U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Future of Policing in a Community Era (From Crime & Justice in America: Present Realities and Future Prospects, Second Edition, P 191-203, 2002, Wilson R. Palacios, Paul F. Cromwell, and Roger G. Dunham, eds. -- NCJ-188466)

NCJ Number
188474
Author(s)
Jihong Zhao
Date Published
2002
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This chapter considers the positive forces likely to promote community policing programs, as well as negative forces likely to impede the progress of community policing, followed by a discussion of the future direction of community policing.
Abstract
Four forces favor the change to community policing. First, community policing programs are popular with police executives, other community leaders, and the public, as evidenced by the considerable increase in these programs over the past 5 years. Second, the Federal Government has strongly endorsed the institutionalization of community policing under the provisions of the Federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act passed in 1994. Third, the increase in the use of advanced technology has enhanced the objectives and operations of community policing. Since the early 1990's, community policing innovations have extended to the use of hi-tech tools for combating urban crimes and reducing social disorder, such as computerized statistics and automated mapping of crime locations. Fourth, the crime rate has declined under the progressive implementation of community policing. Negative forces that can potentially impede the institutionalization of community policing are ambiguity surrounding the definition of community policing, the reluctance to change organizational structure to accommodate and enhance community policing operations, the increase in paramilitary policing units, and the tendency of police unions to resist change in policing practices. Regarding the future direction of community policing, this chapter expects that community policing innovations will continue to expand in police departments across the United States, but change in the organizational structure of police departments will occur at a very slow pace. 10 notes and 34 references