Community Policing: To Serve, Protect, and Solve Problems, Part I

To contact us Click HERE
Whenthe public hears the term “community policing,” they envision a cop on the beatwho knows the local shop owners and is familiar with the residents in town. Thebeat cop sees and hears everything, knows the routine of the townspeople, andexercises discretion for minor offenses. When police departments deploycommunity policing strategies, they see the same things as the public does, buttheir intentions go deeper. Their focus is on developing relationships with civicleaders to gain a better understanding of the needs of the public, identifyingcrime trends, and preventing law-breaking. Although various departments definecommunity policing in different ways, the concept is not new, and certain agencies– in particular housing authority police departments – are models of communitypolicing. In order to appreciate the difference between standard police modeland community policing, it is important to define both and to illustrate thedifferences. Thestandard police model (TheDisparity Between Traditional and Community Policing)is a regimented and relatively anonymous, uniformed force which responds tonine-one-one initiated calls for police assistance and focuses on bothpreventing crime, solving past crimes, and “ordermaintenance,” also referred to as “keepingthe peace.” Officers patrol in marked cars or on foot and concentrateon arresting offenders and upholding the law. Contact with the public isconsistent with the motto: “To Protect and Serve,” (ThePeelian Principles), and is typically the result of a “reactivepolicing” philosophy. Officers have little leeway, and themandate for the department to enforce the law comes from the “coercivepower of the law” to gain control. Communitypolicing is a different concept which has other names (Community-OrientatedPolicing, Problem Orientated Policing), and has slightly varyingdefinitions, but boils down to the police department serving the community bygetting more deeply involved in their problems and involving outside agencies.An officer is given wide-discretion to implement strategies and ideas, whileworking with businesses, community organizations, and individuals to addresscrime and quality of life issues. By engaging and interacting with shop owners,housing associations, and youth groups, police learn the specific problemsrelated to a neighborhood and are able to call upon municipal, charitable, orpolice resources to address the community’s concerns. In addition, citizensfeel empowered to report issues to police due to the buildup of trust throughregular contact and communication. Theconcept of community policing can best be demonstrated by the practices ofhousing authority police departments throughout the country. Directly servingthe residents of public housing, police officers interact daily with tenantgroups, community organizers, and individual residents. Officers are able toaccess the resources of the housing authority for assistance with issuesranging from criminal activity, to noise, to out-of-service elevators. In manyareas, the police act as front-line representatives of government. Theresourcefulness of street officers, combined with a service-orientateddepartment focusing on community needs, fills the void where other cityagencies may be lacking. Community policing is not limited to housing policeagencies, but the model is best illustrated by agencies serving public housingdue the physical and organizational structure of each public housingdevelopment. Individually, they are their own communities with their own uniqueproblems, and housing police units employing community policing methods arebest able to provide security for these locations.End of Part I
About the Author: Michael J. Kannengieser is the author of the police thriller, The Daddy Rock. He is a retired New York City police officer who lives on Long Island with his wife and two children. Michael worked as the Managing Editor for Fiction at The View from Here magazine, a U.K. based literary publication. Currently, he is employed at a performing arts college as an Instructional Technology Administrator. He has been published at The View from Here, and in Newsday, a Long Island newspaper. Michael is a contributor to Criminal Justice News. Click Here to buy a copy of Michael J. Kannengieser's new novel "The Daddy Rock."


The February 22, 2013, episode ofAmerican Heroes Radio features a conversation between Michael J. Kannengieser,a retired NYPD police officer and the host, Raymond E. Foster, a retired LAPDLieutenant, on the similarities and differences between NYPD and LAPD oncommunity policing.
Program Date: February 22, 2013Program Time: 1500 hours, PACIFICTopic: LAPD to NYPD: CommunityPolicingRSVP Via Facebook Event:  http://www.facebook.com/events/201293246678287