Reflections on community-oriented policing

FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin,The, March, 1994 by Robert Bobinsky

On the east side of Bensenville, Illinois, sits an island community made up of over 250 single-family residences and a complex containing more than 200 closely spaced townhouses. This "community within a community" is separated from the mainstream of the village by more than the railroad tracks and international airport that border it on three sides.

A psychological barrier also exists that isolates the residents of this community from those of the village at large. Much of the gang activity in the village is centered in the townhouse complex. Other problems stem from the fact that a majority of the residents in the complex are recent or illegal immigrants, of either Hispanic or East Indian origin. Most harbor fears and distrust toward law enforcement, held over from experiences in their native countries. The language barrier between these residents and employees of the village's public service agencies also led to a lack of understanding regarding the problems in the area. Over the years, this lack of communication and cooperation gave way to an overall deterioration in the physical state of the neighborhood.

In March 1991, several residents concerned with the declining condition of the area enlisted the cooperation of the police chief and the department's DARE officer to establish a Neighborhood Watch. The first sparsely attended meetings of this group produced small, but important, results. Police response times to the area improved, as did the sense of cooperation between other village agencies and the residents of the area.

Then, in October 1991, an incident occurred that proved to be a catalyst for far greater change. A 15-year-old resident with ties to gang activity was shot and killed while standing in front of his home. At the next Neighborhood Watch meeting, over 300 residents and several village officials agreed that the quality of services for the area--policing among them--required immediate reform.

The police department responded by forming a two-officer undercover tactical team, which focused its efforts on disrupting gang and criminal activity in the island community. Then, the chief of police approached me with another idea for improving the quality of life in the troubled area. The chief's proposal called for implementing an aggressive Community-oriented Policing (COP) Program in the townhouse complex. It would be an experiment that could lead to profound changes in the residents' attitudes toward the police.

Not fully understanding the principles of community-oriented policing, I initially declined my chief's offer to participate in Bensenville's COP program. My instincts told me that the approach was too much like social work and would no longer involve any real police work. Not one to take "no" for an answer, the chief convinced me to read several articles and pamphlets about community-oriented policing before refusing the position outright. This brief investment of time helped me to put the somewhat abstract concept of community policing into a practical perspective.

The more I read, the more I came to realize that community-oriented policing represents the approach law enforcement must take in order to meet the changing needs of communities. This policing concept also completely changed the way I viewed the role of law enforcement in society.

Traditional Policing

Historically, local law enforcement in the 1930s and 1940s was characterized by the "beat cop," who knew every resident and business owner in an assigned area. Likewise, this officer became aware almost immediately when a crime occurred and generally found out quickly from members of the community who committed it. This timely apportionment of justice helped to create a strong bond between members of the community and the officers who patrolled their districts.

However, this policing model harbored significant drawbacks. Officers often gained appointments through corrupt political deals, were poorly trained, and rarely displayed a professional appearance or demeanor.

As a result, the 1960s and 1970s saw the dawn of the "professional policing model." These new officers used the most up-to-date technology--such as high-speed cruisers, forensic laboratories, mobile radios, and 911 emergency systems--to serve the sprawling suburban environment that came to characterize much of the American landscape. Considering the vast areas covered by a limited number of officers, response times were exceptionally quick. Such areas as recruiting practices, training, and professionalism were vastly improved.

But the professional policing model possessed its own inherent shortcomings. Officers became less a part of the communities they served. In fact, they were intentionally placed "outside" of the community as a reaction to the potential for corruption that existed in prior policing models. And, even though response times were exceptional, calls for police service still brought officers to the scene after a crime had been committed. This "incident-oriented" policing model placed an impressive array of resources at officers' disposal to locate offenders, but made little attempt to reduce actual crime numbers.