The Future of Community Policing in Florida
Final Report
Prepared by:
Dr. Cecil Greek
Kyubeom Choi
Shun-Yung Wang
John Higgins
FSU School of Criminology
Tallahassee, FL 32306-1127
Report Prepared for the:
Regional Community Policing Institute
St. Petersburg Junior College
St. Petersburg, FL
December 2000
A survey of Florida law enforcement agencies was conducted by Florida State University School of Criminology and Criminal Justice on behalf of the Regional Community Policing Institute located at St. Petersburg Junior College. In particular, an assessment of efforts made by Florida law enforcement to permanently institute community policing practices and philosophies was made.
In order to make such an assessment, questions were asked regarding training (academy, field, and advanced), partnerships with government and private organizations, local budget replacement of federal funds, the use of information technologies in community policing projects, and organizational changes.
The survey was set up as a Web form, and agencies sent letters asking them to reply. Of approximately 400 agencies asked to fill out the survey, 73 eventually responded, a 19% response rate. The length of the form and the use of Internet technology probably accounted for the low response rate.
However, most of the large police agencies in Florida did complete the survey, so we do have significant data on whether large city agencies and major sheriffs’ department have fully implemented community policing. On the measures used, large agencies have made the most changes. Large agencies have created more partnerships, found more alternative funding sources, made greater use of information technology, and more frequently adopted organizational changes. Typically, but not always, medium sized agencies have made greater strides than small agencies.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents 3
Training 4
Partnerships 20
Use of Information Technology 29
Methodology 35
Demographics 37
Training 39
Partnerships 60
Use of Information Technology 117
References 160
Appendix
A: Responding Agencies 165
Survey Instrument: On-line at: http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/copssurvey/
What is community policing?
Community policing perhaps has as many meanings as there are agencies involved in it. Community policing includes philosophies, activities, and programs, but lacks a shared definition. (Oliver, 2001: 25) The U.S. Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Office (COPS) tries to define the term broadly as “any policing aimed more at prevention than on chasing and catching bad guys.” In a National Institute of Justice study, Skolnick and Bayley (1986) concluded that the core of community-oriented policing is four principles: community-based crime prevention, reorientation of patrol, increased police accountability, and decentralization of command.
Community policing has been the prevailing model applied to present-day police restructuring in the U.S. According to Murphy and Muir (1985), community policing is a recognition and acceptance of the community in influencing the philosophy, management and delivery of police services. The community policing philosophy adopted by agencies nationwide requires a major shift from reactive to proactive policing styles.
Academy Training
One of most urgent issue for the success of community policing is training. There are many opportunities within policing to offer community-policing techniques as part of training. These include the recruit academy, field training officers, in-service training, roll call training, and specialized training. Specialized training can include conferences solely devoted to COPPS. The Federal Office of Community Policing Services, the Police Executive Research Forum, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Community Policing Consortium, and other such entities provide specialized training. The purpose of community policing training is “to provide officers with a level of understanding that will allow them to effectively employ problem solving and community engagement techniques in their daily work” (Peak and Glensor, 1999).
As part of the academy curriculum new officers could learn work skills as the basis for effective implementation of community policing. Given the important role of the police academy in job socialization, it is indispensable that police agencies teach the philosophy of community policing during recruit training (Peak, 1993). However, basic police training has traditionally focused on the more technical aspects of police work (Alpert and Dunham, 1988). Therefore, the training has not sufficiently prepared officers for the changed environment of policing (Walker, 1992). According to Goldstein (1990), the reason recruit training has been often criticized as having no relevance to the job is because traditional police training does not handle specific problems police are expected to deal everyday. Research about the on-duty activities of American police carried out by the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that officers spend only 10% of their patrol time on crime-related matters, while they use the remaining 90% on a various service-related calls such as neighborhood disorder, conflict resolution, etc (Birzer, 1999:16).
Marion (1998) well described one police academy’s curriculum from the insider’s perspective. She examined whether problem-solving training was adequately provided to recruits. The course lasted over 14 weeks (40 hours per week). Course contents consisted of knowledge learning (e.g., law, policies, rules) and skill training. The former includes classes on civil liability, ethics, special needs groups (e.g., elderly people, domestic violence victims, juvenile offenders, the blind), public relations and cultural diversity. The technical classes are about firearms, self-defense, physical training, communication skills (verbal judo), hazardous material training (HAZMAT), traffic control, driving, OC spray, defensive weapons (baton, PR-24, ASP), investigation, and first aid. In general, the curriculum of the academy seemed to include community-policing topics inadequately.
Palmiotto et al (2000) suggested that specific knowledge regarding the philosophy and practice of community policing has to be incorporated into all aspects of recruit training. According to the authors, one important connection between community policing and traditional policing is in the area of crime prevention. For example, CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design) is “situational crime prevention,” which aims to decrease crime chances by employing devices and techniques such as burglar alarms, fenced yards, graffiti cleaning, street lighting, baggage screening, CCTV, and credit card photographs. Palmiotto et al (2000:15) concluded that “recruits should be provided with the tools to perform community policing when they become police officers, with their sense of history, community, and knowledge of community policing enhanced.” Shaw (1992, p. 5) also emphasized that:
“…blocks of instruction on community relations, crisis intervention, and sensitivity training become part of the academy’s curriculum…It was critical that recruit and in-service training evolve and improve in order to deal with the complicated problems of society.”
An important
aspect of community policing training is communication skills; the mode and
demeanor of officer communication frequently set the tone for a particular
citizen encounter. It is very important that police learn open communication
skills in order to work in concert with the community. For example,
verbal Judo, or tactical communications, is the gentle art of persuasion that
changes people’s behavior using words and draws voluntary compliance from
people (http://verbal-judo.com/judodo.html).
Changes in
training methods used at the academy also must undergo change if community
policing is to flourish. Rather than rote learning and regurgitation,
self-directed learning and sharing of experiences in the classroom are
essential. Andragogy, the process of teaching adults
rather than children, supports both the self-directed learning idea and the
teacher as the catalyst of education (Knowles, 1990).
With the advent of community policing, traditional methods of control and accountability may be even less effective than before. Officers must determine the best responses to problems because community policing empowers an individual police officer to act with greater discretion. Officer discretion is essential in deciding how and when to provide specific solutions chosen from the wide-range of police services available in a neighborhood setting. However, with increased discretion, officers face more chances for corruption and misconduct (Jones, 1995). Thus, officers must remain accountable to the public by adhering to the law.
Jones (1995) asserts that three-tiered training will adequately prepare officers for such ethical problems. First, recruits should receive training on police ethics and the agencies’ code of ethics. Second, regular roll call or in-service training should provide ethics awareness sessions. Finally, police administrators also should receive extensive classroom training. Ethics training ought to be a central part of academy and in-service training for new and experienced officers alike.
Another important issue for the community policing officer is mediation skills. Police officers can learn mediation skills during their academy training. For example, outside conflict resolution organizations can help police agencies to provide qualified trainers. Cooper (2000) states that by relying on mediation, police can significantly cut down repeat calls for service. Besides, police also can avoid complaints against them by increasing citizen satisfaction. Mediation is an effective alternative to legal action while improving citizen-police ties.
Police academies should provide more training on the topic of human relations, especially relating to adolescents. The majority of new police recruits complete a minimum of 400 hours of training before becoming police officers. Yet, the biggest drawback of these basic training programs is the minimal priority given to instruction of “human values” (Edwards, 1993).
Closely related is direct involvement of police in the lives of youth. McKay (1993) showed the positive role of leisure (e.g., sports) as an intervention to prevent juvenile delinquency. Mason and Wilson (1988) found that sports and recreation provide young people social, economic, and political opportunities. Jamieson et al (2000) also confirmed that leisure service provision is closely related to crime prevention. Police training must take into account rising youth crime, and adequately emphasize the value of human relations in crime prevention. The entrenched attitude existing officers hold that playing ball with kids will compromise their ability to effect an arrest when required must change.
Redesign of Academy Training: Florida’s New Basic Recruit Curriculum
FDLE’s Standards
and Training Commission has been working on a redesign of its basic recruit
curriculum for several years, with some items completed and others still being
developed. These include: (1) redesign
of the basic recruit curriculum based upon the SARA (Scanning, Analysis,
Response and Assessment) model, (2)
incorporation of scenarios as the basis for all training, (3) interactive
CD-ROMs featuring a number of the problem solving scenarios, and (4) complete
design, on paper, of a virtual community (Spanish Moss, FL) and surrounding
environment (Dogwood County) for use within the scenario-based training. Full details appear below:
(1) FDLE has over the past three years redesigned the entire Florida Basic Recruit Curriculum. It is different from the traditional curriculum in the following ways:
Ø New instruction focuses on application of learning rather than memorization
Ø A Problem-Solving Model will be used throughout the academy
Ø Instruction is initiated through scenarios that are set in Spanish Moss, FL
Ø New curriculum includes lesson plans, support materials, and student workbook
Ø A new certification exam will include both application and knowledge questions
The new curriculum is based upon the S.E.C.U.R.E. problem solving model, which is similar to SARA as developed by Herman Goldstein (Police Executive Research Forum, 1999). SECURE represents Safety, Ethics, Community, Understanding, Response, and Evaluation as the order of thought an officer would generally follow when approaching a new problem situation. SECURE combines a first response model to resolve short-term problems and a long-term problem solving model to be used to examine root conditions that might cause the problem to reoccur.
(2) A key component of the new curriculum is that it is scenario driven. A scenario is a description of a situation or incident that requires the learner to apply skills or knowledge to define the problem to determine what to do to solve the problem. An example scenario:
Post college football game drinking has spilled over into destructive behavior in an area of town with a number of bars. Officers are called to the scene of a rowdy crowd and must develop an immediate response plan, followed by a long-term plan to avoid repeated occurrences.
(3) FDLE is working in collaboration with WFSU-TV to film a number of these scenarios for inclusion on an interactive training CD-ROM. The software will include several decision points for each scenario based on the SECURE model. What happens next will depend upon the choices made by officer recruits. Wise decisions will help to diffuse immediate problems. Long-term planning decisions will help to avoid repeated problem situations. Both positive and negative outcomes will be filmed so that students can experience either.
(4) The scenarios will take place in the fictional town of Spanish Moss, FL. The imaginary town has all the physical elements, criminal justice agencies, community service agencies, residential, business, and government areas, and outlying small communities that might be encountered by criminal justice officers in Florida. It will be populated by imaginary citizens who represent the various types of persons criminal justice officers would encounter on their jobs. A complete set of details of the street and road layouts, buildings, and citizens has been completed.
Field Officer Training
Research about field training on community policing
strategies is difficult to find because most of the early writings focused on
‘what should we do in community policing’ rather than ‘what is going on now in
this area’. Also, evaluation funds have been difficult to obtain. Finally,
field training is less likely to be a topic for analysis, compared to academy
or specialized training. For example, the journal “Community Policing Exchange” published by the Community Policing
Consortium mainly deals with general training topics. A review of recent
journal issues found one article about citizen academies, five articles
concerning cultural diversity, eight about ethics, one on leadership, and five concerning recruitment.
However, there was not one article about FTO programs and community policing.
In order to get a better idea of what is currently happening with field training, we contacted national organizations for field training officers. Some of them responded to our email inquiry. Following is an example of a typical reply:
At the present time, the only training we deliver that is
Community
Policing
specific is a 4-hour ‘Intro to COPS’ and a 4-hour ‘Problem Solving’ to basic
recruit classes. We do not do any other
COP training to FTOs or supervisors, or to agencies
(Jim Ladd, 2000).
We also obtained the ‘FTO program manual’ from the
Evansville (IN) Police Department. It describes FTO training topics and
Instructional Areas. The FTO program teaches over seventy different topics and
only one of them deals with community policing broadly. Below is a sample of
curriculum topics.
|
Evansville Police Department FTO training topics in FTO manual Agency Orientation/Department Policies Tactical Communication/ Patrol Vehicle Operations (EVOC) Management
Resolution Officer
Safety Traffic
(including DUI) Report Writing Use
of Force Indiana Codes and Law Search
and Seizure Patrol Procedures (including Radio Communications Pedestrian and Vehicle Stops) Self Initiated Activity Control of Persons, Prisoners, and Investigations/Evidence Mentally Ill Community Relations |
The national organization that provides training
specifically designed for field training officers is N.A.F.T.O. (http://www.nafto.org).
Their primary goals are to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and new
techniques. They also conduct training seminars and conferences. However, the
organization does not have any specific training programs on community policing
strategies.
Post Field Training Instruction
In order to get a snapshot of current community policing
training opportunities as a percentage of all post field training, we visited
Policetraining.net (http://www.policetraining.net/),
a comprehensive calendar database of law enforcement training opportunities. Of
twenty training categories only one covers community policing. As of December
2000, six community policing courses or training conferences are scheduled for
the following nine months. The courses and conferences topics include:
International CPTED Conference, Implementing And Managing Community Oriented
Policing, Community Policing For Traffic Officers, Problem Oriented Policing
& The Patrol Officer, and Communities Beyond 2001.
In addition, we scrutinized all
of the training courses that were provided during 2000 to see how many training
courses about community policing strategies were offered. Among the total of 913 courses offered in
2000, only 13 courses dealt with the community policing strategies (1.4%).
Courses provided in the past included: Verbal Judo, Community Policing For
Traffic Officers, and Problem Oriented Policing & The Patrol Officer.
RCPI training content analysis
The RCPI training funded by the COPS Office represents the largest effort made to date to offer post-field training in community policing techniques. We visited the Web sites of all the RCPI’s in October 2000 to determine what type of training programs they have offered over the past three years, organizing the courses into eleven categories according to the general topic areas covered:
1. Crime and grime is anything that seems to be related to neighborhood cleanup, broken windows hypothesis, etc.
2. Culture and language programs aim at either police or citizens to better understand language and cultural differences.
3. Management styles courses are those designed primarily for mid and upper level managers aimed at shifting from hierarchical to horizontal management styles. This would include team models.
4. Partnerships courses offer training that teaches cops how to partner with citizens and organizations to produce positive results.
5. New modes of transportation training include bikes, horses, skateboards, surfboards, and so on.
6. New uses of information technology encompasses crime mapping, GPS, new laptops, Internet sites, etc.
7. Programs targeting specific groups such as youth, gangs, girls, the elderly, etc.
8. Courses about tools teach police how to use conventional equipment like guns, batons, and pepper spray. This excludes non-information technologies.
9. Traditional police functions courses deals with aspects of police work not typically associated with community policing (e.g., crime scene investigation, traffic control, shooting of weapons). There may be a community policing or problem solving emphasis given within these courses, but without a thorough analysis of the content, it is difficult to know.
10. Police ethics courses.
11. Grant writing courses.
Table 1. RCPI training programs in U.S.
|
Training Topic |
Frequency |
Percentage |
|
Traditional police functions |
115 |
32% |
|
Crime and grime |
63 |
17.5% |
|
Management styles |
53 |
14.8% |
|
Partnerships |
33 |
9.2% |
|
Targeting of specific groups |
28 |
7.8% |
|
New information technology |
26 |
7.2% |
|
Ethics |
14 |
3.9% |
|
Culture and Language |
13 |
3.6% |
|
Tools |
6 |
1.7% |
|
New Transportation modes |
4 |
1.1% |
|
Grant writing |
4 |
1.1% |
|
Total |
359 |
100% |
According to our
findings, over 32 percent of all RCPI training programs established across the
nation primarily dealt with training in traditional police functions, even
though the program’s major purpose was community policing training. Examples
include training concerning Sexual Abuse, Investigation
of Staged Traffic Collisions, Homicide Investigation, and so on. Crime
and grime was the second most popular topic (17.5%), followed by management
styles (15%), and partnerships (9%). There were few training designed for the
new modes of transportation (1%) and grant writing (1%).
Citizens Police Academy
While training of police officers is at the core of community policing efforts, the community must also understand what types of changes are taking place within law enforcement. Peverly and Phillips (1993) recognize the Citizens Police Academy (hereafter CPA) programs as the most important civic education component in community policing. The first CPA in U.S. was established in Orlando, Florida police department in 1985. After the success of this CPA, many agencies across nation adopted the program and developed their own courses. According to Ferguson (1985), the major function of CPA education is to boost better understanding between citizens and police. CPA teaches citizens about police operations, departmental policies, procedures, and police-citizen communication. Once citizens become acquainted with police activities and procedures, they are willing to cooperate more frequently with the police. Police agencies also gain a better understanding of citizens’ concerns and their perceptions of the police by interfacing with CPA participants. Cohn (1996) asserts that “CPAs provide the department with an opportunity to educate the public, establish an ongoing positive relationship with citizen groups, and give community members an appreciation for the challenges and difficulties faced by today’s law enforcement officers.” Moreover, the participants provide an important problem-solving resource for the police (Cohn, 1996).
A case study of Metro-Dade CPA by Cohn (1996) provided information on successful implementation of a CPA. To advertise the CPA program, the Metro-Dade department advertised the course to Citizens Advisory Committees (CAC) and local crime watch groups. Participants ages varied from eighteen (minimum age allowed) to sixty-eight, and their average age was thirty-eight. The agency developed a wide variety of follow-up activities to maintain interest after the course was over. These included police newsletters, police public relations events, CPA alumni associations, etc. To evaluate the CPA program, the agency does a survey both at the beginning and at the end of the course. Providing additional CPA courses was suggested to help maintain police-citizen relationships.
To date the majority of funding for local community policing initiatives has come from the federal government. One of the keys to making community policing a permanent part of American policing is to find local funding to replace the current federal grants. Local police departments will need to give community policing programs a permanent place in their budgets and also find additional sources of local revenue to fund these efforts.
There have been four major types of COPS Office funding aimed at funding local initiatives. These include: (1) Universal Hiring Program (UHP), (2) COPS MORE ’98 (Making Officer Redeployment Effective), (3) Problem-Solving partnerships grant, and (4) the Advanced Community Policing program.
Under the Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Act of 1994, the U.S. Department of Justice created Universal Hiring Program (UHP) to send additional community policing officers to urban streets and rural parts of the nation. Grants compensate up to 75 percent of the total cost for hiring each new officer over three years with the maximum of up to $75,000 per officer. State or local funds must pay the rest. All grantees must have a plan to retain their COPS-funded officer for one full local budget cycle after Federal funding is over.
COPS MORE ’98 (Making Officer Redeployment Effective) grants enable agencies to obtain technology, equipment and civilian support personnel. For example, agencies can spend COPS MORE ’98 funds on mobile computers, mapping software, computer-aided dispatch systems, clerks, and civilian dispatchers. With this, law enforcement agencies can send officers back to the street again. Since such grants pay up to 75 percent of the total cost of the suggested plan only for one year, the applicants must have a financial strategy for maintaining the activity after the grant ends.
Problem-Solving partnerships grant funds such resources as geographic information and mapping systems, crime analysts, subject matter experts, community surveys, and training and technical assistance in problem solving. The funded resources improve a community’s capacity to do innovative problem solving. An average one-time grant award is $50,000, ranging from $5,000 to $150,000.
The Advanced Community Policing program helps agencies to change their infrastructure to continue community-oriented policing activities. With Organizational Change grants, law enforcement agencies reduce organizational obstacles to enhance community policing practices. Applicants are required to modify one of the five priority Organizational Change elements: Leadership and Management, Organizational Culture, Organizational Structures, Research and Planning, or Re-engineering Other Components of the Organization. To apply for this money, agencies must have developed a multi-year community policing strategy. Maximum Organizational Change grant was $250,000, with the average award $100,000.
In addition, the COPS Office promotes innovative law enforcement agencies (Community Policing Demonstration Centers) to assist other agencies. Community Policing Demonstration Center awards differ in amount of money depending on jurisdiction size. COPS pay up to $500,000 for a jurisdiction population of less than 150,000. For a jurisdiction population of more than 150,000, award pays up to $1 million. Smaller jurisdictions apply for this money by forming a group with other jurisdictions.
What is in common about eligibility requirements for all COPS grants is that each agency must have a follow-up plan to continue proposed activities after each grant period has ended. Any agencies that fail to meet this requirement will not be eligible for COPS grants.
Have local agencies made good on their pledges to continue
the programs? At this time this question is very difficult to answer. Previous
research is very scarce because federal funding dollars are still coming to the
agencies. Only after the federal money
stops will there be an effort among the agencies to find permanent budget
sources to continue community policing efforts. According to Worrall and Zhao (2000: 24), this issue could soon
come to a head:
What
happens when the well runs dry? If history offers any lessons, COPS funding
will not be indefinite. The COPS Office bears remarkable similarity to funding
sources in the era of the LEAA. Governments are notorious for funding “faddish”
policies. This is not meant to belittle community policing; its intentions are
noble, and much research suggests that community policing has positive
outcomes. It is almost inevitable, though, that funding will be curtailed, or
even discontinued in the not-too-distant future. The COPS Office already
requires that local governments picks up the tab after the first year or two
for hiring grants. The day will come when Congress turns its attention to other
priorities. What, then, will happen to community policing, especially since a
great deal of it seems dependent on federal funding?
Partnerships with local community groups
One of the ways community
policing might become a permanent part of law enforcement is through the
development of effective partnerships with local community groups. Police agencies that cooperate inclusively
with all local groups to develop the strategic framework needed for
implementing a comprehensive community-oriented policing program will be better
off (Coleman, 1996). These groups include not only business organizations, but
also community centers (e.g., YMCA, YWCA, Boys Club, Girls Club, etc),
faith-based organizations (e.g., churches, temples, Salvation Army), community
social work-type organizations (shelters, treatment facilities), community
service groups (Habitat for Humanity, graffiti eradication groups, etc), the
Urban League, self-help groups (Alcoholics Anonymous), and neighborhood watch
organizations.
Community policing defines the community as any collective group it is partnering with to handle a criminal or order maintenance issue. Oliver (2001) states that community members include: families, senior citizens, business people, homeless people, churches, government, schools, hospitals, parks, recreation centers, charities, civic organization (profit or nonprofit), unions, etc. Without the community’s active participation police will be forced to return to traditional police patrol tactics.
Surprisingly, there has been little discussion in the literature on the critical role of the community within community policing (Buerger, 1994). According to Wilson and Kelling (1982), the police focused on the order maintenance role during the early twentieth century. The role has changed into a crime control one after the crime wave of the 1960s. However, with the role change, the police also have given up their relationship with the community. As a result, police became isolated from community groups (Oliver, 2001). Community policing emerged as a response to this situation.
The police depend upon the assistance of the community to work effectively. For example, traditional policing has not been effective with delinquency problems because the involvement of parents is essential to deal with such a problem. As a response, for example, the Thousand Oaks (CA) Police Department developed the “Parent Project” program as a way of dealing with problems associated with children. The agency teaches parent specific, step-by-step plans for intervening in children’s destructive problems. Parents who are actively involved in the program are linked with a community-policing officer in their area. They both together can help children in trouble and can change the community in which they live in.
Eck and Rosenbaum (1994) identified five citizens’ role in dealing with criminal and order maintenance issues in their neighborhoods. The five functions for citizens are:
- To be the eyes and ears of the community
- To form patrols, confront criminal and disorderly individuals, and drive them out from the community
- To reduce its citizens’ chances of victimization, opportunity for crime, actual amount of crime, fear of crime
- To put pressure on others to act
- To allow the police to act on their behalf.
Oliver (2001) adds the leadership role to these. This enables the community to share the right and responsibility with police in policy making and decision making processes. Examples include citizens’ committees or councils, and citizens review boards.
According to Oliver (2001), there are three likely scenarios of community involvement in community-oriented policing projects. These are: (1) police initiated, (2) police and community initiated, and (3) community initiated. The police initiated community-oriented policing project is most common. Often, it is easier for police to encourage the community to move into action because the police have the advantage of being able to tap into both public and private community organizations. However, Oliver thinks the second form is more effective for implementing community-oriented policing because cooperation is mutual.
Fleissner et al (1992) found four common stages that communities experience on the road to full implementation of community-oriented policing. In comparison to Oliver, he found community-initiated community policing projects to be common. The four stages of community initiation are: (1) challenging and venting (citizens criticize police), (2) organizational (citizens agree to participate in community issues), (3) success (trusting relationship develops between citizens and police), and (4) long-term stability. Although it is difficult at first to draw full support from the community based upon citizens’ past mistrust of police, continuous effort to incorporate the community as a police partner is essential.
Wilson and Kelling (1982) described very vividly the possible long-term effect of deserting neighborhood problems in their “Broken Windows” essay. A case study done in a low-income area, the Virginia lake study set in Reno, Nevada, illustrates well how fast crime problems can go back to their original disturbing levels after an initial successful community policing intervention. Therefore, law enforcement agencies should maintain reduced crime and fear levels by ongoing efforts to react to re-emerging problems. In order to do this, administrators should maintain regular cooperation with local community groups (Glensor and Peak, 1998).
Dunn (1999) describes the Lower Camden County Regional High School District (LCCD)’s successful effort to counteract drug problems with police cooperation. The study shows that the police department can affect the school community significantly by regular education and training on the prevention of crime and the danger of drugs. Agencies not only help the educational process for students but also make the community safer for all residents.
Strong, positive relationships between children and police officers often result in corresponding positive relationships between adults and police officers. The Virginia Beach department developed PEP (Police Equestrian Program) for children as part of its community policing efforts. Children learn basic horse riding skills. At the same time, they are getting familiar with police officers and their work. This leads to a positive relationship between the officers and the youngsters (Baker, 1995).
Fishbein (1998) describes the comprehensive care model as another example of successful partnerships. The model consists of community engagement, proactive approaches, and comprehensive strategies. The author defines community engagement as how police departments can identify communities’ varied needs and concerns as an effort to involve the community. To do this, agency should:
- Obtain a list of registered organizations from a state or local government.
- Obtain a complete description of the community from official records.
- Conduct a needs assessment to identify perceived obstacles and resolutions to make asset-based strategy.”
The prevention framework describes both risk and protective factors in a target area. With this assessment, officers know the community quite well in a relatively short time and they can use existing resources from the start. The second principle is proactive approaches, which involve four steps. They are: (1) Identify the problems by conducting surveys, (2) Pinpoint hot spots, (3) Develop solutions, and (4) Evaluate the solutions. The final component of the successive, comprehensive care model is comprehensive strategies. These require a pool of various experts who will continue to make themselves available as needed. Crime prevention works best when directed by a multidisciplinary team of individuals competent of systematically assessing the problem and offering solutions (Fishbein, 1998).
The success of community-oriented policing depends upon maintaining good relationships with community business members. According to Sissom (1996), officers make two types of routine contacts with local businesses: summoned police responses and regular beat visits to popular establishments (restaurants, bars, retail stores, etc.). To know about the other businesses that do not have much contact with police, police should do a business survey. Examining one survey project done by the Merriam police department, Sissom (1996) identified several phases in project implementation:
- Identification of all city businesses, and survey form development, which asks about main concerns and overall rating of police performance
- Training officers, especially first-line supervisors to ensure the support from them, and considerations on public relations, such as media and city officials
- Follow-up and returned survey processing.
These concepts can work in any community regardless of its size. As community businesses grow up, police must incorporate business owners into community relationships by increasing contact with them.
For example, investigators in Suffolk County, New York, put into practice a creative business education program for bank workers teaching formal crime awareness. The topics dealt with everyday conduct (target hardening), conduct during a robbery, conduct immediately after a robbery, the role of police officer and detective, the court process, and post-robbery trauma. The program not only provided substantial information on crime awareness but also established strong bonds between police and community residents (Lissenden, 1996).
Partnerships with Local, County, State, and Federal Agencies
Community policing partnerships, whether with other law enforcement agencies or with other types of governmental agencies, are often quite similar. Partnerships have the same mission: securing public safety and community harmony. Partnership often involves close cooperation with both the community and with other public agencies, such as the department of health, department of public works, prosecutor’s office, fire department, and educational institutions. “As separate entities, our capacities are limited, but together we can offer numerous solutions.” Justice requires teamwork (Hankins & Weinstein, 1996).
As a critical aspect of law enforcement, the cooperation between police departments and other government agencies not only improves public safety but also maximizes the use of resources. The benefits also include up-to-date information sharing, economical use of funding, and joint missions.
Usually, police officers are familiar only with some of the residents and major criminal activity in a community. Probation and parole officers know all the felons on supervision, including their specific criminal backgrounds, and their conditions of release for living in the neighborhood. The sharing of information keeps both agencies up-to-date. Additionally, the partnership is an efficient use of public funds because of combined resources (Maclcan, 1997). The partnership not only prevents and reduces criminal behavior, but also provides additional opportunities for both police and probation officers better to ensure staff safety while fighting crime (Bosco, 1997; Maclcan, 1997).
Such partnerships are not limited to bilateral working agreements. Multiple partnerships between intergovernmental agencies provide excellent service for residents. For example, in Oxnard, California, the local police department cooperates with the county corrections agency, the county district attorney’s office, and Interface Children and Family Services to launch a special team response aimed at assisting domestic violence victims.
Another example, from Lapeer County, Michigan, the sheriff’s department invites local hospital employees and the Lapeer Area Citizens Against Domestic Violence to unite as a coalition to provide domestic violence services. The partnership provides immediate support and aid to victims, and assists responding police officers so that they can return more rapidly to service (Wilcox, 1997; Morris, 1997; Kalanquin, 1996).
Partnerships also provide effective tools for police officers to deal with juvenile delinquency within communities. In Fresno County, CA, the effects of the partnership between the police department, the probation department, and the school district has produced dramatic results since implementation in 1993. The juvenile probation officers joined law enforcement counterparts to reduce juvenile crime and enhance safety at seven Fresno high school campuses. Increased visibility of police and probation officers on campus, close supervision of at-risk youth, and a safer learning environment are part of the visible benefit from this partnership (Button, 1996).
A similar successful cooperation has also been demonstrated in Boston. Boston POLICE DEPARTMENT and probation officers cooperated in a project, Operation Night Light, and have been successful in preventing and suppressing youth violence in the city. For police, the benefits include an additional tool to solve a crime problem. Additionally, the program helps officers develop rapport with residents in the neighborhoods where they work (O’Connor, 1996).
An example of a partnership with the federal government is the Weed and Seed program. “Weed and Seed” is a multi-agency strategy that “weeds” out violent crime, gang activity, drug use, and drug trafficking, in targeted high-crime neighborhoods and then “seeds” the target area by restoring these neighborhoods through social and economic revitalization. It recognizes the importance of linking and integrating Federal, State, and local law enforcement and criminal justice efforts with Federal, State, and local social services, and private sector and community efforts to maximize the impact of existing programs and resources. Most important is the involvement of a united community.
According to www.weedseed.org, there are 18 areas in Florida funded from this program. The selected areas have multiple social problems including high rates of drug-related crime, high drop out rates, severe violence problems, high unemployment rates, and high poverty rates. Community policing plays an active role by using foot/bicycle patrols, increased visibility, creating community activities, problem solving, and cooperating with other law enforcement agencies, such as FDLE, DEA, and FBI (Weed & Seed, 2000).
As fantastic improvements have been made in computer technologies, law enforcement agencies have looked for a variety of ways to apply the technology so as to advance their operations, including community policing efforts. Computers and networks are quickly becoming an essential and useful tool to improve officers’ work of neighborhood crime analysis and planning. Also, through more convenient Internet service, officers have better means to communicate with residents, access their own and other agencies’ information resources, and to deliver justice services.
GIS
A Geographic Information System (GIS) introduces a spatial or geographic component to a database, which can improve the degree of analysis and efficiency of operations. Each case in a data set includes a reference to that case’s location in relation to a local or regional map. The geo-code process allows organizations to analyze what they know about the nature and extent of crime in their jurisdiction. Moreover, GIS allows law enforcement agencies to create visual representations of crime and social problems, such as police activities, community problems, and other information on a map. A variety of crimes can also be reflected on the same map by using different point markers to mirror the location of different types of offenses (Department of Justice Crime Mapping Research Center, 2000).
Current
mapping software is generally Windows-based.
Although the creation and maintenance of a GIS system requires some
professionals, police officers can be trained to generate maps in few hours
(Department of Justice Crime Mapping Research Center, 2000). GIS systems have been applied rapidly among
community policing departments, but officers are not familiar with the
operation of this software. In a Florida study, Greek (1998: 50, 102) indicated
that only 3% of police departments surveyed used GIS software on their networks
in 1998, and only 13% of agencies would consider using GIS in the future. By 2000 the situation was changing, as
Parks’ (2000) survey found that 39% of departments that served fewer than
50,000 residents were using "computer mapping that allows monitoring
calls, crimes, and police activity at the address level." For departments serving more than 50,000
residents, the percentage is as high as 67% (Parks, 2000). According to a currently national-wide
sampling research, some police departments that begin crime mapping are quickly
frustrated by the myriad of difficulties that arise when attempting to
implement computer mapping in their jurisdictions (Crime Mapping Laboratory,
2000). This suggests that more
investment on both human capital and computer hardware and software is needed.
This situation is obviously likely to change as NIJ and the COPS Office
continue to make GIS a priority.
Other software applications
As
the improvement of computer technology and popularity of personal computers
continues, officers will continue the trend of using the computer as a tool in
their routine work. In a community
policing Internet training feasibility study, Greek (1998: 113) found that most
of Florida officers (65.1%) surveyed regularly use computers as part of their
job assignment. Mullen (1998: 67) has
described a similar phenomenon in his national-wide research, including a rapid
growth in the software titles available for law enforcement. He categorized the
software he reviewed as follows: 39% of the software applications were
specifically tailored toward law enforcement activities, 31% addressed
operational needs, and 29% focused on administrative concerns.
Several factors might affect the future level of software used by police departments. Larger agencies tend to invest heavily in computer related equipment, including computer labs and software (Greek, 1998: 18, Mullen, 1998: 68).
Mullen (1998) discovered that police-to-population ratio is negatively associated with the number of software programs being employed. As the ratio decreases, one would anticipate an increase in the number of software applications in the police department. Mullen explained that agencies with small ratios might have adopted additional software to assist their management and performance of policing functions. Second, the civilian percentage within the agency has a positive association with the level of software usage. In other words, as the percentage of civilian employees increases, there is an increase in the number of software applications.
Web Page Applications
A law enforcement agency web site offers an opportunity to invite the whole world to share the agency’s perspective and provide feedback. According to Maier (1996), there are around 2,000 law enforcement agencies have active web sites in U.S. Also, he indicates that the number of police departments entering cyberspace is growing, and the content of web sites is also expanding speedily. In another study based on Florida sampling, almost half of police departments had a web site and around 66% of agencies planned to building one in the following 12 months (Greek, 1998: 14, 92).
A law enforcement agency web site also provides interaction opportunities between officers and community. In Haley and Taylor’s (1998) research, 75% of police departments in their national-wide sample provided email as a service on their web site. They also found that almost 90% of agencies offer phone and fax numbers, and post office addresses on their web sites. However, only 64% of Florida agencies reported having basic agency information on their web sites (Greek, 1998: 42). Meanwhile, both researchers demonstrated that around one-third of agencies used their web sites for community policing. Greek’s (1998: 42) research points to 16% of police departments that provide forms to the public. A similarly low percentage of other types of Web page usage has been found by Haley and Taylor (1998). They found that only 29% of agencies offer opportunities to request services from their web sites, and only 8.3% of agencies offer crime on-line reporting services (Haley and Taylor, 1998).
Community policing has become the dominant theme of current police reform in U.S. Abstractly, community policing is a proactive philosophy that promotes solving problems that are either criminogenic in nature or increase citizen fear of crime. Goldstein (1990) argues that community policing officers should be encouraged to solve problems rather than simply respond to 911 calls. It involves identifying, analyzing, and solving community problems at their source. When an organization adopts new ideas and behaviors, in consequence, organizational change occurs (Pierce and Delbeq, 1977).
There seems to be an agreement among practitioners and scholars that community policing represents a significant organizational reform (Cordner, 1997; Glensor, 1996; Oliver, 2001; Roberg, Crank, and Kuykendall, 2000; Zhao, He, and Lovrich, 1999; Zhao, Lovrich, and Thurman, 1999). Areas undergoing change include command structure, task assignments, and evaluation procedures. A major shift from a hierarchical command structure to a decentralized problem solving organization is required to fully institute community policing.
Thus, before meaningful transition toward community policing can occur, the organization’s culture often has to change first (Glenso, 1996). However, a number of researchers have identified that the bureaucratic model of policing is very resistant to change (Goldstein, 1987; Zhao, He, Lovrich, 1999). In the early years of the shift toward community-oriented policing, most of police departments still reflected traditional law enforcement and crime fighting bureaucracies (Zhao and Thurman, 1997). However, change seems to be occurring gradually. Zhao, He, and Lovrich (1999) found that there was an indeed change in the value orientations among police officers between 1993 and 1996.
According to Shafer’s
(2000) description of the Columbus (OH) Police Department’s experience, there
were four targeted goals:
(1) Effective Organization, better able to
accomplish its mission and serve its stakeholders; (2) Learning Organization,
committed to ongoing learning, dedicated to enhancing employees’ skills, and
open to new ideas; (3) Decentralized Organization, organized based on serving
the community at the neighborhood level with decision making occurring at the
lowest appropriate level within the organization; and (4) Caring Organization,
changing the culture so that members at all levels are committed to serving the
public, value relationships with persons inside and outside the organization,
are treated and treat others with respect, and receive a sense of satisfaction
and enjoyment from their jobs.
The Columbus reform case also provided a successful model of the team approach. Ten teams were established to examine the organizational structure of the police department and other core issues of change. Then, each team had to present a report and justify recommendations for organizational changes (Shafer, 2000).
In addition to team structures, flexible time schedules and new evaluation mechanisms are important. Many departments now use flexible time scheduling in order to maximize officers' time spent on community policing activities. Parks (2000) found that 74% of agencies that serve more than 50,000 residents allow officers to change their hours with supervisor's permission to work on problem-solving projects. Parks also pointed out that half (49%) of his surveyed agencies included community policing and problem-oriented policing (POP) activities in their officer evaluations. Additional studies of organizational change are likely to appear in the literature soon.
METHODOLOGY
A survey (see attached document survey-questionaire.html) was constructed and pretested, with questions in the following areas:
·
Community
policing training
·
Local funding
initiatives
·
Partnering
with local community groups
·
Partnering
with state, county, and local government agencies
·
Technology
related issues
·
Organizational
changes
The survey was developed as a Web page and located at:
http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/copssurvey/
A letter was sent to approximately 400 Florida sheriffs and police chiefs with instructions on where to locate the survey and how to complete it.
A very low number of agencies completed the online survey at first, so the researchers phoned most of the agencies, and letters were sent from the Florida Sheriffs’ Association and the Florida Police Chiefs’ Association to their member agencies. Eventually the number of completed surveys totaled 73, a 19% response rate. The low response rate is probably related to two factors: (1) the length and complexity of the survey required more than person to provide the information, and (2) the Internet technology may have kept some from responding who might have to a paper form. In 1998, the researchers sent out a paper survey and received an approximately 50 percent response (Greek, 1998). The 1998 survey concerned information technology use by Florida law enforcement agencies, and led us to think that most agencies could access an Internet survey. We did offer to fax the survey to agencies and have them mail or fax the completed survey back to us. About 10 to 15 agencies did so.
Our survey was completed by most of the major
population centers in Florida. Cities over 100,000, in order of population, are
Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Hialeah, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale,
Tallahassee, and Hollywood. A number of the Sheriffs departments cover
territories with over 100,000 residents. For a complete list, see Appendix A.
In addition to reporting overall response rates to each question, the researchers conducted cross-tabulations to determine the relationship between agency size and each of the relevant questions. We choose the number of sworn officers to be the best indicator of agency size and used this through out the report as our key variable. First of all, readers should note that the comparison between different sized agency categories is made in terms of the percentage within each response category. Within the same response category, each cell is directly compared with each other, and should be read horizontally. See the example below:
FINDINGS
Among 375
law enforcement agencies in Florida, 73 agencies responded to this survey. The
response rate was 19 percent. The table below shows the breakdown of city size
into small, medium, and large based on population. Small city refers to cities
with population less than 25,000. Medium city means cities of population 25,000
to 100,000. Large city refers to cities or service territories with population
over 100,000.
Frequency
table showed that, 34 percent of responded agencies are located in small
cities. Agencies in medium cities are 26 percent. Forty percent of agencies are
located in large cities or population areas.
Most of the large agencies in Florida did respond to our survey.
Table 1-1
Agency size
is categorized into three types according to the number of sworn officers.
Small agencies have less than 25 sworn officers, medium agencies have 26 to
100, and large agencies have more than 100 officers. Among the 73 responded
agencies, 48% percent of them are large agencies, followed by medium agencies
(32%), and small agencies (21%).
Table 1-2
Table 1-3
shows the frequency distribution of officer assignment on community partnership
building work. 43 percent of agencies have less than 10 officers who are
assigned to work on community police partnerships. 14 percent of agencies
assigned 11 to 20 officers.
Table 1-3
With respect
to civilian or non-sworn officers assigned to community policing projects, the
majority of agencies (75%) have less than 10 people who work for partnership
building.
Table 1-4:
A. Community Policing Training