Devaluation of community in favor of self-interest raises important questions about societal well-being. This research indicates that government agencies that concentrate their efforts on increasing the well-being of community have the potential for reversing citizen retreat into self-interest and at the same time closing the distance between citizensand government. This research also indicates that neighborhoods are a viable but not an exclusive avenue for connecting citizens to community. As a result, over-arching community goals and policy must provide the framework to guide neighborhood development policy. Although disenchantment with the media poses many challenges, the media must be involved in the illumination of community values and priorities.
The viability of local government-sponsored community development of poor ethnic enclaves hinges on the perceptions of residents. If residents view the enclave in which they live as their "community of choice," they will be more likely to join with local government to coproduce community improvement. Residents who see their enclave as their community of choice tend to hold positive perceptions of neighbors and neighborhood and are less fearful of crime. Conversely, those who see the enclave where they live as a "ghetto of last resort" commonly are not meeting their economic expectations, are uneasy about race related issues, and are concerned about the desirability of their neighborhood. Government should not employ a community development strategy to preserve a "ghetto of last resort" where most residents remain because they feel they have few options. The vast majority of the residents examined here view the enclave where they live as their community of choice.
Increasingly police departments throughout the United States are in transition between traditional and community-based law enforcement. Community policing is thought to increase effectiveness by engaging members of the community in the coproduction of public safety. At the same time, the nature of police activities naturally encourages the formation of bonds between officers. Although bonds between officers are helpful, organizationally, in many ways, these same bonds can also become barriers between police and the citizens they serve. This “bond-barrier" relationship is popularly referred to as the "thin blue line.” The effectiveness of community policing and the use of public safety dollars depends on changes in internal operations as well as the departmental interface with citizens. This paper uses the input of over 300 law enforcement officers to examine an agency in transition between traditional to community policing including the application of a systems approach to articulate transitional concerns. In addition, this paper develops a Satisfaction-Mission Expectation Classification System and uses it to examine law enforcement officers' perceptions of the organization and its environment.
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