The Lost Art of Community Policing
Posted: Monday, September 10, 2007
by Rodney Biamby
Gone are the days of the Beat Cop. Gone are the days where shop owners were known by the Beat Cop. The community has become estranged from the Long arm of the Law to the swift ride of a passing patrol vehicle.
Community Policing has become a by word and is fiercely resisted by some police unions. The Police Department has lost the pulse of the community and hence lost its edge in its effort to fight crime. The Police Department has resigned itself to a reactionary role rather than a preventative role. The Art of Community Policing has been removed from the driver’s seat and given a back seat to the Radio Patrol Car. Within the multifaceted tools of crime prevention and law enforcement walking the beat has become a lost art and few there be that be that find it.
Community Policing provides high visibility of uniformed Patrol Officers. Like the saying goes, you’re a sight for sore eyes, the visibility of a Beat Cop further aides in the preventative process of crime reduction. The mere presence of a uniformed officer on a street corner invokes a reaction to the Criminal element within the Community.
To the Criminal element a Beat cop is bad news and bad for their business, but to the Community as a whole, a welcomed sight and a sigh of relief. To be effective in Crime Prevention and Crime Reduction, the Police officer must be both visible and invisible.
The Police Officer must be seen within the Community walking the streets and reclaiming its corners. However, we find the opposite within our Communities. The corners are no longer occupied by the Beat Cop, but by street thugs, gang bangers and drug dealers.
Community policing allows the Officer to interact with the residents of the community. Interaction is vital to Community policing and essential to Crime prevention and Crime reduction. The image portrayed by a courteous, professional and respectful Police Officer who walks the Beat (street) exudes a sense of law and order. A Criminal would have to think twice before committing a crime within the community. The residents within the Community would fell an affinity to the Police Department in stead of animosity. Witnesses to a crime would readily report offenses and have no qualms about testifying in a Court of Law, but the reality that we see within our communities is totally opposite. Street thugs, Gang bangers and Drug Dealers have enthroned themselves within our Communities and on our streets as Viceroys and Despots. Partitioning off street corners and establishing boundaries in these Communities of decent hardworking people. These local thugs who stand on our street corners and walk on our streets enforcing their laws, at the expense of innocent bystanders who are caught between these so-called Despots and Viceroys embroiled in some sort of territorial dispute. The necessity of Community policing in our Communities has ceded to an impersonal, unapproachable and reactionary method to Policing.
The Communities within our cities are constantly changing; however, the approaches to Crime prevention and Crime reduction are constant. The fundamentals remain the same, namely, Community policing which includes the Foot Patrol Officer and the Radio Mobile Patrol Officer, the Covert Officer and the Overt Officer, the Field Officer and the Desk Officer. However, the emphasis has changed from a balanced approach to Crime Prevention and Crime Reduction, to two extremes of the pendulum. Community Policing is indeed a lost art of policing in some of our communities. Perhaps and old fashioned Beat Cop on our streets is the Cornerstone to the foundation of Crime Prevention and Crime Reduction within our communities.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)very well written rodney, and i agree totally,even though, my brother is a sergeant now, and once a cop, and i would be so fearful for him out on the strret corners, but if we could get back our towns and residential areas, we'd be doing a big service. best regards, sue thom
I grew up in a small town, so didn't experience cops on foot patrol. But I do remember going often to visit my grandparents in Vancouver, B.C. in the late '50s and seeing cops walking the beat.About three years ago, my wife and I were in New York City and saw cops walking the beat there (at least they were in Manhattan). I remember this because we asked one for directions.I imagine that the reason this is not a regular occurrence is because of the expense. I'm sure they will tell you that it is less expensive to put cops in cars so they can cover a larger area. But I agree with you, the personal touch is what is needed.Thanks, for your comment you are right it might be and expense issue.However, the Federal government has allocated monies for such programs as Community Policing.Thanks again,
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