Please address the following question:
Is community policing an honest effort to improve police-community relations, or is it merely a symbolic gesture?
Here are a few talking points for your response (this is not an exhaustive list):
- Why is it so hard to define "Community Policing"?
- Is there a standardized list of policing initiatives that fall under the umbrella of community policing? Which efforts count? Which do not?
- Should a police agency that participates in one community activity be considered a community oriented policing department compared to another agency that has a long term, multifaceted, organizationally integrated and well evaluated program?
- Generally, community oriented policing is easier to establish in low crime, homogeneous, organized communities that have high social capital and collective efficacy. Shouldn't the real test of community oriented policing be in high crime, heterogeneous, disenfranchised, socially disorganized communities? The ones that need it the most?