Exercise 6.1: Compare and contrast the two models of community policing outlined below.

Community policing as process and product

In some places community policing is in the hands of special neighbourhood officers, whereas in others cities it involves the transformation of the entire police department. In some communities, residents participate in aggressive Neighbourhood Watch patrols ... though in many more communities public involvement is limited to asking citizens to call 911 quickly when they see something suspicious. Departments also point to a long list of activities they have underway ... officers patrol on foot ... and on horses, bicycles or even Segways ... However, community policing is not defined by these kinds of activities ... Community policing is not a set of specific projects; rather, it involves changing decision-making processes and creating new cultures within police departments. It is an organizational strategy that leaves setting priorities and the means of achieving them largely to residents and the police who service in their neighbourhoods. Community policing is a process rather than a product.

(Skogan, 2006: 5)

Alderson’s model of community policing

• To contribute to liberty, equality and fraternity
• To help reconcile freedom with security and to uphold the law
• To uphold and protect human rights and thus help achieve human dignity
• To dispel crimonogenic social conditions, through cooperative social action
• To help create trust in communities
• To strengthen security and feelings of security
• To investigate, detect and activate the prosecution of crimes
• To facilitate free movement along public thoroughfares
• To curb public disorder
• To deal with crises and help those in distress involving other agencies where needed

(Alderson, 1979, cited in Tilley, 2003: 314)