The term "community policing" is nebulous at best, and some will suggest there is no standard definition of community policing. Many have tried to define or describe it, and yet community policing remains a vague and intangible concept of a policing style that is utilized by communities across the world. Politicians and police leaders often support this ambiguous perspective because they can attach most anything to what they want community policing to be. In a strange way, it can be whatever you want it to be.
Cops wearing shorts? "See, we do community policing here." Cops on bikes? "That's our community policing program, too." Cops doing foot patrols? "Yep, that's community policing here as well."
With the exception of officers wearing shorts (really has nothing to do with community policing), bike patrols and foot beats can be a very small part of an overall implementation of a community policing strategy. Here in Lakeland the term "community policing" generally refers to a comprehensive philosophy of policing that incorporates three distinct elements:
- Traditional policing is the approach of handling calls for service, making arrests, writing traffic tickets, responding to emergencies, investigating crimes, etc. It is a very reactive form of policing.
- Collaborative partnerships with the entire community. These partnerships are not just relationships where officers know the residents and merchants in their beats, though that may be part of it. Partnerships involve a sharing of responsibility between the police and the residents to prevent crime and disorder in our community and a willingness to work together to accomplish this goal. This is a coactive form of policing.
- Proactive problem solving is the strategy of identifying the root causes of problems and seeking solutions rather than merely treating the symptoms of crime and disorder. Instead of continually responding to the same calls for service and utilizing traditional policing methods over and over again, problem solving seeks to find non-traditional responses to recurring problems and solving the problem. This a very proactive approach to policing.
So how does this define community policing in Lakeland? Everything we do is designed to accomplish these three broad goals; respond to crime, emergencies and disorder, develop effective collaborative partnerships with stakeholders throughout the community to help control crime and disorder, and then utilize these partnerships to identify the root causes of crime and disorder and develop solutions so as to prevent problems from returning.
We view all three elements of community policing to be the essential services we deliver to the community. Thus, community policing in Lakeland is based on a traditional style of policing but is expanded considerably to include collaborative partnerships and proactive problem-solving efforts.
Interested in learning more about community policing? Check out the COPS Office web site.
- Asst Chief Bill LePere
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