NCJ Number
165965
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 24 Issue: 6 Dated: (1996) Pages: 491-502
Date Published
1996
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Rather than imposing a definitive image of community, this article on community policing focuses on everyday strategies of police-community interaction based on culturally diverse values that any form of community involvement must consider and that promote social order.
Abstract
One of the most serious obstacles to appreciating the complexity of routine social interaction is the historical preoccupation with the nature of police-citizen interaction. Due to this obstacle, many attempts to characterize community police officers as integrated into the community falter. Very real differences will continue to exist as police officers and citizens fulfill roles that are not interchangeable. The extent to which community policing can contribute to social order depends on a willingness to reconceptualize the routine business of role-based social interaction. Police work places police officers in the middle of many existing and developing social tensions, and both police officers and citizens need to understand critical aspects of routine social interaction in order to face the deeper challenge of rethinking social order. The author concludes that many difficulties affecting community policing have their roots in problems related to the practical achievement of community life itself. 42 references and 3 notes