Community policing has shown to have multiple benefits for both local citizens and law enforcement in the activities to both prevent or respond to potential threats or disruptions. Despite the tenants of community policing being first introduced as far back as 30-40 years ago, only recently, in the light of backlash against the police, it is seeing greater implementation. I would argue that despite over 70% of departments having it in their mission, the actual percentage of implementation is much lower. It is truly difficult to pinpoint the exact percentage because departments across the country are at different stages (Gau & Paul, 2019). However, it is without a doubt gaining much more traction, and there are more counties joining in community policing. One of the major issues that remains a challenge for both existing and aspiring departments seeking this route is funding. It requires funding from local city, county, and state governments. This can be seen in a range of more ‘liberal’ geographical locations such as New York, California, Chicago, and Minneapolis, but still remains a barrier in conservative states. There are efforts at the federal level to provide funding to state programs and department grants, but these are insufficient.
Therefore, I would argue that we are not yet in the era of community policing. Unfortunately, it remains more of a secondary strategy, and across law enforcement, traditional policing continues to be the priority. Yes, more departments have community policing elements and programs, particularly in urban areas. Many departments are implementing concepts of community policing such as patrol officers, smart and predictive policing, communication, and others demonstrated in the book (Peak et al., 2018). This can be seen in multiple locations across the country, from Houston to Chicago to Eugene and Newark, where successful community policing has helped to reduce violence, provide opportunities for at-risk youth or repeat offenders, focusing on rehabilitation rather pursuing petty crimes, helping populations (Twyman, 2022). However, by all accounts, in very few places is community policing the main priority where the whole fundamentals and structure of law enforcement are oriented around it. In my community, I know there are efforts for community outreach and instigating various elements such as better communication, street patrols, and collaborative programs. That is why it is difficult to say that we are in the midst of the community policing era, but we are potentially on the advent of it as major reforms are starting to occur both locally at the grassroots level and bottom-up as well as from the federal top-down approach in terms of funding and policy.
The major barriers to implementing community policing can be narrowed to two-fold factors – officers and agencies resisting and resistance from communities due to mistrust. Police officers demonstrate resistance because they do not understand the concept or choose to oppose it subtly due to a clash with policing cultures. They potentially see such community assignments as derogatory or potentially ineffective, sometimes being more resource-intensive than traditional policing. Meanwhile, citizens are also struggling to understand the concept of community policing, viewing it as either a public relations stunt or mistrusting of police’s true intentions, some may see participation as a betrayal of local cultural values (Gau & Paul, 2019). Minority communities are particularly mistrusting, as many previous law enforcement policies such as ‘broken windows’ and ‘stop and frisk’ have been used as a pretext for abuse.
References
Gau, J. M., & Paul, N. D. (2019). Police officers’ role orientations. Policing: An International Journal, 42(5), 944–959. Web.
Peak K., Gaines L. K., & Glensor R. W. (2018). Managing and leading today’s police. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Web.
Twyman, S. (2022). Community policing: Reimagining public safety for the 21st century. Web.