Citizen Perception of Community Policing Impact

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of by analyzing citizens' perception of crime and police work before and after implementation of a community-oriented program in three neighborhoods in the city of West Palm Beach, Florida. The study reveals very positive findings about the policing, including: perception of decreased local crime, increased perception of police performance, neighborhood improvement, and policecommunity relationships. Implications concerning the relationship between the and the police, citizen satisfaction, and public services are discussed. INTRODUCTION Recently, there has been a growing interest among researchers and policy-makers in promoting as a modern way to deal with crime and problems. The interest in has to do with the recognition that traditional has failed to solve many problems we face in today's society. The interest in has been further emphasized by policy-makers following recent incidents showing problems of violent crimes, police brutality, and distrust between police and citizens of their communities. Such interest in has moved many police departments in local governments, large or small, in a rush to catch the wave of implementing these programs. While most of these department are excited about concepts of and have high hopes about the outcomes that it may produce, they do not know exactly how to implement programs in their communities and what kind of impact will have on police work and communities. Researchers of (e.g., Leighton, 1991) emphasized a need to study the tactics of and the effectiveness and impact of these tactics. The study of is especially important for public administration researchers because it emphasizes such issues as: the change of organizations from a centralized and bureaucratic model to a decentralized and open model, the improvement of the relationship between public employees and their clients, and especially, the emphasis on the quality of public services and the satisfaction of citizens. Many of these issues are also addressed in total quality management, the modern technique adopted in many public and private organizations (e.g., Swiss, 1992; Kroneberg and Loeffler, 1991; Milakovich, 1990). The study of the impact of (e.g., citizen satisfaction of police work) will contribute to our knowledge about the quality improvement of public services. Focusing on the last two issues, this study attempts to examine the influence of by analyzing citizens' perception of issues relating to police work. Using data collected from opinion surveys, the study will measure perception differences before and after implementation of among various citizen groups about such issues as crime, police performance, and police-community relationships. LITERATURE REVIEW Concepts of Community Policing The concept of has been referred to by various terms such as neighborhood-oriented policing, communityoriented policing, community-based policing, and problem-oriented (Leighton, 1991). Many researchers considered as modern, progressive, or contemporary (Sparrow, Moore, and Kennedy, 1990; Trojanowicz and Bucqueroux, 1990; Greene and Mastrofski, 1988). The concept of is closely related to the relations programs of the 1950s and 1960s which developed to increase interaction between the community, especially the minority community, and the police and continued through the 1970s with the team concept (Greene, 1987). In spite of the failure of the team concept in some agencies, the idea of a community concept of policing has remained due to increasing evidence that the bureaucratic model and conventional police practices have not been effective (Greene, 1987; Skolnick and Bayley, 1986). …