Custom essays on Community Based Policing: More Than Just Law and Order

Policing is an activity that is not carried out in isolation. All the disparate aspects of policing those individual officers are called upon — from issuing parking tickets to thwarting crimes — impact and involve other institutions and processes. The workshop discussed how a community based police reform program fits in with, and can contribute significantly to advancing, a variety of security, social, and developmental objectives and agendas.
Community based policing and security sector reform
External actors pick and choose which parts of security sector reform (SSR) they carry out without necessarily seeing how these elements are linked and interrelated. Although at a policy level, the police are considered an integral element of the security sector, this synergy between the two is rare at the level of implementation (Brown 1989).
For many donors, SSR remains a primarily military concern, deprioritizing policing. Policing is also sometimes in a different institutional ‘silo’, which presents an institutional barrier to actual coordination. Greater synergy between the reform processes towards the various institutions that make up the security sector would be beneficial.
Community-based policing, the rule of law, good governance, and human rights
To be effective police reform must link other criminal justice institutions. The entry point to the justice system and the part in closest contact with the public, a fair, competent, non-discriminatory, and respectful police is integral to upholding the rule of law. Along with courts and the correctional service, the police are an essential part of the ‘triad’ of institutions needed to make a justice system run effectively (Mani 2002). Experience suggests that positive impacts to one of this triad of institutions will be nullified without similar concentration on other institutions.
Community-based policing, development, and poverty reduction
Community based police reform can contribute to a wider poverty reduction strategy. Several donor agencies and governments have recognized the links between security, development, and poverty reduction. High levels of crime stifle development in any community — businesses become the victims of crime, commercial activities (including those of the informal sector) are interrupted, and outside investment leaves.
The poor and marginalized also suffer disproportionately from the effects of crime and violence. They lack adequate protection from corrupt or dysfunctional security institutions. The poor are also often marginalized when it comes to political or social structures and are likely to have very little influence over the policies and programs that affect their daily lives.
Community based policing, through its partnership approach, aims to ensure that the safety and security needs of all groups in a particular community are addressed. In this way, the police can facilitate all people’s access to justice, regardless of their social or economic status. Addressing local needs while effectively combating crime improves safety and security, and strengthens the conditions for development to take place.
Community based policing and stemming small arms proliferation
Controlling the accessibility and spreading of small arms and light weapons (SALW) is vital in the effort to increase community safety, the aim of community based policing. However, citizens will only be willing to hand over firearms in their possession if they perceive an improvement in society security and safety and if they have some kind of trust in the police and other security agencies. This is where community based policing can play an important role in amplification SALW initiatives. So, if there is mutual understanding, trust and a good working relationship between the police and the community, it will be much easier for the police to receive information about arms (Riechers 1990).
So, the community based policing is a kind of partnership between the police and the community, which involves sharing the delivery of some police services. It involves the strategy of problem oriented policing and uses different tactics, depending on the problem being solved. Some of the tactics which can be involved are: decentralization, shared responsibilities for community issues, community consultation, recent management concepts, various types of responses to calls for service, numerous crime prevention programs, proactive service delivery and other. Community based policing is an important and necessary part of community life, which has all prerequisites for further development and spread in society.
References

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