Cooperative Policing: Bridging the Gap of Community Policing

• NCJ Number: 174234
• Journal: Police Chief Volume: 65 Issue: 7 Dated: July 1998 Pages: 53-54-59
• Author(s): L C Erickson
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 6 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article describes the development of "cooperative policing" in Oregon, which is a statewide approach to community policing that will enable law enforcement, public safety, and criminal justice agencies to cooperate at all governmental levels to implement problem-oriented and community policing.

Abstract

In the early 1990s in response to the need for more problem-oriented or community-oriented policing, Governor Barbara Roberts and the Oregon Legislature created a new Oregon Benchmark called, "The number of communities involved in a strategic plan for the development of community policing." This statewide benchmark focused on law enforcement agencies' productivity in providing crime prevention services at the city, county, and State levels. The governor assigned this benchmark to Oregon State Police Superintendent LeRon Howland, challenging the superintendent and his partners at the city, county, and State levels to improve community policing throughout the State. Under the direction of the State Attorney General, the public safety leaders developed the Public Safety Policy and Planning Council. For nearly 2 years, the leadership team worked to develop a strategic approach to improving police service delivery throughout the State. This approach is known today as "cooperative policing." In 1998 the Oregon State Police initiated a "Community-Based Resource Gap Analysis," which compared the needs within each community for State services and the State's ability to provide those services. With the gap between the community need and the current capacity to deliver those services identified, additional resources will be targeted and specific problem areas determined within the cooperative policing agreements with the city police departments, county sheriffs, and district attorneys. Additionally, communities expect they should be able to count on the delivery of specialized State services that each community cannot individually provide or afford to maintain.