Digital Reading Room 2.0 -- CRJS 350: Community Policing (Rev. C2)

CRJS 350: Community Policing (Rev. C2) Report a Broken Link

Criminal Justice 350: Community Policing explores the evolution of policing to the present day, with a focus on the community-based approaches to frontline operational policing that tended to dominate the late twentieth century. The shifting role of publicly funded police organizations is examined in light of relatively recent technological developments and the consequent transformation of today's social fabric. All of this has been largely driven by the increasingly transparent nature of modern Western society.

Particular attention is given to the theoretical framework upon which the premises of community policing and problem-oriented policing were structured during the late 1970s and early 1980s. This was a time of great change within public police organizations that gave rise to data-driven policing practices and accountability mechanisms. These changes were characterized by methodologies such as CompStat, which arose from the order-maintenance perspective of researchers such as George Kelling. The course reviews such methodologies with respect to their impact on community policing practices within contemporary law enforcement.

The following items comprise some of the assigned readings for the course. Additional assigned readings are embedded into the online course. Supplementary readings are provided here for some of the course units. A list of relevant websites appears at the end of this DRR listing.

Unit 1: Introduction to Community Policing

Required Readings

Lyman, L. J. (1964). The Metropolitan Police Act of 1829: An analysis of certain events influencing the passage and character of the Metropolitan Police Act in England. Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology & Police Science, 55 (1), 141-154.

Lentz, S. A., & Chaires, R. H. (2007). The invention of Peel’s principles: A study of policing “textbook” history. Journal of Criminal Justice, 35 (1), 69-79.

No supplementary materials have been designated for Unit 1.

Unit 2: The Reform Era

Required Readings

Kelling, G. L., & Moore, M. (1988). The evolving strategy of policing. Perspectives on Policing, (4). US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.

The Harvard Kennedy School home page is found at http://www.hks.harvard.edu/.

Cumming, E., Cumming, I., & Edell, L. (1965). Policeman as philosopher, guide and friend. Social Problems, 12 (3), 276-286.

Bittner, E. (1967). The police on skid-row: A study of peace keeping. American Sociological Review, 32 (5), 699-715.

Supplementary Readings

Rumbaut, R. G., & Bittner, E. (1979). Changing conceptions of the police role: A sociological review. Crime and Justice, 1, 239-288.

Wilson, O. W. (1951). Progress in police administration. The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology, and Police Science, 42 (2), 141-154.

Unit 3: Community Strategies

Required Readings

Goldstein, H. (1979). Improving policing: A problem-oriented approach. Crime and Delinquency, 25 (April), 236-258.

Kelling, G. L., & Wilson, J. Q. (1982). Broken windows: The police and neighborhood safety. The Atlantic, (March).

Goldstein, H. (1987). Toward community-oriented policing: Potential, basic requirements, and threshold questions. Crime and Delinquency, 33 (1), 6-30.

Supplementary Readings

Eck, J. E., & Spelman, W. (1987). Who ya gonna call? The police as problem-busters. Crime and Delinquency, 33 (1), 31-52.

Kelling, G. L., & Bratton, W. J. (July, 1993). Implementing community policing: The administrative problem. Perspectives in Policing, (17), 1-12.

The National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) home page is found at https://www.ncjrs.gov/.

Parks, R. B., Mastrofski, S. D., DeJong, C., & Gray, M. K. (1999). How officers spend their time with the community. Justice Quarterly, 16 (3), 483-518.

Scott, M. (Oct., 2000). Problem-oriented policing: Reflections on the first 20 years (pp. 27-28). Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services.

The Center for Problem-Oriented Policing home page is found at www.popcenter.org/.

Wilson, J. Q., & Kelling, G. L. (Feb., 1989). Making neighborhoods safe. The Atlantic Monthly, 263 (2), 46-52.

Unit 4: Alternative Policing Strategies

Required Readings

Weisburd, D., Mastrofski, S. D., Greenspan, R., & Willis, J. J. (April, 2004). The growth of CompStat in American policing. Police Foundation Reports.

The Police Foundation home page is found at www.policefoundation.org.

Bratton, W. J., & Andrews, W. (1999). What we’ve learned about policing. City Journal (Spring), 1-9.

Tilley, N. (2003). Problem-oriented policing, intelligence-led policing and the national intelligence model. London: Jill Dando Institute of Crime Science, University College London.

The UCL Jill Dando Institute of Security and Crime Science home page is found at www.jdi.ucl.ac.uk/.

Ratcliffe, J. H. (2003). Intelligence-led policing. Australian Institute of Criminology. Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice (248), 1-6.

The Australian Institute of Criminology home page is found at www.aic.gov.au/.

Reagan, B. (June, 2006). Meet the new supercops. Popular Mechanics.

The Popular Mechanics home page is found at www.popularmechanics.com/.

Supplementary Readings

Bratton, W. J. (1992). Victory in the subways. City Journal (Summer), 1-7.

Bratton, W. J., Kelling, G. L., & Eddy, R. P. (2007). The blue front line in the war on terror. City Journal, (20 Sept.).

Bratton, W. J., & Malinowski, S. W. (2008). Police performance management in practice: Taking COMPSTAT to the next level. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 2 (3), 259-265.

Click on “Full Text” or “Full Text (PDF)” to view the article.

Bratton, W., Wilson, J. Q., Kelling, G., Rivers, E., & Cove, P. (2004). This works: Crime prevention and the future of broken windows policing. Civic Bulletin 36, Manhattan Institute, 36 (May), 1-16.

The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research home page is found at http://www.manhattan-institute.org/.

Kelling, G. L., & Bratton, W. J. (1994). Taking back the streets. City Journal (Summer), 1-5.

Magnet, A. (2007). Denver tackles crime, New York style. City Journal (Autumn), 1-6.

National Centre for Policing Excellence. (2005). Guidance on the National Intelligence Model. Produced on behalf of the Association of Chief Police Officers. © ACPO Centrex 2005.

The UK Police Home Office home page is found at http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/.

Ratcliffe, J. (2005). The effectiveness of police intelligence management: A New Zealand case study. Police Practice and Research, 6 (5), 435-451.

Click on “PDF Full Text” to view the article.

Weber, D. C. (1999). Warrior cops: The ominous growth of paramilitarism in American police departments. CATO Institute Briefing Papers, No. 50. Washington, DC: CATO Institute.

The CATO Institute home page is found at http://www.cato.org/.

Wikipedia entry for Real Time Crime Center.

Unit 5: On the Meaning of Community

Required Readings

Kelling, G. L., & Stewart, J. K. (1989). Neighborhoods and police: The maintenance of civil authority. National Institute of Justice, US Department of Justice. Perspectives on Policing, (10).

Click on “PDF” to view the article.

Kidder, T. (1999). Small-town cop. The Atlantic Monthly (April), 47-64.

Trojanowicz, R. C., & Moore, M. H. (1988). The meaning of community in community policing. The National Center for Community Policing, Michigan State University. © The National Neighborhood Foot Patrol Center.

The Michigan State University School of Criminal Justice home page is found at www1.cj.msu.edu/.

Supplementary Readings

Drucker, P. (1994). The age of social transformation. The Atlantic Monthly, 274 (5), 53-71.

Click on “PDF Full Text” to view the full article.

Drucker, P. (1999). Beyond the information revolution. The Atlantic Monthly, 284 (4), 47-54.

Click on “PDF Full Text” to view the full article.

Fukuyama, F. (1999). The great disruption. The Atlantic Monthly, 283 (5), 55-80.

Click on “PDF Full Text” to view the full article.

Kelling, G. L., & Wilson, J. Q. (2007). Decency. The Atlantic Monthly, 300 (4), 33.

Click on “PDF Full Text” to view the full article.

Unit 6: Future Challenges for Public Policing

Required Readings

Bittner, E. (1974). Florence Nightingale in pursuit of Willie Sutton. In Aspects of police work, by E. Bittner (1990, pp. 233-268). Boston: Northeastern University Press.

Malm, A., Pollard, N., Brantingham, P., Tinsley, P., Plecas, D., Brantingham, P., Cohen, I., & Kinney, B. (2005). A 30-year analysis of police service delivery and costing: "E" division research summary. Abbotsford, BC: School of Criminology and Criminal Justice University College of the Fraser Valley & Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies (ICURS).

Supplementary Readings

Bayley, D. H., & Shearing, C. D. (1996). The future of policing. Law & Society Review, 30 (3), 585-606.

Click on “HTML Full Text” or “PDF Full Text” to view the full article.

Murray, T. (2000). Police and the challenge of the 21st century: Managing change in police organisations. Australian Federal Police.

The Australian Federal Police home page is found at www.afp.gov.au/.

Police Sector Council. (2006). Policing environment 2005: Update of the 2000 sector study and implications for HR planning and management today and into the future. PSC-CSP. Funded by the Government of Canada’s Sector Council Program.

Relevant Websites

Police Foundation

Office of Community-Oriented Policing

USDOJ Reference Service

Center for Problem-Oriented Policing

Police Executive Research Forum

City Journal