NCJ Number
181382
Editor(s)
Geoffrey P. Alpert,
Alex Piquero
Date Published
1998
Length
464 pages
Annotation
These 22 articles review and analyze aspects of community policing that have received particular attention from academicians and practitioners, with emphasis on historical and conceptual frameworks, the challenges for police officers trying to carry out community policing, practitioners' experiences, and future directions.
Abstract
Individual papers examine the potential, basic requirements, meaning, and assumptions of community policing; the concept of broken windows as a crime prevention strategy; the philosophical, strategic, tactical, and organizational dimensions of community policing; and differences between traditional policing and community policing. Additional papers present research finding on the impact of community policing in a public housing setting, public attitudes toward police in Los Angeles, a Chicago program, the effect of the police on the control of crime and disorder, the community policing reform movement, and performance measures of community policing. Further articles present the perspectives of practitioners in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) and Savannah, Georgia; a police chief's discussion of the role of police administrators; and other practitioners' views on the need for organizational change and change in performance evaluations as agencies move to community policing. The final section presents articles related to the future of community policing and focus on the importance of neighborhood variations to the role of policing, the theories underlying problem solving and community policing, public support for intensive police efforts that target guns, the risks and rewards associated with the restructuring of policing in a democratic society, organizational change, and public attitudes toward police. Figures, tables, chapter reference lists, and index