Community-oriented policing to reduce crime, disorder and fear and increase satisfaction and legitimacy among citizens: a systematic review

Abstract

Objectives Systematically review and synthesize the existing research on communityoriented policing to identify its effects on crime, disorder, fear, citizen satisfaction, and police legitimacy. Methods We searched a broad range of databases, websites, and journals to identify eligible studies that measured pre-post changes in outcomes in treatment and comparison areas following the implementation of policing strategies that involved community collaboration or consultation. We identified 25 reports containing 65 independent tests of community-oriented policing, most of which were conducted in neighborhoods in the United States. Thirty-seven of these comparisons were included in a meta-analysis. Results Our findings suggest that community-oriented policing strategies have positive effects on citizen satisfaction, perceptions of disorder, and police legitimacy, but limited effects on crime and fear of crime. Conclusions Our review provides important evidence for the benefits of community policing for improving perceptions of the police, although our findings overall are ambiguous. The challenges we faced in conducting this review highlight a need for J Exp Criminol further research and theory development around community policing. In particular, there is a need to explicate and test a logic model that explains how short-term benefits of community policing, like improved citizen satisfaction, relate to longer-term crime prevention effects, and to identify the policing strategies that benefit most from community participation.

Citizen participation in the police domain: The role of citizens’ attitude and morality

“…While traditional forms of policing rely on responsive control, in which only the police are responsible for fighting crime, a more recent police philosophy called community policing focuses on the cooperation between the police and the community (Gill et al., 2014; Kerstholt, De Vries, & Mente, 2015). Community policing comprises three key elements: organizational transformation, problem solving, and citizen participation.…”

Influence of Community Policing on Incidences of Criminal Activities in Low Income Areas of Nakuru Town, Kenya

“…According to Gill (2014), the researchers, based at George Mason University, Arizona State University, Hebrew University and the University of South Wales in 2014 in their book "CommunityOriented Policing to Reduce Crime, Disorder and Fear and Increase Satisfaction and Legitimacy among Citizens: A Systematic Review,sought to better understand the effects of community policing on crime, disorder, fear, and citizen satisfaction with and trust in the police. In 27 of the 65 comparisons where official crime outcomes were analyzed, community policing was associated with 5% to 10% greater odds of reduced crime.…”

Towards a framework for preventing community violence among youth

“…While this strategy has moderate crime benefits, problemand community-oriented applications demonstrated stronger results, without triggering community resistance, than aggressive 'zero tolerance' versions (Braga, Welsh, & Schnell, 2015). Community policing leverages partnerships with residents and the community in order to reduce crime and disorder, but surprisingly has little discernable impact on crime and violence, although it did positively affect citizen satisfaction, perceptions of disorder, and police legitimacy (Gill, Weisburd, Telep, Vitter, & Bennett, 2014).…”