Community Policing

What is Community Policing?

Community policing refers to a law enforcement ideology that allows law enforcement officers to operate in an area while creating a stronger bond with area locals. Community-oriented policing services have been used since the 1980s to make their places secure. It allows public safety officers to engage with local residents and deter crime from happening instead of responding to incidents after they happen.

WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNITY POLICING INITIATIVES?

• Policing is done under consent and not on coercion- Force makes the public fear crime and police.
• Created cooperation between the police and the public- Both work together for safety purposes.
• Identify security priorities of a community- People are aware of their risks and they help in protecting each other.
• Tailoring policing to meet the needs and priorities of communities.- It creates various customized programs for serving the community.

How AGB Community Policing Works

We assign a team of Tactical Unit Officers (TUO) to patrol a designated area after they have completed a rigorous 14-week training program. Our safety officer squads work directly with local law enforcement and businesses, building and maintaining strong relationships with them in the various districts we protect.

We work to decrease crime, loitering, gambling, and theft in and around businesses. Our special training in gang activity increases the safety of officers, business owners, and customers in the areas that we secure and patrol.

We work in conjunction with every police officer in police agencies and their respective police departments. Moreover, we use problem-oriented policing to create community partnerships.

We follow the seven strategies that ensure successful community policing and these include community partnerships; organization transformation; agency management, organizational structure; personnel; information systems (technology); and problem-solving.

HOW COMMUNITY POLICING DIFFERS FROM TRADITIONAL POLICING

• Community policing uses cues to stop crime before it happens while traditional policing responds to crime after it occurs.
• It creates a safe social environment and lowers police presence.
• Community policing engages residents to understand the crimes that affect their area aiding law enforcement officers to have priorities when responding to events in an area
• The role of community policing is to create a trustworthy relationship that enables residents to take part in law enforcement practices to keep their community safe

Benefits of Community Policing

Naturally, people have a phobia of men in uniform and the local police department. Community policing serves as a link between police officers and the public since it fosters confidence and trust which are critical in controlling crime.

Community policing improves the rate of public participation which reduces unnecessary involvement of the law enforcers. Community policing ensures that the community has the responsibility of watching over each other making reports on various accounts. They can issue warnings to the people that they know are engaging in different crimes before calling on the police.

In most cases, they do property marking and work on improving their security by knowing people living in every household, new visitors, and understanding their work and social lives.

Community policing creates a community that understands that they must work with each other and form a relationship where they can share information about unusual events leading to the highest levels of accountability.

Knowing everyone including visitors makes it easy to track and detect new activities in an area, especially illegal ones. It is easy to establish the cause of crime that leads to crime reduction in an area.

When community members are constantly on the lookout for each other, they have greater contact and solidarity which promotes community participation and offers room for innovation and creativity. Besides community policing reduces people’s fear of crime meaning that they can talk about it, create a good public spirit and use the same to assist the police to combat crime.

AGB Community policing ensures that everyday conversations on crime in every community policing circle create higher levels of public awareness and personal responsibility. It shows people the need to safeguard themselves and private businesses at the individual and community level before going to the police.