From Rhetoric to Reality: How Police Officers View the Implementation of Generalized Community Policing

Abstract

Research literature on community policing has focused on its impact on police organizations or citizens, especially in jurisdictions where community policing was a specialized police function. Less is known about how police officers experience the process of implementing community policing, particularly when it is a generalized function affecting an entire organization and all of its employees. Using data from a midwestern agency, this study examines the way in which front line officers and supervisors experienced the implementation of a generalized community policing philosophy. Specific attention is given to factors that influenced the attitudes and experiences of those most directly affected by this organizational change. Findings suggest that perceptions and experiences were largely a product of the beliefs and attitudes of the individual officers. Implications for police managers and scholars are discussed.