Community Policing Strategies

• NCJ Number: 184354
• Author(s): National Institute Of Justice
• Date Published: November 1995
• Length: 2 pages
• Publication Series: NIJ Research Preview
• Agencies: NIJ

Annotation

This paper presents the results of a survey of law enforcement chief executives’ attitudes and perceptions about community policing.

Abstract

Almost half of the respondents had either implemented community policing or were in the process of doing so. Implementation was most likely to be reported by medium (50 or more personnel) and large (100 or more personnel) agencies. Community policing was most frequent in the West, followed by the South, Midwest, and Northeast. Benefits of community policing included fewer problems on issues of concern to citizens; improved physical environment in neighborhoods; more positive public attitudes toward law enforcement agencies; decreased potential for conflict between citizens and police; increased officer/deputy satisfaction; and reduced crime rates. As for potential negative consequences, 81 percent of the executives thought that crime might be displaced to a noncommunity policing area, 43 percent believed that responsiveness to calls for service would decline and 15 percent anticipated an increase in officer/deputy corruption. The paper briefly discusses the impact of community policing, implementation issues, operations of community policing agencies and implications.