Community Policing Theories

Convocation Address at Bethel University, August 29, 2016 about recent troubles in Minnesota, particularly the shooting of Philando Castille, and our responsibility as followers of the Gospel. There is an audio link also available. After you click the link, it's the first one in the queue; fast-forward to 15:00:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/2016-2017-chapel-college-arts/id1148681753?mt=10

This writing, "Creative Community Policing Initiatives in Columbia, South Carolina," appears as Chapter 4 in Dennis Stevens' edited book, Policing and Community Partnerships.  To meet the public safety needs of increasingly diverse neighborhoods in cities across the nation, creative and innovative community policing initiatives seem to be required to curb and to prevent crimes and related problems and to bridge the gap between the police and citizens through community involvement in policing activities. Community policing is guided by the values of building partnerships, people helping people, and community organizing. In this light, community policing initiatives in Columbia, South Carolina, are characterized by the concept of "shared responsibility." In this chapter, therefore, the creative and innovative community policing initiatives in Columbia, South Carolina, are examined. This discussion thus focuses on questions as they relate to the community initiatives of the Columbia Police Department and the City of Columbia, South Carolina.

Abstract 
Mounting public protests, increasing expensive payouts, and shootings of unarmed victims by police is a call to reexamine options to problem solving, service recovery, and preventing police misconduct as it pertains to the use of force.  The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the correlation between early intervention system data 
(a) use of force, citizens’ complaints (race and gender), and use of force violations (race, gender, and years of service for officers).  The disruptive theoretical framework provided an innovative lens to examine police misconduct of a large midwestern large law enforcement agency.  This secondary data study did not find significant relationships between stated variables using chi-square analyses.  Although consistent with other studies, males were found likely victims of excessive use of force (X2 = 114.093, p =.000) using multiple regression.  By expanding the characteristics of basic variables based on a (use of force) continuum model, the data can be treated as a disruptor with potential to reach maintenance or high productivity and sustainability.  The fields of healthcare and education have made strides using this model, and this model may also add to the existing knowledge to create greater transparency, service recovery, and policy modification needed to reduce the use of force police misconduct.  As society changes with varying political mandates, public opinions and technological communications, it is apparent that law enforcement must also continually improve efforts to enhance accountability and transparency relating to the use of force.

Community Policing vs Problem Solving Policing
          Community policing and problem solving policing have evolved over the decades.  Both policing methods have replaced the traditional police approach.  Community Based Policing focused on community and police relations and partnerships in solving and preventing crimes.  Whereas, Problem Solving Policing focused on strategics and implementing tactics to combat crimes.  Nevertheless, I have commenced an in-depth study of both policing models.  I have also found that Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving Policing are both important to crime solving.  However, after analyzing both policing approaches—I believe that Problem Oriented Policing is the key component to addressing the crime problems in our communities.

La inseguridad ciudadana es hoy uno de los principales problemas del país; sin embargo, los estudios académicos al respecto escasean. ¿Qué tanto conocemos a la Policía Nacional del Perú (PNP), una de las instituciones centrales en la lucha contra la delincuencia? ¿Qué sabemos acerca de cómo se educan sus miembros en la Escuela de Oficiales (EO)? Para esta investigación, se ha analizado el plan de estudios de la EO-PNP desde la perspectiva de derechos humanos y policía comunitaria, consultando a docentes, estudiantes, autoridades, expertos y a otras fuentes. Además, el libro brinda recomendaciones para avanzar en la formación de una PNP que responda a los retos del Perú actual.

Police reform over the past thirty years has been guided by the
philosophy of “community policing,” or the theory that police
departments overcome poor community relations by engaging in
initiatives that build mutual trust. The advent of the War on Terror
brought about the intermingling of federal policing initiatives with local
law enforcement. The clashing goals of federal and local police entities
undermine local police goals and reformation initiatives based on
“community policing.” Using San Francisco as a case study, I argue that
overbroad surveillance and information gathering by local police
fundamentally undermines trusting relationships between police and the
community. I also maintain that police legitimacy depends in part on
procedural fairness. Therefore, to the extent the police engage in
surveillance practices without clear standards, oversight, and
accountability, they are perceived as being less legitimate in the eyes of
the community. This, in turn, undermines the trust-building goals of
community policing.

Past research has consistently confirmed that in contexts where people experience repressive and corrupt policing, procedural justice effect may become inconsequential and by extension, public perceptions of police legitimacy and expressed willingness to cooperate with the police may diminish. This study presents many significant contributions to this assertion by assessing Nigerians’ perceptions of procedural justice and police effectiveness, and whether police could utilise procedural justice to improve perceptions of police legitimacy and expressed willingness to cooperate with the police. The result finds significant effects between police legitimacy and police effectiveness, but not for procedural justice. This indicates that procedural justice policing is unlikely to be the solution for addressing Nigeria’s police legitimacy crisis. However, the result further revealed that Nigerians expressed willingness to cooperate with the police is found to be linked to perceptions of police effectiveness, procedural justice, and police legitimacy. The implications of these current findings are discussed.

Abstract: Police department administrators and emergency professionals must be willing to recognize, identify and administer an effective community policing program. The purpose of this applied research project is to develop an ideal model of community policing. A review of the literature identified three key components of an effective community policing program: community engagement, problem solving, and organizational transformation. The literature was also littered with numerous examples of crime prevention being an ultimate goal of law enforcement. This paper suggests that crime prevention is a necessary fourth component to a successful community policing practice, and not solely the goal. The San Marcos Police Department is used as a test case to refine the components of community policing that appear in various scholarly works. Methodology: The components of an effective community policing strategy identified in the literature are used to construct the conceptual framework. The framework is used to create a practical ideal model assessment tool for the community policing program. A case study consisting of survey questions as well as document analysis are utilized to collect results from the San Marcos Police Department. Findings: The San Marcos Police Department‟s community policing strategy is mostly consistent with the model assessment tool.

Contemporary conceptions of the police and of the problems of policing in the United States have been shaped by the political upheavals and crisis of legitimacy that confronted all institutions of government in the 1960s. Recent research has focused attention on the structural aspects of discretion and peacekeeping in police work, and on the emergence of the ideology of police-community relations. Such studies have provided a critique of traditional police rationales and have demonstrated the complexity and contradictions inherent in the exercise of police power. Meanwhile, police reform in the 1970s has become an established enterprise, increasingly under the technical and administrative control of a class of professional change-makers. The present direction of technologically and legalistically determined reforms reflects an accelerated movement away from concerns of "substantive rationality" to those of "formal rationality" so that the reform process has become depoliticized and lacks policy direction. While helping to insulate the police from arbitrary political manipulation, this movement also attenuates the aims of substantive political justice, including those of police accountability, local community review, and control of police discretionary policy-making powers. Moreover, the prevailing forms of change-making in police organizations have not been substantively aimed toward creating the informed, skilled, and judicious police officer.

As police departments nationwide operate under increasing public scrutiny following numerous high-profile instances of excessive and often lethal force against unarmed African-Americans and Latinos, calls for greater accountability have been nearly unanimous in supporting the use of Body-Worn Cameras (BWCs) by police officers. On September 21, 2015, the Department of Justice announced awards totaling over $23 million to local police departments for the purpose of implementing BWC programs. Announcing the project, Attorney General Loretta Lynch emphasized the hope that BWCs would " enhance transparency, accountability, and credibility " among beleaguered police departments nationwide. But, in addition to recording the activities of the police, BWCs also record the conduct and statements of criminal defendants, victims, and witnesses of crimes. BWC footage has been widely discussed for its potential to hold police accountable for their actions, but it has not yet been subject to scholarly examination for its potential use as evidence in criminal proceedings. This Note fills that gap, focusing on the conflict between the government's interest in maintaining exclusive control over BWC footage and the defendant's entitlement to pretrial discovery under Rule 16 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Although witness safety concerns may justify some limitations on defendants' access to body-cam footage in exceptional cases, this Note argues that the discovery rules governing analogous pre-existing technologies militate in favor of broad pretrial disclosure of BWC footage.

On behalf of the County of Los Angeles Civil Grand Jury, KH Consulting Group conducted a management review of the effectiveness of civil gang injunctions within the City of Los Angeles and County of Los Angeles.

The report contains:

A. Civil Gang Injunction Context, including an overview of gang activities in Los Angeles, law enforcement responses to the issue, recent legislation, the legal basis for the initiative, the process of obtaining a CGI, the requirements for enforcement and a review of recent literature on CGIs.

B. Measurable Impact on Crime Patterns, including a statistical review of reported crime within the City of Los Angeles to identify significant trends related to the establishment and enforcement of CGIs, and a review of data currently available from law enforcement sources.

C. Findings, focusing on the effectiveness and, to the extent that it is possible to determine, the costs of preparing and enforcing CGIs.  Findings were based on interviews with police, prosecutors, neighborhood residents and community leaders, as well as a review of relevant literature and the results of the data analysis task of the review.

D. Recommendations, outlining changes to make CGIs more effective as an element of the larger effort to reduce criminal gang activity and violence.

This timely book is a virtual how to manual to help guide the promotion of public safety and the quality of life in American neighborhoods by law enforcement agencies. It reflects a fundamental shift from traditional, reactive policing to priorities of prevention through community partnerships. Attempts to bring agencies closer to developing a best model that can at the same time be a successful classroom tool. Offers a comprehensive literature search—includes explanations and links to a practical and theoretical community policing rationale. Presents varied models of community policing and training programs, unlike other books which focus exclusively on large departments with many resources such as Chicago, Los Angeles, New York. Provides information on how to write grant proposals for securing federal and local funds to build community policing programs. A valuable tool for justice and law enforcement professionals