Community policing has been an outgrowth of the intuitive realization, supported by empirical evidence, that increasing the number of police officers and other concentrated police efforts have not reduced crime rates nor increased the proportion of crime solved, and that instead, the crime rates and rates of other social problems such as drug use continue to increase. Community-oriented policing signifies a shift away from centralization and control of the line officer and signals the need for a more flexible and democratic police organizational structure. The article discusses the influence that the surrounding community can exert on police agencies through citizen police academies, community advisory councils, citizen oversight, and police privatization. 13 references