Introduction
Community policing is the concept of working together between the police and communities. As Jarvenpaa and Majchrzak (2010) note, it is a new concept within the law enforcement department that seeks to incorporate communities into the mainstream policing services. As an innovative concept, community policing aims at reinventing the police force to be more people conscious in going about their work. As the society continues to integrate, the police force is no longer going to remain exclusive guardians to law and order. In essence, this concept brings all members of the society to partake of their oversight roles as their own keeper.
According to Jordan (2000), community policing embodies the society and its members as active players in combating crime to secure their neighbourhoods. Usually, the police officers in communities may not necessarily be members of those localities, the concept of community policing injects into the system people with hands on experience of the concerns of the immediate community. Generally, systems that nurture community policing ensure a more enhanced security structure thus rendering the safety of communities, which is usually the prime focus of police force.
Increasing the success chances of this innovation
Community policing as a concept has been successful in many areas; however, where the concept faces challenges, several options are available to increase the chances of its success. For community policing to be successful, it must seek to create stronger ties between the police and the community (Huq, Schulhofer & Tyler, 2011). Without stronger partnerships between these two forces, the concept faces systems failure.
Moreover, before this concept becomes a necessity, the community itself must first identify their needs, threats, concerns, and challenges that make it necessary to warrant community policing. In addition, making community policing to have its ideal impact in the communities, there has to be a robust channels for crime control and prevention. Besides, there has to be emphasis in making the communities recognise that their active role in making this concept a success is supreme. Finally, the police force must play their part in recognising that their services in securing safer neighbourhoods is a requisite; they have to reach out to individuals who are ready to assist in this programme (Jarvenpaa & Majchrzak, 2010).
There is a great need to bring awareness to various groups of members of the community, and the pivotal role of the police structure may need to undergo certain changes to make community policing attainable. Guaranteeing safer neighbourhoods is usually the preserve of community policing programmes. Therefore, communities and the police service have both opportunities and challenges from which they might learn and grow.
Factors that might increase the chances of failure
According to Jarvenpaa and Majchrzak (2010), successful community policing demand great levels of trust, usually, between the police and the community. Where there is inadequate or no trust, the concept is headed for systems failure. Trust as a value has the capacity to underline and bond the various components of the police- community partnership that makes this concept a success.
Other challenges that might impede the process of community policing entails lack of corporation from various groups, especially a community’s tendency in protecting the criminals. Too often, community policing has endeared the police officers to work in cahoots with the criminals, hence leading to a systems failure (Jordan, 2000). Related challenges often manifest themselves either within the police service unit or within the community, hence increasing the chances of failure.
Conclusion
Community policing is a successful and innovative law enforcement concept that has a working motif for both the police force and the community. For this concept to be factual and meaningful, the communities for which it is intended must first identify their emergent needs and concerns that this endeavour must meet and solve. On the other hand, community policing may prove a very difficult task especially when faced with numerous systems failure.
References
Huq, A., Schulhofer, S., & Tyler, T. (2011). American policing at a crossroads: Unsustainable policies and the procedural justice alternative. Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology, 101(2), 335-374.
Jarvenpaa, S., & Majchrzak, A. (2010). Safe contexts for inter organisational collaborations among homeland security professionals. Journal of Management Information Systems, 27(2), 55-86.
Jordan, W. (2000). Community policing or community politics? American Journal of Criminal Justice, 25(1), 93-105.