Criminology

Community policing can be defined as a collaboration effort between the community and the police in an effort to identify and solve community problems. With increasing concerns about the various incidences of crimes, community policing seems to provide the best alternative in safeguarding lives, neighborhoods and cities. This approach enables the police to move away from the tradition where they were only reactive and incident-driven to adopt a more proactive approach in problem solving.

This paper will look at the components of community policing and weigh the performance of the strategy as it is applied today.

Components
Community policing has two major components that includes community partnerships and problem solving. Community partnerships refer to the collective efforts of the police and the communities at large in addressing the significant crime and the related quality of life concepts. On the other hand, problem solving involves the analysis of an issue from different perspectives in order to come out with the best approach in resolving the problem at hand.

The effectiveness of community policing entirely depends on the ability of the patrol officers and the members of the community to establish and optimize positive relationship. Community policing has offered a new window of opportunity in combating crime upon the realization that the police alone cannot offer a sufficient solution to the rising criminal cases and other policing duties. The approach has led to a relative improvement in carrying out the police duties.

Conclusion
Community policing is emerging as the best strategy in combating crime in the society. However, establishing partnership with the community to eradicate crime within the community is not an overnight issue. Community policing therefore requires planning, flexibility, and patience in order to achieve its objective.