Community Policing

Abstract

Community policing is a general law enforcement philosophy and practice which centers on (i) quality relations between the police and the public and (ii) joint efforts between the police and the public to control crime and social disorder. During the early to mid‐twentieth century police administrators relied upon scientific managerial methods which focused on efficient and standardized police responses to the situations the police were called upon to handle. The police sought to control crime by means of routine patrol, rapid response to emergency calls, and specialized investigative units dedicated to serious felonies. When these methods proved ineffective against the rapid escalation of crime that began in the 1960s and continued throughout the next couple of decades, the police sought to develop a new approach. The end result was community policing.