CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This portion contains literature and related studies of the topic.

Police-community relation is the sum total of all dealings of the police with the

people it serves and those goodwill and cooperation it craves for to insure the greatest

possible efficiency in public service (Tradio 1986).

These means that police-community relation covers the entire field of public

information designed to bridge any communication gap between the police and the

public. It also intends to maintain harmony and mutual support between the police and

community development and insure and facilitate the attainment of police objectives by

conditioning both friendly and hostile public.

Since police-community relation helps bridge any communication gap between

the police and community, the ultimate objective of the PCR is to influence the opinions,

emotions, attitudes and behavior of the public so that they will behave in a manner

beneficial to the police and to solicit public support in order to make it easier for them to

accomplish their task successfully.

Community partnership

The collaborations are beneficial to both the police and the community. One of

the most important reasons for law enforcement agencies to form alliances with
community organizations is to attempt to reduce crime and improve quality of life for

members of the community. For example, Community Oriented Policing is being

practiced in many jurisdictions. According to Morabito (2010), in COP partnerships,

citizens are considered "co-producers of public safety" (p.570). These collaborations, she

states, are designed to develop the community as a partner against criminal activity

(pp.565-566).

Technology also plays a role in community partnerships. Community

crime mapping helps agencies identify and analyze problems which can lead to long term

solutions (Hickman & Reaves, 2001, p.9). Regional data sharing partnerships tend to

work better when there is a common goal beyond sharing data such as solving a specific,

local crime problem. In order to be effective, technology such as GIS mapping systems

need to be used by all of the contributing agencies It is helpful to craft a written

agreement between the law enforcement and public agencies involved in data sharing

partnerships to combat confidentiality issues and establish problem-solving intentions.

Because regional data sharing across jurisdictions can be met with obstacles, it is often

more productive to concentrate only on partnerships within one jurisdiction to solve local

problems (Boba et al, 2009, p.29).

The amount of information exchanged between police agencies and citizens is

important to the success of any community policing program and the public’s willingness

to cooperate is evident by the amount of information citizens are giving police officers

regarding crimes occurring within their neighborhoods (Wells, Schafer, Varano, &
Bynum, 2006, p.525). Wehrman & DeAngelis (2011), suggest the underlying goals of

police-community partnerships should be seeking out ways for police departments to

build stronger relationships with their communities. This can be done through gaining

residents’ confidence in the police, which will in turn create more willingness to work

with police in anticrime initiatives.

Community service

These are activities whereby police engage in pro-social activities to enhance the

well-being of the community beyond law enforcement and order maintenance. Police are

obliged to provide a policing service which has to be efficient and effective often referred

as service orientation. It is described in the works of Trojanowicz and Bucqueroux

(2006). There must be equity in service delivery‟. This means a principle in the delivery

of police service recognizes that all citizens will have to receive effective police service,

regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs, income, sexual preferences, and

other differences. Service orientation further explained by St. Petersburg police

department (2011), as to be service oriented is to be other oriented' not in the sense of

sacrificing your needs for someone else, but rather in consideration of needs that are

inclusive of both yours and others. It is a win-win proposition. To serve is to seek to

include rather than to exclude. It is the awareness of and respect for diversity, individual

differences, and basic human rights.

The police should serve the community by ensuring that police activities were

driven by responding to the needs and desires of the community, rather than the interests
of police managers; developing closer relations with the public would restore popular

support for the police; Improve public relations would also have the effect of improving

the police’s ability to control crime, as it would improve the flow of local intelligence

that is crucial in solving crime; community policing is also important in that, it is

constitutive of one of the key trends in reconfiguration of the social control apparatus,

whereby the engagement of community has been promoted as a key mechanism for the

delivery of enhanced levels of control (Innes,2003:67-8).

According to this contention, with the police no longer the sole guardians of law

and order, all members of the community would have to become active allies in the effort

to enhance the safety and quality of neighborhoods. The implementation of community

policing ideological framework requires focusing on issues of crime and social disorder

through the delivery of police services. This includes aspects of traditional law

enforcement, as well as prevention, problem solving, community engagement and

partnerships (U.S Department of Justice, 2008:1). The strategy calls for a police-

community partnership and collaboration in crime fighting activities to ensure

community safety.

Community assistance

The police are expected to see themselves as part of the community and in similar

manner community members are also expected to see themselves as part of the police

which in turn results in pursuing crime reduction activities in the neighborhoods (Okeke,

2006).
 According to the US Department of Justice (2012:5), police hardly solve public

safety problems alone, but do so by calling for interactive partnerships with relevant

stakeholders. The range of potential partners is large and this partnership can be used to

accomplish the two interrelated goals of developing solutions to problems through

collaborative problem solving and improving public trust. Indeed, community plays an

important role in ensuring its own safety. Problem solving requires that police and the

community work together in identifying neighbourhood problems and that community

assumes greater guardianship of the neighbourhood (Leon-Guerrero, 2005:287).

According to Lyons, (2002 as cited in Dirikx and Bulck 2014), for law

enforcement to be successful is heavily a function of people’s willingness to report crime

or any forms of suspicious activities, to seek for police assistance, and to also serve as

informants or witnesses. Dirikx and Bulck (2014) have added that such cooperation in

terms of eliciting of sufficient information was needed from the citizens in order to

embark on effective provision of community safety and security. One of the most

important changes in American law enforcement is the emergence of the community

policing model of crime prevention. This was, according to them, based on the premise

that police departments do not make efficient crime- fighting organization when they

operate alone. Police should gain the community trust, contacts and assistance of

concerned citizens so the police can carry out their duties more effectively.

Citizens can provide the police with insight into the specific crime problems

occurring within their neighborhoods and can aid officers in their investigations. (skogan,

steiner, dubois, gudell, &fagan 2002a, p.10).