Police Perception In My Community Essay

INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE connection Oriented Policing is a philosophy and not a specific tactic, It is a proactive, depennyralized approach, designed to reduce law-breaking, disorder, and by extension, fear of crime, by intensely involving the same officer in the same partnership on a long-term basis, so that residents wholly in allow develop trust to cooperate with legal philosophy by providing information and assistance to achieve those three crucial goals (Trojanowicz and Carter,1988) The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement roleplay of 1994 (Crime Act) is widely recognized as a signifi commodet milestone in participation policing. It was intended by President Clinton and Attorney General Reno as the changing of policing. The legislation provided the funding vehicle for an additional cytosine,000 legal philosophy officers to boost law enforcement efforts in a climate of nationwide anxiety ab prohibited crime. The Act gave the smirch of residential area Oriented P olicing Services (OCOPS) the task of supporting a major drive toward rooting community policing in solid foundations to become the prevailing orthodoxy in American law enforcement.(Nicholl, 1999)Law Enforcement Agencies throughout the country look to Office of Community Oriented Policing Services to improve their own run. According to OCOPS, Community policing focuses on crime and social disorder through the delivery of patrol services that includes aspects of traditional law enforcement, as well as prevention, problem-solving, community eng termment, and partnerships. The community policing mould balances reactive responses to calls for service with proactive problem-solving pennyered on the causes of crime and disorder. Community policing requires law of nature and citizens to join together as partners in the course of both identifying and efficaciously addressing these issues. It is important to note then the opens Perception of the practice of law is an essential elemen t for the success of Community Policing-based strategies. Throughout the country, studies find been make that correlate law Perception and Community Policing.During the past 20 socio-economic classs, there has been an expanding body of research examining citizens attitudes toward the patrol. Most of this research has been directed at assessing the determinants of these attitudes. In contrast, less economic aid has been focused on the reasons why citizens hold certain attitudes (Frank et al,2005)The reference then, as a member of the Chesterfield jurisprudence part, has a special interest in Community Policing and natural law Perception, most especially in his own community. This research them aims to study Police Perception specially in the Community of Chesterfield townsfolk, a part of The County of Macomb in the state of clams.It is worth mentioning that The Chesterfield Police Department s aim is embodied in its mission statement it is committed to providing the high est quality of public service and crime prevention while maintaining the publics respect and protecting the rights and dignity of everyone. The Chesterfield Police Department is devote to strong community sexual intercourseships while providing a good environment to enhance the quality of life for our citizens and visitors, which is very much in line with the concept of Community Policing.This is further supported by this Police Departments value statement , abbreviated as POLICE, which includes developing an everlasting PARTNERSHIP amidst the Community, having a dedicated to the OATH of protecting and serving all people ,recognizing the importance of all Department members and Citizens, treating each otherwise with fairness, LOYALTY and respect , maintaining the highest degree of INTEGRITY, being responsible and account subject for their own actions and decisions , believing that COOPERATION and team pee-pee testament enable them to achieve all goals of this Department and ha ving a commitment to EXCELLENCE in the performance of their duties (http//www.chesterfieldtownshippolice.com/values.htm) The Chesterfield Police Departments Mission and Value statements assign the same elements with the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services which aims to help law enforcement agencies implement and enhance community policing, defined as a policing philosophy that promotes and supports organisational strategies to address the causes and reduce the fear of crime and social disorder through problem-solving tactics and police-community partnerships. (C.O.P.S. http//www.cops.usdoj.gov/Default.asp?Item=36/ ) Chesterfield town is located in Macomb County, Michigan and encompasses an nation of approximately 26 square miles. The population at the 2000 census was 37,004. This increased to 446,962 in the year 2006. (Muller, 2006) The Township was established in 1842 and became a Charter Township in 1989 by Resolution. (Pall, 2002) In Chesterfield, The number of viol ent crimes recorded by the FBI in 2003 was 28. The number of murders and homicides was 1. The violent crime rate was 0.7 per 1,000 people.Meanwhile, in the whole Macomb county, of which Chesterfield is included, a total of 22,395 were reported for the year 2000 , a majority of reports were for Larceny and Motor vehicle theft. Sixteen of the reports for that year were on murder, 309 for rape and 384 reports on robbery for that year (Federal Bureau of Investigation to the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data, University of Michigan) It is in from ground then that the author gathered entropy for the completion of this research steer by feedback from other researches undertaken on Police Perception of the community such as these Gathering data on crime and community policing at the local level not only supplements our national data, but also allows local officials to identify their particular crime control requirements, said Bureau of Justice Statistics film director Jan Chaik en. As part of the Justice Departments emphasis on police controling with residents in their neighborhoods, we are giving local law enforcement agencies tools to learn more about crimes and public opinion that may not be reported to the police.Community policing is a crime fighting strategy that encourages law enforcement to work in partnership with the community to solve crime problems. The high degree of citizen support for Americas neighborhood police officers is a testament to the dedicated men and women who work day in and day out to establish relationships with residents in their communities, said Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder. These relationships help citizens and police work together to promote community safety. (Smith et al, 1999) In light of these statements, this research was undertaken to determine the Police Perception in the Community of Chesterfield Township, whether it is positivist or negative through the use of a Police Perception survey adapted from earli er studies made by other police department in certain cities, particularly Portland (Campbell De long, 2005) , Pasadena (Police Assessment Resource condense, 2006). Chicago (The Chicago Community Policing military rating Consortium, 2004) and Kentucky (Kentucky Crime Prevention Coalition) it also aims to provide demographic breakdown of survey responsives in relation to their Police Perception in Chesterfield Township. Such information will enable the Chesterfield Police Department to continue living out their mission statement and exist the philosophy of Community Policing by either maintaining or improving their performance based on their communitys police experience, as will be determined by the survey done for this study. It is the hope of this author that this research will also lead to the initiation of other studies concerning his community and the other areas in the County of Macomb, and even the State of Michigan to further improve the Police Departments public service performance to ensure the safety of the citizens.REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATUREThe vagary of examining Police Perception is not new. The communitys perception of the police department has been linked to the success of police programs to promote safety in the neighborhood. A study made by Gallagher. Et al in 2001, summarizes the studies made regarding Police Image and Communitys perception of the Police in a The Public Image of the Police Final Report to The International Association of Chiefs of Police. Research findings point out that Polls of the adult population in the United States since the mid-sixties show that the majority of the public has an over-all positive view of the police. Depending on the year and the particular measure used, the portionage of respondents with a positive mind of police has been between 51 and 81 percent. When asked to assess service to their own neighborhoods, respondents tend to produce even higher evaluations. Relatively few citizens offer a negat ive assessment of police. (Gallagher et al. 2001). Research also recognizes that Police Perception has a great impact on the success of the promulgation of Community Policing. Trojanowicz & Carter( 1991) discuss the philosophy and role of community policing. It points out that Community Policings unique contribution is a radical departure from the past and the present. While todays community policing efforts retain the go around elements of the foot patrol programs of the past, they are intended to avoid both the old systems abuses and shortcomings. In Community Policing, Community Justice, and Restorative Justice Exploring the link for the Delivery of a Balanced Approach to Public Safety Nicholl in 1999 with a report funded by Grant No. 98-CK-WX-0059 awarded to the National Victim Center by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice. It discusses the concept of Community extensively, in a policy-makers perspective.Liou & Savage make the connect ion between Community Policing Strategies and Public Perception of Police through their research Citizen Perception of Community Policing ImpactThis study examines the impact of community policing by analyzing citizens perception of crime and police work before and after implementation of a community-oriented policing program in three neighborhoods in the city of West Palm Beach, Florida. The study reveals very positive findings about the community policing, including perception of decreased local crime, increased perception of police performance, neighborhood improvement, and police-community relationship. Implications concerning the relationship between the community and the police, and citizen satisfaction and public services are discussed.( Liou & Savage)Many other studies have been done to examine Police perception and these take into consideration different variables, being done in versatile settings. Frank, Smith and Novak (2005) focused on the reasons why citizens have cert ain attitudes towards police officer. Their study uses the survey responses of 613 residents of a Midwestern city to examine the information accessed by citizens when responding to questions regarding their general and specific attitudes toward the police. The findings suggest that citizens focus on attributes of agencies and encounters, some focus on the behavior of officers during interactions, and others base their attitudes on general perceptions of the occupation of policing. A world-wide look at Police perception issues can be found in Brown & Benedicts article Perceptions of the police Past findings, methodological issues, conceptual issues and policy implications which is a research updates and expands upon Deckers article Citizen attitudes toward the police a review of past findings and suggestions for future policy by summarizing the findings from more than 100 articles on perceptions of and attitudes toward the police.Initially, the value of research on attitudes toward the police is discussed. Then the research pertaining to the impact of individual level variables (e.g. race) and contextual level variables (e.g. neighborhood) on perceptions of the police is reviewed. Studies of juveniles attitudes toward the police, perceptions of police policies and practices, methodological issues and conceptual issues are also discussed. This review of the literature indicates that only four variables (age, contact with police, neighborhood, and race) have consistently been proven to affect attitudes toward the police. (Brown & Benedict,2002) In legal injury of application, several police departments have made their own studies on Police Perception. Community Policing in Chicago an Evaluation of Chicagos Alternative Policing system Prepared by The Chicago Community Policing Evaluation Consortium was done in through a grant awarded to award to the Illinois Criminal Justice selective information Authority in 2004. The Portland Police Bureau 2005 Community Ass essment Survey was conducted forCity of Portland, Bureau of Police by Campbell de long resources Inc in August 2005Police Assessment Resource Center and Vera Institute of Justice completed Assessing Police-Community Relations in Pasadena, California in 2006 . The Kentucky Crime Prevention Coalition, meanwhile, adapted the use of a Community Policing Survey. hypothesisH0= thither is no significant circumstances of Chesterfield Residents who have a have a positive perception of the Chesterfield Police DepartmentH1= There is a significant percentage of Chesterfield Residents who Have a positive perception of the Chesterfield Police DepartmentMETHODOLOGY Taking into consideration the limitations in man military force and resources for this research, a simple random sampling method was applied to come up with the survey results. ground on the calculation for a 95 per cent confidence level and confidence interval of five, the takek size was 275. The survey was conducted by distributi ng survey forms in several households around the Township of Chesterfield. Respondents were limited to Chesterfield residents supra 18 years of age. Only one respondent per household was accepted. These survey forms, consisting of eight simple questions pertaining to the residents perception of the police, which was based on survey forms used by other Police Departments as stated in the literature review. Only eight questions were included in the survey, because these questions focused on Police Perception. This is due to the scope and resource limitation stated earlier. A copy of this questionnaire is included in the appendix section of this paper This studys objective is to present data about Police Perception of the residents of the Township of Chesterfield in Macomb County in the State of Michigan. This research is done to show that the general perception of police in the sample population perceive the police positively. The sample size was 275 respondents in the township of Che sterfield, which has a population of 446,962 in the latest census in the year 2006. ground on a confidence level of 95 and a confidence interval of 5, the sample size is sufficient to estimate the response of this community regarding their perception of the Chesterfield Police Department. Figure 1 shows the demographic breakdown of respondents by race. More than half of the respondents were Caucasians, which also reflected the actual population of Caucasians, 93 % of Chesterfield population, in the 2000 Census made by the US Census Bureau. In the sample population, 61 per cent was composed of Caucasian or white residents. Other races composes 14.5 percent and 12 percent were of African-American descent. Asians comprised 5.5 per cent and 4.4 % of sample population were Hispanics/Latino. Meanwhile, 1.1 per cent was American Indians and Pacific islanders compose on 0.7 per cent. Based on these figures, it can be surmised that the Chesterfield Township was preponderantly Caucasian, in terms of the population. The relationship of this data to the results concerning Police Perception will be discussed later. The study only included residents who were 18 years old of age and above. The data shows that majority of respondents were from the 18-29 age group, with a percentage of 39 of the sample population. The age group with the least number of respondents was that of residents 50-59 years old, representing only 9 per cent of the sample population. This signifies that the Chesterfield township has fairly young residents, as seen by the larger percentage of those below middle age. Given the limited man power and resources, the author opt to estimate Police Perception using only eight questions adapted from other studies stated earlier. The first three questions were on how the community sensed police officers, based on their encounters. The fourth question estimated the residents opinion about the adequacy of the number of police officers in the community. The fifth, sixth and seventh questions estimated residents perception of police based on three parameters- behavior, exponent to assess needs and relationship of police officers to residents themselves. The last question asked the residents to give their over-all perception by indicating their rating for the Chesterfield Township Police Department. Figure 3 Police Perception Responses in Chesterfield Township Community shows the relationships of responses of residents to the first three survey questions. As evident in the chart, answers for the questions on police perception based on encounters follow a similar pattern, indicating that most respondents agree that police officers are prompt, professional and fair. Figure 4 represents the respondents opinion on the need for more police officers in the community. Based on the results gathered, majority, 36.4 per cent , slightly agree that there is a need for more police officers in the community. As a whole, though, it can be seen that more resi dents disagreed and strongly disagreed, 14.5 and 7.3 per cent respectively, that there was further need for more police presence as compared to respondents who agreed,9.1 per cent, and strongly agreed,1.8 per cent to the augmentation of police visibility. With regard to the Chesterfield communitys perception of Police based on three parameters, their responses follow a similar trend, as evident in Figure 5. In terms of behavior, 49 . 5 per cent rated police frank. 32. 7 % gave Chesterfield police officers a rating of excellent. decorous was how 14. 5 per cent rated police in the community while 3.6 per cent did not know how to answer this question. In their ability to address the need of the community, Chesterfield police officers were again rated Good by 54 . 5 per cent of the residents. An Excellent rating was given by 29.1 per cent, while Fair was what 11. 6 per cent deemed appropriate. There were 4.7 per cent of the population, though, that didnt know how to rate their police officers. When it comes to relationships between Chesterfield residents and their communitys police, majority, 43.6 per cent chose to rate this, as Good, Fair was give as rating by 27. 3 per cent of the population and 21.8 gave an Excellent mark. There were 7.3 residents, though that were still unsure how to rate the Chesterfield communitys relationship with its police officers. Based on this information, Police perception in the areas specified were rated Good by a majority of Chesterfield residents. This point out a positive view of the townships police officers. In relation to this positive response, the over-all rating of Chesterfield township community residents is seen in Figure 6. However, here, we see a shift of the rating from Good to Fair. Apparently, most residents, 40.4 per cent particularly, perceive the Chesterfield Police Departments performance as Fair. Thirty two per cent believe that the townships police deserve a good rating. Approximately 25 per cent believe thei r Police force is ExcellentHYPOTHESIS TESTING This limitation of this study has been presented in the previous chapters. It is important to reiterate that this is mainly, a descriptive study. However, for research purposes, the Hypothesis that There is a significant percentage of Chesterfield Residents who Have a positive perception of the Chesterfield Police Department has been stated, with its corresponding null hypothesis There is no significant lower percentage of Chesterfield Residents who have a have a positive perception of the Chesterfield Police Department. Based on the data presented, there is evidence to believe that on all eight questions, the communitys police perception leaned towards a positive image of the members of the Chesterfield Police department. Although specific statistical tools were not applied on the data, the descriptive statistics show that the Hypothesis should be accepted and the null hypothesis are rejected.CONCLUSION and RECOMMENDATIONS This study aims to observe the Chesterfield communitys perception of its police officers. Based on the data present, it is evident that most residents of this community hold a positive perception of their police officers. Descriptive Statistics show evidence of these, based on the percentages of positive responses. This study, however is simplistic and there are a lot about Police perception these communities that should be evaluated so that they are translated into information that can improve the services of the Police Department. The data gathered for this research however, can be a guide to others who will pursue such inquiry on Police Perception and who are interested in this area as a means on evaluation of Community Policing Programs, much like what other police departments have done in their respective communities. It is important to point out, however, that more resource be invested in such an endeavor to be able to come up with data that is comprehensive and more accurate. It is the hope of this author, though that this simple research has given a glimpse of the Chesterfields communitys perception of its police officers, and serve as a spring board to more advanced and relevant research.REFERENCESAnnan, Sampson O.(1995) NATIONAL SURVEY OF COMMUNITYPOLICING STRATEGIES, 1992-1993 Computer file. ICPSR version. Washington, DC The Police Foundation producer, 1994. Ann Arbor, MI Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research distributor,Brown, B. & Benedict W. 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