting and the National Crime Victimization Survey, the police service should ensure that information on crime cases is collected on a monthly basis and the report to be forwarded to the FBI. In the event that we may take the wrongdoing in terms of their uniqueness, any social injustices should comprehend the similar idea of all kinds of unjust activities. As part of the successful investigation on the impact of stolen bicycles versus bank robberies, Chris Braiden, who was a police investigator from Edmonton, Canada, was asked if the police were fleeing the requirements and needs of ordinary individuals. Chris Braiden's analysis revealed that 1,069 Canadian banks were robbed in a period of one year, resulting in a total breakdown of $2.8 million. Comparing bicycle theft with this bank robbery, Braiden highlighted that their ratio approximately five or six dollars in favor of bicycle. Bicycle thefts affect more people directly while citizen rarely suffers when a bank experience a loss, this implies that the police service should pay more attention to the crimes affecting the community in general while implementing community policing.

Braiden does not argue that the police service should do less in response to bank robberies, but his suggestion is that the long-run solutions to the crime injustices require much attention to bicycle theft (Kappeler, & Gaines, 2015). The police officer engaging in the community crime solutions paying his or her attention to petty crimes plays an equally valid role in the police service as to those officers dealing with bank robbery. It is much essential to acknowledge police officers who are investigating and carrying duties that affect the collective community; however, petty it is. In response to bicycle theft that affects have a significant effect on the community, it suggests that more police stations should be established in the community for prior service delivery. It also implies that policing community service should not only guard banks, but they should also be available in playing grounds where children and even adults took their bicycle rides. The police service has to lay down a foundation of covering all petty crimes in response to equality in dealing with community problems. This further implies that every reported case to the police service, no matter how big or small it is, it should receive the same emergency assessment.

Reasons and impact of citizen delays when calling the police

Citizens delay calling the police, which the fear of cutting the cost of reporting the crime either emotionally or financially. On the other also, citizen fears that reporting a wrongdoing may raise inconveniences where the victims may hold responsible for precipitating the crime, and victims fear that the offenders may take reprisals against them (Corsaro, & Weisburd, 2018). In the short run or long run, the chances that citizens will recover their losses are significantly reduced. Citizens also feel that they cannot win the cases even if they report it, some decide to keep quiet forever, and others seek assistance from friends and families but not the police service. As a result of not reporting crimes to police service, it is difficult for the police department to identify and make a follow up on the atrocities committed to citizens. The police service also finds it challenging to reduce criminal activities in the community because none of the offenders will be caught to be used as an example to the rest of criminal offenders.

Confusion over the emergency phone number also contributes to delays of citizens when calling the police. Many citizens are able to distinguish emergency number from non-emergency phone numbers because of their uniqueness. But the problem is that many people will dial company operators or administrative emergency numbers because they are unable to distinguish between police emergence phone numbers from other emergency phone numbers such as Red Cross and ambulance (Corsaro, & Weisburd, 2018). Another cause of delay is that some citizens do not trust in police service because of lengthy procedures of dealing with crimes. Therefore, a citizen who what immediate action on the offender will hesitate to call the police department to handle their case. As a result, this has made the policy the ability to solve crimes more difficulties. The police service has also lost trust with the citizens who view them that they take a more prolonged period of time in dealing with delinquencies. The police service is also unable to get the total number of crimes experienced in the community over a specified period. It is also difficult for the police service to gain absolute confidence in the community through its way of dealing with crimes.

Fear of crime

The discrepancies on fear of crimes enumerate from past victimization, community interaction, and disorder process. Fear of crime results in a complex social phenomenon that cannot be adequately addressed by simple programs (Kappeler, & Gaines, 2015). Police service has tried to reduce the fear of crime using different applications. The plans have centered on providing people with information about police and crime, decentralizing their operations through mini-police and storefront stations, working more closely with people, and victim re-contact to ensure quality emphasis between people and police service. Community policing should reduce the fear of crime through direct attention and continue this trend in developing strategies that focus on specific fear of evil in the community.

Women, African Americans, and the elderly people fear crime on high levels (Kappeler, & Gaines, 2015). Their fear does not exist in normal levels across these groups due to a number of socioeconomic variables existing between them. The police service is therefore urged to understand how fear of crime is distributed among the populations and use the understanding in formulating programs that give people assurance about their safety. Reducing anxiety of crime on its own is one of the ways of reducing the crime itself. People should be able to walk across the streets and other public places without the fear of being victimized. They should also be safe in their homes minus the minds of the robber. Anxiety directly affects the quality of people's lives, the government itself, the police service department, and it makes people deviate their obligation of safety in response to how they feel about their surroundings.

Impact of print and television on fear of crime

Since the press is one of the sources of information which people rely on for their opinion of the world around them, it is logical to conclude that people form their opinion over crime situations what they read and see in the media. Over 95% of people relay media information as to their primary sources (Hollis et al., 2017). Media are among the influential causes of data used by the public to generate opinions over crime and criminal justice systems. It's common for the public to read newspapers involving robbery, rape, corruption, and any other cases reported by the police service. With reference to a pioneering study of four papers in Colorado, United States, it is revealed that there is no consistent relationship that exists between the amount of crime news in the newspaper of Colorado and the state's crime rate. Two public opinions trended about Colorado crime which reflected that the amount of newspaper coverage in relation to the actual crime rates are unrelated.

A newspaper can also cause moral panic, as presented by Cohen's study. Cohen stated that over-reporting of crime disorders by the press make members of the public become more worried. Fishman also presented another survey in 1980 on how the media created a crime wave against the elderly in New York in reflecting the relationship between press reporting, crime events, and fear of crime (Hollis et al., 2017). Fishman proved that the wave crime that was lasted for seven weeks was a significant news theme in three daily newspapers and five local television channels. Comparing the crime statistics provided by the New York Police Department over the elderly, the media showed that crime against the elderly was decreasing while the New York Police Department revealed that the crime was increasing.

Browne, in his 1992 study, also revealed that media information over crime is directly proportionate to the actual crime scenes (Hollis et al., 2017). Browne said that a small group of people could commit a small act of crime, then the media picks it up and produce a headline of stories that attract the attention of the public, thus making the scene large. The press also amplifies crime stories with a view of maintaining public readers through false and sensational reporting. Lastly, the media focuses on stereotyping and historical appellations of various similar occurrences, which result in moral panic. In Nigeria, Dambazau's study of 1994 shows that Nigerian newspapers also gave false reporting on criminal matters, which resulted in a negative impact on law enforcement, public, and national economy. Dambazau stated that profit-making is the reason why the media sensationalizes crime stories, which later on create fear to the public.

Conclusion

Community policing has a significant impact on society as a whole. The police service department has a lot to deal with when it comes to criminal matters in the community. Policing activity should not only pay attention to specific places such as banks, but they should also pay attention to small incidences such as bike riding. Every crime, no matter how big or small it is, it should be treated in a similar manner. Citizens should also not delay when reporting crime cases to the police service department; a crime reported is a crime solved. Citizens should also not fear crimes; they have to come out and express them once they occur. Police service emergency phone number should also have a distinct uniqueness so as to avoid confusion experienced by citizens during crime scenes. Lastly, community policing should lay down policies that focus on the entire community and not an individual.

References

Corsaro, N., & Weisburd, D. (2018). Police interventions. In Deterrence, Choice, and Crime, Volume 23 (pp. 239-268). Routledge.

Hollis, M. E., Downey, S., del Carmen, A., & Dobbs, R. R. (2017). The relationship between media portrayals and crime: perceptions of fear of crime among citizens. Crime prevention and community safety, 19(1), 46-60.

Kappeler, V. E., & Gaines, L. K. (2015). Community policing. Taylor & Francis.