Free Essays on Community Policing

Within the inner cities and places known to certain people as â€Å"the hood,†there has always been an area of dislike when it came to law enforcement officials. The people that I grew up with and around have always had a certain level of intolerance when it came to the cop vehicles that rode the streets at night, and the officers that were seen during the day. It never mattered how much crime took place within those areas, because the trust for police officers was smaller than the trust held by the criminals within that area. My parents have often held a certain dislike for law enforcement, seeing them as a necessity for certain situations, but the overall reaction towards them has continued to be the same. Cops are simply not trusted within black neighborhoods. This topic brings about a host of questions. Why is that? What can be done? How can this lack of trust be changed, if it can be at all? And this leads me to my subject matter. Within the course of our class, we have talked about a multiple of things that had to do with management within the Criminal Justice field. We have covered everything from courts, to lawyers, to management of prisons and jails. We have looked at how things are run at local, state and federal levels and the topics that most interested me were the ones on community relations and programs. Because I do have family members, friends, and peers alike, who hold law enforcement agents in such low regard, I decided focus my paper on policing black neighborhoods and how to establish a working relationship with those within that community. Since we were to focus on something that management would be a part of I felt that this was something that needed to be researched. Looking back on the history of how things have been in some neighborhoods, it’s not difficult to understand why certain people have distrust for the system at large. Since the beginning of the whole civil rights struggle in the 60’s there has... Free Essays on Community Policing Free Essays on Community Policing The movement toward community policing has gained a lot of strength in recent years. Police and community leaders search for more effective ways to increase the extent of awareness of public safety and the quality of life in their communities. We have accepted community policing in one police department after another, and agree community policing provides hope for the future of law enforcement. We can trace community policing back to Sir Robert Peel, the father of the modern police system, who said, "the police is the public and the public are the police"(Braiden). Community policing is the philosophy of policing supported by a number of principles to find the combination of agreement and accord where people live and work. It is this philosophy that attempts to refocus the essence of policing to a â€Å"Law Enforcement philosophy that tries to do two things: first bring police officers and citizens together in neighborhoods and second give the police responsibility for solving pro blems in the community† (Wilson). Community policing involves three elements; community partnership, problem solving and police culture. This pursuit can take many forms such as preventing and reducing crime and the fear of crime. Community policing encourages residents as well as police officers to get involved in the task of making the community safer. By making this effort the community has a greater chance to resist crime, reduce fear and attain a peaceful and secure place to live together. The first element of community policing is community partnership. Police must form partnerships with the residents, the private sector and government officials. Community partnership means adopting a police perspective that is above the normal emphasis on law enforcement. This may include individuals as well as organizations or agencies that share a common goal; shares responsibility, resources, rewards and risks and includes citizens of the local community and re... Free Essays on Community Policing Within the inner cities and places known to certain people as â€Å"the hood,†there has always been an area of dislike when it came to law enforcement officials. The people that I grew up with and around have always had a certain level of intolerance when it came to the cop vehicles that rode the streets at night, and the officers that were seen during the day. It never mattered how much crime took place within those areas, because the trust for police officers was smaller than the trust held by the criminals within that area. My parents have often held a certain dislike for law enforcement, seeing them as a necessity for certain situations, but the overall reaction towards them has continued to be the same. Cops are simply not trusted within black neighborhoods. This topic brings about a host of questions. Why is that? What can be done? How can this lack of trust be changed, if it can be at all? And this leads me to my subject matter. Within the course of our class, we have talked about a multiple of things that had to do with management within the Criminal Justice field. We have covered everything from courts, to lawyers, to management of prisons and jails. We have looked at how things are run at local, state and federal levels and the topics that most interested me were the ones on community relations and programs. Because I do have family members, friends, and peers alike, who hold law enforcement agents in such low regard, I decided focus my paper on policing black neighborhoods and how to establish a working relationship with those within that community. Since we were to focus on something that management would be a part of I felt that this was something that needed to be researched. Looking back on the history of how things have been in some neighborhoods, it’s not difficult to understand why certain people have distrust for the system at large. Since the beginning of the whole civil rights struggle in the 60’s there has...