NCJ Number
106441
Journal
American Journal of Police Volume: 6 Issue: 1 Dated: (Spring 1987) Pages: 1-15
Date Published
1987
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This issue examines the many expectations for community policing and foot patrol programs that citizens, social scientists, and police managers have presented; judges the effectiveness of the programs; and clarifies some of the claims and counterclaims.
Abstract
In the 1950's and 1960's, police and community relations programs focused on encouraging community input and cooperation in regard to crime prevention services. The team concept grew through the 1970's to overcome growing deficiencies of preventive patrol and police-centered bureaucracy. In the 1980's, the police officer's role in community problemsolving, the maintenance of community order, and informal social control have been emphasized. Three papers in this volume examine the anticipated outcomes for foot patrol programs: reduction in crime, a more positive public assessment of the police, and strengthening of community bonds or the network of informal social control. The reallocation of police from patrol cars to foot patrol in Boston is analyzed. Introduction of a foot patrol in a medium-sized southeastern city is shown to reveal a steady decline in public order crimes in foot patrol areas with an increase in these crimes in other areas. Also discussed are neighborhoods in Israel which used neighborhood police officers and those which did not with the results showing that neighborhoods using these police demonstrated an improvement in attitude toward their communities but a decline in attitudes toward the police. A study of job satisfaction among police officers suggests that officers' attitudes toward the community, their role as agents of social control, and their sense of achievement can be influenced by participation in a community policing strategy. Tables and references.