Running head: 1

Tiana R. Stewart

Marymount University

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Abstract

This paper examines the policy background of community-oriented policing. Community-

oriented policing has an extensive history. Much research supports its’ benefits. In the past

decade, current events have created tension and distrust between citizens and law enforcement.

While many, such as politicians and citizens, may agree on the need for community-oriented

policing, some police officers feel the bad outweighs the benefits. This examination of

community-oriented policing examines the definitions, goal, history, societal context and

stakeholder opinions.

Keywords: community-oriented policing, police-community relations, police, community,

police policy

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We live in a society in which there are police and there are civilians. Too often, these

groups are on opposing ends, when in fact, they should work to service each other. This idea is

known as community policing. Sometimes, it is also called community-oriented policing. There

are different ways to define community-oriented policing. Cordner (2014) call community

policing a philosophy, rather than a specific program. Furthering the philosophy perspective,

other authors say it is a “philosophy of policing that emphasizes community involvement in

crime prevention efforts” (Gill, Weisburd, Telep, Vitter, & Bennett, 2014). Skogan (2006) calls

it a process, not a product, which has 3 major components: (1) community partnership, (2)

organizational transformation, and (3) problem solving. No matter who defines it, or how it is

defined, one thing they all have in common is the goal. The goal of community policing is to

improve the relationship between law enforcement and the communities that they are servicing

(Cao, 2001; Eck & Rosenbaum, 1994). The community needs the police, and the police need the

community. It is a working relationship, which only works when both sides are working

together. Traditionally, police officers focus on enforcing the laws and maintaining order, rather

than establishing relationships with the communities they serve. This traditional focus has led to

the beginning of community-oriented policing. There are several studies done on the effects of

community-oriented policing. Amongst these effects are improving perceptions of the police

and building trust (Gill et al., 2014; Goldsmith, 2005; Ren, Cao, Lovrich, & Gaffney, 2005).

Although the idea of community policing has been around for decades now, current events

involving fatal police shootings have led to an extreme push and support for it in the last two

years from both the community and their politicians. These events have led to negative police-

community relations. Positive police-community relations have proven to be beneficial, and

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would therefore be useful, to both law enforcement and the community, in amending current

attitudes that have resulted from current events.

Literature Review

History

The beginning of community-oriented policing is rather unclear. Some may say that it

begins with Sir Robert Peel, the father of law enforcement. In 1829, Sir Robert Peel developed

nine principles of policing. Three of which have to deal with public approval, public cooperation,

and public favor. Others say the 70s were the beginning of community-oriented policing, because

the 60s extended equal rights to everyone (Ren et al., 2005). Extending equal rights meant a

harder time for police to maintain order, as well as having to protect more people. Other

information states that in 1962, San Francisco was the first city to actually articulate the idea of

improving police-community relations. However, their efforts failed because the mission was too

ambiguous and law enforcement officers had difficulty maintaining their identity as officers

whilst developing relationships with the community. Since then, many efforts have been made to

start community-policing programs, and improve them. In a 1997 survey of police departments,

85% of them reported that they either had community policing in place or were working to get

one in place (Skogan, 2006).

Research

Research has made substantial findings on community-oriented policing including the

benefits and what improves or decreases the quality of the relationship between law enforcement

and citizens. In a recent review of 25 reports, Gill et al. (2014) found that community-oriented

policing has positive effects on citizen satisfaction, perceptions of disorder and police legitimacy.

However, no effects on crime or fear of crime were observed. Similarly, other studies have also

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found that community-oriented policing has little to no effect on reducing crime, but instead

suggests that it increases citizen’s satisfaction and trust in the police (Sherman and Eck, 2002;

Frydl and Skogan, 2004; Weisburd and Eck, 2004). Establishing trust is one of the benefits of

community-oriented policing. By establishing a trusting relationship with one’s community, law

enforcement can increase public cooperation with its’ efforts (Goldsmith, 2005).

Other studies show what can increase the relationship between citizens and local law

enforcement. Citizens who voluntarily participate in police-community relation efforts are more

likely to show higher confidence in the police. This confidence is important, as citizens are the

major consumers of law enforcement. Likewise, Ren et al. (2008) found voluntary exposure to

law enforcement to be the highest predictor of police confidence. Ren et al. (2008) also found

that victimization experiences and traffic tickets will reduce this confidence. On the contrary, a

study conducted by Rosenbaum et al. (2005) questions the credibility of these findings.

Rosenbaum et al. (2005) found that direct contact has little to no effect on attitudes towards law

enforcement. Instead, learning that someone else has had a good or bad experience with law

enforcement is a better predictor of attitudes towards police.

Societal Context

Several events have happened in the past couple of years that have led to increase tension

between citizens and law enforcement. Most notably, are the shooting of Michael Brown, in

Ferguson Missouri, and the choking of Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York. These two events

have been covered on almost every news channel and every social media site. Protests have

happened across the nation in the name of these two individuals. Events like these spark fear in

citizens, as well as distrust in law enforcement.

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The shooting of Michael Brown occurred on August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri. He

was an 18-year-old unarmed black man, fatally shot by officer Darren Wilson. Officer Darren

Wilson was not indicted by the grand jury. This sparked the “Hands up, don’t shoot” Protests

throughout the nation.

Eric Garner died on July 17, 2014 in Staten Island, New York, after a police officer put

him in a chokehold. Although chokeholds are against the New York Police Department policy,

the officer involved was not indicted. Law enforcement said it was a headlock, not a chokehold.

His death sparked protests, as well as social media hash tag #BlackLivesMatter.

These deaths have sparked major debate on police use of unnecessary force. These events

have also grabbed the attention of the White house, as Obama announced in August 2014 that he

is taking a number of steps to increase community policing

Stakeholder Opinions

Citizens, law enforcement and politicians are the major stakeholders in the debate of

community policing. Current events, described above are major reasons why citizens push for

community oriented policing efforts. They hope for more accountability and less use of

unnecessary force.

Although a better relationship with the community would be beneficial to law

enforcement at well, there are some police officers that don’t want to change the way they police.

Some of the criticism against community policing is based on the practical issues of

implementation, ensuring public involvement, financial implications, and measurement of the

possible successes (Borrello, 1998). Some police stations are just doing the bare minimum so

that they can get the financial benefits of it (Moraff, 2014). Many of the street level officers and

frontline supervisors feel like adding community-oriented policing into the academy would be at

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the expense of other important tactics or safety guides (Ferreira, 1996). Veteran cops feel that

being kind and gentle gets you killed. Furthermore, community-oriented policing drains

resources and manpower that could be helpful in other areas.

As previously stated, the federal government has made it a priority to increase police-

community relations. On a state level, many state officials have also made it a priority within the

past year, including Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York. Many officials cite the need for

transparency, better relationships and better training.

Conclusion

Community-oriented policing is in heavy demand, as current events have increase tension

between citizens and law enforcement. The major goal of community-oriented policing is to

foster better police-community relations. The history for community-oriented policing can be

traced back to the 1800s, and has made major accomplishments thus far. It would be beneficial to

use the past examples of community-oriented policing to create better programs now. Research

would also be useful in determining what benefits come from community-oriented policing, as

well as what increases or decreases the quality of these relationships. Police-community relations

are of interest to citizens, law enforcement and politicians. Police-community relations have

proven to be beneficial, and would therefore be useful, to both law enforcement and the

community, in amending current attitudes that have resulted from current events.

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Annotated Bibliography

Borrello, A. J. (1998). Community-Oriented Policing: Is It Nonsense or Success?. Police: The

Law Enforcement Magazine, 22(10), 24-28.

This article identifies the arguments for and against community-oriented policing. This is

a useful source is understanding the pros and cons against community-oriented policing.

Cao, L. (2001). A Problem in No-Problem-Policing in Germany: Confidence in the Police in

Germany and USA. European Journal of Crime Criminal Law and Criminal Justice, 9(3),

167-179.

This main idea of this article is to compare and contrast confidence in police in American

and Germany. This particular article did an excellent job at explain the primary goal of

community-oriented policing and its benefit being confidence in police.

Cordner, G. (2014). Community policing. The Oxford Handbook of Police and Policing, , 148.

This reference is a handbook on everything dealing with police and policing. It contained

a section on community policing. It was effective at supporting the idea of community

policing being a philosophy, rather than a program.

Eck, J. E., & Rosenbaum, D. P. (1994). The new police order: Effectiveness, equity, and

efficiency in community policing. The challenge of community policing: Testing the

promises, 3-23.

This article summarizes community policing, including its history and issues with it in

the past. This article was useful at emphasizing the goal of community policing.

Ferreira, B. R. (1996). The use and effectiveness of community policing in a democracy.

Policing in Central and Eastern Europe, M. Pagon Ed., College of Police and Security

Studies.

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This article examines the use and effectiveness of community policing. The author

presents two opposing views on community policing. This article assisted in identifying

stakeholders in community policing and their unique onions on the matter.

Frydl, K., & Skogan, W. (Eds.). (2004). Fairness and Effectiveness in Policing:: The Evidence.

National Academies Press.

The authors examined what makes policing effective. This article made a good point

about community policing and its’ effect on crime. This was good for reiterating my point

further.

Gill, C., Weisburd, D., Telep, C. W., Vitter, Z., & Bennett, T. (2014). Community-oriented

policing to reduce crime, disorder and fear and increase satisfaction and legitimacy

among citizens: A systematic review. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 10(4), 399-

428. doi:10.1007/s11292-014-9210-y

These authors reviewed 25 cases of police stations using community-oriented policing.

With extensive charts, they successfully identified its’ benefits, as well as its’ effects on

citizens. This author was useful in defining community-oriented policing and pointing out

its’ effects on crime.

Goldsmith, A. (2005). Police reform and the problem of trust. Theoretical Criminology, 9(4),

443-470.

This article highlights the importance of trust in policing. The author outlines the trust

issues that exist. This author was helpful at identifying why trust issues exist between law

enforcement and citizens.

Moraff, C. (2014). Why Community Policing Is Still a Good Investment. Nextcity.org

This author focuses solely on the good of community policing, and why it’s beneficial to

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any police department. The author has first hand experience with implementing

community-oriented policing. This article was useful at getting insight on the point of

view of police departments who initiate community-oriented policing procedures in

place.

Peel, S. R. (1829). Sir Robert Peel’s Nine Principles. Retrieved on February 5, 2015.

These are famous principles from the father of law enforcement, Sir Robert Peel. This is

a valuable source, as it is a representation of the beginning of law enforcement. This

reference shows that they public was a thought even in the 1800s.

Ren, L., Cao, L., Lovrich, N., & Gaffney, M. (2005). Linking confidence in the police with the

performance of the police: Community policing can make a difference. Journal of

Criminal Justice, 33(1), 55-66.

This article was a valuable source throughout this entire paper. It was a study that showed

what effects confidence in police.

Rosenbaum, D. P., Schuck, A. M., Costello, S. K., Hawkins, D. F., & Ring, M. K. (2005).

Attitudes toward the police: The effects of direct and vicarious experience. Police

Quarterly, 8(3), 343-365.

This experiment was also useful as it provided opposing results that suggest direct

contact with police does not affect confidence.

Sherman, L. W., & Eck, J. E. (2002). 8 Policing for crime prevention. Evidence-based

crime prevention, 295.

This article furthers the belief that community-oriented policing doesn’t affect

crime, but instead trust.

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Skogan, W. G. (2006). Police and community in chicago: A tale of three cities Oxford University

Press.

Although this book focuses solely on community policing in Chicago, it included

important information on the definition of community policing as well as important

background information on community-oriented policing in the United States,

Weisburd, D., & Eck, J. E. (2004). What can police do to reduce crime, disorder, and fear?. The

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 593(1), 42-65.

These authors outline the way police can reduce crime, disorder and fear. Among an

important finding was that community-oriented policing does not reduce crime or fear of

crime.

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Annotated Bibliography