The Challenge of Community Policing

Book excerpt: Community policing has become the new orthodoxy for police in the United States, as well as in other countries around the world. Although the movement's philosophies and practices are spreading rapidly, little is known about the range of ongoing activities, the components of these experimental initiatives, the problems and challenges encountered, and the level of success in achieving objectives. Providing a clear picture of national and international trends in progressive police administration, the book explores the cutting edge of this movement with some of the best empirical studies to date. The editor has gathered together the expertise of widely recognized researchers to address the fundamental question of whether community policing is on the road to fulfilling its many promises. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, the authors present a thorough evaluation of the social and organizational processes involved in planning and implementing community policing, as well as the effects of such programs.