Community-oriented policing: reducing citizens’ fear of crime

Lionel WIJESIRI

Defence and Urban Development Ministry Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa recently instructed the Inspector General of Police to form Special Advisory Committees at Police divisional level comprising members of civil society in the areas.

He added that these Committees should have some kind of authority to make suggestions in connection with issues that crop up in the area in relation to crimes so that the Police would be able to take into account such suggestions and views.

This direction brings us closer to the concept of community-oriented policing which, as Defence Secretary points out, was a remarkable success during the conflict years.

Making residents feel safer and improving their quality of life is the primary goal of Police. This idea sparked the development of a number of different Police strategies and tactics designed to improve Police-community relations. The philosophy of community-oriented policing is built upon the premise that reducing citizens' fear of crime while forming a partnership between the Police and the community is a worthwhile goal of Police organizations. Community-oriented policing is a wonderful way for the Police to reach out to the community and gain a much more comprehensive knowledge of the problems at the ground level.

Recognition

The concept of community-oriented policing is gaining recognition in Sri Lanka. Some months back, The Asia Foundation’s Colombo office, with financial support from the British High Commission and the Conflict Prevention Pool of the UK government, launched a pilot community policing programme in Kandy District.

Last year, the Scottish Police College (SPC) conducted a training programme on Community Policing for members of the Sri Lanka Police at the new Community Policing Centre at Gampaha, which has been re-equipped and re-opened to support this training activity. The training programme will enable the Sri Lankan officers to qualify for an International Vocational Qualification in Community Policing and work within the Sri Lanka Police Service.

These are good signs because community-oriented policing initiatives are relatively inexpensive, when measured against other reform measures.

However, this writer believes that the time is now opportune to make consistent efforts to develop a truly conceptualized community-oriented Police force in Sri Lanka.

In spite of good intentions, there is a danger that such efforts can cause damage to the community if it falls prey to politicisation. Politicians should not be encouraged to actively participate in these initiatives.

Rather, they should provide an assisting role to contribute towards the institutionalisation of the initiatives and lend their credibility to the projects.

The other major threat comes from radical elements in society, who if included, can quickly turn a community policing initiative into a vigilante group which ends up doing more harm than good to the community.

Partnerships

Community-oriented policing recognizes that Police rarely solve public safety problems alone. Collaborative partnerships and mutual respect between the law enforcement organizations, individual residents, community organizations and businesses are critical to develop proactive solutions to problems and improve trust in police officers and the agency they represent.

Other partners can consist of other governmental agencies, community members, civic groups, private sector, news media, educators, public health, mental health and other emergency response organizations.

The range of potential partners is large and they can be used to accomplish the two interrelated goals: developing solutions to problems through collaborative problem solving and, improving public trust.

Collaborative partnerships between the law enforcement agency and individuals and organizations they serve allow them the ability to develop solutions to problems to increase public trust.

Core component one

Establishing and maintaining mutual trust is the central goal of the first core component of community policing - community partnership. Police should recognize the need for cooperation with the community. In the fight against serious crime, Police can encourage community members to come forth with relevant information.

In addition, Police can speak to locality groups, participate in business and civic events, work with social agencies, and take part in educational and recreational programmes for schoolchildren. Special units can provide a variety of crisis intervention services.

One might ask: “How then the cooperative efforts of community-oriented policing differ from the actions that are taking place today?” The fundamental distinction is that, in community-oriented policing, the Police become an integral part of the community culture, and the community assists in defining future priorities and in allocating resources. The difference is substantial and encompasses basic goals and commitments.

Community partnership means adopting a policing perspective that exceeds the standard law enforcement emphasis. This broadened outlook recognizes the value of activities that contribute to the orderliness and well-being of a locality. These activities could include: helping accident or crime victims, providing emergency medical services, helping resolve domestic and locality conflicts (e.g., family violence, landlord-tenant disputes), working with residents and local businesses to improve locality conditions, controlling auto-mobile and pedestrian traffic, providing emergency social services and referrals to those at risk (adolescent runaways, the homeless, the intoxicated, and the mentally ill), protecting the exercise of constitutional rights (e.g., guaranteeing a person’s right to speak, protecting lawful assemblies from disruption), and providing a model of citizenship (helpfulness, respect for others, honesty, and fairness).

These services help develop trust between the Police and the community. This trust will enable the Police to gain greater access to valuable information from the community that could lead to the solution and prevention of crimes, will engender support for needed crime-control measures, and will provide an opportunity for officers to establish a working relationship with the community.

Building trust will not happen overnight; it will require on-going effort. But trust must be achieved before Police can assess the needs of the community and construct the close ties that will engender community support. In turn, this cooperative relationship will deepen the bonds of trust. To build this trust for an effective community partnership Police must treat people with respect and sensitivity. The use of unnecessary force and arrogance, aloofness, or rudeness at any level of the agency will dampen the willingness of community members to ally themselves with the Police.

Core component two

Problem solving is a broad term that implies more than simply the elimination and prevention of crimes. It is based on the assumption that crime and disorder can be reduced in small geographic areas by carefully studying the characteristics of problems in the area, and then applying the appropriate resources and on the assumption that “Individuals make choices based on the opportunities presented by the immediate physical and social characteristics of an area”.

By manipulating these factors, people will be less inclined to act in an offensive manner. This is the theory behind problem-oriented policing.

Certain specific conditions create problems. These conditions might include the characteristics of the people involved (offenders, potential victims, and others), the social setting in which these people interact, the physical environments, and the way the public deals with these conditions.

A problem created by these conditions may generate one or more incidents. These incidents, while stemming from a common source, may appear to be different. For example, social and physical conditions in a deteriorated apartment complex may generate burglaries, acts of vandalism, intimidation of pedestrians by rowdy teenagers, and other incidents. These incidents, some of which come to Police attention, are symptoms of the problems. The incidents will continue so long as the problem that creates them persists.

Determining the underlying causes of crime depends, to a great extent, on an in-depth knowledge of community.

Therefore, community participation in identifying and setting priorities will contribute to effective problem-solving efforts by the community and the Police. Cooperative problem solving also reinforces trust, facilitates the exchange of information, and leads to the identification of other areas that could benefit from the mutual attention of the Police and the community. The problem-solving process, like community partnership, is self-renewing.

Proponents of Community Policing (including this writer) sincerely believe that this new paradigm has the potential to serve as the model for dramatic reform of the entire criminal justice system. Community policing's successes inspire optimism that the criminal justice system, including law enforcement, prosecution, courts, and corrections, could begin to function as a seamless whole, with all elements working as partners with the people who have the most to gain or lose in making their localities better and safer places in which to live and work.

While community policing serves as a model for imagining our way to a fully realized system of community criminal justice, the history of community policing in other countries, especially in South Asia, also provides a cautionary tale of the pitfalls likely to occur along the way.

It is therefore imperative that all partners who are interested in making this concept become a reality sit together and explore both the opportunities and the obstacles, in the hope of encouraging experiment and innovation and avoiding mistakes.