COMMUNITY POLICING DEFINED

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Community Partnerships

Collaborative partnerships between the law enforcement agency 

and the individuals and organizations they serve to develop 

solutions to problems and increase trust in police. 

 Other Government Agencies 

 Community Members/Groups 

 Nonprofits/Service Providers 

 Private Businesses 

 Media 

Organizational Transformation

The alignment of organizational management, structure, 

personnel, and information systems to support community 

partnerships and proactive problem solving. 

Agency Management

 Climate and culture 

 Leadership 

 Labor relations 

 Decision-making 

 Strategic planning 

 Policies 

 Organizational evaluations 

 Transparency 

Organizational Structure 

 Geographic assignment of officers 

 Despecialization 

 Resources and finances 

Personnel 

 Recruitment, hiring, and selection 

 Personnel supervision/evaluations 

 Training 

Information Systems (Technology) 

 Communication/access to data 

 Quality and accuracy of data 

Community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational 

strategies, which support the systematic use of partnerships and 

problem-solving techniques, to proactively address the immediate 

conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social 

disorder, and fear of crime.
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Problem Solving

The process of engaging in the proactive and systematic 

examination of identified problems to develop and rigorously 

evaluate effective responses.

 Scanning: Identifying and prioritizing problems 

 Analysis: Researching what is known about the problem

 Response: Developing solutions to bring about lasting 

reductions in the number and extent of problems 

 Assessment: Evaluating the success of the responses 

 Using the crime triangle to focus on immediate conditions 

(victim/offender/location) 
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Community Partnerships

Collaborative partnerships between the law enforcement agency 

and the individuals and organizations they serve to develop 

solutions to problems and increase trust in police.

Community policing, recognizing that police rarely can solve public 

safety problems alone, encourages interactive partnerships with 

relevant stakeholders. The range of potential partners is large and 

these partnerships can be used to accomplish the two interrelated 

goals of developing solutions to problems through collaborative 

problem solving and improving public trust. The public should play 

a role in prioritizing public safety problems.

Other Government Agencies 

Law enforcement organizations can partner with a number of 

other government agencies to identify community concerns 

and offer alternative solutions. Examples of agencies include 

legislative bodies, prosecutors, probation and parole, public works 

departments, neighboring law enforcement agencies, health and 

human services, child support services, ordinance enforcement, and 

schools.

Community Members/Groups 

Individuals who live, work, or otherwise have an interest in the 

community—volunteers, activists, formal and informal community 

leaders, residents, visitors and tourists, and commuters—are a 

valuable resource for identifying community concerns. Partnerships 

with these factions of the community can engage the community 

in achieving specific goals at town hall meetings, neighborhood 

association meetings, decentralized offices/storefronts in the 

community, and team beat assignments.

Nonprofits/Service Providers 

Advocacy and community-based organizations that provide 

services to the community and advocate on its behalf can be 

powerful partners. These groups often work with or are composed 

of individuals who share certain interests and can include such 

entities as victims groups, service clubs, support groups, issue 

groups, advocacy groups, community development corporations, 

and the faith community. 

Private Businesses 

For-profit businesses also have a great stake in the health of the 

community and can be key partners because they often bring 

considerable resources to bear on problems of mutual concern. 

Businesses can help identify problems and provide resources for 

responses, often including their own security technology and 

community outreach. The local chamber of commerce and visitor 

centers can also assist in disseminating information about police 

and business partnerships and initiatives. 
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Media 

The media represent a powerful mechanism by which to communicate 

with the community. They can assist with publicizing community 

concerns and available solutions, such as services from government 

or community agencies or new laws or codes that will be enforced. 

In addition, the media can have a significant impact on public 

perceptions of the police, crime problems, and fear of crime.
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Organizational Transformation

The alignment of organizational management, structure, personnel, 

and information systems to support community partnerships and 

proactive problem-solving efforts.

The community policing philosophy focuses on the way that 

departments are organized and managed and how the infrastructure 

can be changed to support the philosophical shift behind community 

policing. It encourages the application of modern management 

practices to increase efficiency and effectiveness. Community policing 

emphasizes changes in organizational structures to institutionalize 

its adoption and infuse it throughout the entire department, 

including the way it is managed and organized, its personnel, and its 

technology.

Agency Management 

Under the community policing model, police management needs to 

infuse community policing ideals throughout the agency by making a 

number of critical changes in climate and culture, leadership, formal 

labor relations, decentralized decision-making and accountability, 

strategic planning, policing and procedures, organizational 

evaluations, and increased transparency.

Climate and culture

Changing the climate and culture means supporting a proactive 

orientation that values systematic problem solving and partnerships. 

Formal organizational changes should support the informal networks 

and communication that take place within agencies to support this 

orientation.

Leadership

Leaders serve as role models for taking risks and building 

collaborative relationships to implement community policing 

and they use their position to influence and educate others 

about it. Leaders, therefore, must constantly emphasize and 

reinforce community policing’s vision, values, and mission within 

their organization and support and articulate a commitment to 

community policing as the dominant way of doing business. 

Labor relations

If community policing is going to be effective, police unions and 

similar forms of organized labor must be a part of the process and 

function as partners in the adoption of the community policing 

philosophy. Including labor groups in agency changes can ensure 

support for the changes that are imperative to community policing 

implementation. 

Decision-making

Community policing calls for decentralization both in command 

structure and decision-making. Decentralized decision-making 

allows front-line officers to take responsibility for their role in 
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community policing. When an officer is able to create solutions 

to problems and take risks, he or she ultimately feels accountable 

for those solutions and assumes a greater responsibility for the 

well-being of the community. Decentralized decision-making 

involves flattening the hierarchy of the agency, increasing tolerance 

for risk-taking in problem-solving efforts, and allowing officers 

discretion in handling calls. In addition, providing sufficient 

authority to coordinate various resources to attack a problem and 

allowing the officers the autonomy to establish relationships with 

the community will help define problems and develop possible 

solutions.

Strategic planning

The department should have a written statement reflecting a 

department-wide commitment to community policing and a 

plan that matches operational needs to available resources and 

expertise. If a strategic plan is to have value, the members of 

the organization should be well-versed in it and be able to give 

examples of their efforts that support the plan. Components such 

as the organization’s mission and value statement should be simple 

and communicated widely. Everything should connect back to it.

Policies

Community policing affects the nature and development of 

department policies and procedures to ensure that community 

policing principles and practices have an effect on activities on 

the street. Problem solving and partnerships, therefore, should 

become institutionalized in policies, along with corresponding sets 

of procedures, where appropriate.

Organizational evaluations

In addition to the typical measures of police performance (arrests, 

response times, tickets issued, and crime rates) community policing 

calls for a broadening of police outcome measures to include such 

things as community satisfaction, less fear of crime, the alleviation 

of problems, and improvement in quality of life. Community 

policing calls for a more sophisticated approach to evaluation—one 

that looks at how feedback information is used, not only how it 

measures outcomes.

Transparency

Community policing involves decision-making processes that are 

more open than traditional policing. If the community is to be a 

full partner, the department needs mechanisms for readily sharing 

relevant information on crime and social disorder problems and 

police operations with the community.
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Organizational Structure 

It is important that the organizational structure of the agency 

ensures that local patrol officers have decision-making authority 

and are accountable for their actions. This can be achieved through 

long-term assignments, the development of officers who are 

“generalists,” and using special units appropriately.

Geographic assignment of officers

With community policing, there is a shift to the long-term 

assignment of officers to specific neighborhoods or areas. 

Geographic deployment plans can help enhance customer service 

and facilitate more contact between police and citizens, thus 

establishing a strong relationship and mutual accountability. Beat 

boundaries should correspond to neighborhood boundaries and 

other government services should recognize these boundaries 

when coordinating government public-service activities.

Despecialization

To achieve community policing goals, officers have to be able 

to handle multiple responsibilities and take a team approach to 

collaborative problem solving and partnering with the community. 

Community policing encourages its adoption agency-wide, not just 

by special units, although there may be a need for some specialist 

units that are tasked with identifying and solving particularly 

complex problems or managing complex partnerships.

Resources and finances

Agencies have to devote the necessary human and financial 

resources to support community policing to ensure that problemsolving efforts are robust and that partnerships are sustained and 

effective.

Personnel 

The principles of community policing need to be infused 

throughout the entire personnel system of an agency including 

recruitment, hiring, selection, and retention of all law enforcement 

agency staff, including sworn officers, nonsworn officers, civilians, 

and volunteers, as well as personnel evaluations, supervision, and 

training.

Recruitment, hiring, and selection

Agencies need a systematic means of incorporating community 

policing elements into their recruitment, selection, and hiring 

processes. Job descriptions should recognize community 

policing and problem-solving responsibilities and encourage the 

recruitment of officers who have a “spirit of service,” instead of 

only a “spirit of adventure.” A community policing agency also has 

to thoughtfully examine where it is seeking recruits, whom it is 
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recruiting and hiring, and what is being tested. Some community 

policing agencies also look for involvement of the community 

in this process through the identification of competencies and 

participation in review boards.

Personnel supervision/evaluations

Supervisors must tie performance evaluations to community policing 

principles and activities that are incorporated into job descriptions. 

Performance, reward, and promotional structures should support 

sound problem-solving activities, proactive policing and community 

collaboration, and citizen satisfaction with police services.

Training

Training at all levels—academy, field, and in-service—must 

support community policing principles and tactics. It also 

needs to encourage creative thinking, a proactive orientation, 

communication and analytical skills, and techniques for dealing 

with quality-of-life concerns and maintaining order. Officers can be 

trained to identify and correct conditions that could lead to crime, 

raise public awareness, and engage the community in finding 

solutions to problems. Field training officers and supervisors need 

to learn how to encourage problem solving and help officers learn 

from other problem-solving initiatives. Until community policing 

is institutionalized in the organization, training in its fundamental 

principles will need to take place regularly.

Information Systems (Technology) 

Community policing is information-intensive and technology 

plays a central role in helping to provide ready access to quality 

information. Accurate and timely information makes problemsolving efforts more effective and ensures that officers are 

informed about the crime and community conditions of their beat. 

In addition, technological enhancements can greatly assist with 

improving two-way communication with citizens and in developing 

agency accountability systems and performance outcome measures. 

Communication/access to data

Technology provides agencies with an important forum by which 

to communicate externally with the public and internally with their 

own staff. To communicate with the public, community policing 

encourages agencies to develop two-way communication systems 

through the Internet to provide online reports, reverse 911 and 

e-mail alerts, discussion forums, and feedback on interactive 

applications (surveys, maps), thereby creating ongoing dialogs and 

increasing transparency.

Technology encourages effective internal communication through 

memoranda, reports, newsletters, e-mail and enhanced incident 

reporting, dispatch functions, and communications interoperability 

with other entities for more efficient operations. Community 

policing also encourages the use of technology to develop 
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accountability and performance measurement systems that are 

timely and contain accurate metrics and a broad array of measures 

and information. 

Community policing encourages the use of technology to provide 

officers with ready access to timely information on crime and 

community characteristics within their beats, either through laptop 

computers in their patrol cars or through personal data devices. In 

addition, technology can support crime/problem analysis functions 

by enabling agencies to gather information about the greater 

aspects of events including more detailed information about 

offenders, victims, crime locations, and quality-of-life concerns, and 

to further enhance analysis.

Quality and accuracy of data

Information is only as good as its source and, therefore, it is not 

useful if it is of questionable quality and accuracy. Community 

policing encourages agencies to put safeguards in place to ensure 

that information from various sources is collected in a systematic 

fashion and entered into central systems that are linked to one 

another and checked for accuracy so that it can be used effectively 

for strategic planning, problem solving, and performance 

measurement. 
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Problem Solving

The process of engaging in the proactive and systematic examination 

of identified problems to develop and rigorously evaluate effective 

responses.

Community policing emphasizes proactive problem solving in a 

systematic and routine fashion. Rather than responding to crime 

only after it occurs, community policing encourages agencies 

to proactively develop solutions to the immediate underlying 

conditions contributing to public safety problems. Problem solving 

must be infused into all police operations and guide decision-making 

efforts. Agencies are encouraged to think innovatively about their 

responses and view making arrests as only one of a wide array of 

potential responses. A major conceptual vehicle for helping officers 

to think about problem solving in a structured and disciplined way 

is the SARA (Scanning, Analysis, Response and Assessment) problemsolving model.

Scanning: Identifying 

and prioritizing problems 

The objectives of scanning are to identify a basic problem, determine 

the nature of that problem, determine the scope of seriousness of 

the problem, and establish baseline measures. An inclusive list of 

stakeholders for the selected problem is typically identified in this 

phase. A problem can be thought of as two or more incidents similar 

in one or more ways and that is of concern to the police and the 

community. Problems can be a type of behavior, a place, a person or 

persons, a special event or time, or a combination of any of these. 

The police, with input from the community, should identify and 

prioritize concerns.

Analysis: Researching what is 

known about the problem 

Analysis is the heart of the problem-solving process. The objectives 

of analysis are to develop an understanding of the dynamics of 

the problem, develop an understanding of the limits of current 

responses, establish correlation, and develop an understanding of 

cause and effect. As part of the analysis phase, it is important to find 

out as much as possible about each aspect of the crime triangle by 

asking Who?, What?, When?, Where?, How?, Why?, and Why Not? 

about the victim, offender, and crime location.
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Response: Developing solutions to bring 

about lasting reductions in the number 

and extent of problems 

The response phase of the SARA model involves developing 

and implementing strategies to address an identified problem 

by searching for strategic responses that are both broad and 

uninhibited. The response should follow logically from the 

knowledge learned during the analysis and should be tailored to 

the specific problem. The goals of the response can range from 

either totally eliminating the problem, substantially reducing the 

problem, reducing the amount of harm caused by the problem, or 

improving the quality of community cohesion. 

Assessment: Evaluating the 

success of the responses

Assessment attempts to determine if the response strategies 

were successful by determining if the problem declined and if 

the response contributed to the decline. This information not 

only assists the current effort but also gathers data that build 

knowledge for the future. Strategies and programs can be assessed 

for process, outcomes, or both. If the responses implemented are 

not effective, the information gathered during analysis should be 

reviewed. New information may have to be collected before new 

solutions can be developed and tested. The entire process should 

be viewed as circular rather than linear. 

Using the crime triangle to focus on 

immediate conditions (victim/offender/

location) 

To understand a problem, many problem solvers have found it 

useful to visualize links among the victim, offender, and location 

(the crime triangle) and those aspects that could have an impact 

on them, for example, capable guardians for victims, handlers 

for offenders, and managers for locations. Rather than focusing 

primarily on addressing the root causes of a problem, the 

police focus on the factors that are within their reach, such as 

limiting criminal opportunities and access to victims, increasing 

guardianship, and associating risk with unwanted behavior. 

Problem Analysis Triangle. (Clarke and Eck, 2003)
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Notes

U. S. Department of Justice

Office of Community Oriented Policing Services

1100 Vermont Avenue, N.W.

Washington, DC 20530

To obtain details about COPS programs, call the

COPS Office Response Center at 800.421.6770

Visit COPS Online at www.cops.usdoj.gov

e030917193