Building Police/Community Relations through Virtual Communities

2011 ◽  
pp. 421-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan A. Baim
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Web Sites ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Community Oriented Policing ◽  
Police Community Relations

Over the past two decades, police departments around the globe have been involved in a slow, but steady transition from call-based policing to community-oriented policing. The former approach, while effective at closing cases once a crime has occurred, does little to develop crime prevention partnerships between officers on the beat and the citizens of local communities. Community-oriented policing serves to increase awareness of issues and potential problems before they occur, thus assisting police departments to provide a more proactive approach to stopping crime within their communities. One of the greatest difficulties in developing effective community-oriented policing programs is establishing solid, two-way communications links between police officers and the populations that they serve. Information flow to the police and suggestions back to the citizenry often fall victim to the same constraints—lack of time to interact effectively and lack of a ready-made mechanism to deliver the information in a timely manner. To reduce or eliminate these constraints, interactive police department Web sites and virtual communities (that involve both police officers and citizens) can provide actionable and measurable performance increases in the efficiencies and the effectiveness of community-oriented policing efforts. Although the IT hardware, software, and design expertise needed to create interactive Web sites and virtual communities are readily available, online efforts at community-oriented policing will remain more of a theoretical interest than a broad-scale application until police departments truly understand the needs and the wants of the citizens within their local communities. This article explores a service-learning approach for use in a university classroom that combines IT applications with current research practices in the use of citizen satisfaction surveys conducted for local police departments. Examples are drawn from three primary-based research studies involving police departments that are turning away from call-based policing practices and proactively moving toward community- oriented policing practices.

Development of Interactive Web Sites to Enhance Police/Community Relations

2003 ◽  
pp. 233-250
Author(s):  
Susan A. Baim
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Citizen Satisfaction ◽  
Community Oriented Policing ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Police Community Relations ◽  
Future Citizen

This chapter discusses research conducted to determine the feasibility of introducing police Web sites and virtual communities as new tools in the move toward community-oriented policing. Using citizen satisfaction surveys designed to evaluate police department performance in three Ohio cities, a profile of future citizen expectations regarding interactions with the police is constructed. Based on differences in the demographics of the cities’ populations, probabilities of success in implementing online communications with the police are assigned. A model for establishing a virtual community for the Trenton, Ohio Police is explored in light of the survey results and established community-oriented policing theory.

Building Police/Community Relations through Virtual Communities

2005 ◽  
pp. 318-324
Author(s):  
Susan A. Baim
Keyword(s):  
Crime Prevention ◽  
Virtual Communities ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Proactive Approach ◽  
The Past ◽  
Community Oriented Policing ◽  
Potential Problems ◽  
Police Community Relations

Over the past two decades, police departments around the globe have been involved in a slow, but steady transition from call-based policing to community-oriented policing. The former approach, while effective at closing cases once a crime has occurred, does little to develop crime prevention partnerships between officers on the beat and the citizens of local communities. Community-oriented policing serves to increase awareness of issues and potential problems before they occur, thus assisting police departments to provide a more proactive approach to stopping crime within their communities.

scholarly journals Are College-Educated Police Officers Different? A Study of Stops, Searches, and Arrests

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Rosenfeld ◽  
Thaddeus L. Johnson ◽  
Richard Wright
Keyword(s):  
Urban Communities ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Performance Criteria ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Police Departments ◽  
Police Community Relations ◽  
Primary Basis ◽  
Traditional Performance ◽  
College Educated

A study of more than 60,000 police traffic stops found that college-educated officers were more likely than other officers to stop drivers for less serious violations, perform consent searches, and make arrests on discretionary grounds. These results are consistent with those of prior research indicating that college-educated officers are more achievement-oriented and eager for advancement based on the traditional performance criteria of stops, searches, and arrests. The results raise questions regarding the recommendation of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing to improve police-community relations by hiring more college-educated police officers, especially in urban communities where concerns about over-policing are widespread. If community engagement were to become a primary basis for professional advancement, however, the current results suggest that college-educated officers may adapt to the new standards as diligently as they have to the traditional criteria for reward and promotion in U.S. police departments.

VOICES: a theory-driven intervention for improving relationships between police and the public

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shawn Hill ◽  
Howard Giles ◽  
Edward R. Maguire
Keyword(s):  
Intergroup Contact ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Causal Inferences ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Quasi Experimental ◽  
Police Community Relations ◽  
Survey Responses

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe a theory-driven intervention called VOICES that was developed to improve police-community relations. The intervention was designed based on principles derived from social psychological theories of intergroup contact and communication.Design/methodology/approachThe authors discuss the theoretical basis for the intervention, as well as its development and implementation in the Santa Barbara Police Department. Based on this pilot testing, the authors provide preliminary evidence about its effectiveness using survey responses and qualitative feedback provided by participants.FindingsAlthough the case study method used here does not allow for causal inferences about the effectiveness of the intervention, the limited evidence the authors present does suggest that participants found VOICES useful and it may have improved their perceptions of police. The next step will be to test this intervention using experimental or quasi-experimental methods that allow for causal inferences about effectiveness.Originality/valueThe paper shows how police can develop theory-driven interventions in an effort to improve trust between police and the public, including communities in which relationships with police have been historically strained. It also underscores how insights from the study of intergroup contact and communication can benefit policing.

#BlackLivesMatter: Remembering Mark Duggan and David Oluwale in Contemporary British Plays

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-86
Author(s):  
Lynette Goddard
Keyword(s):  
Black Men ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Political Rhetoric ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Inner Cities ◽  
History Of ◽  
Police Shooting ◽  
Police Community Relations ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis paper examines two British plays that respond to cases in which the police have been implicated in the deaths of black men. Gillian Slovo’s The Riots (Tricycle Theatre, 2011) uses interviews from witnesses and politicians to dissect the events leading up to and during the Tottenham riots that followed in the wake of the fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan by police on 4 August 2011 and spread to other inner cities in England over the following five nights. I examine how the first half portrays the local community’s concerns and locates the breakout of riots within a longer history of tense police-community relations in Tottenham, whereas the second half focuses on the political rhetoric surrounding the spread of rioting throughout England, which means that Mark Duggan disappears from the narrative. Oladipo Agboluaje’s adaptation of Kester Aspden’s The Hounding of David Oluwale (Eclipse Theatre, 2009) effectively uses dramatic strategies to remember the life of 38-year old Nigerian David Oluwale whose body was retrieved from the River Aire in Leeds on 4 May 1969 after allegedly last seen being chased towards the river by two police officers two weeks earlier. I explore the effectiveness of both plays as memorializations of black lives and consider how they contribute to ongoing debates about the relationship between black men and the police in Britain. #BlackLivesMatter #BlackPlaysMatter

Community perceptions: procedural justice, legitimacy and body-worn cameras

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-509
Author(s):  
Paige S. Thompson ◽  
Bryce E. Peterson ◽  
Daniel S. Lawrence
Keyword(s):  
Procedural Justice ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Police Department ◽  
Community Member ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Milwaukee Police Department ◽  
Police Community Relations

PurposeThis paper explores community members' perceptions of the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD)'s body-worn camera (BWC) program, examining knowledge and support of the program and its impact on views of procedural justice and legitimacy.Design/methodology/approachA two-wave, online survey was administered to Milwaukee-area residents in the fall of 2017 and summer of 2018, yielding 1,527 respondents. Multivariate regression analyses focus on overall relationships between sociodemographic characteristics, community member knowledge of the program, procedural justice and legitimacy and support for BWCs.FindingsCommunity members are supportive of BWCs and view officers as procedurally just and legitimate; however, perceptions were significantly lower among Black respondents. Respondents with knowledge of the BWC program were more likely to view officers as procedurally just, but program knowledge did not increase support for it.Research limitations/implicationsPolice agencies may benefit from improving community awareness of their BWC program as knowledge of the program is positively linked to the views of departmental procedural justice and legitimacy. However, education efforts alone are not sufficient in improving police–community relations. Future research should examine how policing stakeholders can engage the community to build views of legitimacy associated with BWC policies.Originality/valueFindings provide insight into community member perceptions of a large BWC program in a major US city. Results demonstrate the relationship between knowledge of a department's BWC program and views of procedural justice and legitimacy and support for BWCs.

Police officers’ attitudes toward citizen advisory councils

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 418-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Nix ◽  
Scott E. Wolfe ◽  
Brandon Tregle
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Justice ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Advisory Council ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Public Scrutiny ◽  
Police Community Relations ◽  
Line Level

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents of sheriff deputies’ perceived legitimacy of their agency’s citizen advisory council (CAC). Design/methodology/approach The authors obtained survey data from 567 sheriff deputies in a southeastern state. The authors first asked whether respondents knew their agency had a CAC, and then asked those who responded affirmatively a series of questions about the legitimacy of the council. The authors then ran an ordinary least squares regression that included organizational justice, self-legitimacy and public scrutiny as independent variables predicting perceived legitimacy of the CAC. Findings Deputies who perceived greater organizational justice from command staff were significantly more likely to perceive the CAC as legitimate. Originality/value In response to strained police/community relations, reform advocates have urged the police to embrace a more democratic style of policing, including allowing for more citizen oversight of agencies. The study sheds light on how line-level officers perceive such oversight.

The Police in the Middle of the Conflict

1969 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 387-392
Author(s):  
David W. Craig
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Work ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Selection Methods ◽  
Sophisticated Equipment ◽  
Police Community Relations

The key to real support of the police is to be found in the development of enhanced competence among police officers. The truly competent policeman performs effectively despite the diffi culties which stem from recent constitutional interpretations issued by the courts. Competency is more important than philos ophy in police-community relations. The development and im plementation of competency in police work depends upon scien tific recruit-selection methods, broad support of higher eduration of police, freeing police from irrelevant duties, and the wize use of more sophisticated equipment.

scholarly journals How the interplay between organisational ‘culture’ and ‘climate’ shapes police officers’ perceptions of community policing

2021 ◽  
pp. 146135572110640
Author(s):  
Liam Fenn ◽  
Karen Bullock
Keyword(s):  
Police Officers ◽  
Community Policing ◽  
Organisational Culture ◽  
Police Work ◽  
Community Relations ◽  
Discretionary Effort ◽  
Organisational Justice ◽  
Contextual Determinants ◽  
Police Community Relations ◽  
Culture And Climate

This article draws on interview data and the concepts of organisational ‘culture’ and ‘climate’ to critically assess police officers’ perceptions of community policing in one English constabulary. In so doing, it considers the cultural, organisational and wider contextual determinants of officers’ alignment to this style of police work. With an emphasis on developing community partnerships and engaging in problem-solving, rather than enforcement of the criminal law, community policing has been seen a primary way of rendering officers more ‘responsive’ to the needs of citizens, improving police–community relations and driving down crime rates. An important reform movement in police organisations around the world, the success of community policing nonetheless depends on officers’ willingness and ability to deliver it. Accordingly, the generation of evidence about the ‘drivers’ of officers’ attitudes to inform strategies to promote the delivery of the approach is essential. Findings suggest that officers value community policing as an organisational strategy but that the approach maintains a low status and is undervalued compared with other specialisms within the organisation. This is born of an organisational culture that foregrounds law enforcement as the primary function of police work and an organisational climate that reinforces it. This has implications for community officers in terms of their perceptions of and attitudes towards the approach, self-esteem and sense of value and worth, perceptions of organisational justice, discretionary effort and role commitment. Recommendations for police managers are set out.

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