Exploratory Study of the Extension of Local Empowerment Through Community Policing

• NCJ Number: 136955
• Author(s): K J Hansen
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 13 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examines how community policing groups are using nontraditional legal strategies, particularly civil and administrative laws, to fight crime and promote social well-being; whether any community-policing organizations are attempting to make any new laws to achieve this same goal; whether community-policing groups have attempted to use social legislation to effect changes; and whether any other community policing measures are achieving greater local empowerment.

Abstract

The data for this study were obtained from a series of nationwide telephone interviews with representatives of community-policing groups as well as pertinent literature sent by the persons interviewed. Among the dominant segments of law -- civil, administrative, and criminal -- the opportunities are great for local entities to improve supervision of their neighborhoods. Civil laws deal directly with "quality of life" issues; administrative laws are concerned with the delegation of authority to regulate local operations; and criminal laws are associated with arrest/prosecution proceedings. In recent years, it has been through creative efforts in the fields of civil and administrative law that communities are effectively fighting crime and improving their collective community life. Social laws are progressive; their purpose is to provide and promote that which is deemed basic to the development and well-being of the general populous. The community policing affiliates interviewed had different opinions on the concept of nontraditional legal strategies in general and social legislation in particular. Most of those interviewed regarded the strategies as "effective tools" to solve problems that would otherwise linger or escalate because of the slow and tedious nature of other adjudication processes. Community policing has attempted to transform the structure of government by extending local empowerment to new bounds and placing greater control of neighborhoods into the hands of communities themselves.