"Community Policing in Madison: An Analysis of Implementation and Impact." In
Dennis P. Rosenbaum (ed.), The Challenge of Community Policing
Between 1987 and 1990 the Police Foundation, with funding from the National Institute of Justice, observed
the process by which the Madison, Wisconsin, Police Department fostered community policing. This chapter
reports observations on the change process and presents significant findings about the impact of the
process and the products of that change effort on both the officers in the department and the citizens served
by it.
Dennis P. Rosenbaum (ed.), The Challenge of Community Policing
Between 1987 and 1990 the Police Foundation, with funding from the National Institute of Justice, observed
the process by which the Madison, Wisconsin, Police Department fostered community policing. This chapter
reports observations on the change process and presents significant findings about the impact of the
process and the products of that change effort on both the officers in the department and the citizens served
by it.
"Community Policing: Common Impediments to Success," in Lorie Fridell and Mary
Ann Wycoff (eds.), Community Policing: The Past, Present and Future. Washington,
DC: The Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Police Executive Research Forum, 2004,
159-168.
Community policing is not a set of specific programs. Rather, it is a way of changing
decision-making processes and creating new cultures within police departments. It is an
organizational strategy that redefines the goals of policing but leaves the means of achieving
those goals to citizens and the police who serve in their neighborhoods. The difficulty is that
undertaking these kinds of hard organizational changes is risky. Many are tempted to try
adopting community policing "on the cheap" instead. Less ambitious departments have
adopted community policing programs that feature short cuts. These include 1) making it an
overtime program, 2) forming a special community policing unit, and 3) shortchanging the
infrastructure, especially training. Why do community policing efforts fail? 1) resistance in the
ranks, 2) resistance by police managers, 3) resistance by police unions, 4) resistance by
special units, 5) due to competing demands and expectations, 6) interagency cooperation
fails, 7) evaluation is difficult, 8) the public can be unresponsive, 9) nasty misconduct can
ruin things overnight, and 10) community policing may not survive leadership transition.
In light of these daunting problems, it is surprising that policing has responded as much as it
has to the popular and political forces pushing it toward community policing.
Ann Wycoff (eds.), Community Policing: The Past, Present and Future. Washington,
DC: The Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Police Executive Research Forum, 2004,
159-168.
Community policing is not a set of specific programs. Rather, it is a way of changing
decision-making processes and creating new cultures within police departments. It is an
organizational strategy that redefines the goals of policing but leaves the means of achieving
those goals to citizens and the police who serve in their neighborhoods. The difficulty is that
undertaking these kinds of hard organizational changes is risky. Many are tempted to try
adopting community policing "on the cheap" instead. Less ambitious departments have
adopted community policing programs that feature short cuts. These include 1) making it an
overtime program, 2) forming a special community policing unit, and 3) shortchanging the
infrastructure, especially training. Why do community policing efforts fail? 1) resistance in the
ranks, 2) resistance by police managers, 3) resistance by police unions, 4) resistance by
special units, 5) due to competing demands and expectations, 6) interagency cooperation
fails, 7) evaluation is difficult, 8) the public can be unresponsive, 9) nasty misconduct can
ruin things overnight, and 10) community policing may not survive leadership transition.
In light of these daunting problems, it is surprising that policing has responded as much as it
has to the popular and political forces pushing it toward community policing.
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