Chapter 2

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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This portion contains literature and related studies of the topic.

Police-community relation is the sum total of all dealings of the police with the

people it serves and those goodwill and cooperation it craves for to insure the greatest

possible efficiency in public service (Tradio 1986).

These means that police-community relation covers the entire field of public

information designed to bridge any communication gap between the police and the

public. It also intends to maintain harmony and mutual support between the police and

community development and insure and facilitate the attainment of police objectives by

conditioning both friendly and hostile public.

Since police-community relation helps bridge any communication gap between

the police and community, the ultimate objective of the PCR is to influence the opinions,

emotions, attitudes and behavior of the public so that they will behave in a manner

beneficial to the police and to solicit public support in order to make it easier for them to

accomplish their task successfully.

Community partnership

The collaborations are beneficial to both the police and the community. One of

the most important reasons for law enforcement agencies to form alliances with
community organizations is to attempt to reduce crime and improve quality of life for

members of the community. For example, Community Oriented Policing is being

practiced in many jurisdictions. According to Morabito (2010), in COP partnerships,

citizens are considered "co-producers of public safety" (p.570). These collaborations, she

states, are designed to develop the community as a partner against criminal activity

(pp.565-566).

Technology also plays a role in community partnerships. Community

crime mapping helps agencies identify and analyze problems which can lead to long term

solutions (Hickman & Reaves, 2001, p.9). Regional data sharing partnerships tend to

work better when there is a common goal beyond sharing data such as solving a specific,

local crime problem. In order to be effective, technology such as GIS mapping systems

need to be used by all of the contributing agencies It is helpful to craft a written

agreement between the law enforcement and public agencies involved in data sharing

partnerships to combat confidentiality issues and establish problem-solving intentions.

Because regional data sharing across jurisdictions can be met with obstacles, it is often

more productive to concentrate only on partnerships within one jurisdiction to solve local

problems (Boba et al, 2009, p.29).

The amount of information exchanged between police agencies and citizens is

important to the success of any community policing program and the public’s willingness

to cooperate is evident by the amount of information citizens are giving police officers

regarding crimes occurring within their neighborhoods (Wells, Schafer, Varano, &
Bynum, 2006, p.525). Wehrman & DeAngelis (2011), suggest the underlying goals of

police-community partnerships should be seeking out ways for police departments to

build stronger relationships with their communities. This can be done through gaining

residents’ confidence in the police, which will in turn create more willingness to work

with police in anticrime initiatives.

Community service

These are activities whereby police engage in pro-social activities to enhance the

well-being of the community beyond law enforcement and order maintenance. Police are

obliged to provide a policing service which has to be efficient and effective often referred

as service orientation. It is described in the works of Trojanowicz and Bucqueroux

(2006). There must be equity in service delivery‟. This means a principle in the delivery

of police service recognizes that all citizens will have to receive effective police service,

regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs, income, sexual preferences, and

other differences. Service orientation further explained by St. Petersburg police

department (2011), as to be service oriented is to be other oriented' not in the sense of

sacrificing your needs for someone else, but rather in consideration of needs that are

inclusive of both yours and others. It is a win-win proposition. To serve is to seek to

include rather than to exclude. It is the awareness of and respect for diversity, individual

differences, and basic human rights.

The police should serve the community by ensuring that police activities were

driven by responding to the needs and desires of the community, rather than the interests
of police managers; developing closer relations with the public would restore popular

support for the police; Improve public relations would also have the effect of improving

the police’s ability to control crime, as it would improve the flow of local intelligence

that is crucial in solving crime; community policing is also important in that, it is

constitutive of one of the key trends in reconfiguration of the social control apparatus,

whereby the engagement of community has been promoted as a key mechanism for the

delivery of enhanced levels of control (Innes,2003:67-8).

According to this contention, with the police no longer the sole guardians of law

and order, all members of the community would have to become active allies in the effort

to enhance the safety and quality of neighborhoods. The implementation of community

policing ideological framework requires focusing on issues of crime and social disorder

through the delivery of police services. This includes aspects of traditional law

enforcement, as well as prevention, problem solving, community engagement and

partnerships (U.S Department of Justice, 2008:1). The strategy calls for a police-

community partnership and collaboration in crime fighting activities to ensure

community safety.

Community policing

Community policing philosophy encourages law enforcement agencies to pursue

actively and develop meaningful relationships with the people they serve. These

relationships help cultivate trust and understanding between the police and the

community, making possible more effective law enforcement responses to crime and
other public safety concerns. Community policing is effective when agencies work in

partnership with the people whose neighborhoods they work (Yasso & Shah, 2012, p. 1).

Hunter (2010) pointed out that the term “police-community relations” has often

been ambiguously defined in empirical research, yet it is frequently used in the literature.

When referring to police-community relations, scholars have also interchangeably used

the term “community policing.” Though community policing is a strategy used to

promote positive police-community relations, it is not enough to accurately or

comprehensively capture the broader concept of “police-community relations.” One

working definition identified two important features of police-community relations as

those that are (a) continuous and not constant and (b) multifaceted, including both the

positive and negative aspects of policing (Headley, 2018, p. 39).

In the past, the community’s involvement in law enforcement efforts has been

limited. However, many policing agencies are learning that community members can be a

valuable source of support and information. Citizens can provide the police with insight

into the specific crime problems occurring within their neighborhoods and aid officers in

their investigations. The collaborations are beneficial to both the police and the

community (Portland State University Criminology and Criminal Justice Senior

Capstone, 2011, p. 3).

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