Community policing as a social construct conveys two components, community and policing. The policing component has received a great deal of attention, while the community component has not. Only recently has the idea of community reflected the expanded conceptualization of a "sense of community." Elements of a sense of community include membership, influence, reinforcement, and emotional connection. The development of a sense of community from the standpoint of facilitating informal social control should be the main goal of community policing. Crime prevention initiatives should identify conditions of the physical and social environment that facilitate criminal acts. Police agencies should recognize that a significant part of their mission is crime prevention and that a community orientation to crime prevention is desirable. Further, police officers should identify potential or high risk offenders and seek to intervene prior to the commission of criminal acts. In addition, police agencies should work closely with social agencies and community groups to prevent crime. Community policing and crime prevention activities are listed according to primary, secondary, and tertiary categories. 27 references and 2 figures