Police-community Partnerships Research Articles

Contemporary Community Policing and National Security in Nigeria

Crime has been identified as the most endemic problem affecting security in Nigeria. This was confirmed by the United Nations which listed Nigeria among the fifteen countries of the world that are most vulnerable to insecurity. Just like a natural disaster, crime and insecurity retard a nation’s progress. Thus, the amended 1999 Constitution of Nigeria prescribed a national police structure to maintain internal security for the country. Noting that its incident-driven policing approach has not provided adequate security for Nigeria, the police reinforced it with a police-community partnership paradigm. Even with this, frequent cases of bombings from Boko-Haram, brutal attacks on communities by herdsmen, kidnappings, killings and harvesting of human organs for money rituals among others have not reduced. The paper interrogated the challenges of contemporary community policing against national security in Nigeria and what should be done. It is an analytical-empirical paper whose data were sourced from relevant published materials and observation methods. The data were analysed through descriptive methods. Using the liberal structural conflict theory as a theoretical framework, community policing was found appropriate to deal with national security issues in Nigeria. However, among other challenges, the existing community policing was identified as incompatible with the present Nigerian political environment. Hence, it has failed to guarantee security in Nigeria. The paper concluded that community policing is central to the proper management of public security and recommended comprehensive community policing to deal with national security issues in the country.

Receptive-Productive Dynamics of US Evangelicals in Response to G. W. Bush’s Faith-Based and Community Initiatives’ Funding Programs

Faith-based organizations in the United States remain the primary shelter either for the indigent individuals seeking social help or for the government striving to reinforce its domestic policies. The aim of the present article is to investigate and assess the interrelation between religion and US politics via Evangelical faith-based organizations and government funding under G. W. Bush’s Faith-Based and Community Initiative policy. The question remains whether being an Evangelical organization prohibits from receiving government funds. The study examines three Evangelical organizations: Union Rescue Mission, East of the River Clergy Police Community Partnership, and the Salvation Army in their response for Faith-Based Organization’s programs naming: Compassion Capital Funds, Ready4Work, and Continuum of Care. The article argues that the three organizations received government funds during Bush’s two presidential terms. Union Rescue Mission and East of the River Clergy Police Community Partnership acted positively for Ready4Work program while the Salvation Army used Compassion Capital Funds and Continuum of Care funds in serving the needs of US citizens.

Public Safety Challenges Faced by Barangay Officers and Police: Towards a Stronger Policy Framework

This study examines public safety challenges and collaboration between Barangay Public Safety Officers and the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), aiming to enhance police-community partnerships and strengthen public safety measures in the National Capital Region. Using a descriptive-correlational research design, data were collected from 45 barangay public safety officers and 45 NCRPO police officers through questionnaires. The study explored correlations between identified challenges and the effectiveness of public safety measures to propose an improved policy framework. Findings reveal high effectiveness in current public safety measures, supported by excellent police service delivery, strong local executive backing, and robust community partnerships. Respondents, predominantly middle-aged male college graduates, consistently perceived public safety measures positively across demographic categories. However, critical challenges persist in community engagement, organizational support, and policing strategies, reflecting systemic issues common to other regions and departments. A perfect linear correlation was found between these challenges and the effectiveness of public safety measures, underscoring their direct impact on overall performance. The study emphasizes addressing these challenges to enhance public safety outcomes and foster stronger police-community collaborations, providing valuable insights for policy improvements in the NCR

The Resident or Community Partnership with Police in Addis Ababa City Administration

The future competition is anticipated to focus on Police Community Partnerships rather than physical material production in order to evaluate the Ethiopian community's participation in police member community partnership with police. This study was done to evaluate Police Community Partnerships procedures and issues specific to the Ethiopian population. The following particular goals were created: 432 police officers were chosen by the researchers using a scientific manner out of a total population of 13755 in order to evaluate the community partnership with police practices of police officers. The data was acquired using basic random sampling and purposeful sampling procedures, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyses both the quantitative and qualitative data. The main conclusions were that there were insufficient human resources, financial resources, and competent and accountable selectors. Additionally, there were insufficient background checks, physical and psychological examinations, assessments of applicants' potential for leadership, and the use of appropriate performance evaluation methods. According to the research team's recommendations, the Ethiopian community should work with all regional and local police commissioners, develop clear policies and standards, assign enough human resources, fulfil an adequate budget, and reject informal hiring practices. By working with accountable organizations, the Ethiopian community seeks to create a positive public impression of police officers, government support, and community perception to cooperate with all stakeholders during recruiting and selection.

Front porch roll calls: an innovative approach to community-oriented policing in Saginaw, MI

PurposeThis study aims to evaluate a promising community-oriented policing strategy called “front porch roll call” (FPRC), which involves conducting roll calls in public forums.Design/methodology/approachA mixed methods approach was used by drawing on survey data, field observations and qualitative interviews to describe how FPRCs were implemented in Saginaw, MI from 2019 to 2022, and how they can be successfully implemented to operate in accordance with the theoretical foundations of community-oriented policing.FindingsSurvey data from FPRC attendees reported improvements in their perceptions of police legitimacy, trust in the police and procedural fairness—each of which are vital pathways to developing collaborative crime prevention initiatives in community-oriented policing. Qualitative interviews and field observations provided unique insights into areas of improvement and ways to enhance sustainability for future use.Originality/valueCommunity-oriented policing offers a philosophical approach to addressing crime problems through the formation of localized, collaborative solutions that come from police-community partnerships. A key implementation challenge is that such programs can fail to align their initiatives with the theoretical principles of community policing. FPRCs offer an innovative solution that operates closely with the spirit of community-oriented policing. Data from a mixed-methods evaluation provide further insights into their challenges with implementation and ways to improve upon them.

Police-Community Partnerships and Community Relation Promotion in Rwanda National Police (RNP): The Case of Nyaruguru District

The purpose of this study was to determine the role of Police-community partnerships in promoting community relations with a case of three sectors, which are Nyabimata, Ruheru, and Muganza that were selected from the list of 14 sectors in Nyaruguru district. The study objectives were; to determine the role of information sharing between RNP and Community in promoting community relations, to examine how the fight against gender-based violence by RNP has promoted community relations, and to explore the role of a fight against organized crimes by RNP in promoting community relations in the selected three sectors of Nyaruguru district. The study applied mixed methods, which consisted of quantitative and qualitative methods to collect and analyze data. Data was collected from a sample size of 384 community members, 6 local leaders, and 15 police officers using questionnaires and interviews respectively. For data analysis, descriptive and inferential were used that consisted of frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviation, correlation, and regression for quantitative data, and content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data from interviews. Findings revealed that there was a negative significant correlation between police-community information sharing and community relations (r= -200** P= 0.05) and a positive significant correlation between Police fight against GBV and community relations (r= 0.136**P= 0.05). There was no significant correlation between Police fight against organized crimes and community relations (r= -010**P= 0.05). The value of adjusted R-square is 0.0336 meaning that all the independent variables included in the model explained 33.6% of the dependent variable, which is community relations indicating that the model adequately fits the data. The strength of the model is further reconfirmed by ANOVA which indicates that P-value of 0.000 at a 95% level of significance. Therefore, it is concluded that police-community partnerships significantly influence community relations in the Nyaruguru district. The study recommended based on regression findings that the police should continue engaging in various community partnerships aimed at promoting community relations. Keywords: Police-Community Partnerships, Community Relation Promotion, Rwanda National Police, Rwanda

Policing and community safety in northern Canadian communities: challenges and opportunities for crime prevention

Although there is an emerging body of research literature on rural policing, less is known about policing in small communities in Canada’s territories populated largely by Indigenous peoples. These communities are often situated in geographically isolated areas, are subjected to harsh weather conditions, and may experience high rates of crime and disorder. Drawing on interviews conducted with RCMP officers in the two Canadian territories of Yukon and Nunavut, this paper examines the dynamics of policing in northern communities and how these might affect efforts to create sustainable, effective crime prevention initiatives. The findings reveal that geographic isolation, social problems, and history of distrust of the police, combined with the structure through which police services are delivered, present significant challenges to the development and sustainability of crime prevention initiatives. The unique environments of northern communities, however, also provide opportunities for the creation of police–community partnerships built on mutual trust that can provide the basis for effective crime prevention programs.

Changing the Narrative: Police–Community Partnerships and Racial Reconciliation

Police–community relations are strained in the United States, especially along racial lines. This paper assesses community perceptions of crime and the police before and after the implementation of an intervention aimed at eliminating overt drug markets through focused deterrence and police–community partnerships emphasizing racial reconciliation. Mail surveys were sent to every household living within a two-mile radius of the block group where the intervention took place and we estimate differences-in-differences OLS models to examine whether the intervention changed perceptions of crime and police trust and legitimacy. Relative to non-black respondents, black respondents perceived a reduction in non-violent crimes and disorder as well as less racial profiling after the intervention; these results are robust to a number of robustness checks. We did not observe a change with respect to perceptions of police effectiveness, fairness, or other measures of police legitimacy.

Determining barriers to creating an enabling environment in Cambodia: results from a baseline study with key populations and police.

IntroductionCambodian law enforcement's limited acceptance of harm reduction has hindered HIV program effectiveness. With funding from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, FHI 360 supported the Ministry of Interior to implement the Police Community Partnership Initiative (PCPI) in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh. To guide this, FHI 360 conducted a baseline study examining police and key populations’ attitudes and practices towards one another, including fear and occurrence of arrest.MethodsBetween December 2012 and January 2013, a cross-sectional survey of 199 police post officers, 199 people who use drugs (PWUD) including people who inject drugs (PWID), 199 men who have sex with men (MSM), 200 transgender women (TGW) and 200 female entertainment workers (FEW) was conducted in five Phnom Penh districts. Eligible participants were ≥18 years, members of a key population from selected hotspots or police officers, deputy chiefs or chiefs.ResultsKey populations’ median age was 25 years (IQR: 22–30); 40% had completed only primary school. Police were male (99.5%), with median age 43 years (IQR: 30 to 47), and 45 and 25% high school and university completion rates, respectively. Key populations feared arrest for carrying needles and syringes (67%), condoms (23%) and 19% felt afraid to access health services. Close to 75% of police reported body searching and 58% arresting key populations in the past six months for using drugs (64%), selling or distributing drugs (36%) or being violent (13%). Self-reported arrests (23% PWUD, 6% MSM, 6% TGW, 12% FEW; p<0.05), being verbally threatened (45% PWUD, 21% MSM, 25% TGW, 27% FEW; p<0.001) and body searched (44% PWUD, 28% MSM, 23% TGW, 8% FEW; p<0.001) was significantly higher among PWUD than other key populations. The majority (94%) of police believed arrest was an appropriate solution to reduce HIV and drug use and reported selling sex (88%) and carrying needles and syringes (55%) as valid reasons for arrest.ConclusionsKey populations’ fear of accessing harm reduction and health services and police's negative attitudes and practices towards key populations present major barriers to HIV prevention efforts in Cambodia. To create an enabling environment and ensure police are allies in the Cambodian HIV response, interventions should tackle underlying negative attitudes among police towards key populations and vice versa.

Varieties of Participatory Security: Assessing Community Participation in Policing in Latin America

SummaryThe language of community and societal participation in the context of crime prevention has become ubiquitous throughout Latin America, as governments increasingly turn to police–community partnerships as a means of addressing the seemingly intractable problems of rising crime and insecurity. But to what extent has such “participatory security” had any influence on the capacity of the state to provide security? I argue that in order to understand whether and how these participatory instruments shape what police actually do, we must look to variation in institutional design and how community participation operates in practice. I develop a typology of participatory security that considers how different institutional features may differentially affect police and other state agencies by alternatively serving as channels for the flow of information and oversight mechanisms or simply as a tool for improving the police's image. Drawing on evidence from participatory security institutions in Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia, I illustrate the impact of institutional design on police and state capacity to provide security. I conclude by considering the unintended consequences of institutional design, including the degree of police resistance that different institutional models will generate. This opposition, may, in turn, affect the durability of the participatory institution. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Assessing police–community relationships: is there a gap in perceptions between police officers and residents?

ABSTRACTThe notion that community residents are key players responsible for the well-being of the larger society has become a cornerstone of approaches to modern policing in democratic societies. That is, residents partner with police to help maintain social order. An essential element of successful implementation of any programme is communication and understanding between various parties in the partnership. In this paper, we examine whether there is congruence between police officers and residents in how they perceive their relationships on various dimensions of police–community relations. These dimensions include residents’ respect for police and their willingness to cooperate in various community-policing activities. Using survey data collected in 2011 from a larger project with a national sample of 581 Slovenian police officers and 959 residents, we analyse both groups’ perceptions of community support of and willingness to partner with police officers. Results show that, on the one hand, residents appeared to have respect and confidence in police and were willing to cooperate with police officers in various crime prevention and community-policing activities. On the other hand, we find police officers’ perceptions of residents’ willingness to cooperate with the police ranked lower than residents’ reflections on these matters. On many of the dimensions of police–community partnerships, residents appeared more willing to cooperate and support the police compared to what officers perceived of residents’ willingness. This research identifies a gap in perceptions of citizen support of the police between Slovenian residents and police officers, which has to be bridged to make community policing more effective.

Revisiting “Measuring What Matters

The job of the police has become increasingly complex as the role of the police has expanded to incorporate new responsibilities ranging from the creation of police-community partnerships to dealing with mentally ill persons in more humane and effective ways. It is no longer enough to measure response time, arrests, and clearance rates. Police managers need to know whether their agencies have the confidence of the community, whether members of the public believe that they are being treated fairly when they request services or when they are stopped by an officer, whether leadership is creating a positive work environment and culture of integrity, and whether services are being provided in a cost-efficient manner. In this article, we give a short history of performance measures for policing. We then describe a project that is attempting to develop a standardized suite of performance measures that are well tested, reliable, inexpensive, and easy to use. Field-tests found that the producing this richer set of performance measures is feasible for a diverse set of police agencies.

PENINGKATAN PERAN FORUM KEMITRAAN POLISI MASYARAKAT (FKPM) DALAM PENCEGAHAN TINDAK PIDANA

The purpose of this paper is to improve role of police community partnership forum (FKPM) in the prevention of crime. Methodology approach in this study uses an empirical- juridical approach, because the scope of the research is to study law in action. A prevention effort of criminal act not only as police responsibility but also as society responsibility entirely. To develop a partnership between police and society, it is formed community policing model (Perpolisian Masyarakat/ Polmas) as regulated in Decree of Indonesia Chief Police No. Skep/737/X/2005 on Policies and Implementation Strategy of Community Policing Model in Police Duties. In other words, Indonesia police move or empowering the people (pemberdayaan masyarakat) in order to motivate the rising power of the people themselves for performing functions of the police. Idea of alternative police also can be called as an attempt for empowering the society to create security function in their surroundings.

Building group capacity for problem solving and police–community partnerships through survey feedback and training: a randomized control trial within Chicago’s community policing program

To examine whether group capacity for problem solving and partnership building could be enhanced at police–community meetings by providing the results from community surveys and training for group facilitators. A randomized control trial was conducted in 51 police beats in Chicago’s community policing program, CAPS. Unlike control beats, results from web-based community surveys were provided at beat meetings in the feedback and training beats, with facilitators in training beats also receiving training and exercises to guide problem solving about survey results. Analysis included OLS and logistic regression of data from questionnaires administered to police and resident participants, as well as observations at beat meetings, which measured resident capacity, attitudes about the police–community partnership, and problem-solving activities. Support for hypothesized effects was found with greater resident confidence in their ability to achieve outcomes and solve local problems, as well as officers viewing their relationships with residents at beat meetings more favorably. Effects, however, were inconsistent and limited to the feedback group. While additional training and support provided in training beats indicated fuller engagement in problem solving, possible negative effects on attitudes were observed. Failure to find more effects is discussed in terms of implementation and resistance. Officer resistance to and a shift in organizational priorities away from community policing worked against achieving full program implementation. The beat meeting context provided a traditional framework for police–resident interactions that precluded more comprehensive use of community data and possibly heightened dissatisfaction with the level of problem solving that occurred.

The village/commune safety policy and HIV prevention efforts among key affected populations in Cambodia: finding a balance

The Village/Commune Safety Policy was launched by the Ministry of Interior of the Kingdom of Cambodia in 2010 and, due to a priority focus on “cleaning the streets”, has created difficulties for HIV prevention programs attempting to implement programs that work with key affected populations including female sex workers and people who inject drugs. The implementation of the policy has forced HIV program implementers, the UN and various government counterparts to explore and develop collaborative ways of delivering HIV prevention services within this difficult environment. The following case study explores some of these efforts and highlights the promising development of a Police Community Partnership Initiative that it is hoped will find a meaningful balance between the Village/Commune Safety Policy and HIV prevention efforts with key affected populations in Cambodia.

Responding to officers’ gendered experiences through community policing and improving police accountability to citizens

This paper sets out to evaluate the potential for community policing (CP) to produce changes in gender equality in police agencies. To that end, the author evaluates if tenets of CP can create the necessary organizational and ideological changes required to move toward a post‐gendered subjectivity in the work experiences of officers. If so, then CP tactics could be the start of changes of how traditional policing serves communities, opening a police–community partnership toward significant social change.

Citizen Willingness to Participate in Police-Community Partnerships: Exploring the Influence of Race and Neighborhood Context

Since community policing emerged in the 1970s and 1980s, it has been common for police departments to use police—community partnerships as a strategy for improving public satisfaction with the police. Yet very little is known about what predicts citizen willingness to participate in these types of community policing initiatives. In this study, the authors use the results of an anonymous mailed survey ( n = 16,193) conducted in a large Western city to examine individual and community-level relationships between race/ethnicity and willingness to work with the police in a community anticrime initiative. Contrary to previous research, but consistent with Blumer’s group position thesis, African Americans who responded to the survey report a greater willingness to work with the police than do White respondents. Neighborhood-level variables show mixed results, with concentrated disadvantage having a minor statistical effect on increasing citizen willingness to participate in partnership initiatives. The discussion considers the theoretical, methodological, and policy implications of these observed differences.

Community policing in post-war Mozambique

Central to the post-conflict democratic transition in Mozambique, there have been attempts to reform the national police in accordance with the rule of law and human rights. From 2000, failures to democratise the police during the 1990s led to the introduction of community policing, which, it was promised, could engender ‘a new culture of security’ of police–community partnerships, citizen inclusion and accountable state policing. This article explores how state-initiated community policing was implemented in a rural former war-zone. Based on ethnographic fieldwork it asks what local versions of community policing means for everyday policing practices and where this is taking police–citizen relations. It shows that community policing was principally used by the local police to expand state police outreach and reassert sovereign authority by outsourcing extra-legal tasks to young men. The result is reconfigured forms of physical and symbolic police violence, which reproduce significant elements of past paramilitary policing cultures.

Community Policing and Latin America's Citizen Security Crisis

Over the past two decades, violent crime has reached record levels throughout the developing world. In Latin America, where a 41 percent rise in homicides in the 1990s has made it the world's deadliest region,1 citizen security has become a major priority in national polls and has contributed to the collapse of five elected governments since 2000. 2 In response, states have pursued a variety of reforms, ranging from new penal codes to restructured police forces. The most promising and popular approach to crime reduction is community-oriented policing (COP), which, in contrast to most forms of traditional policing, focuses on the causes of crime by empowering citizens, building police-community partnerships, and better using crime statistics.3 Although research on Latin American citizen security has expanded, it has fallen short in four respects. First, most studies focus on specific reforms without examining the political relationships that determine reform design and operation. Second, by situating itself within human rights debates, the literature tends to portray policing as a problem to be solved rather than as a part of governance to be developed and managed.4 Third, scholars and policymakers tend to oversimplify state-society relations in reform efforts. Finally, most studies of Latin American security reform examine specific cases and neglect cross-national analytical frameworks.5 With greater attention to these dimensions, this article explains why some reforms have succeeded when others have failed through a systematic study of community policing programs in two cities in Brazil and four in Honduras. The study shows that three independent variables - political commitment, police cooperation, and societal incorporation - determine programs' success, as measured by three dependent variables crime rate, police abuse, and citizen participation.6 In research on democratic consolidation, as well as on citizen security, greater attention should be paid to the interactions of policymakers, bureaucrats, and society. Officials' commitment to a policy must be evaluated not only based on measurements such as budgets, but by the results of specific actions taken to implement reforms. Since many policies do not show short-term results and are affected by conditions beyond policymakers' control, the process in which citizens participate and develop confidence may indicate success as much as objective criteria such as crime rates. Programs that prioritize engaging society are most likely to lead to real changes. In addition, critical to positive outcomes are mediating actors that can build civic institutions to articulate and deliver

Citizens, Cops, and Power: Recognizing the Limits of Community. by Steve Herbert. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. Pp. 180. $40.00 cloth; $16.00 paper.

Citizens, Cops, and Power: Recognizing the Limits of Community. By Steve Herbert. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. Pp. 180. $40.00 cloth; $16.00 paper. Reviewed by Mathieu Deflem, University of South Carolina Everybody knows about community policing, but nobody really knows what it is, let alone what it accomplishes. As Herbert reveals in this short book, even those directly involved-the police and their citizens-hold conflicting ideas about community policing and its constituent elements. The general narrative is simple: community policing involves improved relations between police departments and citizens in order to fight more effectively the crime problems that affect localized communities. Through community policing, informal and formal controls join hands through a partnership between the citizens in a community and the professional agents of crime control. Yet underneath the facade of the community policing rhetoric lies a complex normative and sociological realty, the basic contours of which are usefully examined in this work. Herbert's book is based on qualitative research involving interviews and observations of police officers and community participants in three police beat regions in West Seattle (Washington State). The regional police beats are diverse in terms of their demographic and socioeconomic structure and crime rates. The research is theoretically framed around the discourse on community in political philosophy and, in confrontation therewith, the reality of community perceptions held by citizens. The main thesis of Herbert's study is that the notion of community is unbearably light in that it cannot effectively hold the policy responsibilities it is meant to fulfill and because the police apparatus remains unresponsive to the community, even when a partnership is formed. At least two central problems are revealed in the police-community partnership: citizen involvement comes disproportionately from upper-middle-class strata, and the police are generally reluctant to take the wishes of the community into account. In this sense, this work shows that there is little if any community in community policing. On a conceptual level, Herbert argues, community is not only difficult to grasp but also differently understood in political philosophy, on the one hand, and among citizens, on the other. Political thinkers conceive of community in either liberal or collectivist terms, but always assign to it an unquestionably desirable quality, typically from the viewpoint of a decentralized conception of governance. Therefore, community policing has become the definitive strategy to reduce distance between the police and the citizenry by devolving authority from central power to localized self-determination. Herbert's research, however, shows that citizens do not conceive of community in such idealized terms. …