Police Quarterly

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Community Policing: Thriving Because It Works

Larry C. Plummer
Police Quarterly 1999 2: 96
DOI: 10.1177/109861119900200105

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Police Section of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences

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Forum

COMMUNITY POLICING:
THRIVING BECAUSE IT WORKS

LARRY C. PLUMMER
Mountain View Police Department

Despite many obstacles, the movement by police agencies to operationalize

community policing in communities nationally and internationally has pro-
gressed demonstrably through the span of several decades and is thriving.
It is axiomatic that the implementation of change in policing, in any form,
faces many hurdles, and the major philosophical and operational shifts
required to implement community policing present even more challenges.
However, our efforts to evolve to community policing have and will con-
tinue to be aided by a variety of factors that will support continued growth of
the movement.

IT IS NATURAL

Community policing makes sense. It has a historical base and is a natu-

ral process for our police personnel. Furthermore, it serves needs
expressed by our communities and works well with our governmental and
private partners.
Unlike nouveau programs and systems previously tried and abandoned
in policing, community policing is not new or foreign to our business. It is
not a buzzword, a brainchild, or a strict or slick management or marketing
tool with limited application or a finite lifespan.
Community policing or, simply, policing with and as part of the com-
munity is a philosophy that originated in old England. Following his estab-
lishment of the London Metropolitan Police, Sir Robert Peel established

POLICE QUARTERLY Vol. 2 No. 1, March 1999 96

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© 2000 Sage Publications, Inc.

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principles to guide the activities and behaviors of his constables. One of

these, often relayed by Mr. Chris Braden, &dquo;the police are the public and the
public are the police,&dquo; is viewed by many as perhaps the original seed or
thought from which modem community policing has evolved. Although not
labeled as such at the time and not utilized by Peel to develop a strict com-
munity policing model in London, Peelian principles and Peel’s basic polic-
ing model were eventually used as a model for the development of policing
in the United States and elsewhere.
Recommitting ourselves to a community-policing philosophy represents
a natural return to these very basic roots and now, a (root) system that has
have been extended by the work and leadership of such people as Herman
Goldstein, George Kelling, and Chris Braden, and by our own significant
experience with its practice. Together, these provide us with an ever-
expanding foundation for continuing our efforts to sustain and enhance the
growth of community policing.
More natural than our return to community policing itself is the draw that
our commitment to it presents to police personnel, community members,

and our governmental and private partners. The community policing philos-
ophy highlights the critical importance that human relationships and coop-
eration play in successful problem solving, and a noteworthy by-product of
the process is the great personal rewards it pays to all involved.
Police personnel are, in part, like all people, naturally altruistic. And
although many motives draw them to policing, the opportunity to work with
and to help people is particularly appealing. Community policing offers our
members the opportunity to solve problems and see the results. Over the
course of time, the fulfilling nature of the environments created by this type
of activity can help to sustain and motivate them throughout their careers.
Community members share responsibility for solving problems with the
police and have a great appetite to know more about and be involved with
the police. Likewise, our governmental and private partners, who for so long
have been shut out of our business, have a strong need to be informed,
involved, and to play a role in problem-solving initiatives. Our implementa-
tion of community policing provides both groups with the venue for finally
becoming real, involved partners in the job of policing and the hands-on
work of crafting safer communities.
The multidisciplinary involvement provided in community policing
environments is both an attribute and catalyst. The inclusive nature of com-
munity policing ensures that growth and evolution will be self-sustaining
because different perspectives bring new energy to the problem-solving

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98

table. Societal problems no longer are the exclusive province of the police to
resolve-everyone can participate, and the inclusion and ownership of oth-
ers provides constant infusion of different perspectives, energy, and
solutions.

IT IS SIMPLE

The complicated, confining, and foreign nature of so many of the pro-

grams and systems imported into police work over the past several decades
has contributed to their short lifespans.
In contrast, community policing is abjectly simple. Its premises about
people, partnerships, and problem solving present us all with the unique
ability to convey and implement the philosophy using a language that is
common and easily understood.
This is not to say that the leap between philosophy and practice is not a
great one. Implementing community policing is an extremely difficult task.
Creating cultural, systematic, and operational shifts, and then adjusting these
shifts to accommodate transitional stages, the environment, and roadblocks-
while at the same time maintaining operational stability-is not simple.
However, despite biases and other obstructions that must be understood
and overcome, the simplicity of the philosophy itself has and will continue
to support our ability to explain, be advocates of, and sustain the growth of
community policing.

IT ENCOURAGES CREATIVITY

Law enforcement agencies committed to traditional philosophies cer-

tainly offer themselves and their members the opportunity to express their
creativity. However, most often, creativity must be displayed through tradi-
tional enforcement-type activities and within very narrow boundaries. Such
boundaries are designed specifically to define and guide traditional organi-
zations and their members, and are usually focused almost exclusively on
enforcement and reactive activities. Accordingly, the traditional toolbox
has very few implements for police officers to use in the construction of cre-
ative and long-lasting solutions.
Although traditional roles and activities must remain an integral part of
any community policing environment, community policing agencies are
defined quite differently. They are driven by their emphasis on the utiliza-
tion of a broad array of means and participants to resolve problems and

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 99

carry our their missions, with traditional methods and systems being but one
part of the whole.
Community policing agencies place great value on creativity and auton-
omy and can finally encourage their members to go &dquo;beyond the dots&dquo; in
developing partnerships and problem-solving schemes. Members have a
greater opportunity to exhibit their altruistic talents and to fulfill personal
needs and community expectations. Our governmental and community part-
ners share in the creative processes. This pool of creative expression cou-

ples with successes to energize our members, partners, agencies and com-
munities, and to build a sustaining base of vitality for community policing
initiatives.
In a much broader sense, the nature of transition processes being designed
to implement community policing further invigorates community policing
environments. Whereas traditional agencies view the future by delineating
very specific, short-term destinations and generally construct very linear
processes to reach their goals, community policing futures are viewed as
constantly evolving. They are really ongoing, circular works-in-progress.
The understanding that agencies will constantly be evolving to meet the
demands of their communities becomes an end in and of itself, with no spe-
cific ending point. Transition processes are constructed in painstaking,
detailed fashion, but emphasis is placed on creativity, involvement by many
stakeholders, flexibility, and the evolutionary nature of the process itself.

IT IMPLIES AN APPRECIATION FOR DIVERSITY

Community policing implies appreciation for diversity in the way

we look, think, and act, and our willingness to accept diversity as expressed
in communities.
our

Policing has been notoriously slow to embrace and display an apprecia-

tion for diversity, and recent events have again turned the focus of our com-
munities to this critical issue. However, community policing has also pro-
vided the public with the opportunity to notice what is good and can be
better about policing and to build new support for policing.
Because successfully policing with partners in our communities requires
that we cultivate relationships with our communities, transition efforts pay
great attention to building a mutual trust with communities, both as a pre-
cursor to and as a result of relationship-building processes.

Many things go into building trust. Access, dialogue, feedback, and

respect for others are key components of the equation. However, most

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100

critical to the formula and, without doubt, a prerequisite to success is the

exhibition by policing agencies that we appreciate diversity. Community
policing agencies highlight the need for mutual respect, ethical conduct,
and the reflection of the demographics of their communities. Community
policing agencies appreciate diverse opinions and different thinking. Diver-
sity and the various shades of life in our communities are recognized as a
means to support and enhance the staying power of community policing.

IT REQUIRES PAYING ATTENTION

TO OUR ENVIRONMENTS

Traditional environments focus on singular incidents of crime, crime

trends, arrests, and bringing closure to problems for the short term.
As agendas shift to real problem solving-addressing the multitude of
factors that combine to cause or promote disorder and crime for the long
term-community policing agencies place a much higher priority on mak-
ing connections with and assessing the ever-changing natures of their
environments.
Agencies have found that understanding the nature and dispositions of
our communities is essential to building of trust, partnerships, and effective

problem solving initiatives. Having a strong grasp of and relationship with

our rapidly changing environments provides us with a much greater oppor-

tunity to succeed in serving our communities.

IT IS RESULTS ORIENTED

During the past decade, more and more has come to be expected from
policing agencies. The success we have had in advancing community polic-
ing into our communities and culture has increased those expectations. Spe-
cifically, our communities now demand more of our time and, ultimately,
real results.
The demand and pressure for results is good however, and community
policing provides the most appropriate vehicle for us to become more
accountable and effective in responding to our communities. Community
policing agencies produce by transforming themselves into multidimen-
sional service providers, hubs and facilitators for collective action, and by
addressing problems in a more thorough fashion.

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 101

IT IS BOLSTERING COMMUNITY SUPPORT

Community policing bolsters community support in the form of physical

participation, fundraising, the creation of a vocal base of public support, and
political will for increased budgetary appropriations.
The public and our governing bodies appear to have grown tired of our
never-ending demands for more and more money to fight crime in the same
traditional ways. The adoption of community policing philosophies and the
associated positive results have given our communities a better chance to
see and be involved with what they pay for. Inclusion of others and the fruits
of our communal efforts have clearly provided community policing agen-
cies with a windfall of renewed support.

IT HAS UNIFIED POLICE

LEADERSHIP AND DIRECTION

Although the dangers posed by changes in leadership and the practice of

dishonest leadership still merit our strong attention, they have been dimin-
ished by the successes of community policing and by the strong base of
leadership responsible for advancing the movement.
Initially championed by a handful of practitioners, researchers, academi-
cians, and institutions such as the Police Executive Research Forum, com-
munity policing’s base of leadership has grown dramatically over the years.
This base is now expansive and strong and includes municipal, state,
national and international organizations and governing bodies, community
entities, a growing section of the public at large, and a growing number of
police chiefs, sheriffs, and personnel in their charge.
The base is also significantly marked by its potential. Looking to the
future, it seems easy to project a further strengthening of the leadership
body committed to advancing community policing. Our current stock of
leaders will expand and grow exponentially as more of our members are
raised in the environment and new converts are persuaded to believe in the
philosophy.

CONCLUSION

Community policing is not a gimmick or shallow program. It is a mindset

and philosophy fueled by inclusion, tolerance, and good old-fashioned

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102

police work. Our communities enjoy the inclusion, those with diverse world
views now have a forum, and police officers are able to exercise their altruis-
tic desires to serve and to make a difference. Whereas once we focused on
our most basic mission, that of apprehending criminals, we now work under
an umbrella philosophy that requires that we not only invite but mandate
that communities participate with us in solving social and criminal
problems.
Although not all police agencies are involved in community policing,
most have it or are implementing it in some form. We all struggle with its
implementation, and resistance still abounds, but it remains the focus of dia-
logue and mission in policing.
Community policing has been resilient and is standing the test of time so
often failed by other programs and systems. Indeed, the constancy of our
purpose and efforts serves both as an important key to and measure of our
success with community policing.

Community policing is in fact thriving because it works! It serves a mul-

titude of needs and stakeholders. Creating closer ties to our communities
and creating partnerships to solve problems just makes sense. The dynamics
created in community policing environments combine and can develop to
ensure that they not only endure, but grow even stronger.
As we look to the future, we all share the opportunity, perhaps even the
responsibility, to help those we serve (including our coworkers) to better
understand community policing’s strengths and attributes so that we can
pull together to overcome obstacles and foster its continued growth.

Larry C. Plummer has had responsibility for implementing community polic-

~ Mountain
t/t~ in Wc~ CA. He
MoMM~H~ View, ~ has
~MM spent
.yp~ 27 years in
27yea~ ~ policing,
~o/~c~, the first 15
~tc~ryf 73 with
wiz
ing
the Berkeley Police Department, and holds a master’s degree in manage-
ment. He has had articles published that deal with such topics as domestic
violence, honest leadership, and police and race.

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