The Community Partnership And Oriented Policing Criminology Essay

The evolution and refinement of” Community Oriented Policing “its philosophy and practice have had a significant positive impact on the attitudes and behaviors of citizens in previous high crime communities at every level by improving the quality of its residents. Community oriented Policing has allowed communities to take ownership of the communities and making it a socially healthy environment to raise kids and establish long lasting friendships. Every community oriented policing program should seek to meet the textbook goal, to establish “A pattern of attitudes and behaviors directed both at reducing the threat of a crime and enhancing the sense of safety and security to positively influence the quality of life and to help develop environments were crime cannot flourish(Peak and Glender. 2004)”.

 In Community Policing and Problem Solving, “Community policing is a philosophy of full-service, personalized policing where the same officer patrols and works in the same area on a permanent basis, from a decentralized place, working in a proactive partnership with citizens to identify and solve problems (Trojanowicz, 1992) “. These the goals that have been established through police and community input and how they can be enable Community Partnership Programs to establishing; suspicious crime activity hot lines, School Resource Officers, establish faith and non-faith drug prevention and education programs and forming Neighborhood Crime Watch associations are the building blocks of community policing.

Each police department must realizes that to effectively minimize all criminal activity within an specific neighborhoods, will only be accomplished through a collective effort of all members of the targeted community which may include; police officers that are assigned to our locals schools, establishing a suspicious (anonymous) illegal activity hotline, creating drug prevention programs community and enforcing local faith lead community programs and neighborhood crime watch programs. As always, individuals should always call 911 immediately when observing a serious crime in progress or one that has just occurred, or to report crimes after the fact, police department have set up non-emergency numbers.

In community oriented policing ,If suspicious activity is observed that is not place the citizen at any physical or mental harm of an and does not warrant emergency response, the citizens are encouraged to call the Suspicious Activity Hotline  at anytime. In addition most police departments provide access to learning and informational material which might provide details on how to recognize and handle specific types of suspicious activity in the participating neighborhoods.

As part of the community oriented policing, Police officers can also be assigned to local schools. At the school campus the majority of the officers’ time is spent on building relationships with the youth thus reducing the potential for minor crimes to occur. These campus officers may also become  a great resource to the teachers, counselors, students and most of all to the parents in maintaining a safe and crime free campus, by teaching law enforcement and criminal justice related courses.  

The Police Department can also assist in the creation and support of faith and not-faith based drug prevention and education programs. These programs can also work with the local law enforcement agencies to aid in the prevention and reduction of drug related crimes.

Neighborhood Crime Watch programs encourages minimal participation of the citizens in a neighborhood to organize block watch programs in cooperation with law enforcement. It is sometimes called Block Watch or Neighborhood Watch, which, is a crime prevention program that enlists the active participation of citizens in cooperation with law enforcement to reduce crime .Neighbors get to meet one another at these block watch meetings and discuss neighborhood problems and priorities. On many occasions a police officer will attend these meetings to give crime prevention tips and assist in organizing the block club. The Neighborhood Watch Program works by doing the following:

Neighborhood Watch teaches citizens crime prevention techniques to reduce the risk of being victimized at home or in public. Citizens are trained on the importance of recognizing suspicious activities and how to report them. Participants are taught how to make their homes more secure and the importance of recording and identifying their property. Block watch Program allows neighbors to interact and get to know each other and their daily routines. Enforcement of block watch program allows the citizen to notice any out of ordinary activities that might need to reported and investigated by the police.

As building blocks to a safer community the neighborhood watch program creates a cohesive body of concerned citizens who become the eyes and ears of law enforcement, thus becoming actively involved in the reduction of crime in their community. This program is always ongoing and continued enrollment is always accepted. An effective crime prevention (neighborhood watch) programs enable the active participation of citizens to cooperate with law enforcement to aid in the reduction of larceny, criminal property damages burglaries primarily the reduction of burglaries on the high rate of the fore-closed homes which will the reduce the other neighborhood crimes.

By contacting the Buckeye Police department, I learned that the Buckeye Police department has taken the philosophy of Community Oriented Policing in effort to better serve the community. The police departments has established community partnerships thought the path of working with house developers and community house associations to develop and design neighborhoods in a such way as to deflect criminal activity. As a result of these associations citizens enjoy a lesser crime environment with a faster 911 response. Though community oriented policing the Buckeye police department can also strengthen and developed its community based policing to reflect the community’s needs and requests. (Lt. Dave Hubalik,)

The Buckeye police community out-reach program will also teach you the steps that citizens can take to aid in protecting one’s home. The police department will also aid in organizing a neighborhood watch group, by making crime prevention part of every person in your community a daily routine, just by learning watching out for yours and your neighbors and safe wellbeing .The Buckeye Lieutenant Dave Hubalik reinforced that it is you job as a member of the community to report all suspicious activity to the police even if you have a doubts it might not be illegal activity. The lieutenant stated that is the sole job to handle the perpetuators the criminals

The Buckeye police department believes that neighborhood watch programs are a proven and effective method to aid in the reduction of residential burglaries in specific developments. For example in the Sun Dance ,Tarteso or the Westpark Communities incidents of crimes reported can be tracked and responses logged by a specific geographic area(Buckeye 2010 Crime statistics). By, sharing local crime statistics with the community allows the police department to developed methods of targeting specific types of crime that for the most part can be reduced or eliminated by the activities of the community policing policies.

A representative for the Buckeye Community outreach programs states that by combining neighborhood watch programs and though constant communication with our neighbors homes are not as easily accessible to burglars. By being actively involved in preventing crime in our neighborhood citizens are encouraged to hold block meetings that aid in the apprehension of criminals by police enforcement.

These types of community oriented police programs, Community Partnership programs, suspicious crime activity hot lines, School Resource Officers, establish faith and non-faith drug prevention and education programs and forming Neighborhood Crime Watch associations are of no cost, they are free programs that mostly involved neighbors working together and by getting acquainted with police enforcement and community organization leaders. Community oriented policing is building block a sure way of making sure all neighbors are looking out for one’s property’s yours and your neighbors and safe wellbeing. But most importantly is a great method of getting the opportunity to learn more about effective crime prevention and learning more about crime prevention.

“When community police work is not maintained street people take over parks and other public areas and make them unusable by families “(Peak and Glender. 2004). Community Oriented Policing concepts and theories must be implemented within the police crime prevention departments and all local faith and non-faith community organizations. As responsible citizens we must accept and acknowledge that successful policing requires the active participation about solving our neighborhood crime problems. “Community policing, also acknowledges the dependence of police on citizens for information about the status of neighborhood problems and for help in solving crime” (Peak and Glender. 2004).  Community oriented policing is a great idea but, in states, “To be successful, community policing requires the total commitment of the five major groups: police; citizens and subgroups like business; media; political leaders; and social service agencies and other institutions of the community” (Peak and Glender. 2004). We have the option to decide how we choose to live, but we must accept that shared property, the practice of taking decisions is the responsibility of both police enforcement and the community.

Work Cited

Peak, Kenneth J., and Ronald W. Glensor. “Chapter 2: COPPS, Chapter 4: Crime Prevention.” Community Policing and Problem Solving Fifth Edition. Ed. Vernon R. Anthony. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2008. 39-101.