Community Policing

Community policing is readily accepted as the new face of policing in the English-speaking world. But its meaning is often unclear in practice. This book provides an accessible and critical introduction to this important topic. It also raises major problems about the enthusiasm for that style of policing. Drawing on materials from Western Eurpoe and from the Pacific Rim, it demonstrates that there are quite different models of community policing available internationally.Further, it critically considers the export drive in which Anglo-American models of community policing are proposed for transitional and failed societies. Using secondary material from many jurisdictions - including case studies on South Africa and Northern Ireland - the text argues that such a style of policing is quite inappropriate in the latter countries and more likely to exacerbate schism than to increase harmony.Community Policing: national and international models approaches breaks new ground in two ways. It demonstrates that there are major problems in the readiness of governments to adopt community policing models. Secondly, it raises major questions within the sociology of development regarding the readiness of governments and international organisations to assume that community policing is an elixir to solve the ills of other societies.