After discussing various definitions of community policing that have been proposed by scholars and organizations, the author defines community policing as "the guiding philosophy for the delivery of police services that relies upon positive interactions among police, other public servants, and community representatives to serve local needs regarding crime control, crime prevention, and crime-related quality-of-life issues." The author advises that one drawback of this broad definition of community policing is that it is not useful when attempting to tell a person how to do community policing. One criticism of community policing is that it requires such a radical change in the structure and tasks of police agencies that it cannot be accomplished by most agencies. Researchers who have examined the implementation of community policing concepts question whether community policing has even been truly implemented as envisioned and whether its effectiveness compared with other policing philosophies has been proven. The author acknowledges that for some police departments, community policing may be little more than a popular fad that police chiefs support vocally for the sake of good public relations. For police agencies committed to the concepts of community policing, its implementation will be time-consuming, filled with trial-and-error, and forged through the lengthy process of designing and evaluating programs. Programs that are effective must then be sustained through appropriate personnel training and structural reform. Some agencies have shown progress in this endeavor. 30 notes