Answer to Question #313346 in English for Lira

Question

Community policing effective?or not support your answer with practical examples

Answer 1

It is not effective. . Initiatives have succeeded in building trust between citizens and the police. But if community policing is to help reduce crime, it must be integrated throughout the police service.

Successful community policing requires coherent communities that are motivated to reduce crime, as well as a police force that can implement innovative methods. In South Africa’s divided society, and particularly in the poor townships, both of these elements are lacking. Other main failings are that:

1) The tendency to view community policing as the responsibility of provincial and local police services has led to neglect at higher levels.

2) Implementation has focused too much on establishing and maintaining Community Police Forums (CPFs). Little effort has been made to develop a comprehensive approach, or to train police and CPF representatives.

3) The experience of CPFs has differed around the country. The biggest problems occur where scarce resources hamper any kind of policing.

4) Beyond this, the major challenge is building trust between communities in which some people still regard the police as oppressors and a police force that has not undertaken radical reform.

5) Community policing has proved most successful in rich (often white) areas, due to financial donations and the desire of citizens to prevent crime. Yet even here, its impact on crime reduction is difficult to assess.

6) Patchy community policing may displace crime to poorer areas, reinforcing the social divisions the policy was meant to overcome.