CHAPTER I

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN POLICING AND ITS EVOLUTION

INTRODUCTION
Community Policing is a modern concept of policing. It encourages the voluntary
participation of the people in police jobs. In other word, the way of performing policing through
police-community partnership strategy for effective crime control, crime prevention, maintaining
order and dealing with other social issues is community policing.
Community Policing did not magically come in the society. It has history of centuries in its
evolution. In this chapter brief history of policing which led to community policing, definitions,
features and elements of community policing have been discussed. As the people are getting
more and more concern, democratic values are honored in all modern society and society needs
change, so the method of policing also took shape in the new dimension of community policing
bringing changes in traditional police system in different countries.
History of community participation in policing during
Ancient period in different countries
IN ENGLAND
The history says that laws and rules were framed in all societies all over the world to govern
the conduct of individuals. Provisions of punishment for those who break law were there in those
laws also. In 2300 BC the Sumerian rulers codified their concept of offences against society. The
rules and laws codified in the ancient time have been modified and adapted in different societies
over the years to cope with the needs of the society.
During the rule of King Alfred the Great from 849 to 899 AD a group of ten families was
vested the responsibility of a certain area to maintain local peace and order. Every male person
had to enroll himself in any of the groups for police purpose in Britain. This system was known
as tithing system. The word „tith‟ derived from the word „ten‟. The tithing system established
the principle of collective responsibility of the people for maintaining local law and order.
William, a Norman, conquered England in 1066. He abolished the tithing system of policing.
He divided the country into 55 military districts. Each district was called shire. A Norman officer
was made head of each district and his title was shire reeve (the origin of word sheriff).
William also established the frankpledge system. Under this system all free men had to
swear loyalty to the king‟s law and to take responsibility for maintaining local peace.
By the 17th century day watch and night watch system of law enforcement were
introduced. The day watch was manned by the constables of the state police and local citizens
did the night watch.
If a watchman saw a crime in his view, he used to raise hue and cry to get the people within
earshot in pursuing and capturing the criminals.
The system of day and night watch became ineffective when the affluent people started
avoiding the watch duty personally by hiring someone to take their place. The hired watchmen
showed hesitation to exercise their authority against the wrong doers of well to do class. The
hired watchmen also indulged themselves in various crimes and misdeeds for which the system
became unpopular to the people.
After the Industrial Revolution London became a disorderly city with enormous crime
ridden slums and major juvenile delinquency problems. In these circumstances the law makers
and statesmen were worried to address the problems. The parliament formed five parliamentary
commissions of enquiry between 1780 and 1820. At that time Sir Robert Peel was Home
Secretary of England. He proposed that government should appoint civilians to serve as police
officers and community would pay them.
With the passing of the Metropolitan Police Act in 1829 the modern policing began in
England. Robert Peel was the founder of the London Metropolitan Police as well as the modern
policing.

PRINCIPLES OF MODERN POLICING

Robert Peel set forth the following principles on which the police force should be based :
 The duty of police is to prevent crime and disorder.
 The power of the police to fulfill their duties is dependent on public approval and on their
ability to secure and maintain public respect.
 Public respect and approval also mean the willing co-operation of the public.
 The police must seek and preserve public favour not by pursuing but by demonstrating
impartial service to the people and the law.
 The police should strive to maintain a relationship with the public that gives belief that
the police are the public and the public are the police.
 The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible
appearance of police.
Peel‟s principles emphasized the interdependency of the police and the public in controlling
and prevention of crime and disorder.
Peel also opined that the police could only be successful at their jobs when they got public
approval and assistance in their actions without resorting to force or severity of law. It is true
now that police cannot control crime and disorder without the support and voluntary co-
operation of the people.

POLICE IN THE UNITED STATES

After the American Revolution in 1600 the Americans rejected the British Crown‟s rule. But
in the northern part of the United States England model was followed in policing and
maintaining law and order.
The United States was lagging behind England to get the policing modernized. When
Metropolitan Police Force was raised in London, the United States was following day and night
watch system which was in operation in England in 17th century.
At the beginning of 2nd quarter of 1800 policing was brought under the organized frame work
of the Government. In 1830s several large cities appointed paid day watchmen to perform police
jobs. In 1833 Philadelphia became the first city to have paid day and night watchers. In 1844
organized city police department was established in New York for the first time. Subsequently
this Police department was modeled on the London Metropolitan Police and Peel‟s principles.
Other cities like Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, and Philadelphia consolidated police department
like London‟s Metropolitan Police.
It is found from the history that community services were included in the duty of police in
early time. Even at the beginning of twentieth century law enforcement and community
assistance were the sole tasks of government sanctioned services to help citizens 24 hours a day,
7 days a week. Social services office like welfare, parole, probation etc. offices did not exist at
that time. Police had to do more non police jobs to help people for their better life.
In the early stage police officers did not like to wear uniform. They claimed that uniforms
were “un-American” and “a badge of degradation and servitude”. In 1856 New York City
introduced prescribed uniform for its police force.
Policing in the south part of the USA had different pattern. By 1700 most southern colonies
had slave patrol to guard the local areas. Being neglected and oppressed the slaves created a lot
of problems. The white colonists were afraid of the dangerous threat from the slaves. This threat
led to the development of special enforcement officers which was the transition of modern
policing in southern colonies. By 1750 in every southern colony all poor white men had to serve
as patrol man with slave patrol.
There was slave‟s code to be observed by slaves. Violation of the code warrants severe
torture and punishment to the slaves. Until the 1960s black cops were not authorized by law to
arrest white citizens, no matter how criminal.
The evolution of law enforcement in both the North and South is generally divided into three
distinct eras.

THE THREE ERAS OF POLICING

In the evolution of policing in the United States three major paradigm shifts took place.
These paradigm shifts are described as specific „eras‟ of policing in the United States. These eras
are:
1. The Political Era
2. The Reform Era
3. The Community Era
1. The Political Era
The period from 1840s to 1930s is considered as political era. During this era police were
closely tied to politics. The police were placed under the authority of the head of municipality
who was a political leader. The chief of police had no authority to fire his subordinate officers
for any wrong. Therefore, the police, in most case were indiscipline. Police followed the
traditional method and foot patrol was most common strategy of policing.
During this era chiefs of police were politically appointed. Politicians rewarded those who
voted and worked for them with jobs or special privileges. This was also referred to as the
patronage system or the spoil system. The police apparently sought an intimate relationship
with the community during the political era to get favour from the politicians for their own
interest not being motivated to serve the people.
 As police was placed under the control of politician and chief of the police was not
empowered to fire any delinquent subordinate to him, so the chain of command and control of
the police force was broken. The police indulged themselves in various crimes and corruption
keeping good relationship with the political power. Police were corrupt and repressive force in
the eyes of the people.
In 1923 President Herbert Hoover appointed the National Commission on Law Observance
and Enforcement to study criminal justice system. Former US Attorney General George W.
Wickersham was the chairman of the commission. The report of the commission published in
1931 revealed the brutality of police like physical and mental torture (known as third degree ) to
extract confessional statement, illegal detention and police corruption. Wickersham
recommended some reforms in police administration.
The inefficiency and corruption of the police led to the reform era.
2. The Reform Era
The period of 1930s to 1980s is reform era. During the reform era a drastic change in the
organization and function of police departments took place. One basic change during this era was
to disassociate policing from politics. With the disassociation of policing from politics police
became absolute professional and efficient in fighting against crime. Police engaged themselves
only in police job. They have a tendency to avoid non-police job. Police normally did not involve
themselves in social type services. They considered the social services as less important.
During the reform era the relationship of police with community was professionally remote.
The police were viewed as professional crime fighters with motorized patrol cars and
sophisticated equipment. They did policing with rapid response to public calls.
The civil rights movement began in the late 1950s against unequal social, political and
economic system in the United States. Police confronted the people with iron hand to suppress
the movement. Some major carnages including assassination of President Kennedy took place
which tarnished the police image. In those circumstances the issue of inefficiency and corruption
of police came forward before the people. Police in the 1960s were at war with the society they
served. Police became the “enemy” of the public in the eyes of the people.
Three Presidential Commissions formed between 1968 to 1973 made several
recommendations to bring changes in police administration.
In the wake of negative police image police launched several programmes to enhance
relationships with the communities. These programmes included public relations programmes,
community relations programmes and crime prevention programmes.
Various efforts and methods were made by police department to establish good relationship
with people and to enhance the police image. These efforts include hosting open house session
with local people providing speakers for schools and community, appointing public relation
officers etc. These efforts are the recognition by police that they need public support and co-
operation for effective policing.
In the late 1970s police began community relations programmes to narrow the widening gap
between the police and the public. The team policing and community resource officers were the
key persons of community relations programmes. These tactics tried to bring the police and
community closer paving the ways for the citizens to be involved in crime prevention
programmes.
 Despite the efforts of enhancing police image and seeking public support to fight against
crime, the reported crime and fear of crime among the people increased. The Kansas City
preventive patrol study became a challenge to the effectiveness of the reform era. This study
found that traditional policing and preventive patrol had insignificant effect on crime, fear of
crime and community attitude towards the police.
According to some law enforcement officials the Kansas City preventive patrol study was the
beginning of new era in policing. It demanded for further research in policing. Some researches
into policing were conducted in the 1970s. These researches had negative findings about the
efficiency and effectiveness of existing system of policing. The three main key issues of policing
i.e. preventive patrol, rapid response to public call and investigation quality were shown as
disappointing in those researches.
But the reform movement got momentum and accelerated by two articles:
(1) „Problem oriented policing‟ of Herman Goldstein published in 1979 and
(2) „Broken Windows Theory‟ of James Q. Wilson and George L. Kellings published in
1982.
H. Goldstein emphasized proactive role of police in solving the problem.
WHEREAS, „Broken Windows Theory‟ says that all sorts of minor problems and disorders
must be solved and removed to address and prevent the major problem without leaving those
uncared for long time.
The failure of effective policing, findings of the researches and articles of Goldstein and
Wilson Kelling led to the third era of policing - the community era.
3. The community Era
In the 1980s some police departments in USA began experimenting with community
involvement to fight the crime. Several cities tested Herman Goldstein‟s problem oriented
approach. Police approach posed to shift from crime fighting to crime prevention involving the
community.
Gradually law enforcement became more responsive to the public‟s desire. Citizen-police
interaction and problem solving methods were given priority.
The community era is referred to by various names; such as community policing, community
oriented policing, neighborhood policing and the like. Presently the term community policing is
most commonly used. One of the Centre tenets of community policing is similar to the principles
of modern policing set forth by Sir Robert Peel in 1829 when he established the London
Metropolitan Police and stated, “The police are the public and public are the police.” Policing
has strayed from these principles in the past century. Now the concept of community policing is
based on the principles of Peel and considered the most modern and pragmatic approach of
policing.
Highlights of the three eras of policing are summarized in Table 1.1.

Table 1.1 : Highlights of the three Eras

 Political Era Reform Era Community
(1840s to (1930s to Era (1980s to
1930s) 1980s) present)
1. Authorization Politics and Law and Community
law professionalism support, law
and
professionalism
.
2. Function Broad social Crime control Broad social
services and with services to the
crime control professional community and
with knowledge and crime control
satisfaction modern with the
of political equipment satisfaction of
forces the community
3. Organizationa Decentralize Centralized Decentralized
l design d on on community
organization participation
based
4. Relationship Intimate Professional Intimate
to Community through and remote through
political community
channel interaction
5. Tactics and Foot patrol Preventive Foot patrol,
technology to patrol by problem solving
prevent crime mechanized and public
vehicles and relations
rapid response
to calls
6. Outcome Political Crime control Quality of life
satisfaction and citizen
satisfaction

CHAPTER II

DEFINITION OF COMMUNITY POLICING

What is community?
 Community is defined as a group of people living in an area under the same government. In
other words, a social group having common interest and common culture living in a specific
geographic area is termed as community.
In other words, people having feeling of belonging of
„we–ness‟ and sense of integration among themselves as the members of a social group is also
termed as community.
As a whole a society or the public of an area may be called community. The community may
cover a vast area and have thousands of individuals and organizations.
What is Police?
The police are those who are the members of a government organization which is responsible
for enforcing law and maintaining peace and order, prevention and detection of crime. The
Police are one of major components of criminal justice system.
Definition of Community Policing
The system of policing driven by the collaborating efforts of police and community in order
to prevent and detect crime, arrest criminals and maintain law and order is termed as community
policing. Community policing is mainly community oriented, proactive and solution based.
Different social leaders, law enforcement officers and resource personalities defined
community policing in different ways. Community policing experts Frazier, O‟Connor,
McCarthy and some community policing institutions in USA defined community policing in
their own styles. But the key features of community policing are more or less same in those
definitions. Following are some important definitions of community policing :
According to Frazier “Community oriented policing is proactive, solution based and
community driven”. It occurs when a law enforcement agency and law abiding citizens work
together to do four things:
─ Arrest offenders.
─ Prevent crime.
─Solve ongoing problems and
─ Improve the overall quality of live.
O‟Connor defines community policing as “a department wide philosophy of full service,
personalized and decentralized policing, where citizen feel empowered to work in proactive
partnerships with the police at solving the problems of crime, fear of crime, disorder, decay and
quality of live.”
The Upper Midwest Community Policing Institute provides the following definition:
“Community policing is an organization wide philosophy and management approach that
promotes community, government and police partnerships, proactive, problem solving,
community engagement to address the causes of crime, fear of crime and community issues”.
McCarthy, a community policing officer for the Braintree police department, says,
“Community Policing is a collaborative effort between the police and the community that
identifies problems of crime and disorder and involves the community in the search for
solutions. It is founded on close and mutually beneficial ties between police and
community members.”
 Another definition says,
“Community Policing is a philosophy that emphasizes working proactively with citizens
to reduce fear of crime, solve crime related problems and prevent crime.”
The city Borough of Juneau (a city in USA) defined community policing in formal and
informal type.
In formal definition it says,
“Community Policing is a philosophy that promotes strategies to address the causes and
reduce the fear of crime and social disorder through problem solving tactics and
community police partnerships.”
In informal definition of community policing says, Community Policing means police
become part of the neighborhood, with the emphasis on stopping crime before it happens. It
gives citizens more control over the quality of life in the community. It helps police better
understand the needs of residents while helping residents and develop greater trust in police. In
essence the community joins the police department. They work together to create a better and
safer place to live and grow.
Summarizing the definitions stated above the following general definition of community
policing can be given in the following words:
Community policing is a policing philosophy that encourages proactive and problem
solving policing through police community partnership to address causes of crime, fear of
crime and other community issues with a view to creating a better and safer place to live
and grow.
All the definitions as cited above contain two basic themes of community policing. These
are─
1. Police community collaboration.
2. Proactive and problem solving approach to the police function.
Table 1.2
Comparison of Traditional policing and community policing

SL. Question Traditional Policing Community

No. Policing
1 Who are the A government agency Police are the public
police responsible for law and public are the
enforcement and police
control of crime
2 How is police By detection and By the absence or
efficiency arrest rate recession of crime
measured? and disorder

3 What, specially, Incidents Citizen‟s common

do police deal problems and
with? concerns

4 What are the Heinous crimes that The problems that

 highest priorities? create violence disturb the peace of
the community most

5 What is police Swift and effective Keeping close

professionalism? response to serious relationship with the
crime community through
good services and
behavior.
6 What determines Response time Public co-operation
the effectiveness
of police?
7. What is the Bureaucracy Emphasis on local
essential nature of governed by law, accountability to
police rules, regulations, community needs
accountability? policies and
directives
Accountable to law,
Court and Authority
8. How do police as an important goal. As one tool among
regard many.
prosecution?
Features of community policing
Following are the main features of community policing which help to attain the goal of the
community policing:
1. It is a proactive and problem solving approach of policing.
2. It ensures regular contact between police and members of the community.
3. It is a department wide philosophy and accepted by both police and people.
4. Though the philosophy of community policing is proactive policing, but community
policing must support reactive policing.
5. In community policing citizens get opportunity to identify the problems of the locality
and play active role in setting up the policy and strategy of police action to prevent and
detect crimes and criminals.
6. Police accountability is ensured by the citizens.
7. The officers of the community policing play the role of catalyst to reduce the fear of
crime, disorder, decay and other crises in the society.
8. The members of police force take the responsibility to educate the public about law,
police function and citizen‟s duty and responsibilities.
9. Trust and mutual understanding are increased between police and citizens through
regular contact and interactions.
10. Police get enhanced flow of information from members of the public, which helps
effective deal of crimes.
11. The senior police officers become easy accessible to the common people.
12. Police officers encourage citizens to solve many of their problems by themselves and to
extent all sorts of co-operation voluntarily to the neighbors, in case of necessity.
13. Police encourage other service providers to become involved in community problem
solving.
 14. Police officers and leaders of the community make efforts to mobilise all community
resources to implement principles and philosophy of community policing for a better
and safer society.
15. Community policing reduces fear of police among the people and helps to establish
bridge of friendship between police and community.
Dimensions of Community Policing
Series of research were conducted by the sociologists and resource personalities about
community policing from 1988 to 1997 in USA and other countries. The various dimensions
identified by the researchers are listed below :
(1) Community based crime prevention
(2) Problem solving
(3) Partnership
(3) Philosophical
(4) Organizational approach
(5) Organizational change
(6) Consultation
(7) Adaptation
(9) Mobilization
(10) Increased police accountability
Elements of community policing
Some significant elements of community policing are present in all dimensions described
above. These may be identified as follows:
1. Citizen‟s input: Citizen‟s voluntary participation with necessary suggestion, advice
and evaluation is essential.
2. Positive role of police: Police must be sincere and active with their broadened function
to run and implement the plan and principles of community policing. They shall have
expanding responsibility in maintenance of law and order, prevention of crime and
providing social services to the people with the collaboration of the people. With the
help of the people of community police will make all out efforts to protect and enhance
the quality of life of the most vulnerable citizens like juveniles, children, women,
elderly people, minorities, disabled, poor and homeless people.
3. Tailored Policing: Police will provide personal services to the individuals on the basis
of their needs and the function of police is to be based on need assessment giving due
regards to local norms and values.
4. Reoriented operation of police: The traditional operation of police is reoriented in the
system of community policing. Police emphasize on face to face interactions with the
community to solve the crime related problems.
5. Geographic focus : Officers must focus on specific geographical area. They are given
permanent or long term assignments in a particular area so that they can know the
citizens within their area for effective mutual co-operation to deal crime and
maintenance of order.
6. Positive Interaction: Interaction with the community is one of the important elements
of community policing. Instead of sitting in the office to receive complaint or patrolling
by car, the officers are to get out from their office and vehicles and initiate positive
interactions with the citizens in their area of responsibility to have public views and
suggestion about on going policing, local problems and changes in policing, if required.
7. Partnership: Partnership between police and community is an important element of
community policing. Police work on partnership basis with the members of
communities, local elites, professional groups, organizations, agencies and other
components of the society to solve the key problems.
8. Problem solving approach: Identifying the problems, police with the collaboration of
the community launch programmes to solve the problems at the beginning. Community
policing does not allow any minor problem to turn into large and complicated one.
9. Proactive role : Proactive role is the main philosophy of community policing. In
community policing system police with the collaboration of the community take
various awareness building, education and motivational programmes for the people
specially the vulnerable population with a view to create awareness of crime and social
vices to save them from those. Community policing works on the principle
“prevention is better than cure.”
 CHAPTER - 

A PROBLEM ORIENTED AND PROBLEM SOLVING APPROACH TO POLICING

The basic characteristic of community policing is that it is proactive rather than

reactive. Following this characteristic, it first identifies the problems and causes of
problems, and then seeks solution. The community policing emphasized on the origin of a
problem to eradicate that problem. This is known as problem oriented and problem solving
approach to policing. The following illustration may give the importance of problem
solving approach to policing:
A man and his son were fishing on a river bank. Suddenly they found a young boy floating in
the water. The boy was struggling to stay afloat. The fisherman jumped in and pulled the boy
from the water. He resumed his fishing. Within a few minutes he found another man in the water
who was struggling to stay afloat. Again the fisherman saved the life of the man pulling him
from the water. He then resumed his fishing and within few minutes he saw another person
floating by. This time the fisherman did not go to pull up the person from the water. He boarded
on a boat and started heading upstream. The son of the fisherman shouted and asked his father,
“Where are you going? Why are you not saving the life of the person who is about to drown?”
The fisherman replied, “I am going to find out who is pushing the people into the river. I am to
stop the pushing of the people into the river at the origin of this problem.”
The illustration cited above makes us understand that it is more effective to get to the source
of a problem rather than reacting to deal with it. This is the essence of problem oriented policing.
Problem oriented and community oriented policing
Herman Goldstein, a resource personality of community policing coined the term „Problem
oriented policing‟. Goldstein criticized the professional model of policing as it is incident driven
and cannot solve the problem uprooting the causes of problem. The traditional policing has
sluggish impact in the society to fight against the crimes and remove the public concern.
According to Goldstein, professional model of policing tends to viewing only the overt
symptoms of a problem; it does not go to the deep root of a problem for sustainable solution. He
suggests that police should respond to incidents underlying community problems for long term
solution.
A problem oriented approach depends on the wide and spontaneous involvement of the
citizenry. A community must police itself. The police can, at best, assist them only in that task.
This should be the police task to make communities understand and arouse their realization about
this proposition.
Police and community may be compared to a physician and a patient. The physician can
examine the patient and prescribe a treatment based on the symptoms and information provided
by the patient. To recover, the patient must be honest and particular in describing the symptoms
and must follow the prescription given by the physician. The best medicine is preventive
measures. Prevention is better than cure. Problem of crime can be compared with the problem of
disease. To solve the problem of a community the causes of problem are to be identified by the
community people to have the prescription for the solution of the problem. Police alone may not
be able to identify the real causes of problem. Without diagnosis the causes of disease,
prescription for treatment cannot be given. Same for the case of problem, without identifying the
causes of problem measures for solution cannot be suggested. Physician cannot be blamed for
the existence of disease. Accordingly, police should not be blamed for the existence of crime.
The combined efforts of police and community in proactive policing can bring success in crime
management.
Frazier, director of the office of Community Oriented Policing Services, says,
“Police and citizens must work together if we are to develop long term solutions to crime and
if we are to enhance trust between police and communities they serve.”
Goldstein identified five concerns which influence the development of problem oriented
policing:
1. The Police field is preoccupied with traditional management and internal procedures
which tend to negative notion in dealing with substantive problems.
2. The police utilize their all-out resources and ability to respond to the calls from the
citizens and to the incidents. They don‟t reserve their time and energy to take initiative
at their own to prevent or reduce community problems identifying the causes of
problem.
3. The community is a major resource with an enormous potential for reducing the
number and magnitude of problems. But this resource mostly remains unused due to
reluctant attitude of police.
4. The time and talent of all police officers are not used effectively.
5. Sometimes, initiatives to improve policing suffer frustration as those are not related to
the overall dynamics and traditional system of the police organization.
Elements of Problem Oriented Approach
The problem oriented approach to policing follows separate method other than the traditional
method of policing to address the problems. For this purpose Goldstein noted the following basic
elements which are considered into account to go forward to the goal :
1. Grouping incidents as problems
2. Focusing on substantive problems
3. Seeking effectiveness as the ultimate goal
4. Using systematic inquiry
5 Accurately leveling problems
6. Analyzing the multiple interest in problems
7. Adopting proactive stance
8. Strengthening the decision making processes
9. Evaluating results of newly implemented responses
Incorporating the above basic elements many police departments of the USA have developed
problem solving approaches and got fruitful results.
 METHOD OF PROBLEM SOLVING
The SARA Model
The Newport News Police Department uses a four stage problem solving process which is
known as SARA Model. It is as follows:
SARA
S – Scanning.
A – Analysis.
R – Response.
A – Assessment.
Scanning
Firstly, the officers responsible with the assignment are to scan the problems. During this
stage they will make contact with the residents of the concerned area and gather experience
about the problems.
Analysis
After scanning, the police officers will start analyzing the problems. They will learn
everything possible about the problems, incidents, suspects, perpetrators and earlier actions
taken. The well conversant about the problem will help the officers to create a customized
response to fit the problem.

Response
On the basis of careful analysis the officers will customize the response and then develop a
goal for the solutions to the problems. By using the findings of analysis and other
information a plan of solution to the problem is designed to eliminate the causes of the
problem, reduce fear of the problem, reduce the negative impact caused by that problem and
deal the situation effectively.

Assessment
The officers will evaluate the effectiveness of their response. They will assess whether the
goal has been achieved, has the response to the problem got any positive impact, has the
number of complaints been reduced or satisfied residents or does the response give the
desired results.
When a response does not give the desired results, the officers will examine the results and
make a different response. It is proved by the police departments who used the SARA model that
the SARA model helps police reduce the crime rate and fear of crime among citizens.

Example of using SARA Model in problem-solving approach

Problem
Crimes against property specially theft, burglary, hijacking rose alarming in Warri of old
Dhaka. People pass their days in panicky situation. The residents of Warri were unhappy with
police as police couldn‟t cease the crimes. It became a burning problem.
 The O/C of Sutrapur PS took steps to solve the problem. He followed the SARA Model of
problem-solving process. The action taken is described below:

Scanning
The OC of Sutrapur PS scanned the crimes and found that hijacking was the most alarming
crime for which residents of this area were always scared of the hijackers. The OC took the
project of Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) with the aim of reducing the incidents of
hijacking. To reach the goal the OC started getting overt and covert information about the
crimes against property and severe concerns of the community. The OC also launched
programme to create favourable situation of the surroundings against the hijacking and
educate the people to be conscious and prevent hijacking giving them some tips.

Analysis
The OC of Sutrapur PS reviewed and analysed all the complaints received from the
residents. He held series of interviews with the victims of the hijacking. He looked at which
days, at what times and at what places most crimes were occurring. He got information about
the modus operandi of the crime, description of the perpetrators, normal time of committing
crime, the places where crimes frequented, suspect perpetrators, the target groups of the
perpetrators etc. He also studied which factors and features of the area enabled the
perpetrators to conduct their attacks on the residents. The OC also got some secret
information about the identity of the perpetrators taking some eyewitnesses into confidence.
Thus he analysed the overall situation of the problem to solve.
Response:
On the basis of analysis the OC did the following jobs to solve the problem :
# Held several meetings with the residents and educated them about their duty to protect
their property, prevent hijacking and taking measures for the purpose.
# He helped the residents to form an anti-crime committee with the elites of the area to
review the overall situation and take practical step to prevent the occurrences and round
up the perpetrators.
# The OC suggested the local people and anti-crime committee to improve the certain dens
of crime to remove the favourable facility for the perpetrators.
# The OC contacted the local city corporation authority to put sufficient lights on the street
especially in the crime zones. He also cleared roadside shrubs and make shifts which
were used as shelter by the perpetrators.
# The OC motivated the residents to call police at 999 immediately if they observe any
suspicious activity or view any occurrence in progress. He also provided his cell phoneas
well as his other officers.
# He initiated monthly crime prevention meeting with the anti-crime committee as well as
the residents. He put suggestions to the residents the ways to avoid victimisation.
# The OC employed some patrol men to guard the area with the help of the anti-crime
committee and the residents paid for the patrolmen.
# He also arranged police patrol in the area and deployed some civil cloth police men to
watch the movement of suspects.
 # The OC apprehended some suspects on the secret information and forwarded then to the
court in different cases.
# The OC engaged one intelligent officer to maintain liaison with the local committee and
review Crime situation. The officer kept O/C informed with the latest situation of the
area.
Assessment
With implementation of the project of problem-oriented approach the crime especially
robbery and hijacking was about completely eradicated during the last 6 (six) months of
assessment. Residents now feel secured. They call police immediately if they witness criminal
activity. Police get secret information about the perpetrators from the member of public. People
get couraged to raise their voice against criminals and help police to nab the criminals.
The OC continued holding monthly meeting with the local people and ties between police
and public grew strong to stronger day by day. The people of other area got encouraged to follow
the example of Wari and OC is thinking to take project of the same nature in the
neighbuorhood.
The SARA method thus has practical role in problem solving approach.
Mediation as a problem-solving tool
Some complaints like land dispute, dispute between land lord and tenant, arrogant behaviour
of rowdy teens, minor traffic-rule violation, domestic conflict between husband and wife or other
members etc. may be settled down by mutual negotiation with the help of third party mediator.
Traditional use of enforcement by police is not needed. But police are seen to response to these
complaints in traditional strategies like lodging case and arresting the persons concerned.
Sometimes rigid and traditional action of police aggravates the situation. In problem-solving
approach officers avoid confrontation, command and coercion in favour of participation and
persuasion of people to solve the problems in an amicable manner.
Mediation means the intervention of a third party into an interpersonal dispute to resolve the
same. Christopher Cooper, a community policing resource personality of USA notes, “When
police use mediation to resolve conflicts in their communities, they empower residents to
take responsibility for their action and to resolve their own problems.”
In Bangladesh the Panchayet, the Union Parisad or village headmen take the role of
mediation to resolve disputes and improve the relationship between the parties with dispute.
Following basics are to be considered while solving a dispute or conflict through mediation
:
 The mediators must be neutral, fair and accepted to all parties concern.
 Mediators will explain the mediation concept to participants and its significance for
the peaceful settlement of dispute.
 Ground rules for the participants for smooth functioning of mediation are to be
delivered to the participants.
 Mediators may be advised by the officers on the basis of police reports (if any) about
the dispute or conflict.
 Allow parties to convey their own version and sentiment of the dispute.
 Give parties chance to rebut or self-explanation.
  Ask question, clarify the issues and go to the deep of the problem to understand the
causes of the problem in order to seek possible solution and agreement on the issues.
 The mediators must prove themselves fair and neutral through their role and
behaviour to get the confidence of the parties concern.
 Officers make suggestions and make efforts to convince the parties to come on a
suitable agreement.
 After agreement parties should be brought under binding by necessary terms and
conditions. Breach of agreement will follow legal action. Agreement should be in
writing.
Creativity in problem-solving approach
Creativity is a process of breaking old methods or concept and discovering practical
techniques and originating new concept. Creativity is synonymous with innovation. The
approach of problem solving will be more effective if creativity is incorporated into it. The
residents of a community may contribute to the problem-solving approach with their innovative
thinking and suggestions. In problem-solving tool of community policing citizens are given
opportunity to reflect their creativity in solving any specific problem. Creativity will depend on
the practical scenario and overall environment and severity of the dispute and characteristics and
behaviour of the parties involved in the dispute. The mediators are to give their deliberate
thoughts to incorporate the creativity in the problem solving approach of community policing.
Example from field experience of problem solving approach
„A‟ is a commercial area. Hotels, guest houses, manpower export agencies and other
financial establishments are there in that area. The area was plagued with a prostitution problem.
Young boys were engaged in sex-abuse. The conscious people were worried with the problem.
The civil society raised voice to eradicate the prostitution from that area. The initial police
response was limited to arrest sex-workers and their clients. But they managed to come out from
jail on bail and kept their movements in the area to carry out sex-business and thus created
repeated nuisance in the locality.
In that situation the police decided to take a problem-solving approach to eradicate
prostitution and improve the situation in the line with the expectation of the citizens. Police
started holding meeting and enhancing interaction with the local people. They obtained
suggestions and advices from the local residents. In this way police learned that many of the sex-
workers were transients. They selected the area as their favourable business field and stayed in
that area as they got available customers to earn handsome amount of money. The police could
also understand that the sex-workers would stay in the area as long as their business remained
profitable. The police launched problem solving approach to eradicate the prostitution in the
locality. They decided to diminish profitability and visible appearances of the sex-workers. For
this purpose police took some strategies aiming at curbing the easy availability of clients of the
sex-workers.
The police introduced a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) prohibiting the sex-workers
loitering and staying in the area and other solicitation conduct of the sex-workers. The police
caused immediate arrest and imposed Tk. 2000 fine for violation of the TRO.
On the other hand police issued a warning notice to the guys who were found with the sex-
workers earlier and suspected to be the customer of the sex-workers. In the warning notice the
people in question were warned that stern lawful action would be taken and monetary fine for Tk
10000 would be imposed on them for aiding and abetting the sex-workers. A general warning
notice was also issued publicly that legal action with zero tolerance would be taken against the
person/persons who would be found with the sex-workers or believed to be clients of the sex-
workers with reasonable evidence.
After adapting the measures the movement and loitering of sex-workers were drastically
reduced. Residents having habit of using sex-workers did not take risk to be socially condemned.
Spontaneous co-operation from the community was received by police in their drive and
campaign against prostitution. The problem of prostitution was solved within a month. The
residents of the community were relieved of the curse of prostitution. The people praised the role
of police and thus police image was improved in the locality.
 CHAPTER IV
IMPLEMENTING COMMUNITY POLICING

The challenge of community policing is to move from theories to actual implementation. It is

very difficult and complicated task. A pragmatic preparation is needed. It cannot happen over a
night. The implementation cannot be brought by a revolution. The community policing
philosophy will take into shape of implementation through gradual evolution over the years. But
there have obvious continuities of the implementing tasks.
At the initial stage of transition to community policing the following factors are of the
essence :
Psychological and System Change :
For the implementing of community policing it will require to modify the existing set up of
psychological values and ways of traditional policing. A change in mission statement (duties of
police), departmental organization, leadership style and general approach to „fighting crime‟ is
essential to implement the philosophy of community policing in the society. The members of
police and communities and people in general need to be mentally prepared to welcome the new
system of policing. They are to demonstrate their positive response through active and sincere
participation in the community policing activities.
The Community Policing Consortium (CPC) of the USA suggests two kinds of management
required for the transition to community policing. These are ─
(1) Change management and
(2) Transition management.
1. Change Management
Change management means a major change in the operational strategy of an organization. In
change management a positive change towards the development-strategy to review the present
state of the organization and viability of transition to new approach is brought. This approach of
management takes into consideration all the changed environments and factors of the
surroundings to bring the new dimensions and strategies to achieve the goal of the organization.
Change management also envisions the future state of the organization and devises the means of
moving from existing formation to new one. Accordingly the doctrine of change management
is to be given importance to establish the philosophy of community policing in the society.
2. Transition Management
Transitional management means the act of overseeing, controlling and leading the move
initiated in the change management phase from present state to future state.
In transition of community policing the leadership is an important basic. The leader required
for the transition must be dynamic, open and self-motivated to spearhead a campaign for change
in the present system. He is to provide all sorts of guidelines and supports with goal oriented
commitment for the smooth and successful implementation or transition of community policing.
The leader must have a vision and commitment for the department and the people he
serves. Commitment comes from vision and it brings devotion to duty to fulfil mission in order
to lead an organization towards its vision. So, a leader without vision and commitment cannot be
a successful leader in transition to something new from the traditional one.
 VISION AND MISSION STATEMENT
Vision
A leader as well as an organization shall have a vision. Vision is a mental image for targeting
a definite goal. A mission is evolved from the vision. An officer of farsighted vision can set up a
mission of an organization as mission is set to reach vision.
As regards the community policing the vision should include the essential elements of the
community policing philosophy such as proactive and problem solving approach of policing
empowering the citizens, building, bridge between police and public and promoting community
partnerships to address the community issues as well as prevention and reduction of crime.
Mission statement
Mission statement is a detailed statement of the aims and functions of an organization to lead
the organization towards its vision. The development of a mission statement is important for any
organization. It must be an essential document for every member of an organization and every
one can share and feel a part of it. Accordingly for the transition of community policing a
mission statement must be developed from the vision. The mission statement may include─
(i) the strategies and means of transition to community policing
(ii) organization set ups and job description
(iii) training, motivation and publicity
(iv) identifying the fields of community policing
(v) ways of working by the community members with the police
(vi) role and partnership of community members in problem identification and problem
solving process
(vii) monitoring, reporting and evaluation system etc.
Needs Assessment
After the articulation of the vision and mission statement, the next step towards the transition
of community policing is to conduct a needs assessment. A needs assessment should include not
only the department but also the community.
It is evident that successful implementation of community policing required a complete
philosophical change in organizational culture i.e. in existing police culture. Changes in the area
of deployment, assignment, behaviour, supervision, evaluation, response to calls, services to the
people, seeking public co-operation and development in infrastructure are needed for the
implementation of community policing. Accordingly needs assessment should be conducted on
the basis of the changes to be brought and on the practical scenario of the situation prevailing in
the society and community. The needs assessment should also consider external constraints
controlled by outside factors such as finance, budget, community co-operation etc. The very
important thing is that the philosophy of community policing must permeate the entire
department from top to down. Each and every member of the police from constable to chief of
police is to be well conversant, motivated and sincere to build up the philosophy in the society
and they are to be seasoned police officers to work with the members of different communities.
 While conducting needs assessments, one should pay attention to who might be community
leaders to initiate and carry on the community policing activities. The selection of community
leaders for community policing is very important and difficult task as men of well reputation and
accepted to the people are to be selected from a bunch of interested persons. Community policing
will not get impetus if it is not driven by good people. In the process of needs assessment the
selection of community leaders is to be given importance.

Analysing the Community

The target group of community policing is the community. It is recognised in the community
policing philosophy that the police cannot go alone with their mission statement ignoring the
public co-operation to get their mission fulfilled. They must obtain the spontaneous participation
of the law-abiding citizens to achieve their cherished goals. With a view to obtaining community
partnership in the community policing philosophy the nature, behaviour and expectation of the
community must be analysed to adopt a strategy of extracting all out co-operation of the
community. First of all the police officers will have to analyse the community‟s demographics.
The average age of the residents, educational level, economic condition, racial composition,
social capital, social attitude, social norms and values etc. are to be analysed.
On the basis of the findings of community analysis police department will adopt strategies in
the community policing approach. Police will engage citizens in alleviating social problems and
play the role of facilitators or catalysts in the communities with low social capital. On the other
hand, in areas with high level social capital COP (Community Oriented Policing) may work
there on the partnership basis with the citizens to develop and implement effective problem
solving activities in order to enhance quality of life. COP activity should be driven by the
community members with community resources. Police will organize the activities with
counselling, administrative supports and active participation in the activities. Economic, political
and demographic forces in the communities have far greater effects on neighbourhood life. But
neighbourhood institutions such as the police or other Government agencies have resource
constraints for which they have very little effects on neighbourhoods. This is why community
resources are to be mobilised with the motivation of the community members to drive the
community welfare oriented activities.
Strategic Planning
Strategic planning is one of the important preconditions to achieve the goal by an agency.
Strategic planning is designed on the articulation of the vision, mission and needs assessment. In
other word, strategic planning is a planning process that keeps an agency focused on what it
wishes to accomplish and the best way to get that goal.
Switzer, a community policing specialist says, “To implement community oriented policing
successfully, it is important to have a strategic plan that identifies what the department stands in
the implementation process, where the department would like to be and most importantly, how
the department intends to get there.”
An efficient strategic planning can bring successful result in the implementation of
community oriented policing. Community partnerships, problem solving and cultural and
organizational changes in the department are to be included in the strategic plan for launching
and driving of community based policing. The plan must have a realistic timeline and progress
assessment method. At the end of each year progress toward accomplishing the vision, mission,
goals and objectives should be measured. The strategic planning must be suitable to the needs of
the community.
Implementation of community policing is not possible in a short span of time in a year or
two. It may take several years. So, strategic planning should have a long-term and future oriented
planning.
For a comprehensive strategic plan the following survey may be conducted to have the
information about the present state of policing :
# a survey of citizen satisfaction with police services.
# a survey of police officers‟ satisfaction with the department.
To obtain the open views of the members of the police and the communities open house
sessions with the presence of police officers and community leaders may be organized.
Programmes to be included in the strategic plan
The following programmes may be included in the strategic plan of community policing
initially subject to revision on assessment of progress :
a. Teaching and publicity programmes on community policing for the
stakeholders and members of the communities
b. Workshop for training the members of community policing committee
c. Motivational and awareness building programmes for the communities
d. Citizen patrol.
e. Watches by the citizens
f. Appointing assignment officers on community policing for specific areas
g. Teaching the officers on community organizing and problem-solving skills
h. Providing knowledge to the landlords, house owners, shop owners and
caretakers of various establishments for securing their properties
i. Development of neighbourhood organizations
j. Crisis incident response planning etc.

TRAINING
Training is very important for a successful transition to community policing. It is a tool that
enhances the capacity of the police officers to perform community policing functions, working
with community, building bridge between police and community, analysing problems,
developing the process of response. The training changes the attitude of the officers toward the
public and also shapes their outlooks suitable to the community policing. Training is necessary to
enhance the communication skills, problem solving skills and leadership skills of the police
personnel to promote the community oriented policing process.
Training for the community leaders is also essential to familiarise the concept of community
policing to them and to provide knowledge to work with police on partnership basis for
identifying and solving problems and addressing other social crises through a combined efforts
of the police and community.
 Through training and other advocacy programmes the community can be prepared mentally
to involve in community policing approach. The community should be provided with
information of intended police actions, how the residents will benefit from those actions and
what role citizen may be expected to play.
In training and advocacy programmes media people must be included to encourage them to
involve in community policing events and activities. Media involvement can ensure a wide
dissemination of the community policing among all section of people. Media can popularise the
community policing through highlighting its people oriented events.

PITFALLS OF COMMUNITY POLICING

Community policing is often misunderstood and viewed as ineffective because of some
pitfalls. Following are the major pitfalls :

Unrealistic expectation
A section of people expects that, as an effective method of crime reduction and problem
solving community policing approach will provide immediate and measurable results. This
expectation of the people is unrealistic. Community policing is not a panacea for society‟s all
ills. It cannot produce result magically. People should perceive that community policing is not a
revolution, it is an evolution. Community policing brings gradual changes, it grows day by day.
Misunderstanding the concept
Community policing is often misunderstood and viewed as ineffective. People need to be
clear that community policing is not simply equivalent to foot patrol or guarding the
neighbourhood only. But officers on foot and citizens on patrol have the opportunity of getting
closer to the community and meeting more people. Police patrols without building relationships
with the community have less effectiveness. Patrolling by patrol men of community is one of the
strategies of community policing. But the absence or failure of engaging patrol men should not
be considered as the ineffectiveness of community policing.
Lack of capacity of the organization
Another pitfall is inability of the organization in the management to fulfil the commitment.
Internal problems like job dissatisfaction, animosity between stakeholders of community
policing and local Government bodies, misunderstanding between police and office bearers of
community policing committee, resource constraints etc. sometimes put the back gear in the field
of community policing philosophy.
Dominating attitude of officers
Some police officers responsible for the community policing affairs have dominating attitude
towards the people. They tend to impose their decision over the citizens. They don‟t like to hear
the problems and suggestions from the people. This attitude of police officers discourages the
citizens to come forward to get involved in community policing approach. Police officers must
give up this tendency to allow community input and citizen empowerment without which
community policing can not be implemented.
 CHAPTER V
The role of Police in the society and its impact

What is the mission of Police ?

Every organization must have specific purposes, commitments, aims and goals. These are
included in the mission statement of the organization. The mission of the police is as follows:
1. Prevention and detection of crime
2. Protection of life and property of the citizens through enforcement of law
3. Preservation of peace, order and safety
4. Enforcement of laws and ordinances
5. Safeguarding of constitutional guarantees
6. Investigating problems and incidents
7. Enhancement of the quality of life of the citizens by fostering a sense of security in
communities and individuals
By the fulfillment of the mission the meaningful police community relations and effective
policing can be ensured. The mission of the police cannot be achieved without the involvement
of the community in the police agenda. Community policing ensures the involvement of the
community and promotes the culture among the police and community to work together.

Social Oriented Service of Police

Apart from crime related tasks police perform a lot of non-police jobs relating to social
works. Police do more than doing police job. Studies show that 80% of police officers‟ time is
spent on non-police activities. Services to the community include peace keeping, preventing
separation of conjugal life, settlement of family conflicts, handling land litigations and others,
resolving disputes between two factions, looking for missing persons, protecting vulnerable
people, maintaining public safety, dealing with emergencies and crisis situations, such as
accidents and natural disasters, resolving conflicts, handling financial cheating, providing
protection to the VIPs, handling and resolution of civil matters, educating the public, guarding
important persons, areas and key point installations, regulating rallies and processions etc.
It is difficult to bring the works of police within a specific definition. Police get calls over
complaints from members of the public frequently. All the calls or complaints are not of criminal
matters or absolute police related. But police cannot ignore those calls or complaints. The
citizens expect a need for police intervention in all situations whether police have jurisdiction or
not in those cases. They think police intervention may bring quick result in addressing the
grievance. People have a perception that police can do everything. Police are easily accessible to
the people. Police usually respond to all calls and take whatever action is needed which
encourages the people to rush to the police in case of necessities. It is established that the police
are the service rendering agency available 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The door
of a police station is never closed.

What is Police Culture ?

According to sociologists, culture is the norms, values, ways of life, pattern of behaviour and
beliefs shared by a group of people which grow over the years and prevail in the society. People
of a society share the values of the society whether those are right or wrong, good or bad and
also the ways of doing things. These constitute the culture of a society. The culture of society
dominants all the components of the society. This is why the culture of a society may be termed
as dominant culture of the society.
The culture of an organization grows on the basis of basic characteristic and the mission of
the organization. The culture of an organization is often termed as subculture as an organization
is one of the entities of the society which has a culture in broader scale ie, dominant culture.
Actually a subculture is the culture of a group that shares the dominant social culture, it also has
a distinct culture of its own. There are numerous subcultures in modern societies that develop
from the common interests of people. These common interests relate to a person‟s occupation,
ethnic background, religion, hobby, personal experience and other professional factors. In a
specific subculture, the people are different in some respect from the dominant culture.
The Police department has its own culture which influences the whole members of the police
as well as the members of the society. In police organization socialisation or subculture occurs
through departmental rules and regulations, training, mode of work, power and authority,
behaviour of the predecessors of yester years and examples set by present and past superiors. The
police culture (or subculture) is marked by certain differences from the dominant culture, such as
their occupation, training, knowledge of crime, day to day works and interactions with various
situations and criminal justice system. The police have a special type of uniform and equipments,
which is also the part of their culture. The Police have tremendous power over the citizens
they serve and protect. On the other hand, police may face a life-threatening situation at any
time. For all the reasons stated above a separate culture or value system has been established
within the police department.
According to Goldstein, the subculture of police grows out of the peculiar characteristics and
conflicting pressures of the job. The police may face an unpredictable risk of situation for the
following reasons :
(i) The hostility of the people towards police because of their controlling role
(ii) The vulnerability of police officers to allegations of wrongdoing
(iii) Unreasonable demands and conflicting expectations of the people
(iv) Uncertainty function and authority of police being influenced by outside force
(v) The public does not understand the limitations of police. They like to see police playing
role in favour of them. In this situation the police have to put up with dealing citizens
(vi) A stifling working environment due to negative impression and non-cooperation of the
public
To face the risk situation mutual co-operation and mutual dependence among the officers is
essential to discharge their duties and for their personal safety. These situations influence the
growth of police culture.
The characteristics of police culture can be stated as clannish, secretive, evasive and isolated.
There is a tend among the members of police to keep all sort of happenings and information
among themselves and to remain tight-lipped. They don‟t want to be open to the public. But they
have a dominating attitude which contradicts their evasive role.
A culture is also identified as the core beliefs held in common in the society. Followings are
the beliefs in the police culture which are held in common by the members of the police as well
as the members of the public:
# Police are the real crime fighters and service providers to the people for round the clock
# Police are loyal to the Government and authority
# Police sometimes compromise with the laws and rules to prevent themselves from
being the victim of circumstances
# Police adopt various strategies suited to fight the criminals as the criminals enjoy too
many civil rights
# In most cases the public is reluctant to recognise the positive role of police. They are in
general unappreciative and critic to police action
# Ppolice officers as law enforcers expect public to respect and recognise their role and
defer to their lawful authority
# Police officers believe that witnesses of any incident don‟t tell them in detail about an
incident in the first hand. They are to extract information from witnesses adopting
various techniques
# Police refuse to disclose the information of their internal investigation
# Police do not like external pressure and interference in their action. They like to work
neutrally as per existing laws, rules and regulations
# Police work is often unpleasant. Police often have to deal with unpleasant situations
and anti-social behaviour. Sometimes they resort to unspeakable atrocities specially
while handling unlawful assembly or countering desperate criminals and terrorist
# Two negative characteristics of the police culture are:
(i) isolation and
(ii) them versus us view.
These characteristics conflict with a community oriented philosophy of policing
# Danger influences the personality of police officers, as the occurrence of danger is
unpredictable and it causes personal loss of an individual
# Police officers have absolute authority in their law enforcement duties. They enjoy
ample power while working in the field of persuasion of crime and criminals, legal
coercion and use of force
# Police officers are supposed to be efficient in discharging of their duties. Accordingly
they have vanities believing that they are more efficient in the field of investigation and
fighting crimes than any other agencies
# Police see themselves as a members of a family. They have “esprit de corps” among
themselves. An attack against one or a bad name of any individual is considered the
attack or bad name against or of the whole police department
# Police are dependent on each other in crisis or difficult situations
# Police are subject to false allegations and they need support from fellow officers and
superiors in such situations
# Police have no option other than working with the people
# Police are discipline and respectful to the local norms, values and system of the society.
They honour the religious and social beliefs of the citizen
# Police always try to show their utmost courage and intelligence to confront any odd and
dangerous situation
 # Police keep themselves in smarty uniforms with lawful authority to dominant the
citizens
# Police generally suspect the unknown individuals and situations till their satisfaction on
evidences
# Police are reluctant to invite or accept new change in their organizational and
operational approach
John Crank (a sociologist) states that the police culture is not something to be fixed. He adds
that the police subculture contains police officers who possess knowledge, skills, common sense,
traditions and a practical sense of trouble spots, understanding of local problems and wide
friendship networks.
POLICE IMAGE

The police image entails the general views and impression of the citizens about police. It also
refers the evaluation and acceptance of police action and police behaviour by the people. In most
of the countries of the world specially in the under developed and developing countries the
police image is very frustrating. People hold negative views about police and there exists a
distance in the relationship between police and public. In the Indian subcontinent including
Bangladesh the police are not in good book of the common people. The common people have the
tendency to avoid police. In very few cases police get co-operation from the members of public.
Reasons for negative police image
Various factors are responsible for tarnishing the image of police. Following reasons or
factors are identified for image crises of police:
Traditional attitude of police
The police hold traditional attitude inherited from the colonial regime. They could not reset
their mind set up fully to suit the democratic norms and values. The traditional attitude of the
police is the barrier to introduce people oriented and community based policing. This is why
police image is not getting uplift from the crisis state.
Gap between police and public
There exists gap between police and public for which mutual understanding is not being
established between police and public. This gap is the main reason for image crisis of police.
Non-fulfilment of public expectation
People like to see police as honest, fair, neutral, courageous and prompt in action. They also
expect well-behaviour and friendly attitude from the members of law enforcing agency. But
police, in practical life, are not seen to act or expose themselves as per expectation of the
citizens. The gap between the expectation and reality, as regards to police push the police image
to the lower level.
Police Misconduct
Police misconduct is a broad term referring to a variety of unethical, illegal and unbecoming
behaviours by police towards the citizens. Very often the police do not behave properly with the
people when people rush to police being victimised to hostile situation or incidents. An
individual may carry out the misconduct, but it tarnishes the image of total police department.
Police Brutality
Sometimes the police use unreasonable and excessive force over the arrested persons or
members of an unlawful assembly. They use force in a brutal way that touches the heart of the
common people. This brutality of police spoils the police image.
Abuse of power and Harassment
Police have tremendous power over the citizens they serve and protect. They are supposed to
exercise this power fairly and neutrally in good faith for the interest of the public. But police
sometimes misuse their power. They arrest people illegally, stop vehicles for search
unnecessarily; implicate innocent people in criminal cases etc. People are afraid of police
harassment.
Police corruption
Police corruption entails various types of illegal activities by police to receive something of
value in cost or kind in lieu of giving somebody any illegal benefit or omitting some lawful
action against anybody. It can range from taking Tk 20 by a traffic police to a bribe of thousands
of Taka to permit a smuggler to bring smuggled goods inside the country.
Since inception, corruption in law enforcement has been a problem. A small unethical act of
an individual may lead to a major crime. Police exercise ample power. Most of the time they can
do whatever they want without having to answer to the public or anybody else. Sometimes this
power is abused by a section of police for which „fear of police‟ is there in the society. People
have dissatisfaction on police attitude. Fear of police and dissatisfaction of the people on police
have created a significant gap between police and public.‟
Partisan Role
Sometimes police do not act impartially. Being influenced by vested quarters or for personal
gain police play a partisan role in their action. People lose confidence on police. Thus police earn
a bad name.
Bad Association
Some police officers keep in touch of people who are questionable in the eyes of the people.
A section of police officers maintain relationship with political touts and activists, smugglers or
bad but influential people. People do not like the persons of this nature. Police image diminished
following the connection with persons of questionable nature and activity.
Involving in Crime
Sometimes members of law enforcing agency involve themselves in various type of crimes.
Even the individual involvement in crime by police severely hampers the image of police.
Media Coverage
Media has an enormous impact on public opinion. Police image is affected by the manner in
which television and newspapers present crime stories and law enforcement activities. Media
often bring up report on police matter exaggerating the facts that affects the police image.
External interference in police works
 The political force and pressure groups very frequently interfere in police works. They use
police for their own interest violating existing rules and ethics. Police officers sometimes
willingly or unwillingly serve the purpose of those vested groups for their personal safety and to
keep them free from possible risk and confrontation. Thus, police image goes down in the eyes
of the citizens.
Uniform and equipments
Police image is sometimes affected by the police uniform and equipment. The visible
uniform is the symbol of the authority and power bestowed upon police. Although uniform plays
a major role in their ability to gain co-operation and compliance from the public, a section of are
afraid and tend to keep themselves aloof from police.
Lastly, the manner in which police exercise their authority also has an impact on police
image. The attitude of law enforcement officers, their education and personal image, discipline,
professionalism and interaction with the community have enormous impact on public‟s
perception regarding police image.
Police Discretion
Police have awesome power to use force, to lock people up and even to take some one‟s life.
Police have broad discretionary powers. Discretion may be defined as follows :
Discretion means the freedom of making a decision based on individual choice or judgment
and a number of factors. These factors include law and regulations, procedures and guidelines of
an organization, personal values and beliefs and also the norms and values of the respective area
and citizens of that area.
Each agency has discretion to exercise for establishing its mission, policies and procedures.
Like other agency police have their discretion in exercising power to arrest any one or to take a
legal course of action.
Police officers exercise their discretion to ensure justice to persons and maintain order on the
basis of situation. For example, an officer will not likely go for arrest a driver who develops
chest pain and drives through a stop sign. It makes sense to police not to enforce the letter of the
law. Here they have discretion to exercise authority of law.
The discretion gives police too much freedom to pick and choose when and against whom
they will enforce the law. Citizens are aware of this discretion of police. At the same time they
have doubt over police whether police will exercise their discretion judiciously and neutrally or
they will abuse the discretion and they will overlook the violations of law of the wealthy and
powerful people.
Police are not the only component in the criminal justice system to exercise discretion.
Prosecutors exercise discretion when determining priorities for prosecution. Judges exercise
discretion while hearing or giving verdict. All other officials or agencies exercise discretion
while performing their duties in their respective fields.
Police have to follow a lot of laws, rules, regulations and bureaucratic procedures in their
action. Rules and regulations limit an officer‟s ability to use common sense or act in a humane
way in certain situations. This is why discretion for police is necessary. There are some archaic
or ambiguous or dead laws. Citizens do not expect those laws to be enforced. There are not
enough police to act on every violation of law. So, there should have discretion for police. Police
select which laws need to be enforced. Police should have scope to prioritise the offences they
act upon. Crime is more concern than violation of rules and serious crime is a greater threat than
minor crime. Keeping it in mind the police act accordingly. Discretion is important to maintain
good community relations. If police were to enforce the letter of the law, community resentment
will arise.
Exercise of discretion varies on the basis of situation and nature of offence. For some
dangerous offences there are provisions of strict law. Here, police have narrow scope to exercise
discretion. Community policing has a great impact on police discretion. In community policing
approach officers are trusted to use good judgment in their activities with fewer limits and
restriction.
Unless police exercise their discretion with care and neutrality, the community may charge
police of abuse of power or discrimination in enforcement of law. If the community sees police
to overlook violations committed by a certain segment of society or strictly enforce laws against
another, the citizens will lose their trust over police and community relations problems will
develop.
Use of Force
Police are well trained in physique and education to perform their professional duties
efficiently and effectively. They are also trained up and equipped with necessary weapons to
fight the crimes and criminals. The criminals always try to evade arrest after committing offence
and sometimes, they have preparation to encounter police. In this situation the police have to
encounter the criminals to ensure arrest and restrain the criminals from committing offences.
This is why police are to use force to perform their duties.
Use of force by the police encompasses a wide range of possible actions, from the officer‟s
mere presence to the use of deadly force. Presence of police has an important impact and it
affects a majority of citizens. Police uniform and police cars are symbols of the officer‟s power
to enforce the law and bring violators to justice by the use of force if necessary. The visual image
of power and authority by the uniform and equipments promotes the officer‟s ability to gain
public compliance. Image of police is also affected, either positively or negatively by the use of
force.
Use of force by police is a controversial issue. Police sometimes use force in brutal way
which invites wide spread criticism from the public. Specially, police image is badly affected by
the extreme use of force while suppressing a political mob. A section of police officers use force
on the arrested persons or over an individual or group of people with ill motive. People do not
support this illegal use of force by police in general. But police find common people happy with
the police brutality or use of force over a terrorist or notorious criminal, though the human rights
activists criticise all use of force. People also find pleasure when they see the use of force by
police on an influential white collar criminal.
Different people have different perceptions of using force by police. But care must be taken
by police not to develop an intimidating image that alienates the community. Police must be
within the limit of law in exercising power of authority and using force while discharging duty.
Police must realise public sentiment. Most citizens understand and support law enforcement
officers‟ obligation to enforce the law and to use appropriate force when necessary. Police
officers should encourage public support by professional behaviour and being respectful to
citizen‟s rights. Mishandling the use of force may cause serious resentment among the citizens
and the consequence may go beyond the control of police administration. So, the sensitive
weapon of using force by police must be logical, necessary based, controlled and followed by
existing rules and regulations. The reasons of using force must be clear to the people justifying
the necessity of it.
Ethical Policing
The tremendous power that police have over people‟s lives requires ethics in exercise. People
expect that police should always represent good over evil. To achieve and maintain public trust,
police must be persons of good character who hold foremost the ideals of fairness and justice.
The way in which police use their discretion to enforce the law and solve problems determines
whether the public views the police with ethics or having ethical behaviour. Ethical behaviour
is the footing of police image.
In many situations police actions may not be entirely ethical. Police officers have to take
decision to act considering all the factors of prevailing situation. The police cannot act in ethical
manner in all situations specially in the crisis situation like riot controlling, encountering armed
miscreants, exercising right of private defense etc. In some cases police officers on operation are
not given appropriate guidance by the competent authority to take ethical decision in
complexities of enforcing the law.
The task of exercising ethical policing in a diverse population is very tough. The subject of
ethics and ethical policing should be a standard part of training of police officers. There should
also have a regular dialogue within the police community on ethics. The members of police must
have the knowledge about ethical behaviour and its implementation in profession. They should
have the mental set up of showing ethical behaviour in their manner and conduct.
In short, the philosophy of ethical policing is to be fair in taking decision, neutral in action,
sober to people, habituated in doing right thing and avoiding wrong thing.
An ethical behavior by individual officers and by the department as a whole is indispensable
to effective police community partnerships.
For the interest of enforcing law and responding emergency police are entitled enjoy some
special to special privileges and exceptions relative to obeying the laws. Police on special
situation can exceed speed limits and violate traffic laws. They can carry concealed weapons and
own or have access to weapons that are restricted to citizens. Sometimes these privileges and
exceptions of law create confusion among the common people about the ethical practice by
police. Some may think that police are above law. A section of police officers specially the new
recruits may also think that they are above law. Equality under law is the foundation of criminal
justice. If the law enforcement officers believe that they are above the law, then it subverts the
very essence of law enforcement and criminal justice in our society. Police officers must have
the knowledge why special privileges have been given to them. People also should understand
that the privileges and exceptions have been given to police for the public interest. They should
understand that the privileges given to the police are not for an individual; police have got the
privileges for the interest of people in whole. The police officers should not suffer from ethical
dilemmas. They must follow the straight ethical policing to come close to the people and get co-
operation from the community. The ethical responsibility makes balance between police
discretion and police authority to use power. Police must not abuse the special privileges. They
should take the advantage of special privileges ethically i.e. when situation arises for the interest
of public. People are conscious. They can differentiate between abuse of power and ethical use
of special privileges given to police by law or convention.
 CHAPTER VI

THE COMMUNITY

What is community ?
A group of people living in an area under the same government may be defined as
community. Community also refers to a specific geographic area served by a law enforcing
agency and the individuals, organizations and agencies within that area. The community may
cover a very small area and have a very limited number of individuals, organizations and
agencies, it may be within the jurisdiction of a small unit of law enforcing agency. The common
characteristic of community is sense of integration and feeling of „we-ness‟ among the members
of a group of people. So, in other words we can define community as follows :
A group of people having common interest, sense of shared values and integration and
feeling of belonging i.e. sense of „we-ness‟ can be termed as community.
Elements and characteristics of a community
The individuals, educational institutions, business establishments, public and private
agencies, cultural associations, religions worships and other social groups are vital elements of
the community. The social norms, values, individual behaviour and attitude, moral and cultural
principles, social and religious culture, religious beliefs of the people living in the community
and the common interests shared by them with neighbours and other members of community are
also considered as the elements of the community.
Where integrated communities exist, people share a sense of ownership and pride in their
environment. They also have a sense of acceptable behaviour and trends to face the challenges
for better coexistence, safety and better community life. Feeling of belonging, a sense of
integration, a sense of shared values and a sense of “we-ness” are the characteristics of a
community.
Feeling of belonging in the community and sense of
“we-ness” among the individuals are the glue that binds communities to maintain order and
provides the foundation for effective community action.
It is viewed that shared values, participation in voluntary associations, religion based relation
and positive interaction with neighbours create a strong sense of community and correlate with
participation in civic and government activities.
These characteristics of community make policing in such a community much easier.
Social Capital
In every society there are various type of entities. The entities consist of some aspects of
social structure. The entities also play the role of facilitators of the action of the individuals of
the society. The social aspects and facilitation character of the society or social entities are
termed as social capital. Coleman, a social scientist finds the following two elements of social
capital.
Trustworthiness:
 It refers to citizens‟ trust of each other and their public institution. Without trust among the
citizens a social bond cannot be established. Social bond is an important essence to work
collectively for the peace and uplift of the society. Citizens‟ trust of each other is originated from
the mutual respect of each other.
Obligations:
It refers to the belief that service to each other will be reciprocated. A citizen should have
duty to provide service to his neighbours at time of need. Accordingly that neighbours should
return the service when opportunity comes. The term of obligation is used to make understand
that the citizens must feel the obligation on principle that service should be on reciprocal basis.
Through reciprocal service citizens of a society can get their maximum problems solved and
contribute to the social peace and friendship.
The social capital plays the role of catalyst in implementation of community policing.
Sometimes, effective community policing may be limited to those areas where high levels of
social cohesion exist. But social responsibility and social cohesion can be strengthened through
sustainable community policing in those areas where social bondage and obligation are slack.
Lack of community
The citizens of a community have a common history and understandings among themselves.
The history, culture, values and shared feelings are the preconditions of forming a community.
Community is also based on a sense of „us‟ or „we-ness‟ for the own community and a sense of
„them‟ or „they-ness‟ for the outsiders. Unfortunately, many communities lack this sense of
“we-ness”. In those communities the social cohesion is not strong for which the ties of
brotherhood among the citizens is very weak. The members of these communities have self-
centred tendency and normally one is not seen to stand by others in case of necessity and at the
time of danger. This is called lack of community. The lack of community means lack of better
life and lack of security in the community.
In the areas where a sense of “we-ness” among the citizens and police is absent or loose,
there exists a “them-versus-us” relationship between the police and public. But police are
the part of the community where they serve. So, community must own police and police are
to own community.
Lack of community demands special police attention. In other words, most police attention is
required in those communities that have least shared values and limited sense of community.
Special police attention and community based policing are needed in those areas where gap
between police and public is bigger and citizens perceive police as arrogant, brutal and
uncaring, bribe-takers and antagonistic relationship exists between residents and the police.
When citizens are unable to maintain social control and social bonds, the result is social
disorganization. Social disorganization causes neighbourhood decay. The neighbourhood decay
not only reduces the horizontal bonds between neighbours within communities but also reduces
the vertical linkages between communities and larger political, social and economic institutions.
All entities within the community as well as organizations and agencies must work together to
keep that community healthy. Without the smooth and successful services of other utility
service-agencies and organizations police alone cannot keep the community healthy in all
respects. A community cannot be healthy if unemployment and poverty are widespread ; people
are hungry ; health care is inadequate, social services are fragmented and disproportionate and
government lacks responsibility and accountability.
A sense of community feelings and concerted efforts of all entities of a community are vital
for peace and tranquility and healthy atmosphere of a community.

Lack of Community and Broken Windows Theory:

If a window in a building is broken and is left un-repaired for long time, all the rest windows
will soon be broken.”
Wilson and Kelling floated the “broken windows” theory. They based the theory on result of
a research done in 1969 by a psychologist, Philip Zimbardo. Zimbardo floated the “broken
window theory” from the following experiment :
Once he arranged to have a car without licence plate and parked it with its hood up on a
street beside a car of good condition. The car without number plate and having hood up was
attacked by vandals and within twenty four hours it had been badly destroyed. The car of good
condition sat untouched. After few days Zimbardo left a hammer on the broken car. Within few
hours the car was totally destroyed by the passers by with the help of the hammer.
Wilson and Kellings worked on the research of Zimbardo. They came to conclusion that,
“Unattended property becomes fair game for people out for fun or plunder.”
Broken windows and smashed cars are very visible signs of people not caring about their
community. Accordingly, lawns not mowed for long time, piles of accumulated trash. In an
uncaring society incivilities, moral decay, loose social bondage and unrest develop. In such
society people experience with great concern the rowdiness, drunkenness, fighting or violence,
prostitution, immoral and corrupt, garbage and litters in public places, abandoned buildings and
broken windows, graffiti, and other vices .
The broken window theory suggests that if it appears “no one cares” disorder and crime
will thrive.
Incivilities and social disorder occur when social control mechanisms erode. An increase in
incivilities and uncaring trends among the members of communities may increase the fear of
crime and citizens‟ sense of insecurity. In extreme situations esisting disorder of the society may
bring people together to “take back the neighbourhood.”
It is extremely difficult to maintain community policing in those areas where values of
different group of people clash. For example, controversy may exist between modern generation
and religious activities or orthodox groups on western culture in terms of dress worn by women
and other issues. Each of these communities deserves a different style of policing based on the
“community value system.” Police must give importance on the behaviour and sentiment of the
majority. But they cannot ignore the behaviour of the minority. Here police face tremendous
problem to exercise ethical policing.
The theme of the “broken-windows” gives this message that each and every minor crime or
disorder in the society must be taken into care for eradication of that crime at the primary stage.
Otherwise, little crimes will form a heinous crime, which will be a major problem for the society.
Minor act of incivility and social disorder must be attended to prevent the occurrence of major
crime.
Policing in diverse culture and violent society
 It is extremely difficult to run policing even to maintain community policing in those areas
where culture and values of different group of people clash. For example, controversy may exist
between modern life supporters and religious activities or orthodox groups on modern or western
dress of women. Each of these communities deserves a different style of policing based on the
“community value system.” Police must give importance on the behaviour and sentiment of the
majority. But they cannot ignore the behaviour of the minority. In this conflicting situation police
face tremendous problem to exercise ethical policing. Here will have to play tricky role to satisfy
all section of people.
Another factor that negates a sense of community and creates an unhealthy social
environment is the prevalence of violence. We live almost in a violent society. Everyday the
media focuses violence. The newspapers and televisions are constantly carrying news of murder,
rape, kidnap, assault and other crime related incidents. It seems that if a movie or television
programme is to get market, violent events like fighting, assault, rape, murder etc. must be
included in the movies. The tendency of crime reporters to put up the crime incidents with a view
to be important to his authority as well as to the readers or viewers. The cartoon that children
watch in most cases contains more violence. From this type of media programme, children learn
that violence is a part of life and it is acceptable and justified under some circumstances. This
learning has a negative impact in the society. Juvenile delinquencies get rising tendency and
younger generations are seen not to follow social norms and values. They are reluctant to show
due respect to the superiors. Citizens expect police to prevent violence and arrogant behaviour of
any citizen. But police alone cannot prevent violence when entire society is infested. Police
need active co-operation from all individuals of the society to prevent violence. Only concerted
efforts of all individuals and entities of the society along with police can stop violence and build
a sense of security in the community. Community policing system can co-ordinate and
consolidate the efforts of individuals and community to fight against disorder, incivilities and
anti-society elements in order to ensuring healthy atmosphere for peaceful and better life in the
society.
The theme of the “broken-windows” is that each and every minor crime or disorder in
the society must be taken into care for eradication of that crime or disorder at the primary
stage. Otherwise, little crimes or incivility will form a heinous crime, which will be a major
problem for the society. Minor acts of incivility, primary causes of unhealthy social
environment and social disorder must be attended by the concerned individuals,
community members, leaders of the civil society and professional groups including
politicians and public representatives to get those social disorders repaired with a view to
building a safer, sound and peaceful environment through creating a sense of community
among the members of different communities which will also prevent the occurrence of
major crimes and social disorder.
Social Factors and Crime in Community
The crime in a community has a relationship with different factors of that community. The
social, economical and other relevant factors regulate the increase and decrease of crime.
According to Greene, a sociologist, “The relationship between crime and disorder in community
is complicated by many factors.” Poverty, inequality, social injustice, unemployment, decay of
social and moral values, lack of family bonds, density of people and racial conflicts escalate the
crime situation in the society. The police have little scope to directly regulate these community
crime factors. The community, government agencies, NGOs and private social development
organizations associated with these factors such as education, housing, job training, family
support, health care, drug control, etc. can play important role to affect the crime factors. Here
the police can extend their hand of co-operation as a promoter.
Saville developed a theory called “ecology of crime”. It explains how criminal opportunities
are created in neighbourhoods. According to “ecology of crime” theory, every neighbourhood
has a crime “threshold”. It means every neighbourhood has the capacity to hold a certain
number of disorders and crime factors. When the number of these things exceeds the „threshold‟
or limit of carrying capacity, the total social system and social control collapses. The society
turns into a place of hell and citizens are pushed in uncertainty, insecurity and chaos. The
quality of life of the citizens degrades.
The community leaders and citizens need to understand when the neighbourhoods are
approaching the “threshold” in a given situation in order to prevent the disaster. Police
alone cannot prevent the crime factors marching towards the „threshold‟. All individuals
and entities of the society consciously must take this responsibility. Police will constantly be
with them as facilitators.
Community Demographics
In addition to understanding the complex concept of community such as “ecology of crime”
theory, it is also important to assess the demographics of the neighbourhoods or the community.
Demographics refer to the characteristics of the individuals who live in a community.
Demographics include a population-size, growth rate, density, profession, employment rate,
ethnic groups, age group, average age of the citizens, education and income etc.
It is assumed that the smaller the population of a community, the easier policing becomes. In
other words, police can effectively police an area having small size of population. Small
community generally have fewer resources, but people of a smaller community know each
other. A sense of community is likely to be greater in smaller community than in large city. The
sense of community helps fighting against crime and social vices.
Density of population is an important variable to assess the ability of law enforcing agency to
police an area. Studies show that as population becomes denser, the community gets infected
with a lot of problems and people become more aggressive and violent for individual‟s interest.
Population Growth
Rapid population growth can invigorate a community where the population-size is small. On
the other hand a community having large size population with limited resources always faces
scarcity of resources as it can drain its limited resources within short period of time. Without
effective planning and foresight, rapid population growth can result in serious problems for a
community. Over population causes various social and economic crises like unemployment,
malnutrition, health-hazard, housing-scarcity, low education facility. The police need to
formulate effective strategy to combat against crime where density and growth rate of
population is high.
The community‟s vital statistics are extremely important from a police-community
partnership perspective. What is the average age of the people? Are there more young or elderly
individuals ? What is the family size? How is the family bond ? What is the divorce rate? What is
the common level of education? What is the dropout rate? What is male-female ratio? Police
need to have the vital statistics as mentioned above to launch a community policing operation
strategy in certain areas.
Income and distribution of income are also important. What are the main sources of income ?
How is community described ? Is it affluent ? Or moderately well off ? Or poor ? Is there any
disparity ? How much unemployment exists ? What does the unemployed people do ? Are they
involved in any crime ? Are they homeless ? These economic factors are to be considered by
police while making a plan to police a particular area.
The ethnic makeup of the community is another consideration. What is the characteristic of
the community? Is it heterogeneous or homogeneous? A homogeneous community is one in
which people are all quite similar. A heterogeneous is one in which individuals are quite
different from each other. Most communities are heterogeneous. It is very challenging to
establish and maintain good relations among the various subgroups making up the community.
Usually one ethnic subgroup consists of majority population tends to exercise more power and
dominate over the other groups. In this diverse population the police have to adopt pragmatic and
prudent programmes of community policing on basis of reality on the ground to make balance
among the subgroups.
Poverty, unemployment, substandard housing, inadequate education, lack of medical and
recreation facility and other people welfare oriented factors are to be brought under consideration
to determine the causes of crime in the society. Sometimes, these factors become the major
causes of crime. So, without effective co-operation of the other concerned service providing
agencies, the police will have to face tougher situation to maintain law and order and control
crime in the society.
Population Growth
Bangladesh had experienced a rapid growth of population in the past decades as shown in
table 1: 4 blow :

Population of Bangladesh, 1901-2011(in crore)

1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1974 1981 1991 2001 2011

2.89 3.16 3.33 3.56 4.20 4.19 5.08 7.15 8.71 10.63 12.44 14.23

Source: Population and Housing Census, (1901-2011)BBS

Table 1:4
In addition to a rapid growth of population Bangladesh is also experiencing a widening gap
between the rich and the poor. The middle class is shrinking and the gap between the “haves”
and the “have nots” is widening resulting in a bifurcated society. The rapid growth of
population drains up the national resources, as the increase of national resources does not
conform the rapid growth of population. Besides, the gap between rich and poor create social
unrest and frustration among the citizens. This inequality in economic sector causes social
instability and imbalance which creates criminal opportunities in the society. So, the rapid
growth of population must be bridled. The police through community policing can play a vital
role to educate the people and keep the population-growth under control.
Organizations and Institutions
Various organizations and institutions are the important entities in the society. These entities
can play a key role to ensure safety and quality of life of the citizens. Police officers must be
knowledgeable of these entities and establish effective relationships with them. A strong network
of community organizations and institutions gives collective exertions to foster the cohesive
power of shared intolerance against crimes and criminals. It also encourages citizens to co-
operate law enforcing agency in controlling crime and disorder in the society. Thus illegal or
criminal acts, appearance and movements of criminals and other unlawful practices threatening
to public security will be detected and reported to the police voluntarily by the citizens. It is not
possible for any single organization or group to address all the problems and concerns of the
community, so establishment of networks and partnerships between the police and social entities
is essential.
Sulton says, “Community institutions are the basic fabric from which our complex society is
woven.” According to Sulton :
All theories of causes of crime share common threads. They assume that crime is a socially
defined phenomenon caused by the failure of community institutions and community members to
constrain behaviour so that it conforms to the law and does not threaten the rights, safety and
lives of others. According to this perspective crime reduction depends on eradication of the
social conditions that produce crime.
Police officers should maintain a good relationship with human rights organizations, social
services organizations health care providers, emergency service providers, youth organizations
and all educational institutions for better community policing to remove the social ills from the
society.
Obtaining co-operation from the citizens is a very difficult task. But police must always be
on the track of seeking public co-operation. They can bring problems to the attention of the other
concerned agencies. John Mudd cited the example of “rat problem” to explain the responsibility
of the social entities. He presented the “rat problem” as follows :
If a rat is found in an apartment, it is the responsibility of the house owner to drive out the rat
; if it runs into a restaurant, the health department has jurisdiction ; if it dies outside, municipality
takes over the responsibility. Getting complaints about the damages caused by rats, police will
have to figure out what agency in the city has responsibility for rat control and then request the
agency to take proper action to kill the rats.
If responsibility is distributed to the shoulders of all other concerned individuals or groups,
the task comes easier. Police are to make co-ordination among the entities to get all problems
affecting the society solved in a concerted and co-ordinated manner.
Private Security Companies
In the past few years a dramatic expansion of private security is visible not only in our
country also all over the world. Private security companies provide security personnel to the
organizations or the local body to guard an organization or specific jurisdiction of a local area.
The private security helps police to prevent crime.
In the developed countries like USA, UK, etc. private security companies are working
actively to protect lives and properties of the citizens. It has also got recognition from
government and people. The need for public and private police forces to establish good working
relationships was recognized by the National Institute of Justice in the early 1980‟s in USA The
international Association of Chiefs of Police (ACP) has also recognized the need for co-
operation by establishing a Private Sector Liaison Committee (PSLC). The PSLC paved the ways
for private security to work jointly with government Police with a view to addressing concerns of
the citizens and working towards solution to the problems.
A good relationship between the private security agencies and police becomes important.
The government has promulgated private security regulations bringing the private security under
accountability and regulatory system.
In fact, in our country police do not have positive impression on private security as they are
not professionally efficient, accountable and dependable. But time has come to utilise the private
security by police as an auxiliary force to add to the strength of the regular state police force. The
collaboration of private security and public law enforcement agency is needed now for the
advancement of public safety and spreading the police networks.

The Power Structure

Various public and private organizations, institutions, associations and groups exercise the
authority in various forms and ways to establish their position and domination in the society.
These entities are termed as social power structure.

(1) formal power structure and

(2) informal power structure.
1. Formal Power Structure
The government, government organizations or agencies, local government regulatory bodies
and commissions, elected bodies, administrative set up of government at field level are the
examples of formal power structure.
2. Informal Power Structure
The informal power structure includes religious groups, wealthy subgroups, ethnic groups,
political groups, professional groups, labour groups, business groups, various social
organizations, public interest groups, media, teachers and student groups, civil society groups,
NGOs, etc.
The informal power structure has a massive influence over the society. Each group of
informal power structure has its own subculture. The subculture of one group influences other
subcultures. Thus the informal power structure, in fact control the whole society. The formal
power structure cannot ignore the informal power structure in exercise power and authority. The
informal pressure group influences the formal power structure of the society and they should
maintain close relationship with these groups of power.
 Wilson and Kelling suggest, “The essence of the police role in maintaining order is to
reinforce the informal control mechanisms of the community itself.” The police cannot provide
a substitute for that informal control.
Informal power structure also influences the social system by its subtle or non-subtle power.
Though the influence of informal power structure is not visible to the common people, but law
enforcement personnel must understand the different subgroups of informal force within their
jurisdiction for better functioning and fruitful community policing operation.
The Criminal Justice System
The criminal justice system means the system of bringing a criminal or offender to justice. In
other words, the procedure of awarding punishment to a law violator or a criminal is known as
criminal justice system. The criminal justice system consis
(1) Law Enforcing Agency (specially police),
(2) Courts, and
(3) Correctional Agencies.
Police are the most visible component of the criminal justice system. The other two
components, Court and correctional agencies, are much less visible in most communities. As
police is the gateway of criminal justice system and most visible component, many people equate
policing with criminal justice system. Thus, the police often become the criminal justice system
in the eyes of the community.
In criminal justice process, the role of law enforcement members is to prevent crime, detect
criminals, apprehend law violators or suspects and bring them before a Court of law for trial.
Police officers help the Court providing evidence and putting up the witnesses. A police officer
concerning a particular case may also be a witness in the Court. Police also play an important
role assisting the Court from the prosecution side to prove the offence of the under trial accused.
The merit of justice mostly depends on the quality of investigation carried by police and
presentation of evidence and witnesses by the prosecution.
The second component, the Court starts functioning on police report. The Court assesses the
charge and evidence as presented by police and prosecution. The court also considers the defense
arguments of the accused. Analysing and evaluating all available evidence, examining the
witnesses and hearing the prosecution and defense lawyers and also giving opportunity of self-
defense to the accused, the Court pass judicious judgment to sentence, if finds the accused guilty.
The court may send the juvenile offender to correctional centre or allow returning to the
community under supervision of a probation officer.
The correctional institutes should have all facilities to get the juvenile offenders corrected
considering the offenders as the victims of crime of the society. But in Bangladesh the probation
service for correction of juvenile delinquent suffers from effective operation due to lack of
required fund, professional manpower and ancillary infrastructural facilities.
The three-part system of the criminal justice system provides a procedure of check and
balance in order to ensure that no person is accused of a crime and denied the legal protection in
an unfair means. In this process of justice guarantee of fairness and equality is supposed to be
ensured.
The courts perform duties within the frame of law and procedures. The court officers have
their own ethics and way of judging. They do not solely depend on police report. They hear the
both prosecution and defense sides. Following the Court procedures the Court officers have to let
too many offenders free from jail. But the common people don‟t like to accept the practice of
acquittal of the offenders. People often criticise police and sometimes the Courts. But mainly
blame police for failure of prosecution. The common people demand highest punishment of all
criminals. They have a general perception that only police is responsible for the acquittal of
criminals from the courts. The critics should understand that police is one of the components in
the entire system of criminal justice. Courts follow the process designed in the justice system.
Police play very important role in the criminal justice system but only police cannot ensure
conviction of an accused or criminal. A criminal or accused has a number of ways to take the
advantage of the loopholes of the legal system to escape or avoid punishment.
Most of the people don‟t have practical knowledge about criminal justice system and
discretion of police. They have also limited understanding of the role of the Courts and
correction services. Sometimes various components of the criminal justice system blame each
other for improper action. It happens when criminals are not convicted or released early from
prison. In most cases the police are pushed into the dock of the accused.
Police officers often become frustrated by such attitudes and incidents. The release of
notorious and dark-sighted influential culprit raises the silent resentment among the members of
law enforcement agency. Sometimes, they become cynical and wonder why they work so hard to
make arrests, if the criminals are freed or cases are dismissed on plea-bargained. The poor
performance of the correction system also makes the police officers disappointed. Police officers
are not alone in their disappointment. The public are also frustrated by the performance of the
Courts and corrections.
People also have a negative impression on the performance of Court for their failure to
conclude the trial promptly. Many believe that the Courts are not fully independent. The
government or influential quarters behind the screen dictate them. People also raise question
about the fairness of process of appointing judges in the higher Courts.
On the other hand, in order to improve the situation overcoming the negative opinions
and enhance public relations, agencies within the criminal justice system need to work
actively together seeking partnerships with others in the community.
What are the bottlenecks of good criminal justice administration is a debatable issue. A
lot of controversial issues related to the effectiveness of the criminal justice system affect
police community partnerships. Although some issues are outside the jurisdiction of the
police, but they affect the system as a whole. This is why police officers need to be aware of
these issues and their potential impact.
As a visible component of the criminal justice system the police are criticized widely by
the people for failure of other component, so police officers should educate the people
about the reality to remove the misunderstanding of the people and for better police
community relations.
The community policing approach brings police and community together on the common
platform to work for the community. Here they have regular interactions. The police can take the
advantage of it and make the community understand about police discretion and jurisdiction in
case of punishment to be inflicted to the criminals.

Community‟s contribution to uplift the society

 A bundle of sticks is stronger than a single stick. A concerted effort of some persons is more
effective than an individual‟s endeavor. Accordingly, only the sincere and concerted effort and
active participation of the citizens can bring a significant progress and positive changes in a
community. A story as cited below may make it clearer.
Once upon a time there was severe food scarcity in a village. Food resources were seemingly
gone. People were too unable to manage food for even once in a day. Most of the poor people
started to pass their days on starvation. In that situation some creative individuals thought that
each person always maintained a tendency to keep a little something in reserve to his time. They
proposed that the community would make stone soup.
At first a stone was set in a pot to boil. People in the community were requested if they had a
little something to improve the soup. One person gave a carrot, another bought a few potatoes,
another a bit of meat and so on. When boiling was finished, the soup was thick and nourishing.
Such is the situation in our communities today. Because when resources are stretched to the
limit, still then one tends to hold on a little thing to one‟s time. This self-protective tendency
leaves people seemingly without resources for handling the community problems effectively. So,
it is necessary to adopt the “stone soup” stance to extract the co-operation of the citizens in
problem solving approach.
 CHAPTER VII

INTERACTION WITH VARIOUS GROUP OF PEOPLE

Introduction
Police are to come in contact of different groups of people of various nature, ages, classes
and characteristics. They have interactions with children, juveniles, youths, elderly and disabled
and mentally retarded people, members of criminal gang, victims and witnesses. The police
officers face these groups of people on diverse situations and circumstances. As physicians of
social ills and crises a police officer must be prepared to interact the various groups of people
with special care and proper behaviour suitable to the groups. The desired interactions with
various groups of people and response to the need of the people enhance the sound police
community relations. Through the positive interactions communities tend to view the police as
their friend. The different groups of people, the behaviour of these groups of people, police
interactions with them and police response to the woes of the communities are discussed in this
chapter.
Handling Children, Juveniles and Youths
Children are the future of a country. They will grow citizens and take over national
responsibilities of the nation. About 40% of the country‟s population is children, also termed as
juvenile. Different countries set different ages to define a child or a juvenile or youth of their
own country. In most of the countries the most common age for a person to legally become an
adult is 18. In Bangladesh, a person who does not attain the age of 16 years is considered as child
as per the children Act, 1974. The children below 16 years are sometimes called youth also. But
in most of the countries delinquent or offenders under 18 years of age are treated as juvenile
delinquent and they are brought under special treatment and justice system.
Naturally the children do not have sufficient maturity to judge something wrong or right.
They are lacking of understanding to differentiate between good and bad. Normally they are
driven by whim, emotion, curiosity and adventure. The children have some ingrained habits,
attitudes, psychomotor skills, cognitive abilities and social interaction patterns.
Adolescence period is very critical and risky time for children. It is an extremely challenging
time for all involved - the children, their family and the community in which they live. During
this period the children grow into adults and they get some basic changes in their physique and
mind. At this transitional stage of age a child feels uneasy to cope with all situation. They are
mentally unrest and fickle. The internal changes of a child tend to show illogical and imprudent
behaviour. The adolescent boys and girls may drive recklessly, experiment with drugs, engage in
risky jobs or illegal behaviour because they cannot envision a negative or even fetal, outcome.
Juveniles desire to try things forbidden to them as younger children.
It is important that law enforcement officers should identify possible causes of juvenile
activity, behaviour and other dangerous conditions of the juveniles. To handle the juvenile
delinquent properly the police officers must be conversant with the juvenile justice system of the
country.
 JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM
Brief History
The juvenile justice system of a country makes some special provisions, rules and laws to
handle the criminal activities of the children and juveniles considering their tender age and lack
of mental maturity. Correctional measures are given priority in the juvenile justice system. In
order to effectively interact with their community‟s youths and children, the police officers
should understand how the juvenile justice system and adult justice system differ and the
implications of such differences.
The basic assumption upon which Juvenile Justice System has been introduced is that of
parens patriae. Parens patriae is the government‟s right to take care of minors and others who
cannot legally take care of themselves. The concept of parents patriae originated in thirteenth
century in England, where common law established that the king was the “father of his country”
and the guardian of all children. Children were considered wards of the state. The common law
notion of parents patriae is firmly entrenched in the system of juvenile justice.
During the early nineteenth century the prison reformers were successful to establish a
separate justice system exclusively for juveniles in the USA. In the system juveniles were taken
special care and given special treatment. Juvenile offenders were not kept with the adult
offenders in the prisons. During this time rapid growth of the impoverished underclass and the
related increases in crime and disease led to the widespread perception that poverty bred
criminality. In 1818 the term juvenile delinquency was first used and was equated with
pauperism, that is, being poor. In 1825 delinquency was again associated with poverty when the
New York House of Refuge was opened to house juvenile delinquents.
In the second half of the nineteenth century, a group of reformers called the „Child Savers‟
became very active to look after the rights and welfare of children in the community. They
established centers in urban areas to provide food, clothing and temporary shelters for poor and
homeless children. The „First Juvenile Court‟ act was passed in Illinois of the USA in 1899.
This act also strengthened the link between delinquency and poverty. The Juvenile Court Act,
1899 also regulated the treatment and control of dependent, neglected and delinquent children.

The Principles of Juvenile Justice System

* The children or juvenile delinquents should be treated with special care different from
adults.
* Correction and rehabilitation are the ultimate goal of juvenile justice system.
* The children of juvenile court operates informally and paternally.
* The juvenile delinquents are not treated as criminals. They are considered as social
victim.
* Love and affection are shown to the juvenile delinquent during trial.
* Children shall not be awarded capital punishment.
* Children are not to be tried with the adult offenders.
* Probation officer is appointed for correction of the delinquent.
 * The children must not be put in the prison or lock-up. They are to be kept in the
correctional centres. They will have the facilities of education, training, recreation and
building up themselves as good citizens.
* Police officers should have interaction with children or juvenile delinquents in soft and
affectionate way. The police must not be harsh to them.

Components of Juvenile Justice System

Juvenile justice system c
(1) Law Enforcement Agency,
(2) Juvenile Court, and
(3) The Correctional Service Agency.
Among the three components police as a law enforcement agency is the gate way of the
justice system. So, police have a very important and key role in juvenile justice system. They
need proper training and motivation to achieve the goal of the juvenile justice system. In
Bangladesh Juvenile Justice System is run under the Children Act, 1874.
Interaction with persons with disabilities:
Disability is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of a
person‟s major life function. The person having disability needs personal assistance from other to
carry out everyday activities. The family members and members of the community have moral
duty to look after and help the disabled persons.

Police response to persons with disabilities:

The most important guideline for interacting with people with disabilities is to treat them as
people with the same needs and desires as any other citizens. When interacting with individuals
with disabilities, one should be empathetic, should not lose temper or loss tolerance or should not
be harsh and try to understand the individuals and behave friendly with a view to helping them.
When interacting with persons with disabilities the police officers must follow the guidelines
as stated above. Through patient and cordial behaviour the police officers must help the persons
with disabilities to back up their mental support in their needs and activities. Police officers must
stand beside physically handicapped and mentally retarded persons and others with disabilities.

Interaction with the elderly people

Another group of population police interact daily is the elderly people. The elderly people
may be victims of various diseases. Besides being the victims of disease and age-related
disabilities, seniors can also be victims of crime. In all cases police officers must be respectful to
the elderly people and boost up the soft and broken mental state of the elderly victims with the
demonstration of good behaviour and cordiality.
Besides, police may launch different crime prevention programs and community policing-
strategies to reduce victimisation of elderly people. To help the elderly, police may start a block
or building watch, set up a daily telephone-contact programme and one to one basic contact with
the elderly people. These programmes will help prevent crime and improve police community
relations among the elderly, as well as the rest of the community, by demonstrating the
professional behaviour and ways of rendering services.
Interacting with victims and witnesses:
Victim refers to a person who has been attacked or injured or killed or pushed in a situation,
as the result of a crime, an accident, a disease, etc. For example : rape victim, accident victim,
cancer victim, etc.
Witness refers to a person who saw something happen directly or is acquainted with the facts
of an incident and is able to describe the happenings or incident.
Thousands of people are becoming victim of crime or accident or natural disasters or diseases
in our country every year. Every country in the world has various types of victims. In our
country statistics of victims is not preserved in an organized process. But some departments have
statistics of various type victims. They collect the information from newspapers or secondary
sources. But in the developed countries like USA, UK, etc. maintain good records of various
victims. The USA conducts annual survey under the project of National Crime Victimisation
Survey and keeps up-to-date statistics of victims.
The member of law enforcement is to be very much sensitive to the needs of victims and
witnesses. Witnesses are essential to the successful prosecution of any case. Working with
witnesses to make them feel more comfortable provides good result in detection of crimes and
conviction of the criminals.

(1) A primary victim and

(2) A secondary victim.
A primary victim is a person actually harmed by an incident. A secondary victim is one
indirectly affected by the trauma result from an incident. For example, a woman raped is the
primary victim of a rape case. But her husband may be secondary victim who also suffers from
the trauma of rape incident. Any person close to the primary victim may be the secondary victim.
It is important for the criminal justice system to recognise and be sensitive to the woes and pain
faced by the primary as well as secondary victims of crime.
Victims of crime may suffer physical injury, financial and properly losses, emotional distress
and psychological trauma. Some suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder.
Victim and Witness Intimidation:
Victims and witnesses are the major source of information of a crime or incident. Many
victims and witnesses feel it is their civic duty to report th incident of victimisation or the
information about the perpetrators to the law enforcement agency to bring the offenders to
justice. Others report the crime with a motion to recover their stolen property. Some victims and
witnesses avoid the legal procedures. Some victims and witnesses fear threats or retaliation from
the offenders. It is true that many victims of violent crimes and the witnesses of those crimes are
warned by the attackers in the line that going to the police will result in dire consequences for
either the victims or witnesses themselves or their dependents. The attackers even intimidate the
victims and witnesses at court premises or Court room.
 In these circumstances the normal course of criminal justice system suffers. Citizens pass
their days in anxiety and insecurity. They have tendency not to get involved themselves event
being victim of crimes in legal procedure for justice or punishment of the perpetrators. This
situation calls for proactive policing to remove the fear of crime from the mind of people so that
they can come forward to bring the perpetrators within purview of law. Police must stand by the
people and it should be their duty to encourage the reporting of crime by reassuring victims and
witnesses that they will be protected against threats, intimidation or reprisals by t6he victimizers
or perpetrators. To win the confidence of the citizens police must go for visible legal action
against the criminals or intimidators.

Unexpected behaviour with victims by professional groups:

Victims may be emotionally hurt by the police, doctors, nurses and other professionals when
they rush to them for legal or clinical help after being victimised. The persons being victimised
are mentally depressed and expect sympathised and soft behaviour from the professionals. They
become very sensitive mentally. But, professionals who routinely deal with victims often assume
businesslike attitudes. They sometimes behave like machine to protect their emotion and allow
them to function effectively in crises. But victims and their relatives don‟t expect this sort of
behaviour and attitude from the professional groups. When victims are treated badly by
professionals including police officers, the victims receive the second injury and a bad
impression is formed in the mind of the victim.
Lurigio and Mechanic, writer of article named “The Importance of being Responsive to
Crime Victims” observe that “ Victims can be „victimised‟ as second time by the unsympathetic
reactions of police and attorneys, unnecessary trips to Court and inadequate protection against
offender intimidation.” About the harassment of victim Susan Herman, Director of the
National Centre for Victims of Crime (NCVC) of USA says, “ In giving a statement to police,
victims are sometimes made to feel like they are being interrogated”.
Many victims and their families think that criminal justice system treats accused or
defendants better than it treats them. In fact, criminal justice system emphasis on the rights of the
accused or defendant. For example, the arrested persons must be informed of their rights by
police officers, they are provided attorney at state‟s expenses if they cannot afford their own
lawyer ; they are fed, clothed and given medical care when they are under lawful custody. But it
is needed to find a way to help the victims of crime and not only rely on a criminal justice system
that is not designed for them anyway.
The rights of crime victims must be upheld and preserved by the members of law
enforcement. The police as first responder must be provided with necessary training to interact
with the victims and response to the needs and sentiment of them. Sensitivity and sympathy are
important tools to mitigate the suffering and woes of the victims.
Victim Recovery:
The professionals including police officers should encourage crime victims to re-establish
their normal life as quickly as possible. They should make sincere efforts for speedy recovery.
The friends and relatives should stand beside the victims and extend all out help to get them
recovered in the earliest possible time. But sometimes, people tend to distance themselves from
victims. Some people think that the close interaction with the victims may lead them to the fate
of the victims. The irrational fear of bad happening sometimes keeps the people aloof from the
victims. This irrational fear and attitude stand as a hindrance on the way of early recovery and
reestablishing the victims in their normal life. Often police officers and entire criminal justice
system don‟t show keen interest to get themselves involved in the process of mitigating the pain
and address the distress of the victims. But the victims may be immensely benefited and their
psychology may be boost up by a little bit involvement of the police.
Legislation and Organizations for the welfare of the victims
Every society should have organizations to take care of he victims and legislation to protect
the rights of the victims as citizens of the society. In Bangladesh there is no specific legislation to
take care of or the safeguard of the victims.
In developed countries laws have been enacted and various organizations take over the
victims and look after their welfare. In US
(1) The Federal Victim and Witness Protection Act of 1982.
(2) The Victims of Crime Act, 1984,
(3) The Crime Victims Compensation Act. They have Task Force on Victims Crime also.
The Federal Victim and Witness Protection Act recognize that without the co-operation of
victims and witnesses, the criminal justice system would fail to bring the perpetrators to justice
and victims‟ right would not be protected. This act established guidelines to ensure the fair
treatment of victims and witnesses in the criminal justice system.
The Victims of Crime Act, 1984 established a fund making state grants available for victims‟
compensation, victim assistance programmes and child abuse prevention and treatment.
The Task Force created by President Reagan in 1982 has undertaken an extensive study on
crime victimisation. On the basis of the study conducted by the Task Force various legislations,
Organizations and Programmes have been created in USA to help victims receive the assistance
they need.

Organization for victims:

Victims need the organizational help for their shelter, treatment, care and rehabilitation. In
Bangladesh there are a few government & non-government organizations to take responsibility
of the victims. Some homes and institutions for destitute are providing help to victims in small
scale.
Non-government and private institutions are also providing help to certain class of victims.
In USA the first national organization to support victims rights was the National
Organization for Victim Assistance founded in 1976 in California by a small group of victim
advocates.
In 1986 the National Organization for Victim Assistance established a Crisis Response Team
(CRT) to assist communities that become victims of disasters such as plane crashes, forced fires,
shooting, etc. CRT is a national network of trained volunteers who respond to a community‟s
request for help.
The Office for Victims of Crime was established under the Victims of Crime Act, 1984 to
oversee diverse programmes that benefit victims of crime.
The National Victim Centre was founded in the USA in 1985.
 In Bangladesh there are few government and non-government organizations to take
responsibility of certain class of victims and provide them necessary supports to them. Some
homes and institutions for destitute are providing help to victims in small scale. Under Dhaka
Metropolitan Police there is a victim support Centre in various locations of the country with the
help of UN bodies or NGOs.
Police Response
The role of the police to response the victim of crime is very important. Usually the police
officers are the first officials to approach the victims of crime. This is why police are in a unique
position to help victims cope with the immediate trauma of the crimes and to help restore their
sense of security and control over their lives.
The way police interact with victims and witnesses can significantly affect the effectiveness
of the entire justice system. By approaching and handling victims and witnesses in proper and
friendly way, police can achieve trust and co-operation of the victims and witnesses. Victims and
witnesses then will be more willing to provide detailed information about the crime to the police
officers and later prosecutors. The co-operation of victims and witnesses will lead to the
conviction of more criminals. Despite a lot of bottlenecks police officers must try to interact
effectively with victims and witnesses. Police officers should remember that they are there for
the victim ; the victim is not there for them.
Just after the incident victims may be confused and in shock. In that situation police must
exercise patience in obtaining information about the incident from the victims. Police must be
very sensitive to the woes of the victims and also the witnesses and they are to interact with the
victims with every care and wit on the basis of the situation. To cope with the complexity of the
situation and for the efficient management, the police officer, need to be trained up
professionally. The officers should undergo “consciousness raising course” to acquire knowledge
and technique to deal with victim empathetically. A handbook with specific tips on how to
approach and help a variety of victims, including elderly victims, victims of sexual assault, child
victims, victims of domestic violence and survivors of homicide victims should be prepared for
the field level police officers.
The police officers must be able with skill and technique to obtain desired information about
the incident from the victims and witnesses. The police officers may follow the following
interview skills to gain the co-operation of victims and witnesses in order to carry out the
investigation of an incident.
* Take care of the victim‟s safety and medical need first. The injuries and pain must be
attended before going for obtaining information.
* Interview victims and witnesses individually. If they provide natural information about
the incident, the information will match each other‟s.
Let the victim or witness know that the information to be provided by them is very
important and it will be used in the court to prove the charge against accused.
* Provide victims with necessary resources to help them deal with the problems that
result from the incident of crime. The victims or the witnesses may need transportation,
shelter for short stay, security for their house or business, the use of telephone, an
advocate for legal help etc. The police officers should provide all these supports to the
victims and witnesses.
 * Make a friendly relationship with the victims and witnesses to build up trust on you
(police) for their co-operation.
* Allow victims to participate in the justice system process to receive information about
their case and to be notified of available services.
* Tell victims about the procedures and policies to be followed in justice system.
* Let the victim know their rights.
Interacting effectively with victims is very critical for police officers. It requires extreme skill
and sensitivity. Some special victims need additional medical and psychological needs. The
police should be more sensitive to the needs of these special victims. Special victims include
people with disabilities, elderly victims of crime, abused children and sexually assaulted
women.
Interaction with elderly victims
* Be attentive to the welfare of the victims.
* Try to be friendly to obtain trust.
* Make the victims understand through body language and sympathetic behaviour that
you are their well wisher.
* Pay attention to the victims whether they are tired or not feeling well.
* Allow victims to collect their thoughts before your interview. Remember that elderly
victims‟ recollection may surface slowly.
* Do not pressure them to recollect events or details ; rather, request them to contact you
if they remember anything later.
* Ask victims whether they would like you to contact a family member or friend.
* Ask victims if they have any difficulty understanding you.
* Be sensitive to he possibility that may have difficulty hearing or seeing, but do not
assume such impairments.
* Ask victims if they need any special aids such as transport, security, hearing aid, etc.
* Ask question one at a time, wait for a response and proceed to next question.
Protect the dignity of victims by giving them opportunity in decision-making conversations.
Interaction with youth/child victims
When children are victimised, their normal physiological and psychological adjustment to
life is disrupted. Child victims suffer from physical and emotional traumas. When the
victimisation of a child is reported to the law enforcement agency, they are forced to enter the
stressful adult world of the criminal justice system. A law enforcement officer can play a key
role in the process of criminal justice system to lessen the sufferings and trauma of child victims
handling the situation with special care.
Dealing with abused children is a very sensitive type of case. Police officers need to be
trained to recognise the situations in which children may be victims. Officers also need to be
trained up on how to interview children.
The following tips are recommended by the American office for victims of Crime for
responding to child victims :
 * Choose a secure, comfortable place for interviewing child victims and take the time to
establish trust and rapport.
* Take interview to preschool child victims (ages 2-6) at home. Allow parents or other
adult in family member to be present during interview.
* For elementary school-age children (6-10), the presence of parent is not usual
recommended. Because they may be reluctant to reveal information in presence of
parents.
* Interview the adolescents in a secured place with no peers nearby to ensure the safely of
the victims.
* Try to realise the attitude and emotion of the child-victims.
* Use language appropriate to the victim‟s age.
* Assure children that they have not done anything wrong and they are not “in trouble”.
* Be consistent with the terms you use and repeat important information often.
* Use care in discussing sexual matters with pre-adolescent and adolescent children so
that they are not pushed in embarrassment.
* Maintain a non-judgemental attitude and patiently answer all of the victim‟s questions.
* Complement the child victims frequently on their behaviour and thank them for their
help ;
* Encourage children to play in order to make them more relaxed and talkative.
- Include victims, when possible, in decision-making and problem solving discussions.
- Reduce the victim‟s insecurity and anxiety by explaining the purpose of your interview.
- Show compassion toward victims.
Following are the recommendations for law enforcement agencies in effectively
handling child victims :
- All police officers should have at least basic training in recognising and responding to
children who are abused, neglected and exposed to violence.
- The head of the unit/organization should assign officers to handle cases involving child
victims and witnesses.
- The police investigators should work in collaboration with doctors and psychologists,
child protective service agencies and victim assistance providers.
- Police agencies should have written child abuse policies that provide sufficient
guidance for making important decisions.

CHAPTER VIII
 Interaction with Professional Groups

Interaction with Teachers and Students:

Teaching is a noble profession. Teachers are the architect of grooming a child. A child can be
grown as an educated and eligible citizen of country by the proper care of their parents and
teachers. It is the motto of an ideal teacher to produce worthy citizen through his dedication to
his teaching profession. So teachers should be given due honour by the society. Police must have
respectful attitude towards teachers community. The police can approach to educational with the
community policing concept and form School or College Policing forum. Teachers will be on the
leading position to run community policing in educational institutions. School community
policing can undertake the following activities :
1. Local police in collaboration with teachers may carry out on regular basis, the awareness
building and motivational campaign against abuse of drugs, moral and social decay,
misbelieve and superstition.
2. The students can be given knowledge about police service, important laws, traffic laws,
community policing, citizen rights and duty and consequence of criminal proceeding
against an individual.
3. The women police and female teachers can establish informal relationship and trust with
the girl students to know their problems in or outside school and take step to address
those problems so that they can get themselves in study without disturbance.
The effective activities of school community policing will contribute to the motivation and
awareness building on various issues for the students. The community policing approach will
generate spirit of social responsibility, sense of security and sensitization against social ills and
moral decay.
Police, therefore, always should strive to maintain good formal and informal relationship
with teachers and students community. The officers and forces need to have special orientation
and training to deal teachers and students to win their heart.

Interaction with Labourars/workers:

The labourers or workers are the life of industries or business firms. They are one of the most
effective of labourers is not satisfactory. In our country national and international laws are in
operative to ensure the labour-rights and their welfare. But in true sense their is sluggish
enforcement of those laws due to influence from varous pressure groups. The labourers are ill
paid and in most cases they are not given due care and honour. But they are the life and main
working force for production of industrial goods.
Job dissatisfaction, lack of desired pay and other facilities, ill treatment and uncaring attitude
and behavior of owners and management leas to labout unrest. The labour associations specially
the leaders belonging to left wing are vocal for labour-rights. They conduct programs to make
awareness among the labourers and workers about labour-rights and launce movement to press
home the rights and facilities of the labourers. There are some vested quarters who have tend to
be gained over financially capitalizing the sentiment of labourers.
 The issues and factors relating to labour rights and labour movement, very often, generate
agitation among the labours and they resort to destructive and violent activities which not only
hamper the production of goods but cause damages to the industries. The destructive activities
also cause serious lawlessness in industrial sectors.
To face and encounter the hostile environment police must prefer proactive policing. The
principle of proactive policing is to address and resolve the issues and problems with the
consultation and partnership with all concerned. Prior necessary information, intelligence,
assessment of the prevailing situation and its imminent or future consequence are the
preconditions of proactive policing which aims to solving problems or addressing issues to
prevent untoward and unwarranted situation in the industrial sectors or commercial fields. To
make proactive policing the police officers should have the following duty and responsibility:
1. They need to have people oriented mentality. The police officers of an independent
country should have the motivations that they are the service providers of the people.
They are to win the public approval of their service through the demonstration of deeds
and conduct.
II. The Police officers should always strive to build good relationship with the labourers,
labourer leaders, owners, management and other stakeholders, Besides, formal
relationship they are to establish informal relationship for mutual trust and
understanding.
III. The good formal and informal relationship will help police officers to have total picture
such as labour-condition, conflicts, demands, resentment, problems, behavior or owners
and management. The information will facilitate the decision making process and
proactive policing to maintain law and order and congenial atmosphere in the industrial
sector. When police officers equipped with information and intelligence will suit
together with labour leaders, owners and management, they will be able to play proper
role in the discussion to resolve the conflicts and address the burning issues. Thus
untoward incidents can be prevented to maintain congenial environment in the
workplace with the satisfaction of all concern.
Police officers need to have knowledge about labour laws and labour related rules and policy.
Any violation by employers or employees is to be dealt within the purview of law to give justice
to all concerned. There should have regular view exchange meetings and interactions with labour
leaders and mills or factories management to discuss the latest situation and take necessary
decision for smooth running of the mills or factories.
Police is to recruit their own agent in all factories to know latest real information and
situation so that they can take necessary action if necessary to prevent any untoward incident.
Police can organize awareness building programme to sensitize the labours with respect to
theiry duty and responsibility to own and protect the property of thie institution where they serve.
The labourers are to be made sensitive to the sense of belonging of the property of the institution.
The awareness will generate the sense to protect the property of own organization.

Interaction with Business Community :

Business Community is the backbone o business sector of a country. They hold the helm of
economy in the country. The business community needs sound law and order situation and their
security to run their business. They have other problems which demand police interference to
solve. So, police should extend all sort of help and cooperation to business community.
Community policing in business sector will help both police and business community of come
closer to each other. Thus, the issues that concern the business community can be resolved with
the joint efforts of police police and business community.
There is a need for greater diversity in policing in diverse society. Police, for effective
policing, need to build good relationship with all communities. They serve under the banner of
community policing to address all issues of the society relating to public safety and social order
for better quality of life.
 CHAPTER IX

INTERACTION WITH THE MEDIA

The modern age is the age of media and information technology. The right of speech and the
right of knowing information are considered as fundamental rights of the citizens. Media plays
an important role in a democratic society. It is very influential to form the public opinion. This is
why media or press is called the fourth estate of a country. Different International laws and
Bangladesh constitution have guaranteed the right of freedom of speech and the press. Media can
be a powerful ally or it can be a formidable opponent in implementing the community policing
philosophy. Positive publicity can enhance both the image and acceptability of a department. On
the other hand, negative publicity can damage the image of police department. This is why police
should maintain a fair and good professional relationship with media.
Mutual reliance of the police and the media
A person as well as a department likes to be projected itself before people with its
performances and activities to get recognition of services. An individual naturally tends to be
focused in the eyes of the people. Press can shape public opinion about the image of a
department or an individual. thd media covers the stories of crime and police activities. Thus
public views and perception about the police are formed. Law enforcement needs access to the
public to recognise good works of the officers, seek citizenry‟s aid and get the community‟s
participation in solving grave crisis. The press can provide the police access to public.
On the other hand, media needs co-operation from police for their professional duty.
Specially the crime reporters of the press can get immense help from the law enforcement
agencies to collect information about crime, criminals, crime incidents, human right violation
etc. The pressmen know that the law enforcement agency is the largest single source of news that
readers, viewers and listeners want to know about. Sometimes, crime reports of sensitive
incidents become hot cake to the citizens.
G. W. Garner, the writer of the article titled as „Meeting the Press‟ observes, “Considering
the many mutual benefits to be gained from getting along, co-operation is a win-win proposition
for both sides”.
Police and members of the media share the common goal of serving the public and also share
a symbiotic relationship. They are mutually dependent upon each other.
To understand the relationship between police and media, police officers should have
knowledge about the rights, the mission of the media and the bottleneck in the way of building
relationship between police and media. Both police and media should have positive attitude to
each other for better understanding.
Freedom of Press
Freedom of press is one of the basic components of the democratic society. Freedom of press
and freedom of speech of the citizens are inter-related. In all democratic countries freedom of
press is guaranteed by their constitutions. Article 39 of Bangladesh Constitution guarantees the
freedom of speech of the citizens and freedom of press. The first Amendment to the US
constitution guarantees the public‟s right to know, that is, freedom of the press.
 The First Amendment to the US Constitution state, “Congress shall make no law abridging
the freedom of speech or of the press. Bangladesh constitution also guarantees the fundamental
rights of the citizens. Freedom of speech is also fundamental right of the citizens. The parliament
cannot make any law contrary to fundamental rights of the citizens. So, the legislature cannot
make law curbing the freedom of press.

Impact of Media on the Criminal Justice System

The media has a tremendous power to shape public perception and public opinion through
news and report coverage. The readers and viewers of the media take the news bulletins or
special report put up by the media as true and form an impression on the issue of the news items.
Thus the media play an important role to shape public perception.
Sometimes the media‟s reports highlight isolated cases, high profile cases or sensational and
gruesome cases to attract the public attention to those events or issues. With different opinion in
a particular case media can influence the operations of criminal justice system. The media
through their coverage can also influence the disposition of individual cases. The impact of
media report on a case has rippling effect that spreads throughout the judicial and affects the
entire process. It is like a pebble thrown into a pond. Surette Ray in his article titled as “Media
echoes : systemic effects of News coverage” calls the impact of media coverage the news media
echo effect.”
The media report on any case not only attracts the public attention, it also influence and
affects the attitudes and actions of the police, attorneys, witnesses, judges, other personnel
involved in investigation and trial with the case. High profile trials also influence the everyday
practice of law enforcement and adjudication, and affect the outcomes of numerous low profile
cases.
Under an echo effect, the accused or defendants in a criminal case face hostile environment
and deterrent punishment as the total criminal justice system is influenced by the news media
echo effect. After the trial of a high profile case, the trials of low profile cases are also influenced
by the media echo effect and filing of criminal cases also increases.
Conflict between the media and the police
The press and the police are two powerful forces in the society. The mission of these two
forces is to serve the people through their profession. The both forces depend on one another for
theirs own job. But very often they are hostile to each other. Mistrust is barriers between theirs
relationship.
Media in the eye of the Police
The Police describe the media specially the press as demanding, unethical, uncaring,
arrogant, biased, motivated, negative and exaggeration maker.
The pressmen always try to collect information from law enforcement. In all cases the police
cannot divulge the information - like identity of the suspects or the mastermind of an incident,
secrecy of a case, sensational intelligence, etc. But the media people are very much persistent to
have information ; even it is secret and sensational. The police release preliminary facts to the
press but the media men continue to pursue more and more information even they demand to
have secret information from police. The police refuse to divulge secret information about an
incident during investigation. The demand of the press sometimes is unethical and they (media)
do not care of the consequence of the before hand disclosure of the secret information.
The reporters of the press are not always neutral. They publish biased, motivated,
exaggerated and false report about incidents or members of law enforcement and others.
Some pressmen are arrogant. They tend to show upper hand to police and others threatening
report against them. These types of pressmen do not follow the ethics of journalism and resort to
yellow journalism with ulterior motive. There are a section of press who always prefer to publish
negative report for cheap popularity and commercial purpose.
The false, biased, exaggerated and motivated reports by the press push the police in
embarrassing situation and sometimes they are victimised. The police image is also tarnished by
the false, exaggerated and motivated report.
Police in the eye of the media
Media describes police as evasive, non-cooperative, non-trusting, self-important, indifferent,
withholding, unfair, arrogant, wrong-doers, repressive force and violator of law and human
rights.
The pressmen need to get information from law enforcement in a timely manner to keep the
public informed. They tend to get early and secret information. The pressmen argue that the
public has the right to know the happenings whether overt and covert. It is the duty of the media
to keep them informed about the happenings of the society and also what law enforcing agencies
are doing. They opined that media is the connection between police and public. They comment
that sometimes they are under major time crunch and they need immediate information from law
enforcement to meet up the people‟s demand and expectation. But they do not get desired co-
operation from the police. The police officers are always evasive. They avoid press to give
information. Sometimes police do not like to talk to the press to avoid the responsibility for
giving information of any incident. Police have little trust on the press. They have a tendency to
think themselves very powerful in the society and are reluctant to care others. The non-co-
operation of police put the press in difficulty to collect information about crime, crime related
incidents, etc. to bring those to the citizens of the country.

Why are the police evasive

Police have their defense against the charge of evasive brought by the press. Police say that
the divulging information about an incident during on going investigation would jeopardize the
case. For this reason they are conservative to provide all information during investigation. Police
cannot publicly disclose all information or give opinions on issues. They are to abide by laws,
guidelines and procedures. These laws and procedures prohibit the police too often from
providing all information and commenting on certain subjects. Besides, at the very outset of any
occurrence police are busy with investigation and helping the people and victims. They are not in
sound mood to talk to the media. In most of the cases police do not know the entire story within
the minutes of the investigation. The police also defend themselves saying that they are more
concerned about doing their job than giving the media a story of the incident. They also
comment, the media need to learn patience with gathering of information.
Why is the media eager to gather
information in the first minutes of the incident
Modern world is running the age of technology information. Information is spreading
throughout the society with rippling effect within a moment. Hundreds of media men and
agencies are working to collect and collaborate information. They get information from various
sources. The publication of factual, dependent and detailed report in the quickest time brings
name and fame for a media-agency as well as the media man. For this reason the media people
are always eager and on the run after the information in a competitive way. It also helps them in
build up their career.
The different views as the police and the media hold create conflict and mistrust
between the media and the police.

Sources of conflict
Conflict between the media and the police may arise from a variety of sources. Following are
the major sources of conflict :
Mistrust and misunderstanding
Members of the media need information from the police for their job. Press people complain
that they have problems obtaining information they deserve from the police as the later refuse to
provide it. In some cases, reporters apprehend the police for punishment will single them out if
they publish a negative story about the police. Reporters frequently raise allegations against
police officers for non-co-operation. The media men say that police always restrict information,
refuse requests for interviews, disregard reporters dead lines, hang up the telephone on reporters,
provide inadequate and inaccurate information etc.
Indeed, some police officers who have negative or bitter experiences with the media become
unco-operative. They do not provide information to the media and sometimes give wrong or half
information.
Police complain that the press is always critical and biased against police. The reporters lack
sensitivity toward victims. They release sensitive material and inaccurate reports for which
victims suffer loss mentally and socially.
Betrayal of the media
Sometimes the police lose trust on the press people for their betrayal. Some police officers
having no authority to provide information to the media may give information. In these cases,
reporters promise to keep information “off the record”. But some reporters do not keep promise.
They disclose the source and sometimes misquote the source, which can cause significant
problems for the officers and thus creates additional conflict.

Political motivation of the media

Sometimes the media distort information received from the police for a political purpose.
Most of the press have political ideology. In their report they tend to focus their political
ideology and hold bias and slanted views of politics.
Risk-taking of the media people
 Very often the media people do their job in a risky situation. They sometimes do not care of
their own safety. But the safety of the media people at crime scenes or riots or potentially
dangerous situations is important. Reporters and photographers are not supposed to cross yellow
police tape lines (security lines). But many reporters show excessive courage taking risk of
personal safety to perform their duty in dangerous situation. They don‟t care the request of police
to be in safe side. Moreover, the police and media are locked into bitter arguments. But police
are not spared from criticism or accountability in case of any harassment, hurt or injury inflicted
on media by the mob or agitated people.
In crisis and tense situation police remain engage to control the situation. When a situation is
unfolding and the police and the media are both on the scene, then the police are to take extra
burden to look after the safety of the media. In that situation the police request the media men to
leave the danger area, if they deem it unsafe. When media men do not pay heed to the advice of
the police, the police are bound to be rough and shout, “ Get out of here”. Thus conflict arises
between the media and the police.
Stereotyping the media men
The police generally stereotype all media people. They do not like to evaluate an individual.
There are some reporters who are exceptional. So all the media personnel should not be
considered as stereotyped. Stereotyping can greatly impede good working relationships between
law enforcement and members of the media. It may happen to both the police and the media, by
each other as well as by the general public. The police officers and the reporters should see each
other as individuals. They need to open the lines of effective communication and work together
for the public interest.
One should understand the differences in personality of the individuals and honour their
characteristics. It will help build effective relationships between individual police officers and
individual media personnel. It will also reduce the barriers between the two professions. There
should have mutual respect and trust for effective co-operation.
Tips for press interview
It is very common that the media people seek interview with police officers. The police officers
should not avoid interview with media. They should follow the following tips :
- Be thorough about the interview-subject.
- Take mental preparation to face the media people.
- Follow SOP or guidelines to give press interview.
- Anticipate the questions on the subject and get the answers ready.
- Be courteous and control your emotion.
- Look sound and act as a professional police officer.
- Get to the point ; do not wander or waste words.
- Always tell the truth.
- If you do not know the answer, say so and explain why.
- Avoid using “no comment‟ and explain why you cannot respond. “ No comment”
implies that you know the story but avoid disclosing.
- To allay concerns over being misquoted, request the reporter to provide a transcript of
your quotes.
 - Choose your word carefully. Avoid indecent and derogatory remarks. Your remarks
may be aired.
- Stay on the record. Do not give statistical data on assumption.
- Do not disclose any secrets requesting the press to keep that information “off the
record.” It is very risky. Be aware of live electronics. Assume every camera and
microphone surrounding you are live.
- Be clear and request the interviewer to clarify anything that is not clear to you.
- Maintain good eye contact and do not hesitate to smile if appropriate.
How to handle hostile reporters
There are some reporters who are hostile to police. They have negative impression about
police and tend to publish adverse report against police. The police have to handle these types of
reporters with care and intelligence.
The police should be open and fair to these reporters so that they cannot get any logical plot
to write. The officers should talk to the reporters face to face and try to set the record straight.
The officers must encounter the attack of the reporters with their all clout. The police will
present the facts, protest the unfair and motivated reporting and prevent future unfair report. The
senior police officers may hold meeting with editors, owners or publishers of the newspaper and
seek their co-operation to stop unfair, biased and motivated reports against police.
When handling bad news the police must avoid lying and should not hide truth from the press
or refusing to see reporters. The incorrect information and evasion of facts raise suspicions. The
police should not put pressure over the press policies to change or to make them more restrictive
for running news as they desire.
With intelligence and cold brain the police will knock the nerve of the pressmen. The press
people know that bad relations between the media and the police can result in limited access to
police information. Co-operation and mutual trust benefit both the press and the police.

Lying to the media

Sometimes media people complain that police lie to them. In some cases it is fully or partly
true. Lying to the press is a bad idea. Police should not mislead the reporters with false
information. Such actions hamper the personality of an individual officer as well as the law
enforcement agency. It results non-cooperation by the media when police need help. It is better
to be fair, frank and straightforward to the media when information is to be released.
The practice of deceiving media by police may push them to the risk of losing public
confidence. To lie to the media means to lie to the public as the information received from police
is brought to the people by the media.
Police need to have good relations with media to build up bridges of co-operation with the
citizens for effective public relation. Mutual trust, mutual credibility and mutual respect are
three pillars of bridge between the media and police.
Lying to media may be justified in some extraordinary circumstances. For some morally
overriding reasons such as public safety, recovery of a hostage, detecting a case, securing arrest
of criminals or any other causes for public interest, the lying to the media is justified. But an
explanation or apology for the deception should be made later on after the crisis has passed.
Why is good rapport with media necessary
Media play an important role in the society specially in the civil society through putting up
the ins and outs of an issue and positive criticism of the acts of Government and various
agencies. Media can highlight the achievements of a department and also bring the misdeeds of a
department to the light. Thus media can help an organization or an individual build its or his
image or damage the image of an agency or an individual.
A good rapport with the media can help police to accomplish its mission. Police can use
media as a source of information about crime and criminals, society‟s ills and dysfunctional
factors, brutality of individual‟s human right violations and other illegal activities. Media very
often publish reports on these issues. Police can start investigation on the reports and take
necessary lawful action against the perpetrators.
Improved media relations leads to improving community relations. Media helps to establish
link between the citizenry and police. To reach the community, the victims of crime and
possible witnesses, the police can get help from media. Police can communicate security tips,
traffic information, and other warning to the people through the media. People can ventilate their
demand and grievance and put suggestions, opinion, reaction and recommendations to police
through media. Thus media helps to establish communication between the public and the police.
Media can also be of assistance public education programmes. For example, the police
authority or other resource personnel of police affairs may seek help from the media to publish
articles on various police matters like people‟s participation in police work, citizens‟ awareness
against crime, how to help the police in detecting suspects, concept of community policing, road
safety tips, etc. The media can play an important role to create public awareness to help the
police to fight against crime and prevent crime in the society.
Police can arrange talk show, discussion meeting and seminar with the presence of media
people. The editors, publishers, senior journalists and members of civil society may be invited to
discuss a controversial issue, crime trend, and role of police on current crises, etc. Through this
sort of sessions police may know the public perception from the valued participants and at the
same time the media can bring the findings of the sessions to the people to make them aware of
the views of the resource personnel.
Media can enhance the credibility of police to the people by projecting the good
performances and acts of skill and bravery.
Police can reap the benefit of the media if they adopt deliberate strategy to handle media with
delicate behaviour. A good media relation is the best investment of police. Police job is very
sensitive and risk-oriented. The police officers can get co-operation from the media during crisis
period if they have good relations with them. The media people will tend to be on the side of
police at the time of bad days if police can build up the trust and good will of media during good
times.
Strategies for developing partnerships with media
To fight against crime and maintain law and order in the society is a collaborative effort
founded on close and mutually beneficial ties between the police and the people. Among the
people the members of civil society like community leaders, elected public representatives,
religious leaders, teachers, philanthropists, lawyers, educationalists and celebrities are the key
personnel to dominate the policies and power structure of the society. They can play effective
role to make collaborative efforts of the people and the police. These people could be brought
together through a police media partnership to support crime prevention activities in the
community. Making partnership with police can also develop relations with these people.
Media may be requested to highlight the collaborative efforts of the community and police to
prevent the crime to build crime prevention awareness among the public. The Media should be
asked to publicise community events and promote public education on crime prevention through
articles, public service announcements, radio shows, news programmes and television shows.
These tasks increase the interactions between the media and police to develop good relations
between them.
Media covers the issues of public interest. An intelligent police officers can use media as a
tool to get their department‟s message out to the community. For this purpose police should
respect journalism and understand the rights and ethics of the profession.
In order to give honour and importance, the police are to involve owners, publishers and
senior journalists in crime prevention tasks and other initiatives like community policing
approach.
Media representatives are to be invited as guest to the community events, prevention
workshops, seminar and discussion, open day house programme, ceremonial function like parade
and other activities.
Media people may be given opportunity to participate in decision-making discussion for
formulating crime prevention plan. The media can be used to encourage positive responses to
crime problems.
The police should consider the media as both partner and a resource for their mission.
Accordingly the media people are to be treated and evaluated.
Sometimes reporters may be invited to be acquainted with the police jobs and the difficulties
that the police face. Media people may also be invited to the police training institutes to witness
the training activities. They can also be provided with knowledge about police role and functions
and other police related subjects. Conversely, police officers should be brought under training
programme on media matters. The police officers could be benefitted from learning more about
the media and their mission and responsibilities. Officers must extend all out co-operation to the
journalist community in discharging their duty.
Police officers may establish an informal relationship with the local media people. They may
be invited occasionally to an entertainment . The police officers must be helpful to the media
people in their hour of need. It will strengthen the relationship between the media and the police.
At every administrative unit such as district division and metropolitan city headquarters a
liaison committee comprising of representatives of the police, newspaper, radio, public and
satellite television and various professional groups may be formed. The members of the
committee may sit once in two or three months to review the concerned matters of interest. They
can discuss the running issues and events taken place and take decisions to target the co-
operation among the agencies to perform theirs professional duties effectively and efficiently.
The committee may adopt resolution requesting the radio and television to run advertisement
about police matters, highlight police activities, make public announcements with necessary
security tips, citizens‟ initiatives in prevention of crime, etc. Through such activities and
programmes police can make partnership with the media that may generate positive media
coverage for the police.
The television documentaries and public service announcements by the local television and
other media coverage raise public awareness of crime prevention throughout the country. At the
same time a good relation and partnership between the media and the police is established.
Media personnel are busy. They may be reluctant to work with the police and others on
partnership basis for the prevention of crime. The principle of media‟s independence may keep
the media people from taking part in coalition efforts with police. Despite these political
obstacles, police department should take every opportunity to forge creative, supportive,
respectful partnerships with the media.
Public support is vital to implement the community policing philosophy and its strategies.
Besides, any modern concept of policing needs public support to implement. The media can play
an important role in obtaining the public support or in losing it.
 Chapter X

Community Policing in Bangladesh

In true sense modern community policing based on its basic concept does not have age old
history in our country. But role and participation of local community leaders like village
headmen, members of panchayet and elected representatives in dealing and settling the disputes
and conflicts on various issues and maintaing peace and order in the locality has a history of
centuries in our country. People‟s participation in crime prevention in an organized form was
ensured in Mymensingh in 1993, the then Superintendent of police Mr. A.T. Ahumedul Hoque
formed Town Defence Party (TDP) with the help of community leaders in Mymensingh
Municipality area when crime against property such as robbery, dacoity and burglary broke out
in an epidemic form. The TDP‟s activity was confined to guard against miscreants by patrolling
during night hours. The role of TDP could curb down the crime rate drastically in town and
suburban areas where TDS was on operative, But this effort of crime prevention was not fulfilled
by the basic concept and modern philosophy of community policing, It aimed to resist some
crimes for a short period.
In some other districts police organized patrol men to guard market or bazar during night
time with the help of business community and the owners of shop. Business leaders used to pay
the patrol men.
The reality on the ground is that the concept of community policing was not clear to most of
the police officers as well as people. Identifying the problem initiative was taken by the then
Deputy Inspector General of police, Rajshahi Range in 2007 to give the basic concept and
knowledge about community policing and its benefits to the police officers and community
leaders of all district of Rajshahi division. Series of discussion sessions and seminar were
organized on „concept of community policing and its utility‟. A guideline in the from of booklet
on community policing was composed for uniform system of community policing. In 2007
community policing got a revolutionary shape and massive response was received from the
communities in Rajshahi Range. Members of the community were eager and felt honoured to be
the members of community policing committee. Huge works were done under the banner of
community policing in the field of crime prevention and awareness building on various issues.
The other parts of Bangladesh also followed the Rajshahi Range model of Community
Policing. In Chittagong Range and Dhaka Metropolitan area Community Policing acquired
immense popularity as the impotant personalities of all locality got opportunity to serve people
with the partnership of police under the umbrella of Community Policing.

Operative Guidelines:
Community Policing can be an effective system for prevention of crime and addressing the
social problems and crises through proactive and awareness building activities. The benefit of
community policing can be reaped by the practical implementation of the concept of community
policing. The conscious citizens are to come forward to be involved in the community policing
activities. The representatives of all professions and members of civil society are to be given
opportunity to play their part in this regard. Considering the facts a modality has been developed
to give the concept of community policing a pragmatic and practical picture to the people. With
the view to implementing community policing activities, community policing committees
comprising representations from all professions at village, union, thana and district level have
been formed. The structure of the committee is framed followingly:
Each committee will have two parts : one is the Advisory Committee and the other is the
Working Committee. The number of members may be 8-10 in the Advisory Committee and 15-
20 in the Working Committee. The Working Committee will be constituted by one President,
one or more Vice-presidents, one general secretary, one joint-general secretary, one office
secretary; one publicity secretary, one treasurer and the rest would be members.

Members of Community Policing:

Any adult citizen of the respective area is eligible to be a member of any of the committee.
No person who is controversial and tout, smuggler or suspected to be engaged in illegal activities
and, also, who is of bad reputation can be a member of any committee. The committee should
have representatives from all professions.
As community policing is a voluntary social work, the persons associated with social service,
those who find pleasure is social work without any material or personal gain, should be included
as members of community policing committee.
Respected and aged persons should be included as members of the Advisory committee; and
younger people who are diligent in work should be placed in the Working committee.
It would be wise to have prominent political persons and elected public representatives in the
Advisory committee.

Advisory Council/Committee:
The Advisory committee can be of 8-10 members. But this number can be increased if the
Working committee considers any person to play an important role in organizing community
policing. Respected, aged and dignified persons can be members of the Advisory committee.

Working Committee:
The Working committee can have 15-20 members. This number can be increased for the
inclusion of any enthusiastic, interested or reputed person/s.

The structure of Working Committee can be as follows :

President/ Chairman : 01
Vice president : more than one
General secretary : 01
Joint-general secretary : 02
Office secretary : 01
Publicity secretary : 01
Secretary of women
 affairs (female) : 01
General members (Male) : 06
General members (female) : 03

Co-ordination Committee:
Union Co-ordination Committee : There is a Co-ordination Committee in every
union,thana and district comprising all presidents, general secretaries of all committees of
respective units and prominent personalities of locality. This committee works as convening
committee having the provision of one convener, one member secretary and the rest as members.
Thana Co-ordination Committee : There is a co-ordination committee in every Thana. The
officer in charge forms the committee consulting with the union committee and taking
representatives from every union.
The officer in charge is the adviser for all union committee under his Thana. He is also the
chief co-ordinator of Thana Co-ordination committee.
Upazilla Nirbahi Officer and the Circle ASP are the chief patron and the chief adviser of the
committee respectively.
An SI/ Sergeant is assigned as the community policing liaison officer for one or more unions.
District Co-ordination Committee: The Superintendent of Police of the district forms the
District Co-ordination committee consulting with the ASP circles, officers in charge, conveners
and general secretaries of Thana Co-ordination committee. District Co-ordination Committee
also functions as a convening committee.
Deputy Commissioner, Superintendent of Police, Addl. Police Super is the ex-officio chief
patron, chief adviser and chief co-ordinator of the committee respectively.

Community policing Activities

Community policing system has been introduced in Bangladesh to address community
problems, trace out their causes and thus, to propose effective solutions of these problems on the
basis of police people joint venture, Community Policing Committee play a significant role in
bridging police and public and building mutual trust, respect and understanding between them.
Following activities are assigned to the members of community policing:
01. Dispute Resolution: Trifle disputes often generate innumerous insignificant cases that
burden the available investigating and judicial machinery of the country. Furthermore, the
disputing factions, with the intention of hurting each other, ultimately damage themselves. They
become losers, suffer defamation and many more. Community policing aims at resolving these
many folded problems by settling disputes over trifle matters.
02. Arrest of Criminals: Members of the community policing committee play an important
role in capturing notorious criminals and warrantees of the locality. They try to collect
intelligence about the movements and where abouts/hideouts of the outlaws and communicate
these information to police immediately. They themselves, also, can capture the criminals.
 03. Awareness Building programs: Community police works for awareness building on
different issues. Programs and gathering take place on a regular basis. These programs are
intensely monitored by the district police authority.
a. Social problems: Awareness building programs against social ills like women-children
repression, dowry, child marriage, eve teasing, suicide, drug, gambling are the prime
assignments of the community policing system. Making the transport workers aware is, also, a
regular duty for them. These awareness building programs are vital for forming public opinion
against these social problems that otherwise are very hard to address and that may generate
numerous other crimes.
b. Women Repression and Silent Domestic Violence: The rate of women repression and
silent domestic violence is alarming in our society. We are very much in need to address these
twin issues; and Community Policing initiatives can be most effective in this regard. With the
help of community policing committees, awareness building and motivational programs are
launched on regular basis to motivate people to prevent these hateful crimes and to protect the
vulnerable group.
c. Drug Addiction: Awareness building is the most effective tool to combat expansion of
drug addiction besides enforcement of law. Community policing at different levels can play a
very significant role creating awareness against drug addiction. It can also infuse fear of
punishment of drug transportation and sale, collect information about drug dealers and encourage
people to share information with police about use of drug in their locality.
d. Eve Teasing: Eve teasing has become a burning issue and matter of great concern for all
now a days. Through community policing activities with special emphasis on school, college,
universities along with ward, union, upazilla and zilla units rate of eve teasing can be drastically
reduced. Awareness about fear of crime that is the consequence of eve teasing -social disgrace
and legal punishment can abstain people from committing such offences.
e. Child Marriage: Community policing can be a very effective tool preventing social curse
like child marriage. Awareness building activities centering around primary schools, high
schools, girls school and poorer section of people can be launched through community policing
committee.
f. Public Safety: Community policing provides opportunity of exchanging views and
regular interaction between police and community people. Through which police can give them
tips and instructions about safety and security issues, increase consciousness regarding public
nuisance and disruption of public safety issues etc. and can build a sense of security among the
members of the community.

g.Training Programs on Road Safety issues for drivers and helpers:

Multi-dimensional surveys on road accidents in the country conducted by various agencies,
unanimously points to the fact that drivers and helpers are mostly responsible for these mishaps
that take heavy toll on potential human lives each year in the country. These sad events can‟t be
reduced unless the drivers and helpers are properly trained, sensitized and their sense of
responsibility being aroused. Community Policing Committees came forward to assist in this
regard; and in all the districts of Chittagong Range, Community Policing Committee conduct
regular training programs on road safety issues for drivers and helpers. These training programs
include sessions of traffic laws and signal, the duties and responsibilities of the driver, education
and advice on road safety, motor parts checking and driving methods, road accidents and driving
license, responsibilities of the driver to prevent road accidents and to ensure safety for the
passengers, pre/during/post driving responsibilities of the drivers, etc.

Chapter XI

Community Policing in Different Countries

Policing in different countries got a lot of changes and reforms to cope with the changes of
the society‟s values and structure, diversity of society, taste and attitude of the people and
combat terrorist along with new dimension of crime. But there is a common subject which has
been picked up by police all over the world – that is „Community Policing‟. It is recognized by
all that without spontaneous cooperation of the community and partnership with them police
alone cannot ensure the safety of the people and address the issues of the community to the
satisfaction of the people of the community. Being motivated to this philosophy police
emphasize on community based policing under the community policing umbrella. But
community policing is run in different ways in different countries. Community policing system
and activities in few countries are discussed below:
India:
Community policing activities are being carried out throughout India. Various initiatives
involving communities have been taken in different states to reach out the benefits of community
policing toward the members of the community.

West Bengal:
Community policing initiative in Kolkata, West Bengal involves the members of civil society
and leaders of professional groups. They have Drug Awareness Programme in collaboration with
NGOs, Counseling Centre for women, children, juveniles, elders and drug addicts manned by
trained counselors, Poor Box for the emergency relief to the needy and distressed people.
In Nadia district there is a community policing initiative named Sahayata. Sahayata is a
Bengali word which means „assistance‟. It is a service delivery platform to resolve, through
counseling, disputes within family and also between neighbours. In this initiative community
plays vital role and police is an active agent.
Other community policing programmes are being run by police and communities in West
Bengal.

Tamil Nadu:
In Tamil Nadu a community policing programme named „The Friends Of Police‟ (FOP) is in
operative. Police public partnership is ensured in this programme where citizens have been
empowered and an ordinary citizen can contribute to the prevention and detection of crime. FOP
members can also prevent any abuse of police power as they have easy access to police leaders.
Following are the roles of FOP:
 Beats and night patrols
 Assistance in traffic management
 Crime prevention
 Information collection
 Assistance in law and order maintenance
 Involvement in probation work
The FOP initiative paved the way for the community to come closer to police and work
together. This system is functioning effectively in all districts of Tamil Nadu over the last
couple of years.
Assam:
In 2001 The Assam Police launched a community policing initiative under the title
„Aashwas‟ in several districts where there is a history of ethnic or terrorist violence. The
objective of this initiative is to combat violence and insurgency and also extend supports to
children and victims of crime. The campaigns under this initiative have integrated the
community with the police to provide public safety and supports to the people undergoing
trauma.
 Himachal Pradesh:
A community policing scheme was introduced by Himachal Pradesh Police in 2001 in order
to mobilize public support and involve public participation in prevention and detection of crime
and maintenance of law and order. Under this scheme the jurisdiction of a police station is
divided into some sectors. Each sector has a People‟s Policing Committee where all the
household members of that sector become the members. Each sector has also an active group of
six respectable persons of that locality, one home guard, one chawkidar and one police constable
or head constable. One member of the Active Group is made convener and police man is the
member secretary. Following are the tasks of this scheme:
 Visit of students of educational institutes to police stations to remove fear of
police from the mind of the children, give them idea about police role and function and
form better understanding and awareness about police.
 Building awareness among the citizens of their rights and responsibilities to the
society and state.
 Regular visit by Superintendent of Police and other senior police officers to the
villages or areas to have interaction with local communities on crime and law and order
situation and other social issues of public concern.

 Police Assistance Centre:

These centres are established at important strategic locations which attract tourists
and help seeking persons. These centres instill sense of security and protection in the
minds of general public, specially tourists or strangers.

Mumbai:
After the 1992-1993 Hindu-Muslim riots in Mumbai people from all walks of life came
together and worked out a simple workable idea. They formed Citizen-Police Committee in each
Mohalla. It is also known as Mohalla Committee or Peace Committee. The primary task of the
committee members is to maintain cordial relationship between the two communities- Hindus
and Muslims. The members also intervene in disputes, personal or domestic, organize short
meetings on a variety of programmes and maintain liason with the nearest police station to
maintain peace. If trouble breaks out they negotiate with the parties for establishing peace.

Other states have community policing of their own system.

Japan:
Japan was ruled by a succession of „shoguns‟ (military dictators) until the revolution of
1867-68. The rule of shoguns was termed as „shogunate‟ (military dictatorship) and the period of
shogunate was called Edo period (Edo means capital or the largest city which is also considered
as economic and cultural centre). With the end of shogunate the Meiji Restoration began by
Meiji Tenno. The emperor of Japan who encouraged the modernizations of Japan. In the
modernization period the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department was established in 1874. In that
year „Kobansho‟ were set up at major intersections and other important locations in Tokyo.
Kobansho is a designated place where policemen engage themselves in standing watch duties in
shifts later on boxes were built at few major Kobansho locations.
In 1881 the Tokyo Metropolitan Police decided to provide all Kobansho with boxes and their
name was changed to „Hashutsujo‟ (Police Box). That was the beginning of today‟s police
system. Subsequently, the police box system spread to other prefectures (districts).
In 1886, one police station for one county or city was established by an imperial order. The
police station was located at the headquarters of the city or decided to set up „Chuzaishu‟
(residential police box) in every town and village in principle.

With the setting up of „Chuzaishu‟ police officers had been deployed throughout Japan even
in rural areas to facilitate the people to get police services at their close doors.
The Japanese formal name for police box is Hashutsujo. The nickname Koban is widely used
by the residents of the community. In 1994 the formal name of police box also became Koban.
Koban and Chuzaisu are the symbol of community policing in Japan. The officers posted to
Koban and Chuzaisu are known as community police officers. About 6500 Koban and 7600
Chuzaisu are there in Japan where about 2,50,000 police officers are posted all over the country.
Normally officers of junior ranks such as Assistant Police Inspector, Police Sergeant or below
are posted to Koban and Chuzaisu. All newly recruited officers are first deployed at Koban or
Chuzaine after their basic training at prefectural police school.
The police officers posted to police boxes (Koban for large city and Chuzasu for small town
or village) get engaged in community policing activities along with normal crime prevention
policing. Following are the major duties and activities of the officers posted at Koban and
Chuzsaisu as community police officers.

Watch duty by Koban officers:

Watch duty is performed by an officer of Koban for round the clock on shifting basis.
Standing watch is performed by the officer in front of the Koban . Some keep them on sitting
watch duty inside of the Koban. Officer on watch duty and other officers present in the Koban
receive the residents or visitors who visit Koban with complaints or reports such as lost and
found property, occurrence of crime, traffic accident etc. The Koban officers take immediate
necessary action on receiving complaints or reports from residents.

Patrol duty:
Patrols by Koban officers by vehicle or bicycle or on foot are conducted in the jurisdiction
area of Koban. Patrols by uniform police officers from Koban has very important impacts as it
shows presence of police officers in the locality. Police patrol also prevents crimes, pave
opportunity to have interaction with members of communities and gives community residents
sense of security.

First response to crimes and accidents:

It is the Koban officers who first visit the place of occurrence or crime scene getting
information or command from higher authority. The officers who have first, arrived at the crime
scene report on the situation to police station and communication command centre (Police
Control room). In case of heinous or felonious crime community police officers take immediate
necessary lawful action such as deployment of more officers, preserve crime scene, protecting
evidences and arrest suspects if found nearby the scene. Later the case is headed over to
specialized police team.

House visit and community liaison :

The officers from Koban pay regular visit to local residents to have interactions with
members of communities. Door to door visit helps police to maintain good relationship with the
community and get overall picture about the situation of the locality. The community police
officers also get public reaction about police performance. They give security, safety and crime
prevention tips to the residents. The visiting officer distributes „visit card‟ to the residents and
requests to fill it up with required information.
View Exchange meeting :
The Koban officers hold view exchange meeting with the members of the communities very
often. In the meeting they discuss issues relating to public safety, law & order and crimes. They
get suggestions from the community about policing and public safety. The officers seek co-
operation from the communities to discharge their duty and provide satisfactory service to the
people and crime prevention.
The Koban officers keep police stations update with latest situations of the area and the
advice, suggestions and public reaction they gather through interaction with the communities.
The police station take necessary steps to address the issues relating to public safety and crime
prevention on the basis of reports received from Koban.
Chuzaisu:
Chuzaisu is a residential police box located at the small town or village. In each Chuzaisu
one officer is posted and he is allowed to live in the Chuzaisu with his family. The Chuzaisu
officers receive visitors at his Chuzaisu, hear them and take immediate lawful action. In absence
of Chuzaisu the wife of the officer receives the visitors, hear them and communicate information
to Chuzaisu officer or police station. The wife of the officer gets monthly honorarium for her
service.
Singapore:
Singapore has grown in many ways over the last four decades. It has high level of economic
growth, political stability and a sense of safety and security. Improvement of law and order and
political stability contributed to the economic growth and better life of the citizens.
To provide better police service to the people and ensure public safety Singapore brought
significant reforms and changed its fundamental system of policing to community based
policing. Until 1983 Singapore followed the British model policing like Birmingham or
Liverpool. In 1983 they started emulating the Japanese model of policing. Introducing
Neighborhood Police Post (NPP) systems they started community based policing strategy.
Prior to 1983 police services were dispensed centrally, mainly through eight police stations,
each police station had to serve a large area. Police had less opportunity to contact the
communities. Social changes, urbanization and new dimension of crime raised the crime rate and
sense of insecurity and lack of public safety caused public concern and worry. Under such
situation police adopted new approach of policing that is community based policing.
Neighbourhood Police Post (NPP)
Following the Koban system of Japan Singapore police introduced Neighbourhood Police
Post (NPP) in 1983 in order to get the community of the neighourhood in police job. 8 (eight)
NPPs were set up in 8 (eight) constituencies. Later it rose up to 91, the average population
covered by each NPP is about 35,000.
Objectives of NPP system:
- to improve and continue the police community relationship.
- to prevent and suppress the crime through joint efforts of police and community.
- to project a better police image and win the confidence of the public through
community oriented services.

Function and duties of NPP:

The key functions of the NPPs are as follows:

# High visibility police patrols in the neighbourhoods from the NPP.

# Quick response to incidents and calls from citizens of the neighbourhood.
# Providing efficient police service to the people of the vicinity of a NPP.
# House visit by NPP officers to maintain regular interaction with the community and
get information and suggestions from the members of community to provide better
service.
# Crime prevention by the joint efforts of NPP officers and community.
# Effective community liaison to build up bridge between police and community to get
spontaneous cooperation of the community to address social problems and issues.
# Initiate and organize public safety and security program in collaboration of
communities.

NPC (Neighbourhood Police Centre):

In 1997 the Singapore Police Force (SPF) modified the NPP system into NPC system in
order to deliver decentralized, flexible, integrated and community focused services. NPCs are
made the sole vehicle for front line policing to ensure the communitiy‟s safety and security. In
the redesigned system, NPCs are accountable for the total outcome of policing in the community.
NPCs, as centre of total policing, have a variety of policing ranging from reactive and preventive
patrols and investigations to proactive policing activities.

United Kingdom:
Community Policing has a distinct British legacy. The British regime has a long historical
tradition in the field of community policing. After Anglo-Saxon conquest of England, the
Normans, the then rulers of England developed a peace keeping system for the citizens. This
system was known initially as „mutual pledge‟. Later it was termed as „frankpledge in Norman
period‟. Under this system nearly every citizen had to pledge voluntarily to the king that he
would maintain peace in the locality where he lived. The „frank pledge‟ system made social
responsibility for maintaining peace for the neighbourhoods.
In the early 19th century poverty, unemployment and lawlessness became the sensitive issue
and grave concern for the then British rulers. The govt. took initiatives for controlling public
disorder and lawlessness. The situation started to improve when sir Robert Peel was appointed
home minister. Peel took initiative to make understand and motivate the people that each citizen
as well as community should be responsible for maintaining peace and social order in their area.
The suggestions or opinion of Robert Peel was the underlying principle of modern and
community policing. In 1829, London Metropolitan Police was established. Police force locally
called “Bobby‟‟ was instructed and motivated to win the public good will and support by their
people oriented service and good behaviours. While conducting patrol make the area safe and
give sense of security to the residents the police officers used to increase interaction with the
community to get spontaneous public co-operation.
But the trend of community oriented policing got a setback by massive social problems and
unrest. In the 20th century, dramatic social change, colonial on traditional ruling system and
industrial unrest gradually shifted the public oriented policing to a militaristic and traditional
form of policing in the line of Irish Constabulary model. The frequent labour strike in the coal
mines in 1972, 1974 and 1984 provoked class struggle in Britain. During suppression of strike in
1984 thousands of miners and their family members were abused and assaulted and declared
„Enemies‟ by the police and the dark forces. Thousands of people had been arrested and brought
to trial accusing them a number of offences. The intimidation injustice, illegal treatment and
brutality of police at that time made a distance between police and people specially the general
working class of people. There were fear and hatred among the people for the police. In 1981 a
dreadful riot in Brixton made a confrontation between the London Metropolitan Police and
protesters. The main causes of that riot were serious social and economic problems, harassment
and ill treatment of police with black people. The then rulers and members of civil society
become worried. A police commission was formed headed by lord Scarman. In commission
report Lord Scarman recommended for improvement of police community relationship. The
introduction of the volunteer Neighbourhood watch scheme during that time opened a new
chapter of community based policing in the UK.
Police took initiatives to restore public confidence on police and establish good relationship
with community. Putting a new code for police behaviour the „Police and Criminal Evidence Act
1984‟ had been reformed. There was also provision in the act to create on independent „Police
Complaints Authority‟ to strengthen the accountability of police with a view to building public
trust and confidence in police.
In Britain Traditional crime prevention concept started to be replaced by the concept of
community safety in the early 1990s. The Morgan report published in 1991 recommended that
the local authorities be given responsibility for community safety. Morgan report was a landmark
in the development of pubic safety and crime prevention. On the basis of Morgan report, „The
Crime and Disorder Act‟ was enacted and it gave the power to local authorities and police
together for developing local „Community Safety and Crime Reduction Partnerships‟.
Police initiated partnership policing with the community and local authorities. But there
generated new crisis as police had been blamed of racism. The controversal image of police and
social disorder during that time brought a negative impact on public feelings of safety. In that
situation much discussion about community policing in England and wales took place and
„Neighbourhood policing‟ approach was initiated. Neighbourhood policing is based on the belief
that community support and involvement can help control crime, reduce fear of crime and
address issues of public concern. With the spontaneous co-operation and help an effective and
fruitful results can be obtained in identifying suspects of crime and bad elements of the society
and bringing them to legal process. The community involvement also facilitates identifying and
solving the other issues of public safety and social disorder to establish peace and security in the
society.
In UK, a model of community policing named AIIA was introduced. AIIA model describes
the following concept:

A- Access to local policing services

I - Influence over policing priorities in the neighbourhoods.
I - Interventions – joint action with partners and public and
A-Answers – Sustainable solution and feedback on what is being done.
Neighbourhood policing was initially piloted at ward level. The three years Neighbourhood
policing programme (NPP) was officially launched in 2005.
The purpose of neighbourhood policing activity aimed at three delivery mechanisms –police
visibility, community involvement in identifying local priorities and problem solving in
collaboration with partners and communities.
Neighbourhood Policing Teams have been formed across the country. Every geographical
area in England and Wales is getting benefit from neighbourhood policing. This neighbourhood
policing involves dedicated teams of Police officers, Police community support officers,
Wardens, local council staff and members of voluntary organizations. Neighborhood Policing
Team (NPT) aims at providing a visible, reassuring presence, preventing and detecting crime and
developing a constructive and lasting engagement with members of community. In England and
Wales there are about four thousand neighbourhoods policing teams working with local
communities to solve problems of the communities.
In UK a number of strategies and programmes of crime prevention, public safety and
problem solving are going on under the umbrella of community policing. Taking various
initiatives and steps the UK. Govt. has been trying to strengthen community oriented; problem
solving and partnership based policing strategy. Community Policing activities are making the
Police more service oriented as well as accountable to the citizens.

United States of America:

Community based policing has been given much importance in the United states for more
than three decades. In all states of America wide variety of community policing activities or
projects are being run by police in collaboration with communities. Community policing
activities in few states are described below:
 New York City:
New York City has a community policing programme called community police officers
programme (C-pop). Nine hundred police officers from the patrol force have been involved in
this programme. New York city is divided into 75 areas or precincts. About 10 C-POP Officers
are posted to each precinct. The prime duty of C-POP officers is know the community, make
good relationship with community and invite suggestions from the members of the community to
do policing as the community desires. C-POP Officers are familiar to community and they
always hear the people and provide services to them on the basis of the expectation and
suggestions of the community.
The C-POP began in 1986 and became very popular to the city dwellers.

Houston, Texas:
Texas community policing has a programs called DART (Directed Area Response Team)
The DART has patrol team with detectives they conduct patrol in the area of Jurisdiction and
exchange views with the communities. They collect various information and intelligence about
the people and locality to diagnose the issues of concern to communities. After being aware of
the problems or matters of concern of communities they plan to find out the way of solution of
those problems with the consultation and suggestions of the local communities. They adopt both
proactive and reactive approach of community policing to address the issues of public concern in
different communities.

Community Policing in Santa Ana, California :

Santa Ana is a city of California in Los Angeles. It is dominated by Hispanic people; earlier
It had various type of social problems and increasing crime trend. To combat crime and social
disorder the Santa Ana Police introduced community police public partnership to build a safer
and better society.
The total area of jurisdiction is divided into 4 (four) community police stations. Each station
is manned by uniformed police offices and same civilian community police officers. The
community service officers wear uniform with distinctive shoulder patch not similar to that of
uniformed police officers. They do not carry weapons.
The community service officers are assigned to deal social service work, social problems and
issues that cause concern among the members of community. They also get themselves involved
in crime prevention and awareness building activities. Police in collaboration with the
community service officers and members of community contribute to problem solving process
and encouragement of citizen patrolling to address the social problems and increase the sense of
security in the mind of the people.

Writer:
A.K.M Shahidul Hoque bpm,ppm
Addl. IG (Admin)
Bangladesh Police,