Community Policing Defined - Essay Sample

Have you ever come across a sign in the neighborhood which read Neighborhood Watch. This is one example of community policing.The community policing era began a long time ago in the united states. This was as a result of increased crime and reduced trust in police. The disorder within the community has a negative impact on the community since some individuals end up living in fear and cannot walk freely on the streets or go to a job. Community policing have been defined in various ways. First, community policing is coming together of individuals to and from a traditional police force to make their neighborhood safer and minimize crime (Karn,2013). Second, community policing is, where the similar police officer works and patrols in a certain region on a permanent foundation. The police always operate from a decentralized place and they usually closely work together with the local community to combat crimes. Third, the community policing is a law enforcement program whereby police officers are frequently using bicycles in a certain region to work with the citizens from that area in combating crimes (Chalfin & McCrary, 2013). Fourth, community policing can be defined as a new philosophy of policing that based on the notion that local police residents and the police working together in inventive ways to assist in solving current community problems related to fear, crime and physical disorder. Lastly, community policing is a policy strategy for fostering trust in a certain community with the intention of enhancing crime prevention whereby officers hold frequent meetings with community organization and patrol on foot or bikes to developing a personal relationship with the residents (Weisburd & Eck, 2004).Partnerships

The efficient partnership between law enforcement and community stakeholders are vital to public safety. It is therefore essential for law enforcing agencies and community groups to embrace the safety of the public a shared responsibility. The member of the community and law enforcement requires enhancing positive working relationship to establish long-lasting solutions and increase trust between police and the residents. There is a various partnership in community policing. For example, there is a partnership between police and supervision agencies that help every entity in maximizing its capability in managing probationers and parolees in the community in a manner that manner which maintains public safety and the well-being of the community (Machin & Marie, 2005). However, community policing faces some challenges. For instance, some of the locals might end pretending to be part of the community policing group, but in a real sense, they are the one collaborating with the criminals in that particular region.Therefore it is hard to identify such individuals, and their work is to collect intelligence and report to the criminal groups (Weisburd & Eck, 2004).

There has been a pressing need to try and understand if there is any relationship between drugs and crime A few definitional notes are in order. While interpreting the scopes as committed by drug dealers, such violence perpetrated to acquire or defend individuals selling drugs. The increased demand that underpins the drug is a necessary precondition distribution and production of the drug. When there is no demand for drugs, there is no supply of drug industry and therefore no related crimes. There are various characteristics interventions and prevention of crime. For instance, there is environmental crime prevention a tactic that changes certain characteristics of the environment which might cause criminal event (Sacco, 2014). There is situation crime prevention that is based on the premise that crime is often opportunistic and tries to limit the probabilities for the offender to participate in criminal activities.

As law agencies try to fight crime within the community, schools are also experiencing crime and violence. There are various causes of violence and crimes in most of our schools. First, there are personality causes. The personality of some children predisposes some of their personalities to rule-violative behavior in schools. There is also social-cultural causes whereby it is perceived that schools contain a higher number of violence-prone emotionally disturbed children. Another cause is a family environment. Even though families are needed problems that children face, the society we are living in today makes it difficult for parents to fulfill the need of children. Lastly, there is an environmental influence (Fuchs,2008). Race and culture and quantifiable essentials have frequently been singled out publicly as a risk factor that contributes to anti-social activities such as drinking and smoking among others.

There are various prevention programs to find out that best fits the need (Sacco, 2014). The schools should consider the structure that identifies how the program is organized and constructed. The structure should address the type of the program, audience and the setting. Various programs have been shown to efficient in preventing the use of drugs in school. First, there should be school-based programs which are the primary approach. There are family-based programs, and lastly, there is media and computer technology programs which have demonstrated to be effective in recent years in reaching allot off of individuals. The future education and drug prevention programs will focus on providing education to children when they're young and teach them appropriately the moral and immoral behavior in our society (Clark,2011).

The School and Crime Prevention, Specific Deterrence and IncapacitationSpecific Deterrence and Incapacitation

According to the national center for education, there has been an increased rate of crimes in united states. The nature of crimes that continues to be experienced include rape, sexual assault, robbery, murder and aggravated assault. However, the trend continues to reduce due to various initiatives that have been put by law enforcing agencies.

First, there is a continued use of deterrence to reduce the increased rate of crimes. Deterrence is the use threat to deter individuals from offending. The idea of deterrence has two major assumptions: the first one is that particular punishment imposed o offender will prevent them from committing more crimes. The second assumption is that fear of punishment will deter others from committing same crimes. The difference can be divided into three different categories, and one of them is specific categories. Specific deterrence is a method of punishment in the criminal justice system with the intention of discouraging criminal behavior in a certain people individual convicted of carrying out a criminal offense Glaeser & Sacerdote, 2000). The main objectives of specific deterrence have influenced the individual that committed an offense from breaking the law again. For example, specific deterrence dictates that if a serial killer receives a harsh sentence of twenty years in prison, the person will be less likely to commit same crime when he eventually gets out. Incapacitation has been used in as a way of preventing crime since the offender is removed from the society to prevent him from participating in a different crime.

Incapacitation refers to the restriction of a persons freedom and liberties that they can normally have within the community. Incapacitation is the response used when an individual has committed a crime within the criminal justice. When the convicted offender is incapacitated, the person is prevented from committing future crimes since he is removed from the society and locked up (Glaeser & Sacerdote, 2000).Second electronic monitoring has been and continues to be used in tracking offenders. Use of Electronic Monitoring in the past two decades, electronic monitoring of offenders has been used, and the motive for using it remains diverse. Some law enforcing agencies use electronic monitoring to reduce overcrowding in prisons while others want to deliver humane and inexpensive sanctions. However, the use of EM aims to suppress the criminal behavior of the offender by ensuring that the offender is monitored when using electronic monitoring. House arrest or house detention under electronic monitoring is an alternative to detention. In this case, the use of electronic monitoring aims at monitoring the presence of the offender in their homes or specified placed places of custody during a particular period. The offender in this situation might be an individual who has been arrested and freed on bond or a detainee who is released conditionally. The electronic monitoring is designed in such a way that it emits warning in real-time basis if the offender leaves the permitted premises beyond what is allowable to them within the terms of their house arrest (Renzema & Mayo-Wilson, 2005). Restorative Justice

Third, restorative justices have also acted as a way of preventing the increased rate of crimes and drug use. Restorative justice focuses on repairing the damage that has already been experienced as a result of criminal behavior. It is best achieved if there is collaboration within the community whereby stakeholder can come together to ensure that the entire community remains one. Restorative justice views crime as a more than breaking the law as it also causes harm to people, relationships, and the entire society. As such, the approach personalizes the crime by having the offender and the victim to mediate a restitution agreement until everyone is satisfied and at the same time, involving the community. In this approach, individuals that are affected by crime need to come out and address that crime. Even though lawmakers might have secondary responsibilities in facilitating the restorative justice process, it is the citizens who play a major role in making sure that the pain caused by the crime is healed (Maiese,2004).

Furthermore, there have been initiatives of ensuring that addicted offenders are helped to recover such as the use of drug courts. Drug courts are judiciary supervised court docket which provides a sentencing option of treatment that is combined with supervision for individuals staying with serious use of the substance. The courts are problem-solving which take public health approach by using specialized model whereby social service, law enforcement, and community work together (Sacco,2014).

Problems of minority

There have been major disparities in the extent of involvement of minority group especially the blacks as compared to whites in the juvenile system. There is increased racial disproportionate racial representation in the judicial system raises a lot of question. Some issues have linked with the presence of minority groups in criminal justice system. For instance, there is an issue with racial discrimination which permeates all aspects of American society. As such, more blacks are most likely to be arrested as compared to other races. It is also evident that policing takes place at higher levels in minority groups and that individuals are targeted much more frequently in racial profiling.

References Chalfin, A., & McCrary, J. (2013). The effect of police on crime: New evidence from US cities, 1960-2010 (No. w18815). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Clark, S. L. (2011). Factors related to school violence victimization: the role of extracurricular activities. The University of Iowa.

Fuchs, M. (2008). Impact of school context on violence at schools. International Journal on Violence and Schools, 7.

Glaeser, E. L., & Sacerdote, B. (2000). The determinants of punishment: Deterrence, incapacitation. And vengeance. Working Paper 7676, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA. Google Sch...