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Community Policing: the International View

NCJ Number
131609
Journal
Criminology Australia Volume: 2 Issue: 3 Dated: (January/February 1991) Pages: 19-22
Author(s)
D Bayley
Date Published
1991
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Community policing experiments in Canada, the United States, Japan, and Singapore are described in terms of their current operation and their implications for police practice.
Abstract
In several Canadian cities, specific police officers have been assigned to foot patrol in areas of high criminal activity. Some police agencies in the United States have established mini-stations, storefront police stations, and civilian community service officers. Japan uses koban, which are more than 16,000 mini-police stations. Between 1983 and 1989 Singapore transformed its policing methods into the Japanese model. Japan is the only country in which community policing is institutionalized. Evaluations are lacking for other countries. Nevertheless, the existing efforts show the importance of specific implementation plans, active management, adequate staffing, reallocation of existing resources, the delegation of responsibility to the community police officers, and the need for information-sharing and psychological support among community police personnel. Community policing will increasingly become the dominant model of policing, because traditional methods are ineffective and it is the only strategy that offers the promise of avoiding urban violence.

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