Community-oriented policy vs.

Problem-oriented policy Policy is a social institution that is involved with maintenance peacekeeping, investigation of crime keeping law and order while enforcing the rule of law it therefore recommend that some power is bestowed upon individual conduction such activities Community-oriented policy vs. Problem-oriented policy refers to a philosophy that combines traditional problem solving technique with law enforcement by engaging the community in problem solving as a partner .the police sector tends to deploy official to a given area for long time to try and asses the root of crime courses and their possible solution. according to the legal dictionary(2013) from 1930 to 1960 the us government has invested heavily on professional policing model which is based on well o organized frame ,efficient emergency response, accountability and use of motorist patrol cars although this method seemed efficient but it proved in adequate when civil eruptions occurred in 1960s, as a remedy it began with team policy where group of officials would be assigned to a given area be incorporated into the neighborhood to try and understand the situation on the ground police officers would even walk around as away of getting to be incorporated , this trend continued up to the 20th century but it had short comings of reducing the efficiency or response to emergency cases while it overemphasized on long time benefits, Community oriented policing program grew out of the team policy instead of the routine response to calls and arresting of criminals this policy brings the police close to the public promoting their capacity of identifying the problem ,the root cause and developing a creative way of solving the problem, the emphasis is on crime prevention rather than crime prevention. To a chive the goals of this policy the police needs to develop departments that are later assigned to various communities. This group of official needs to develop network both within their departments and outside and the contact network is promoted by foot, bikes, car patrol and horses. It has proven to be the most popular way of identifying the crime causes and disorder. it has been promoted in several way for instance the federal government

passed an act called violent crime control and law enforcement act of 1994(Violent crime control act) besides provision of$8.8billions to fund the local law enforcement and training of officials among others things According to coquilhat, (2008,06-10) key elements that underlie the policy from the philosophical dimension include; need for citizen input by determining priorities and finding solutions to problems, police respond s to concern by using a number of ways to solve the problem. Secondly continuous sustainable contacts between the police, community , public and private sectors is relevant to ensure that the police achieve aim of planning, problem solving and community organization in order to resolve conflict help victims and reduce crime. Lastly under this perception police is required to adopt personal service to improve the image of being accessible and knowing what the community needs. The second dimension that translates the philosophical dimensions into action is strategic dimension, under this strategy tools are developed to address the underlying issues resulting into crime; the operation is interactive with enforcement remaining the c entre of focus aiming at long term solutions. Apart from all these prevention and geographical focus is maintained with various officers deployed permanently a given geographical area that is rather naturally determined than statistically done, this helps in achieving accountability, flexibility and communication there is also need for positive interaction which can be achieved through media campaigns , shop front based officers and accessible mini-stations. The community is encouraged to form join and promote neighborhood watch programs for instance in 1972 the National Sheriffs Association started such program and it has gained popularity since 1980s. the program emphasizes on education and common sense as away of alleviating crime, some members of the groups concentrates on observation and awareness creation while others concentrates on daily basis close watch of their neighbors .youths and idle people are also engaged into activities like sports that would deter idleness for instance midnight netball .

Community oriented policy has benefits as well as shortcomings some of the benefits include; improved police- community relationship and the community perception of the police due to constant cooperation between the two parties ,the community views the police force not as an enemy but public servants who safeguard the interest of the society, community capacity to deal with issues is in creased this is achieved through the empowerment and realization that crime should be taken as personal responsibility of each and every individual. Police attitude and behavior tends to change since the police view civilians as parties involved in crime mitigation and not criminals or people hiding criminals. Reduced crime and disorder within the society has been noted because people who think of committing crime deter as every one takes the responsibility of watching out for one another. Perception of safety has increased coupled with a decrease in fear of crime. Like any other philosophy shortcomings are indispensable, there are implementation issues that have led to failure of the system and have impacted on the potential benefits that should be realized. Lack of control and tailoring at the neighborhood levels reduces the potential benefits as the boundaries are not statistically set therefore it is not easy to demarcate where to watch for and where not. Persistence of indented historical mistrust among the community members that has not been addressed properly reduces the confidence of watching over one another, community do not receive good quality information about crime as the police Identifies and solve problems independent of the community due to lack of performance measure for the community officers. The police culture of resistance to changes like adopting the local law enforcement methods reduces the benefits. Presence of special units that are alienated from the public still does not allow for the full incorporation (coquilhat, 2008, 07-10). Problem oriented policy is an approach to policing in which discrete pieces of police businesses are subjected to minute examination hoping that what would be learnt out of the exercise would lead to discovering more efficient way of dealing with the crimes. This policy relies heavily on new responses

that are naturally preventable, independent of the criminal justice system and involves public agencies private sector and community if their involvement has potential benefit in crime reduction. basically it involves vigorous research analysis and reporting the matter in away that it would benefit the police service and the society as a whole (Goldstein 2001).The policy is used in UK and other countries where it plays a vital role in helping to reduce crime, in the past c rime rates were low but with every change socially, economically, culturally and technologically, opportunities of committing crime has increased with more and more challenging techniques of the same. With these changes the custom criminal justice system does not seem to work and therefore the need to develop an additional approach alongside the criminal justice system to help curb the rising rate of crime .POP was introduced to the police in 1980s with an aim of seeking the crime route and why it happened(British essay ,2013).It involves rank and file officials who analyses the primary problem cause ,depending on the type of offender, location and the victim.POP is mainly prominent in UK where the pro active method has helped in crime reduction The demand bestowed upon the police officer does not allow them to go into the details of the crime to deter a similar occurrence, thus active involvement of community public and private parties in key in this policy. This approach places application of scientific approach at the centre of investigation by identifying and analyzing recurrent problems and their underlying causes .reducing load on the police force along side reducing total government expenditure on crime mitigation. Proper implementation of the recommendation has seen grate benefit for instance in Clarke and Goldstein2002 which was a study done on a construction site that was mad with theft cases , the report found out that the crime occurred due to easy access to the materials that were left unsecured at the site. By implementation of the report recommendation the results were not just successful at the site but also boosted the safety of other premises and sites by installation of safely devices following the

findings. Besides that benefit it teaches the police officers how to respond and work with the community with exclusion of the justice system involving arrest, trial and punishment. It is also wide spread geographically based and along term solution and decentralize duties to officers close to people who could be in a better position to understand the participants. The scientific modulation helps in police resources being close to the society because it heavily relies on agencies rather than the police. Apart from the benefits this policy has been patchily implemented due to various drawbacks, scientific data analysis may be biased therefore the obtained result may not show the exact need of the society. The inadequacy of necessary skills has discouraged the adoption of this policy, it involve skills that require knowledge and tedious paper work that not many police officers are willing to undertake. The method concentrates on the minor crimes like theft but major crimes that are important to the society are left out, due to the logic and knowledge involved the community contribution is limited. The perception of the police of using force in combating crime is a major draw back. Despite all these research shows that if the policy is effectively implemented it can improve the situation surrounding crime rate (British essay 2013). Both the community and the problem based have a similarity in their aim of involvement of the community and people outside the police system to curb crime, they are all modern move that are evolving to respond to the rate at which the society is changing however there is a difference between the two systems with problem based policy putting more emphasis the scientific data collection and analysis, with the society given minor duty to play. On the contrary the community based policy places community at the centre with no scientific analysis but leaving major tusk of self responsibility to the community. The major barrier to all these policy that arise to keep u p with changing crime pattern is the perception of the police department of using force to combat crime.

References 1. Community oriented policing, free dictionary available: http://legaldictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Community-Oriented+Policing 2. Department of Justice:Unedrstanding community policing, Bureau of Justice Assistance,washington dc,August 1994,82 p 3. Jenny coquilhat,Community Policing:An InternationalLiterature Review,Evaluation team: Organisational assurance,New zealand Police Sept 2008, pg 06-10

4. Brtish Essays, Problem oriented Policing available athttp://www.ukessays.com/essays/criminology/problem-oriented-policing.php