|
This Day
in History
Read
about historical events that took place today
Calendar of Events
The Inquirer Forum
A place to post
your opinions & suggestions!
New!
Free Online
Classifieds
2009 Mt.
Vernon
Monthly Column
QUICK
LINKS
Archives
 
     
|
|
|
|
09-20-09
White Plains, NY
Letter to the Editor
Damon K. Jones
In a
post 9-11 world, the police have become more militarized in
operation and thinking. The new police exist in the U.S. as
a paramilitary force, the role of protect and serve is to
preserve the system just as it is and do the bidding of the
power elite. Any other analysis of the role of police is
just romanticized nonsense.
Community-based policing is both a philosophy (a way of
thinking) and an organizational strategy (a means to carry
out that philosophy) that allows the police and community to
work together in new ways to solve problems of crime,
disorder and safety. It rests on two core elements: changing
the methods and practice of the police and taking steps to
establish a real working relationship between the police and
the community they claim to protect and serve.
The
philosophy is built on the belief that the community
deserves an input into policing, and indeed, has a right to
it. It also rests on the view that in order to find
solutions to community problems, the police and the public
must move beyond a narrow focus on individual crimes or
incidents, and instead consider innovative ways of
addressing community concerns.
At the
heart of community-based policing is the recognition that
the police are much more than mere crime fighters and can be
public servants in other ways. The end goal is the creation
of a professional, representative, responsive, and
accountable institution that works in partnership with the
public. These ‘peace officers’ are a service rather than a
force, and an institution that only criminals need rightly
fear.
Achieving these goals requires taking action at three
levels: individual, institutional, and social. Even as the
values of service and competency are imparted at the level
of the individual officer, an appropriate management
structure capable of embedding and sustaining these values
must be created as well. In order to achieve this goal,
management must first have a relationship with the community
Reform
to the police alone, however, is insufficient; community
support and assistance are also necessary to achieving the
basic goals of the police. Community-based policing,
therefore, also encompasses strategies to reorient the
public who, for frequently good reasons, have been leery and
distrustful of the police. However, beyond a rhetorical
commitment to community policing there has been little sense
of how to operate a process to achieve the changes sought.
In the best-case scenario, management should come from the
community; have a true history with the people in that
community so it will enable them to better manage the rank
and file to give proper service to the community through law
enforcement.
In the
communities of color in Westchester, the crime rate has
escalated with the insurgence of weapons in the communities.
Controlling the availability and circulation of small arms
and light weapons (SALW) is vital in the effort to increase
community safety, the aim of community-based policing.
However, citizens will only be willing to hand over firearms
in their possession if they perceive an improvement in
public safety and security and if they have a certain degree
of trust in the police and other security agencies. This is
where community- based policing can play an important role
in strengthening SALW initiatives. Similarly, if there is a
good working relationship between the policing and the
community, it will be easier for the policing to obtain
information about arms caches or transit routes for arms
trafficking.
Community-based policing can contribute to a wider poverty
reduction strategy. Several agencies and governments have
recognized the links between security, development, and
poverty reduction. High levels of crime stifle development
in any community, businesses become the victims of crime,
commercial activities are interrupted, and outside
investment leaves.
The poor
and marginalized also suffer disproportionately from the
effects of crime and violence. They lack adequate protection
from corrupt or dysfunctional security institutions. The
poor are also often marginalized when it comes to political
or social structures and are likely to have very little
influence over the policies and programs that affect their
daily lives.
Community-based policing, through its partnership approach,
aims to ensure that the safety and security needs of all
groups in a particular community are addressed. In this way,
the police can facilitate all people’s access to justice,
regardless of their social or economic status. Addressing
local needs while effectively combating crime improves
safety and security, and with it, strengthens the conditions
for development to take place.
Policing
is an activity that is not carried out in isolation. All the
disparate aspects of policing that individual officer are
called upon from issuing parking tickets to thwarting crimes
impact and involve other institutions and processes.
In
closing, effective Community Policing will link other
criminal justice institutions. The Police Department is the
primary entry point to the justice system and the part in
closest contact with the public. A fair, competent,
non-discriminatory, and respectful police is integral to
upholding the rule of law. Along with courts and the
correctional service, the police are an essential part of
the ‘triad’ of institutions needed to make a justice system
run effectively and truly serve its community.
In Unity
and Peace
Damon K. Jones
Damon K. Jones
North East Region Representative
National Black Police Association
|
|
|
