Discussion Thread: Community Policing

Community policing has been around in various forms for decades. Generally, it refers to a movement by the police to focus on community engagement through innovative patrol methods, community interaction, and a variety of measures such as problem solving, intelligence led policing, statistical crime analysis, and SMART Policing. It also involves a change in police culture, hiring practices, leadership acceptance, academy preparation, officer acceptance, accountability, and the use of science in policing. Although 70% of local agencies claim some focus on community policing as part of a mission statement, how prevalent is community policing in actuality? Are we in an era of community policing? To what extent is it practiced in your agency or community? What are the major hurdles to fully implementing community policing? Read chapter 10 in your textbook and apply the concepts outlined there to answer these questions.