Community Policing

Community policing refers to the process through which law is enforced by recruitment of a large enough team of community members to interact with and support the police force in identifying crime suspects and consequently lead to their arrest. This concept was introduced by the US government and this it did with an aim of bringing justice closer to the citizens and to consequently enhance security for all. The issue of community policing elicited a lot of debate within the US community and it was because of this that researchers and scholars have gained some interest into the issue. Research into this concept has shown that the philosophy of community policing has elicited some criticism from the same community that the government sought to protect. In fact, the concept of having police officials within estates, all eyes over law breakers, has made some people even more rebellious, all in the name of rejecting the idea. However, it is not all gloom because this department of national security has on the other hand experienced quite some tremendous success levels. For example, crime levels in the US have reportedly gone down over the years, compared to the years before the concept was introduced.  Social disorder and fear of crime have consequently been aligned into making the US community a better place to live in. The presence of police and community members as law enforcement figures throws many crime-committers into disarray (Ortmeier, 2008)

The philosophy of community policing is not yet at its prime and as a suggestion, there are three innovations to the concept that would impact successful implementation of community policing throughout the United States. These are:

Community Partnerships

Assuming all the stakeholders in a community came together and formed a partnership through which they would identify report and help arrest criminals, they would be doing some great justice to themselves because that way, they would be providing a solution to their own problems. Increase trust between the police and members of society, be they individuals or organizations, means a great pathway to the success of community policing. These partnerships can be created among government agencies, social service provides, media and private businesses, not leaving behind individuals (Ortmeier, 2008).

Organizational transformation

As the different structures within the community come into partnership, they all need to address the need for transformation, in that there needs to be an overhaul in the personnel, structure, channels of communication, management practices and information systems. This way, a culture of trust, quick response and mutual responsibility will be cultivated (Ortmeier, 2008).

The partners within the community policing concept need to come up with strategies for quick and efficient response to reported crime. This can best be achieved if they can come up with a SARA model of problem solving. This refers to scanning, analysis, response and assessment (Ortmeier, 2008). Community policing has come from far and it can still go far when it is given the attention it requires from all who are concerned.