Police Community Relations
There are two parts or sections to the final learning assessment. Both of these should be
combined into a 5 page research paper (minimum).
1.Part 1�Police-Community Relations Plan: Assess the current state of police-community relations in the
town or city where you live and then recommend solutions for any existing conflict or tensions by
developing methods for improving police-community relations.
2.Part 2�Current and Future Trends: Evaluate current and future trends in police-community relations by
responding to the following questions:
1.Assess whether the current trend in criminal justice is toward the politically conservative or liberal.
Hypothesize what the likely effect of this trend will be on the system.
2.Argue what changes are likely to occur in the balance between �service� versus �crime
prevention� for police-community relations programs.
3.Hypothesize what the shift from the Medical Model to the Justice Model will mean for the police, courts,
and corrections in the future.
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Police Community Relations
Several changes have occurred in community and police relations, crime prevention and police-
community service. The criminal justice model has changed from the medical model to justice
model (Jonathan Weisburd, & Hasisi, 2016). The following essay will discuss changes in various
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aspects regarding the police department and the community service, the court system, and
correctional facilities.
Part 1—Police-Community Relations Plan
The Waterbury Police Department has been maintaining active police-community
collaboration through various programs. The department aims at not only to respond to
emergency law and order enforcement emergencies but also to improve on issues concerned with
the quality of life of the people through daily responses to calls by the public. The Department
maintains an active line of communication with the public. The community officer from the
department conducts discussions with the community to identify the issues that affect the
community and determines the action to be taken to intervene and improve the quality of life of
the people living in the city. Additionally, the department works with other city departments such
the Public Works Department, Park Department. One of the community relations programs is
the Officer Friendly Program through which the community relations officer from the Waterbury
Police Department trains the youth on how to identify and evade dangers posed by strangers,
dealing with bullies, safety while riding on bikes, and maintaining safety while using the internet
and awareness on drugs and substances. The Down Town Business Program involves a
partnership with the city merchants to provide the clean and safe environment in the town.
Additionally, Community Relations Division selects members of the neighborhood community
and teaches them about crime identification and reporting through a secure line during which
callers are paid a reward, and their identification details remain anonymous. The Community
Relations Division is actively involved in the community service through which the youth and
who are interested in pursuing law enforcement as a career, to and basic police training. The
volunteers undergo a six-week training program, after which they are offered to participate in
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various police community services such as environmental cleaning. However, some tensions
exist between the police department and the community. In several cases, the community
members have blamed a few police officers from the Waterbury community for colluding with
powerful individuals to allow execution of crimes. Besides, there has been the case of police
brutality on members of the community leading to demonstrations. In order find a solution; the
police officers should undergo occasional, training on integrity and professionalism and taking
legal actions against professional misconduct (Parker, Mancik, & Stansfield, 2017).
Part 2—Current and Future Trends
Criminal Justice Trends; Liberal or Conservative
The trends in the criminal justice will be determined by global trends, including
immigration, multicultural communities, terrorism, and an increase in the elderly population. The
law enforcement will be liberal, just as the criminal justice. The United States population is
increasingly composed of immigrants from across the globe. Therefore, the population of the
United States is increasingly multicultural. Accordingly, the forms and modes of crimes probably
will change based on the composition of the population. The police department, therefore, will
have to continuously understand the various cultures of the members of the community to predict
the various types of issues that will emerge from the community members. The police
departments should expect to begin serving a community that is composed of members who use
different languages. The police department and the department of criminal justice should train
personnel with diverse language abilities or train the existing staff on multiple 555languages.
Additionally, with the increase in global terrorism acts of terror have extended to smaller cities
and targets may include small populations even in suburban settings. The police department
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should initiate community – based approaches in detecting crimes and apprehension of suspects.
Additionally, with the global technological advancements, there is a proportionate increase in the
cases of crimes using technologically advanced techniques. The department of police should also
increase the application of modern technological advancements in the crime prevention, evidence
collection, and forensic procedures. Additionally, the increase in the elderly population has a
significant effect on the functioning of the police and the criminal justice departments’
functioning. The police should collaborate with the elderly who have enough time to notice acts
or suspects of a crime (Epstein, Segal, Spaeth, & Walker, 2015).
Service” Versus “Crime Prevention
The programs aimed at ensuring service delivery to the community members and those
aimed at prevention of crime should be carried out jointly. To effectively prevent crime by the
division of community relations, the police department should engage the members of the
community through its community service programs. Firstly, to prevent crimes, the community
relation’s officer should establish a community watch program. The division will have to select
members of the community who provide information to the community on suspicious activities
that indicate criminal behavior. The police, also, should encourage members of the public to
report any suspects they spot within the community. In collaboration with the landlord and
tenants of the residential, the division of community relations should conduct house-to-house
inspections to identify areas of physical weaknesses that predispose the occupants to burglary.
The trend towards the integration of police community service and crime prevention has
introduced the training and awareness of the community members. The police will have to
educate the members of the public on the general identification of criminals, and personal and
property prevention measures. In collaboration with the merchant’s community, the police
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specifically, train the community members on the preventive measures on the identification and
the steps that need to be taken in cases where fraud documents are presented. In connection to
the implementing community service and carrying out crime prevention, the police department
has to collect information from the community on the level of awareness on crime. The
information collected is used to modify the community service programs towards intervening in
the communities’ quality of life. The information gathered from the community members,
independent, organizations, and from other agencies is due to modifying the training guidelines
for the police such that the training is geared towards addressing the needs of the community
within which they serve. Based on the trend in the criminal justice and the community
enforcement, the police department, the police should use the media to disseminate information
to the public. The information should consist of the various concerns voiced by the members of
the community on the concerns that have a bearing on the crimes and law enforcement within the
community. The information disseminated should include the overall performance of the
department, the law enforcement steps taken by the department and the role of the public in
dealing with crime (Braga, & Weisburd, 2015).
Shift from Medical Model to the Justice Model
The Medical Model proposes the rehabilitative nature of correctional methods applied.
Under the medical model, the convicts within a prison are exposed substantially to the same
prison environment and the same type of prison cells. The persons undergoing the correctional
prison service are given same tasks to perform as punishments in prison. The Justice, models aim
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an imposing punishment magnitude by the extent of the crime committed. The shift from the
medical model of justice administration has numerous implications for the functioning of the
police, the court system, and the correctional facilities. The police will be required to improve
the standards and methods of collecting and presenting evidence during prosecution proceedings
in courts. The technology used by the police should be capable of collecting sufficient evidence
since the administration of justice aims at administering punishment for crimes the crime
committed. The court system alike will be expected to take into consideration several factors and
scrutinize the evidence in details. The aim of the ruling made by the courts regarding the type
and the duration of the punishment should reasonably reflect the amount of the evidence
provided by the crime that has been committed. The correctional facilities comprised of the
prisons should have a wide range of facilities through which the exact punishment sentence is
carried out. Also, the correctional facilities should recruit enough professionals to carry out the
exact correctional punishments prescribed by the courts (Julio, & Wolff, 2016).
In conclusion, there are several programs that the police should take to enhance relations
with the police. Due to the global trends, the police should adjust their operations. The shift from
medical to justice model calls for changes in the police department, the court system, and the
correctional facilities.
Reference
Braga, A. A., & Weisburd, D. L. (2015). Police innovation and crime prevention: Lessons
learned from police research over the past 20 years.
Epstein, L., Segal, J. A., Spaeth, H. J., & Walker, T. G. (2015). The Supreme Court
compendium: Data, decisions, and developments. Cq Press.
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Jonathan-Zamir, T., Weisburd, D., & Hasisi, B. (2016). Policing Terrorism, Crime Control, and
Police-Community Relations. SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PU.
Julio, C., & Wolff, P. (2016). Waiting lists management model based on timeliness and justice.
Revista medica de Chile, 144(6), 781-787.
Parker, K. F., Mancik, A., & Stansfield, R. (2017). American crime drops: Investigating the
breaks dips and drops in temporal homicide. Social science research, 64, 154-170.
