Community-oriented policing across the US: facilitators and impediments to implementation

Abstract

Reviews the rise of community-oriented policing (CP) in the USA. Analyses data from a survey of police chiefs across the USA which investigated the extent of organizational change and CP implementation. Explores the extent of current CP training and identifies some facilitators and impediments to its implementation, e.g., education; training; middle-management resistance; maintenance of adequate response time to calls for service while pursuing CP goals. Calls for further study on strategies for balancing the outcomes of a traditional approach against the expected benefits of CP; identification of agencies which have achieved this balance; comparison of employees’ value orientation over time. Notes that successful CP requires a change in officers’ values.