What is Community Policing?

Community Policing is a philosophy.  It is a partnership between law enforcement and the community working together to identify crime related problems, determining their root causes and then applying solutions which will permanently reduce or eliminate these problems.

When members of a community and law enforcement work together to improve the quality of life in that community, the benefits of Community Policing are realized.  Law Enforcement benefits by ending a recurring problem.  The citizens benefit from the improvement in their quality of life.  Those police officers and community members who participated in the solution receive the self-satisfaction which results from having addressed a problem and then arriving at a workable solution.

10 Principles of Community Policing

1. Community Policing is a community-based philosophy.  The direction of law enforcement comes more from listening to the citizens of the community about what concerns them than from law enforcement assumptions about what the community wants.

2. Community Policing focuses on creative problem-solving.  All persons involved are encouraged to look at the bigger picture to solve pattern or chronic problems.

3. Community Policing promotes the development of trust.  It emphasizes a direct working relationship between citizens and the police to develop the ownership of problems.

4. Community Policing establishes a broader role for each law enforcement member.  Each member serves as a liaison with the community and assists its citizens in solving community problems.

5. Community Policing stresses community involvement and emphasizes citizen participation in the provlem-solving process.  This means that the community must accept its responsibility to actively participate in problem-solving.  Community Policing acknowledges that the police cannot be successful without citizen assistance.

6. Community Policing is proactive, not reactive. Community Policing anticipates problems and prevents them from occurring or continuing.

7. Community Policing emphasizes providing help where it is needed most. Community Policing anticipated problems and prevents them from occurring or continuing.

8. Community Policing enhances traditional policing through interaction with the community.  Law enforcement will continue to respond to emergencies and perform in traditional capacities.  They will also explore a wide range of responses to community problems and ask for citizen assistance as part of the problem-solving process.

9. Community Policing involves everyone within a law enforcement agency.  Successful Community Policing is not limited to the patrol section; it is a change in the policing philosophy of the entire agency.

10. Community Policing personalizes law enforcement service.  Law enforcement members work directly with the citizens they serve to identify and prioritize problems, and to devise and implement problem-solving strategies.