Community policing is a system that brings police and citizens together to prevent crime and solve neighbourhood problems.
With community policing, the emphasis is on stopping crime before it happens.
Community policing is seen as an effective way to promote public safety and enhance the quality of life in a society.
It gives citizens more control over the quality of life in their community.
What this implies is that police become part of the neighbourhood which helps the security operatives to know residents needs and for the residents to develop greater trust in police.
The partnership that develops over time can ultimately help the police find the underlying causes of crime within the neighbourhood.
By getting the community in fighting crime, the police have more resources available in crime prevention.
As they familiarise themselves with the members of the community, officers are more likely to obtain valuable information about criminals and their activities which can lead to swift arrest of criminals.
In community policing, active participation is required from the average citizen in each local government in order for it to work.
With active participation of stakeholders, there will be a reduction of fear in the community due to the increase in police presence in the neighbourhood which will make the residents feel more secured.
As citizens become more active in taking care of their community, there will be greater awareness about what security officers do on a daily basis.
As the police community relations improves, the quality of life in the community improves while crime is reduced.
With community policing, there is room for flexibility as solutions lies in the strategies put in place to ensure a crime-free society.
This is because the community will come up with solutions that will work within their own neighbourhood taking into cognisance local peculiarities.
For the aim of reducing crime to be achieved, there must be effective use of talents and resources available within communities which will help ease the severely strained police resources.
A reduction in crime will allow for more police resources to be allocated to services that have the greatest impact in the community.
In order to develop a partnership with the community, the police must form a strong relationship with the community leaders and traditional rulers.
Without the trust and involvement of the community any attempt at community policing will not be effective.
Effective community policing requires an understanding from people involved from the top down to the citizens.
Communities should be ready to partner the security agencies by being the ears, eyes and the nose of the police as the residents are closer to the grassroots.
As the regular police have been overstretched, community policing should be given a trial though it requires everyone’s involvement to achieve a crime-free nation. Rasheedah Makinde
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