Service Culture for the Implementation of Community Policing: A Case Study of the Malaysian Police

Abstract

Although a police service function is a key component of community policing, very few studies on service culture have been conducted, especially in the Royal Malaysian Police which has adopted and practised the concept of community policing since 1979. This study surveyed 297 Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan police officers regarding their attitudes toward the concept of service culture in their police force and the impact service culture has on community policing. Overall, the study's results show that Malaysian police support community policing and believe service culture is part of their police organisation. However, only two of the seven cultural values (internal communication and service orientation) were positively and significantly correlated with commitment to practising community policing. The study recommends proper training on community policing (particularly for police administrators and new recruits) and creation of relevant service culture conducive to the implementation of community policing.

Role reflections of police reservists: a study of volunteer reserve officers in Malaysia

“…In doing so, it fills research gaps in three areas. First, research into policing in Malaysia is at an early and nascent stage (Cheurprakobkit and Puthpongsiriporn, 2005; Sulaiman et al , 2013). Second, while the use of volunteers in policing has been historically common in many places (Sundeen and Siegel, 1986; Gill and Mawby, 1990; Bartels, 2014), according to Berg and Doerner (1988, p. 81), this is an “aspect of policing that has received little formal attention.” Nearly three decades later, Dobrin and Wolf (2017, p. 220) commented that, “Given this long history and significant participation, it is surprising how little is known about this aspect of policing.” Finally, this study focuses on how individual police reserve volunteers describe their roles as they reflect and perceive them and not based on externally imposed categorizations of their functions.…”