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How Do I...?
Community Policing


This question has been asked over and over again since the term first appeared in police literature in the early 1970's. In the early days, it was defined as foot patrols, zone policing and stand-alone crime prevention programs. For some, if a police service had a community relations officer the organization was deemed to be "doing" community policing. Today, we know that there is much more to this concept.

Community policing is not a program; it is a way of doing business-a philosophy. To achieve it, requires fundamental change in organizational structure; management styles, processes and expectations; and relationships with the community and police service members. The traditional or professional model of policing characterized by top-down hierarchical structures with management styles focused on command and control are no longer conducive to modern policing. Key operational strategies of random patrol and rapid response have been proven to have limited effect on crime and public order problems now facing our communities.

Community policing can be defined as:
A philosophy based on forging a partnership between the police and the community, so that they can work together on solving problems of crime, fear of crime and disorder, thereby enhancing the overall quality of life in the Community.

Working in partnership, the community and the police participate jointly in decision-making and problem-solving. This includes: the identification and analysis of crime and order problems; the determination of policing priorities and needs; and, the development and implementation of strategies for dealing with crime and order problems identified. It can be argued that community policing consists of five components:
  • Community development: community led initiatives that contribute to solving crime and public order problems,
  • Community-police partnerships: developing and maintaining partnerships in the community at both the front-line and corporate level, permitting meaningful community input into all aspects of policing,
  • Police service re-engineering: affecting organizational change to support contemporary management styles and processes,
  • Enforcement: focusing on community safety concerns and serious violent crime,
  • Police learning: supporting continuous learning,


Each component is inter-related and must exist simultaneously for community policing to be present. Community policing involves adopting a customer service approach and quality management principles.

Why do we have to change?

There are a number of reasons why police need to change the way they do business:
  • There is an ever growing demand from communities to have a greater say in the delivery of tax funded services.
  • The recognition that policing services are but one of a variety of agencies and organizations in the community which can have an effective role in dealing with crime and public order issues.
  • Economic pressures dictating that public sector organizations operate effectively and efficiently, evaluating outcomes against defined benchmarks.
  • The growing complexities of front-line duties requiring highly skilled and knowledgeable members who expect to be active participants in their organization and its decision-making processes .


Who should be involved?

Community policing demands that police services work in partnership with its internal and external stakeholders. They include:
  • COMMUNITY AT LARGE
  • SOCIAL SERVICE AGENCIES
  • BUSINESS COMMUNITY
  • POLICE ASSOCIATIONS
  • POLICE MANAGEMENT


How is community policing achieved?

Working as a team and in partnership, we need to ensure that:
  • Information is gathered and analyzed to monitor what is going on within and outside of our organizations.
  • Mechanisms for direct community involvement in determining objectives and priorities for the police service are established.
  • Operational policies and strategies are focused on problem identification and solving.
  • Management policies support empowerment of members and encourage creativity, innovation and risk taking.
  • Police officer training and evaluations are directly linked to the skills needed for community policing.
  • Results are measured and strategies are adjusted to meet ongoing community need.

If you have suggestion on how the Brandon Police Service could improve the Services it provides to the Community please send us a message:

E-mail at:
policechief@brandon.ca

or mail:
Chief of Police
Brandon Police Service
1340-10th Street
Brandon, MB
R7A 6Z3

or phone:
729-2345

Any information or ideas that you have on Community Policing or any other matter would be appreciated.