Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Date Created

12-13-2019

Abstract

Researchers have struggled to define community policing in a consistent manner for use in scientific study. This study attempts to rectify the disparity in definitions used for research by creating a cohesive definition for use in future research. This definition is was created by conducting in depth interviews with officers as well as by doing a content analysis of police department websites. This research concluded that officers and departments define community policing slightly differently- officers emphasize respect and rapport with the community while departments focus on the specific programs they can implement. Due to these differences, the definition that was created as a result of this study is “Community policing is a philosophy that utilizes community outreach programs, citizen/officer partnerships, as well as a problem-solving and customer service oriented approach to build trust within the community to reduce crime, fear of crime, and increase citizen participation in criminal reporting.”

Keywords

Community Policing

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