Community policing has been one of the most popular programs in police departments not only all over the United States, but also throughout the world. More and more departments are implementing community policing, team policing, problem-oriented policing, neighborhood- oriented policing, or other similar programs as we speak. Yes, the term “community policing” does sound very attractive to most citizens and many officers, but the important question is whether the programs are effective or not in the communities in which these departments have implemented community policing. Before trying to answer the question if community policing is effective or not, we must further understand what community policing is, and try to figure out why it has grown in popularity over the past three decades. “In 1967, the police task force of the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice advocated the widespread adoption of the type of policing…that would bring together police officers and the community”(Lewis, 567-568). This gives us the reason why there was great controversy over the new type of policing. It has been realized that the title of this report is “Management in Community Policing,” but it is much more important to learn more about the concept of community policing before the management roles and aspects in a department can be explained.To fully understand what community policing is, we first must define it. One definition of community policing is “community policing is most broadly regarded as a philosophy requiring significant and fundamental organizational change and defined as a recognition and acceptance of the community in influencing the philosophy, management, and delivery of police services”(Seagrave, 5). Since most everybody has a different idea or perspective on what community policing is, let us have a look at an additional definition....
