Policing Strategies
Introduction
Police agencies are supposed to enforce law and provide protection to the community. There are over 18,000 police agencies in United States. The police agencies are part of the society and ensure that the society functions well. This in turn enables citizens to live a stable and productive live. Policing is important in the society as it helps identify rules and regulations that govern criminal activities in the society. Most countries have experienced high crime rate because of lack of proper policing in the country. The countries do not establish the right policies and this makes it difficulty to maintain order. The main role of policing in the society is to maintain order. There are various groups involved in policing. They include the community and law enforcement agencies. The community plays an important role in policing as it helps develop laws that are effective. Most countries encourage democratic policing and this makes it easy for the citizens to participate in policing. Policing has become a major issue in the society. This is because people have different views about different policing strategies. For example, police officers differ in terms of the policing method to use. This paper analyzes the community-oriented, problem-oriented policing and zero-tolerance policing.
Discussion
There are different types of policing strategies that can be used to control crime in the society. The policing strategies function differently. The strategies include community oriented policing and problem oriented policing. Another policing strategy is zero tolerance policing. Community oriented policing has more advantages on policing than the problem oriented policing and the zero tolerance policing. The community oriented policing engages the community in crime prevention and problem solving than the zero tolerance and the problem oriented solving. The community oriented policing supports the restructuring of the law agencies so as to make them work well with the partners. It also concentrates on educating the community. It does not lead to conflicts in the society as the policy officer and the community does not have different interests (Oliver, 2008).
Community policing also called neighborhood policing is a policing strategy that is based on community and police interactions. The advocates of community policing believe that the community interaction and support can help reduce the rate of crime in the society. It can also help reduce fear in the society. In this case, the community members identify suspects and report to the police. Also, the community members identify security problems in the area and notify the police. Community oriented policing allows different groups to work together, hence making policing in the community effective. For example, the police officers and the community are supposed to work hand in hand to help eliminate criminal activities in the society. Community policing encourages organizational strategies that use partnership and problem solving methods.
The strategies help address conditions that lead to public safety issues like crime, social order and fear in the society. This makes policing in the community easy. Community policing consists of three elements. That is community partnership, organizational transformation and problem solving. The elements work together to ensure the policing process is effective. In community partnerships, the law enforcement agencies, individuals and organizations work together to find solutions to the problems. They also work together to increase trust in law enforcement officers. This makes it easy to control crime rate in the society. In organizational transformation, the law enforcement agencies restructure the organizational management practices, structure and in formation systems so as to support community partnership and problem solving. Also, the agencies align their personnel to support community partnership.
Police departments involved in effective community policing should transform various things in the organization .For example, they should change their organizational culture, leadership and management so as to in corporate other entities. In addition, they are supposed to transform labor relations and their planning process and their performance operations so as to support activities that are aimed at reducing crime in the society. Moreover, the police departments are supposed to change the transparency of their activities and information gathering. Traditional law enforcement practices are not proactive as they focus on different things like response times and arrest rates. Also, they focus on rote response to crimes. On the hand community oriented policing encourages the police to proactively solve community problems and address factors that lead to crime, but not how law enforcement officers respond to crime (Oliver, 2008).
In problem solving, the law enforcement officers and the community are supposed to examine the problems identified so as to develop effective responses. Community policing requires the law enforcement officers to be familiar with the SARA model of problem solving. The SARA model involves scanning, analysis, response and assessment. In scanning, the police officer is supposed to identify the problems and put them in the order of priority. In analysis, the police officer is supposed to research more about the problem. He should research what is known about the problem. In response, the police officer is supposed to develop solutions so as to reduce and eliminate the problems. In assessment, the police officer is supposed to evaluate the Reponses so as to determine which ones are effective and which are not effective. Hence, the community oriented policing makes policing easy and effective as the right solution is implemented (Samaha, 2005).
The main aim of community oriented policing is problem solving. Though police officer still respond to emergencies in community oriented policing, most calls to the police are not linked with the police and they are handled by other agencies. As the number of emergency calls reduces, the more the citizens benefit. In community oriented policing, police officers spend more time with the community members solving crimes and other problems in the community. Communication is important in community oriented policing as it enables the police officers to share information with the community. In community policing, a police officer is allocated a particular geographical region permanently. The police officer is supposed to work with the citizens to identify crime and solve problems in the society.
The police officers work using satellite offices located within the community. The community oriented policing does not focus on responding to crime only, but it also focuses on preventing crime and resolving issues in the community. The police officers are required to work in partnership with other organizations in the region to prevent crime and solve problems. In addition, the police officers and the partners educate the community on various issues in the community. For example, the community is educated on how to reduce the likehood of being involved in criminal activities. In addition, the community is educated on how to identify problems and fears of community members. The community is also educated on how to identify hazards that may lead to crime and eliminate them. Lastly, the community is educated on how to improve the quality of life in the society. Hence, community oriented policing has more advantages than disadvantages (Samaha, 2005).
The community oriented policing and problem oriented policing are similar as they involve the community and other agencies in preventing crime and solving problems in the community. The community oriented policing and the problem oriented policing are aimed at identifying problems in the society and solving them. The problem oriented policing strategy involves identification and analysis of crime problem and disorder in the society so as to develop response strategies that are effective. The problem oriented policing emphasizes on research and analysis of crime and also prevention. Like community oriented policing, problem oriented policing involves public and private organizations in eliminating and reducing problems in the community. Problem oriented policing depends on identification of issues by rank and file officers. Different departments define problems differently.
Mostly problems are defined according repeated occurrence and occurring in the society. In addition, problems are defined using various characteristics that are related to the problem like behavior and location. Also, they are defined according to people and time. Problems are also defined according to their concern to the police and community. In traditional system a police is required to answer repeated calls that are linked to a particular problem area or hot spot and deal with each incident differently. In problem oriented policing, the police officer is supposed to find the main cause of the problem and ways to solve the problem. After identifying the problem, the police officer is supposed to work together with the community members to establish solution. For example, the police officer can find alternative solutions to arrest. The solutions may focus on the criminal, the community, environment or the agencies. In most cases, the police and the community are supposed to customize responses to problems. So, the police officers and the community should show creativity (Scott, 2000).
The problem oriented policing has some advantages and disadvantages and it affects policing in deferent ways. First, problem oriented policing is effective in resolving crimes and problems in the community. The problem oriented policing has been used in different parts of the world and it has been successful. Also, the problem oriented policing increases communication between the police and the public. However, the policy has some disadvantages. For example, in problem oriented policing, the public has more powers in defining the goal of the law enforcement officers as the public determines the problems the police will focus on. This can lead to conflict if not handled problem. This is because the police and the community have different priorities and interests. For example, the police may need to concentrate on robberies in the community and the community might need to focus on loitering group.
This affects the relationship between the police and the community and hence, problem solving. Additionally, problem oriented policing supports proactive and reactive approaches to crime. A conflict may exist between proactive implementation of the policing and need for traditional policing .The police officers may not respond to crime or problems in different areas equally. This leads to favoritism as high metropolitan areas are favored over other areas. This is because they may have high emergence calls. Lastly, problem oriented policing leads to abuse of authority. The police officers might not act according to the interest of the community, but their own interest (Scott, 2000).The problem oriented policing can affect the community negatively if not used wealthiest is because it results to conflicts. Also, the problem oriented policing does not focus on educating the community on how to reduce the risk factors for crime. Hence, the problem oriented policing can not be implemented to reduce crime in the community and solve problems (Tilley &Bullock, 2003).
The best policing to implement is community oriented policing. This is because the policy helps the police officer and the community work together without conflict of interests. There is low chances of conflicts in community policing as opposed to problem oriented policing and zero tolerance policing. This makes it easy for the community and the police to achieve the goals set. In addition, community oriented policing does not allow abuse of power by police officers like the problem oriented approach. This ensures the police officers act in accordance with the interest of the citizens, but not their interests. It also allows good relationship between the police officers and the community; hence this makes it easy to eliminate problems (Tilley &Bullock, 2003).
Conclusion
The community oriented policy has been implemented in many countries. This is because it is more effective than the problem oriented policing and zero policing. The community oriented policing allows the police to interact with the community and work together in preventing crime. This ensures the police and the community develop the right response. Though, problem oriented policing allows the community and police to solve problems together, it has many shortcomings. This makes it difficulty for the police and community to achieve the goals. Hence, it is not the best policy to implement as it will help reduce the rate of crime and other problems in the community.
Reference
Oliver, W.M. (2008).Community-oriented policing: a systemic approach to policing. Prentice Hall
Samaha,J.(2005).Criminal justice. Cengage Learning
Tilley, N., &Bullock Karen. (2003).Crime reduction and problem-oriented policing. Willan
Scott, M.S. (2000).Problem-oriented policing: reflections on the first 20 years. U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
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