The police reforms of 1829 in England reduced the fear of crime in the community and paved the way for massive penal reforms which checked the increasing severity of both crime and its punishment. The social upheaval of the last 30 years has produced a society which has vast freedoms and is increasingly more open to criminal behavior. The permissiveness which has lessened parental authority has increased juvenile delinquency. The higher standard of living throughout the country has fostered a vast increase in property crime. The rise of the welfare state has seen the breakdown of the importance of the community and the extended family. Neither the welfare state nor the criminal justice system are keeping crime within tolerance levels. However, the use of communal policing might stem the increasing crime rate and the corresponding fear of crime. Democratic communal policing aims to produce conditions of domestic peace and neighborly trust. It seeks to create a neighborhood or community climate free from fear, uncontrolled delinquency, and crime. Communal policing should include all the statutory bodies and agencies involved in the quality of community life, and in controlling crime and delinquency, as well as individuals and private organizations. While communal policing lends itself to implementation in villages, it can be very difficult in larger cities. Communal policing efforts in cities should rely upon building a sense of a village within a city. Communal policing is not a resource-based solution to the problem of increasing crime, but calls instead for leadership and the use of existing resources. Seven references are included.