Community policing has emerged since the 1970s as an increasingly important strategy for controlling and preventing crime and enhancing community safety. It is both a philosophy and an organizational strategy that allows the police and the community to work closely together in creative ways to solve the problems of crime, drugs, fear of crime, physical and social disorder, neighborhood decay, and the overall quality of life in the community. Community policing is difficult to define. Although it does not have a single definition, there are many various elements of community policing. Champion states there are several definitions to define community policing.1. [Community policing is] whenever citizens and policebandtogether to fight crime.2. Community policing is a police-community partnership in which the police and the community work hand-in-hand to resolve what the community identifies as problems. They [problems] may concern abandoned houses, overgrown lots, zoning ordinances, school issues and other urban problems that are more appropriately in the realm of other agencies.3. Community policing emphasizes the establishment of working partnerships between police and communities to reduce crime and enhance security.4. Community policing [is] a working partnership between police and the law-abiding public to prevent crime, arrest offenders, find solutions to problems and enhance the quality of life.5. [Community policing is] a philosophy rather than a specific tactica proactive, decentralized approach designed to reduce crime, disorder and fear of crime by intensely involving the same officer in a community for a long term so that personal links are formed with residents (Champion 2).These definitions address the key features of community policing. The common features involve cooperation between police and community residents, willingness to work toward mutual goals, and a general desire to improve community safety through more...
