Contemporary Strategies in Policing

Content

  • Understanding the impact and importance of community policing

  • Discuss problem oriented policing, along with criticisms

  • Review innovations in policing strategies

Community Policing

  • Community-oriented policing (COP) - a philosophy based on the belief that law-abiding citizens should have input with respect to policing

  • Ultimately, this philosophy believes citizens should have input

    • COP has many forms.

      • Police-community reciprocity.

      • Areal decentralization of command

      • Reorientation of patrol

      • Civilianization

  • COP requires philosophical and operational changes = turning tradition policing practices upside down.

    • Several principles form basis for transformation

      • Law-abiding citizens should have input

      • Development of Community Policing Officers

      • Proactive approach

  • Compare and contrast the underlying tenets of both traditional and community-based styles of policing:

    • New way of thinking about police role in the community

    • Patrol officers are best positioned to address social problems

    • Practice problem-oriented policing as part of COP strategy

  • The LEMAS Survey

    • Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics.

    • In 2016, 7 in 10 departments included community policing.

    • Policing evolving into strategic management era.

      • U.S. population increasingly diverse. Many migrants and people of color skeptical of police

      • Based on the practice of computer-generated crime data and a resulting convergence of police management, technology, strategy, and community involvement.

    • Homeland security era evolved after 9/11.

      • Redefining of the police mission, extending the involvement, and information gathering and sharing.

Problem-Oriented

  • Problem-oriented policing (POP) is a strategy focusing on community problems.

    • Defines as a department-wide strategy aimed at solving persistent community problems, with an emphasis on strategy that distinguishes it from COP; while COP is a holistic approach to policing, POP is a strategy for solving problems.

  • People want police to solve problems.

    • involves defining problems officers encounter and develops solutions.

      • problem-solving known as SARA model involves defining the problems officers encounter, gathering information concerning them (frequency, seriousness, duration, location), and developing creative solutions

  • Problems become the basic unit of police work.

  • Officers aim to identify root causes.

  • Requires input form residents of the community.

  • Some community-police issues are best addressed through unique thinking

    • Solution-oriented policing (SOP): focuses on the fact that some community-police issues are best addressed through the development of unique approaches or thinking outside the box; closely related strategy that was named as an extension of POP

Research on Community & POP

  • Mixed research results on COP and POP

    • Research revealed challenges.

      • Special units distrusted by other officers

      • Some officers felt they had little input

      • Fear of retaliation

    • Research also finds community reports better relationships with police

  • Citizen complains in POP neighborhoods decreased

  • Problem-solving approaches have produced significant crime reduction

  • Residents more likely to participate when collaborative strategies were used.

  • many strategies in COP do not lead to reduction in serious crime

Criticisms of CP & Effect of the Pandemic

  • In 2017, approximately. 81 percent of population was served by community policing

  • During COVOID-19 pandemic, community policing became limited.

    • However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, community policing efforts took a step backward, as one emperical study found that 73% of the surveyed police agencies limited community-oriented police activities early in the pandemic.

  • Community policing efforts have increased, but some question its worth.

    • As the effects of the pandemic recede, community policing efforts have increased, yet some have raised questions about the overall worth of community policing.

  • Rhetoric Versus Practice

    • Critics say departments embrace rhetoric rather than philosophy or practice.

    • Considerable enthusiasm but little substance.

    • Critical need for community involvement.

    • Many unaware of COP activities.

    • COP may work best where it is least needed

  • Crime Reduction

    • Empirical evidence is mixed.

    • Some evidence indicates crime is not reduced

    • Other research shows modest impacts on crime.

    • Methodology of studies of COP and POP have been relatively poor.

  • Costs

    • COP offers no longer perform patrols

    • Department budgets have to be increased

    • Some departments have managed costs by rearranging priorities.

    • President Biden has proposed increasing federal contributions to COP

  • Corruption

    • Permanent assignment of officers with independence enhances changes of corruption.

    • COP officers are known by the community, which hinders corruption.

      • COP officers work closely with members of the community, often in the setting of a community forum, and are all well known on the streets, hindering opportunity for corruption

The Current Status of COP &POP

  • Many strategies engage basic COP and POP principles

  • Changes in policing now requires more cooperation from the public than in the past

  • Police must rely on the eyes and ears of the public for information

    • To be effective in the contemporary world, the police must rely more than ever on the eyes and ears of the public for the information they need to accomplish their tasks

Innovations in Policing Strategies

  • Innovations in policing can be loosely grouped into categories.

    • CompStat, intelligence-led policing, evidence-based policing, and hot-spot policing.

  • Other strategies that aren’t part of these categories exist.

    • Directed patrol, situational crime prevention, pulling levers policing, and broken windows policing

  • Evaluating effectiveness takes time and resources.

  • Crime rates are influences by a complex mix of factors

  • Research design continues to evolve

    • three common dimensions of crime prevention:

      • Nature of the target

      • proactive or reactive

      • Specificity of the strategy

    • Proactive, place-based, and specific approaches appear more promising

  • Information Innovations: CompStat

    • Crime Control Model (CompStat)

      • the New York Police Department’s Crime Control Model (CompStat) is a multifaceted system used to administer police operations and was the first information innovation in modern police work.

    • Continuous analysis of results for improvement.

    • Process is to collect, analyze, and map crime data

    • Not enough evidence to determine effectiveness

  • Information Innovations: Intelligence-Led Policing

    • Information-gathering process

    • Provides central intelligence mechanism to facilitate decision making

    • Focuses on threats and relies on community relationships

    • Implementation is a challenge for most agencies

  • Information Innovations: Evidence-Based Policing

    • Involves scientific method of discovery

    • Uses the best available research

    • Aims to effectively incorporate practices to prevent crime

    • Research is important part of decision-making

  • Patrol Response Policing: Directed Patrol

    • Increasing police presence in a specific area

    • Saturates high crime areas.

    • Directed patrols can focus officers on specific individuals and places

    • Research results are mixed

  • Patrol Response Policing: Differential Response Policing

    • Classifies calls by seriousness

    • Can increase time available for patrol

    • Use of community service officers

    • CSOs are non-sworn employers who perform work not requiring a sworn officer

  • Patrol Response Policing: Saturation Patrol and Crackdowns

    • Adds patrol officers to a specific area

    • targeted toward specific type of violation

    • Meant to prevent criminal activities, reduce fear

    • Immediate crime prevention benefits are likely.

Saturation patrol : adds patrol officers to a specific area to increase police visibility

Crackdown: refers to an increase in the number of police targeted toward a specific type of law violation

  • Changing Up the Environment: Situational Crime Prevention (SCP)

    • Reduces crime opportunities and increases risks to offenders.

    • Successful in reducing crime rates

    • Mixed findings about crime displacement

  • Changing Up the Environment: Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design

    • target-hardening strategies

    • Mixed research findings

    • Successful strategies must be situation specific.

  • Collaboration and Organization

    • Pulling levelrs policing focuses attention on small number of chronis offenders.

      • Pulling Levers Policing: Also known as deterrence strategy; focuses attention on a small number of chronic offenders responsible

    • Continual direct communication with these offenders.

    • Significantly reduced homicides, particularly gang-related

  • Policing Processes: Broken Windows

    • Known as zero-tolerance policing

    • Alleged success sin New York City

    • Maintenance of property suggests a stake in the neighborhood.

    • Little evidence for practical success

Procedural Justice policing

  • Just treatment by police is a foundational necessity

  • Administrators must pay attention to public judgements.

    • Procedural justice model

      • Based on empirical research demonstrating that compliance with the law and willingness to cooperate with enforcement efforts are shaped primarily by the strength of citizens’ beliefs that law enforcement agencies are legitimate

  • Notion of procedural justice is critical to strategies that require public support.

  • Research is still fairly new and evolving

  • Implementation is far from universal