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Posts tagged community-oriented policing
Implementing social policy through the criminal justice system: Youth, prisons, and community-oriented policing in Nicaragua

By: Julienne Weegels

Nicaragua has implemented a community-oriented policing model in addition to providing a prison system that is based on the premise of prisoners’ re-education. Though these are part of the criminal justice system, they are also presented as social policies with the objective of social (re) insertion of marginalised urban youth particularly. On the premise that detention is temporary and beneicial, these policies claim to prevent (youth) criminality and to reform its perpetrators. Yet they mostly push these youths into a spiral of continued state interventions. Through an analysis of youth-oriented public policy and an examination of the expansion of criminal justice services, complemented by ethnographic research material collected with young (former) prisoners, this article demonstrates how and why social policy for youth is being carried out by the criminal justice system. This development is underpinned by the securitisation of social policy and a political culture of social conservatism that renders marginalised youth unworthy of social protection.

OXFORD DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, 2017; https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2017.1391192

DOES COMMUNITY-ORIENTED POLICING HELP BUILD STRONGER COMMUNITIES?

By: KENT R. KERLEY & MICHAEL L. BENSON

Advocates of community-oriented policing contend that it has great potential to reduce crime and fear because it strengthens community social organization and cohesion. Previous studies of community policing, however, fail to include community process variables as outcome measures and instead focus on outcome measures such as crime rates and fear of crime. Despite the recent focus by criminologists on community context in general studies of crime and delinquency, no direct attempt has been made to investigate the potential relationship between community policing and broader community processes such as community organization, cohesion, and cooperative security. Using data from a comprehensive community policing study conducted in Oakland, California, and Birmingham, Alabama, from 1987 to 1989, this article investigates whether community policing strategies have effects on community processes. Findings indicate that community policing tactics do not have strong effects on community processes. These results may help explain why community policing has so far had little measurable impact on crime and fear of crime, and may be instructive for the design and evaluation of future community policing studies.

POLICE QUARTERLY Vol. 3 No. 1, March 2000 46–69

COPS vs Cops: How Does Community-oriented Policing Coexist with Crime-fighting Policing?

By Kian Gaines

INTRODUCTION: Community-Oriented Policing Services (COPS) emerged in response to longstanding criticisms revolving around police accountability and effectiveness. It emphasizes civilian participation in crime-prevention and problem-solving efforts to build trust between the police and minoritized communities with whom they have had an antagonistic relationship. Traditional policing is reactive in nature, with officers acting only after crime has been committed or a call for service has been made; it enforces the law; "legitimizes" use of violence; and emulates military structure and tactics. In this study I describe it as “crime-fighting policing.” COPS programs are embedded within this structure. Unlike traditional policing, COPS is characterized by four dimensions: philosophical, strategic, tactical, and organizational (Cordner 1999).

LITERATURE REVIEW: Kennedy and Moore (1995) argue that the proper unit of analysis is not the program, but the police organization and its capacity to be flexible, innovative, and collaborative. However, there is a lack of research that (1) focuses on community-oriented policing programs and (2) examines how they are embedded within police departments and communities.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY: Research questions include: What are the attitudes of traditional crime-fighting police toward community policing? In what ways (if any) do these attitudes affect members of community policing programs or their goals? What are the goals of community policing versus the goals of crime-fighting police? How are community police officers and crime-fighting police trained?

METHOD: A combination of indepth interviews and observations of Chicago Police officers, both CAPS (Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy) and “regular” police officers, will be used to address these questions.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: A theoretical framework of organizational hypocrisy, referring to organizations acting in ways that are contrary to their stated goals, will be used to analyze the data.

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS: Observations of CPD artifacts revealed that eight of Chicago’s twenty-five districts currently do not have any community events planned for the near future. Some of the remaining districts have scheduled “beat meetings” between community members and CAPS officers organized around “beats” (small geographic patrols) and meetings revolve around more specific issues (domestic violence, faith, and seniors) or committees.

(2021). Sociology and Anthropology. 7.

Community–Oriented Policing: Political, Institutional and Technical Reforms in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Police

By: Bahadar Nawab, Shakir Ullah, Ingrid Nyborg, Tahir Maqsood

Community-police relations in Pakistan are often intricate, as are their reforms. Mistrust, political intervention, meager financial resources, lack of educated/trained human resources, over-expectations and miscommunication are some of the factors contributing to weak policing and poor community-police relations. The police as a service-oriented public institution has been a demand of the public and the dream of consecutive governments. In this study, we explore the political, institutional and technical reforms taken by the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the police department to improve their police and policing. The Police Act 2017 and Community-Oriented Policing, Dispute Resolution Councils (DRCs), and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) initiatives are critically analyzed in terms of their intentions and contribution to improved police-community relations. Politicians, police, civil society organizations and community members from KP were interviewed for their perceptions of police reforms and community-police relations. The study finds strong political will to empower and depoliticize police, and to shift its focus from purely crime fighting into community service provision, including pro-active engagement of police with the community. The study also finds that most of the new initiatives of the government of KP are in the spirit of community-oriented policing, and community members see visible improvement in policing and community-police relations.

Journal of Human Security | 2019 | Volume 15 | Issue 2 | Pages 41–53

Community-oriented policing in a multicultural milieu: The case of loitering and disorderly conduct in East Arlington, Texas

By: Raymond A. Eve, Daniel G. Rodeheaver, Susan Brown Eve, Maureen Hockenberger, Ramona Perez, Ken Burton, Larry Boyd, Sue Phillips and Sharon L. Walker

For the past several decades, an innovation in policing, often controversial, has been emerging in the US. Specifically, community-oriented policing has been used to supplement more traditional forms of police work in preventing and reducing crime. This paper examines a community-oriented policing programme implemented in Arlington, Texas. A national demonstration grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services (COPS). The purpose of the COPS project reported here was to assess a policing problem that, rather than actual crime, was ultimately about (1) multicultural conflict, (2) fear of crime and (3) the effectiveness of this community policing programme in combating both actual incidences and perceptions of crime. We draw several conclusions about the ability to utilise and apply the community policing model and our research findings in other locations. Furthermore, the findings of this paper should have broad utility of international scope.

International Journal of Police Science & Management Volume 5 Number 4