Community policing strategies are being widely adopted in many police agencies as a means of improving the relationship between organizations and citizens and narrowing the expectation gap that exists between these two groups. Others have suggested that performance assessment and solid performance monitoring practices are critical to organizational performance and narrowing the gap between expectations and actual work performance (Bouckaert & Halachmi, 1996:1)
This means they should have the opportunity to provide input on the performance appraisal system and recommend changes where relevant. Still others suggest more standardization of processes and procedures in order to increase the quality of service delivered to the community and to the public (De Vries & Van Der Zijl, 2003)
They must develop an action plan that includes organizational goals and community goals in order to narrow the gap and foster a collaborative and successful work environment. Many view community policing as an answer, as a means of "developing communication with the public and interest groups" and encouraging active participation from community members and police agents to further the best interests of the community as a whole (Fielding, 1995)
Their needs to be a shift of focus so that more officers are encouraged to deliver quality over quantity if the performance gap is to be reduced significantly. Initiatives should be based on the principles of inclusions and collaboration between police, chiefs, and citizens to elicit the best possible outcome and facilitate communication and understanding among all parties involved (Reiner, 2000)
Then buy in from all staff from the front line to top management must be encouraged for a community policing plan to achieve its goals. To create an environment conducive to change and the successful implementation of a community policing program, officers must work on developing and standardizing community relations goals that are geared toward crime fighting, information gathering, patrol efficiency, empowering patrol officers, improving internal communications and building a supervision culture that is supportive and encouraging (Davis & Gianakis, 1998)
In order for community policing to be successful however, it has to be presented to organizations and individual police agents as a mechanism of positive change and law enforcement improvement. Community policing is often in fact adopted by police agencies as a mechanism for improving internal and external relations and delivering optimal service to communities within a given area (Fielding, 1995)
Without adequate participation from lower level managers a program is unlikely to gain support from font line staff and thus be faced with dissent and irritation. The focus of community policing efforts requires change on the part of officers that often goes against what they are accustomed to, meaning working on an independent level (Hartnett & Skogan, 1997)
In fact community policing is often considered a battle "in the hearts and minds of police officers" which usually operate under conditions that are de-centralized (Hartnett & Skogan, 1977). A community policing program will fail however if it is approached with resentment and fear of change (Lurigio & Rosenbaum, 1994)
In fact community policing is often considered a battle "in the hearts and minds of police officers" which usually operate under conditions that are de-centralized (Hartnett & Skogan, 1977). A community policing program will fail however if it is approached with resentment and fear of change (Lurigio & Rosenbaum, 1994)
Community Policing Community policing has been defined as a "philosophy, management style and organizational strategy" with the goal of building community partnerships and not simply eliminating crime but also addressing the causes of crime in the community. It may be applied to any policing environment where neighborhood residents, schools, churches, businesses, community organizations or any other members of the community are working in conjunction with police departments to not only identify potential problems in the community but also solve them (Goldstein, Bayley & Couper, n
Knowledge of community resources is vital. A program has recently been adopted by the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) where the police department created task forces in the community's three districts and within the special operations unit (Kelling & Bratton, 1993)
Knowledge of community resources is vital. A program has recently been adopted by the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) where the police department created task forces in the community's three districts and within the special operations unit (Kelling & Bratton, 1993)
56). In many cases, community policing initiatives over the past 35 years or so have not successful overnight, but were rather the result of several years of intensive implementation and oversight to ensure that program goals were achieved and officer safety was not compromised (Aragon, 2004)
Generally speaking, community policing initiatives reflect the overarching philosophy that police are not discrete and separate from other law enforcement agencies and organizations, but are rather part of a larger network of criminal justice system (Pfeifer, 2006). Although the specific goals of community policing initiatives vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and from time to time, they all share the common objective of bringing the police and the community together to identify problems and determine mutually agreeable approaches to solving them (Paruch, 2009)
Finally, a summary of the research and important findings concerning the success or failure of the community policing model are provided in the conclusion. Review and Discussion There has been growing interest in community policing programs since the 1980s, including neighborhood-oriented policing, community-oriented policing, and problem-oriented policing (Pfeifer, 2006)
As the authors described "if a window in a building is broken and is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken." (Kelling, 1982) When applied to crime and disorder this theory states that when minor criminal acts, or "untended behavior," are not addressed in a neighborhood, a state of disorder arises and the neighborhood will soon be overridden with crime
This concept was introduced to prevent and lessen crime, which had risen steadily, especially violent crime. Community policing initially evolved from the increasing isolation of law enforcement officers from the community and numerous complaints of police indifference and brutality, particularly in minority communities (Berlin & Peak, 2013)
History and Evolution of Community Policing: The shift towards community policing has attracted huge attention in the recent past because of the need for these officers and community leaders to develop and establish effective means for promoting public safety and enhancing the quality of life across the society. Actually, for police officers to accomplish their mission, they must have the confidence of the public since they rely on the public to assist them identify crime and conduct investigations (Cole, Smith & DeJong, 2013, p
First, the research on leadership, job satisfaction, and issues within the hierarchy of the police department indicates that there are different styles of leadership that produce different levels of job satisfaction within the organization. Police leadership as it applies to employee satisfaction is often not well-developed because of the police culture of the bureaucratic rank and file structure and the civil nature of the position itself (Densten, 1999)
Police leadership as it applies to employee satisfaction is often not well-developed because of the police culture of the bureaucratic rank and file structure and the civil nature of the position itself (Densten, 1999). The relationship between job performance and job satisfaction appears to be reciprocal, thus effective leadership can increase both job satisfaction and job performance (Engel, 2003)