My paper on community policing

Research Paper

Mark Jarnagan

Northern Arizona University

Abstract

This paper studies community policing, and its effects on different communities around the world. First is the history of community policing in America, then the countries of Britain, Japan and Nicaragua will be addressed in their usage of community policing. The affects will be discussed, and while there has been some areas where community policing where it did not meet expectations it is the stance of this paper that community policing models and strategies are overall effective when it comes to lowering crime and restoring legitimacy to the police.

Community Policing

I Introduction

            Community Policing is gaining popularity across the globe as more police departments, stations, precincts, and city governments are realizing the benefits to community policing. One of the initial goals in community policing has been to legitimize and restore the publics trust in the police. It has also been instrumental in lowering crimes in the communities were these programs exist. “Police agencies must help build stronger, more self-sufficient communities—communities in which crime and disorder will not thrive” (BJA 1994) community policing is about bringing the community together in an effort to deter and keep crime at bay. Not all programs are equal and across the world community policing has been instituted for a number of different reasons; like stopping home grown terror attacks, or to help with rising numbers of homicides, or to help with protecting neighborhoods, but they all have had similar effects regarding crime and restoring trust in the police.  Community based policing is an effective strategy or set of strategies that combined lower crime and help legitimize the police to the communities they are in.

II History of community policing

            During the 50’s and 60’s there was a lot of civil unrest with war protests, the hippy movement and the Civil Rights movement- there were many clashes between the people and the police. Crank (1994) suggests that the police were committing some of the crime that they were supposed to be trying to stop.  Reform in the system was needed and the idea of Community policing was eventually formed. The idea was that by implementing these programs it would help make the police look like an organization that was actually fighting crime (Crank 1994). However, many of the programs at first were not successful or not implemented in way to address the problems facing the communities and the police. (McKee & Lewis 2016). McKee and Lewis go on to state how the Community Policing as touted by Presidents and Politicians was a “distraction from the real problem” (McKee & Lewis 2016) and that is Accountability for the actions of the police. President Obama made an executive order to look into these problems and find solutions or strategies to help the issues of accountability, police brutality, and crime in general (McKee & Lewis 2016). President Obama’s executive order lead to the creation of the Task Force on 21st Century Policing “The task force was created to strengthen community policing and trust among law enforcement officers and the communities they serve (Ramsey & Robinson 2015).  They came up with a number of different plans and strategies which they compiled into 6 different pillars that are recommendations for police departments to follow. Each pillar has a series of recommendations for police to implement, for example pillar three is the on the use of technology and social media, what follows is a list of recommendations on how to acquire new technology and how to effectively and ethically use social media in the community.

III Community Policing Programs

            Police departments across the globe have started using the community policing model all in an effort to lower the crime rate and to legitimize the police. Although the reasons for which such programs are started are different, the end results are the same. Cooke-Scott says about the Halton, Ontario police that the public is pushing for and demanding more police accountability (1998). In Japan 2003 the “Ministerial Conference on Measures against Crimes, which comprises all cabinet members and is led by the Prime Minister” (Hiro 2018) met to discuss the growing crime problem there the citizens volunteer to help patrol their communities and keep an eye on others As such in 2012 there were less then half the number of crimes reported in 2002- there were over 2.85 million crimes reported that year (Hiro 2018). After the attacks on the London underground, Britain started community policing in an effort to watch out for and stop radicalized terrorists (Klausen 2009). Nicaragua has adopted a community policing model long before its neighbors, believing that the police can work “from the community, for the community and with the community” (McNeish et al., 2018). As one can see, programs these started because of and for very different things, but in most cases the communities have seen a large decline in the overall crime rate. And as Crank noted, community policing is a result of the reform that was needed to address the problem of legitimacy of the police (1994).

IV In the Current Environment, Community Policing Is an Effective Policing Strategy

            Although there is a focus on police brutality, Community-Based policing has had a positive effect on policing and police abuse is rare. The media tends to cherry-pick and choose the worst cases to make a problem seem worse than it is. For example, according to the FBI’s Unified Crime Report (UCR) violent crime has been steadily decreasing. In 2000 there were approximately 1,425,486 cases of reported violent crimes while in 2018 there were 1,206,836 reported crimes, that is a drop of about 8% (FBI 2018). But the mass media would have people believe that violent crimes are worse, and that everyday life can be cut short due to the rampage of criminals. In recent years there has been a lot of media coverage over the “police brutality” against people of color. There have been a few instances where the action of the police was questionable, and at times thought provoking and emotionally scaring. But those instances are not the normal,   they are the few cherry picked incidents that get national attention McFarland, Taylor, and McFarland note how these instances gave rise to groups like Black Lives Matter (BLM) and the “slayings” of people of color by the police show how historically police have always infringed on black people’s lives. Statistically speaking though, it is debatable about the validity of the BLM’s claims. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics 4,813 people were counted as an arrest related death, with 42% of persons being white, 32% were black, and 20% were Hispanic (Burch A. M., 2011). And although these numbers do contradict the BLM’s claims, it is worth noting that the Arrest Related Death survey was found to have incomplete data and the survey was suspended in march of 2014 (BJS n.d.).

            While the Counter Terrorism approach of community policing in Britain has not produced the intended results (Klausen 2009), Japan has had great success with their community policing model. The Japanese homicide and theft rates are lower than France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States (Hiro 2018). The Nicaraguan model of community policing predates its neighboring countries and its model focuses on state-community relations. This model guides not only the individual officers, but the entire national police force and as such they have effectively “escaped the wave of crime and insecurity suffered by its neighbors” (McNeisch et al., 2018).  As noted earlier, the UCR states that violent crimes have decreased in recent years in the United States, that could most likely be due to the goals of community policing. Williams et al. explain that social media strategies used by police departments are particularly effective during crises (2018). Beshears notes that the usage of social media affects its effectiveness, the more frequency of its use equates to more communication with the public (2016) in other words, the more police departments use social media, the more they can communicate with the public and help with their needs.

V Conclusion

            Community policing is the effort to not only help restore legitimacy in the police, but also to help lower crime rates. While some communities had trouble Starting their programs most have seen success. Police are being seen and treated as respected authority figures and are helping community’s lower crime. In the case of Britain, while their counter-terrorism approach to community policing has not had the success they hoped for, it has had some positive effects on the terrorism problem so it has had some success just not a lot (Klausen 2009). Nicaragua has managed to not see the same rising crime rates its neighbors have (McNeisch et al., 2018), And Japan has had one of the best results of community policing and saw its number of violent crimes be cut in half over more than a decade. (Hiro 2018). By comparison the United states has not had the same success, but it has seen some with the national violent crime rate dropping roughly 8% in the same period (FBI 2018).

            As for the effects of police brutality against people of color, there needs to be more complete data and more research. What was found is that of the reported incidents, the arrest related deaths are statistically more White than not, but the minority population is much smaller than the white majority and as such absolute percentages of various crimes and deaths are misleading. Even though that is the case, the facts are that community policing is effective. These programs help drastically lower crime ad allow the police to build relationships with the communities they are sworn to protect and serve. And although some communities are not the resounding success others are, they still have an overall effect on the crime rate and help to restore legitimacy to the police. As the police are helping build relationships with community member (face to face or virtually) the people can see what the police do and learn how they protect communities. Cooke-Scott and McNeisch et al., both have stated in their own way that Communities are the Police, and Police are the Communities- meaning that the people watch and protect each other and help the police.

References

McFarland M.J., Taylor J., McFarland C. A. S., Friedman K. L., (2018) Perceived Unfair      Treatment by Police, Race, and Telomere Length: A Nashville Community-based Sample of Black and White Men, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, (Vol 59, issue 4) https://journals-sagepub-com.libproxy.nau.edu/doi/full/10.1177/0022146518811144 585-600

Hino, K (2018) Plus Bouhan: A new community-based approach to crime prevention in Japan, International Journal of Law, Crime, and Justice (Vol. 54)  https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy.nau.edu/search/advanced?docId=10.1016%2Fj.ijlcj.2018.03.008 79-88

Cooke-Scot L. A., (1998) Community-based policing in Ontario: lessons from the Halton Regional Police Service, Canadian Public Administration (Vol.41(1)) https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.libproxy.nau.edu/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1754-7121.1998.tb01530.x  120-146

McNiesch, JA., Prado, S.M., Ehrlich H. F., (2019) Community-Based Policing in Nicaragua: Do the Claims of Communitarian, Proactive and Preventative Hold True? Journal of Human Security (Vol 15, issue 2) http://www.librelloph.com/journalofhumansecurity/article/view/364 7-20

Crank J. P., (1994) Watchman and Community: Myth and Institutionalization in Policing Law & Society Review  (Vol. 28, No. 2 ) https://www-jstor-org.libproxy.nau.edu/stable/3054149?sid=primo&origin=crossref&seq=2#metadata_info_tab_contents 325-352

McKee, A. J., Lewis A. L.,(2016) The New Community Policing: Developing a Partnership-Based Theoretical Foundation Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies (Vol 3 Issue 3) https://pubs.lib.umn.edu/index.php/ijps/article/view/141/135

Williams, C. B., Fedorowicz J., Kavanaugh, A., Mentzer, K., Thatcher, J. B., Xu, J., (2018) Leveraging social media to achieve a community policing agenda Government Information Quarterly (Vol 35 Issue 2) P210-222 https://www-sciencedirect-com.libproxy.nau.edu/science/article/pii/S0740624X16301897

BJA (1994) Understanding Community Policing A Framework for Action US: Department of Justice https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/commp.pdf

Klausen J., (2009) British Counter-Terrorism After 7/7: Adapting Community Policing to the Fight Against Domestic Terrorism Journal of Ethnic & Migration Studies (Vol. 35 Issue 3) p403-420. http://web.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.nau.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=6d1dc0a3-f1f5-4676-aac6-bccff48b133e%40pdc-v-sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=36518224&db=sih

Ramsey, C.H., Robinson, L.O., (2015) The Presidents Task Force on 21^st Century Policing [PDF] retrieved from https://cops.usdoj.gov/pdf/taskforce/taskforce_finalreport.pdf

FBI (2018) FBI:UCR Crime in the United States https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/topic-pages/tables/table-1

BJS (n.d.) Arrest-Related Deaths Bureau of Justice Studies https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=82

Burch A. M., (2011) Arrest-Related Deaths, 2003-2009 - Statistical Tables Bureau of Justice Statistics   https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=2228

Beshears M. A., (2017) Effectiveness of Police Social Media Use American Journal of Criminal Justice (Volume 42, Issue 3) pp 489–501https://link-springer-com.libproxy.nau.edu/article/10.1007/s12103-016-9380-4

Family Weekend

So is my mom said this weekend what is an emotionally packed weekend. We laughed together we cried together and we just loved each other. My father passed away in May of this year while me and my wife and the kids and my mother-in-law and my niece and nephew where at Disney World. and it was the last couple days we were there so I was trying to hold it together to be strong for the family but I was a mess. And we decided to hold off on the memorial until me and my brothers could get together. you see I live in Arizona one of my brothers is in Texas another Brothers on the other side of the country lives in South Carolina and my dad and my other couple Brothers live in California that's where I was born and raised.

If you don't know about my dad when I was real young he got real sick he had a mental breakdown too many things happening at once and it took a mental toll on him. And he was never quite the same. And like I said there were good times after but when you grow up and your faced with that you tend to hold on to the bad memories that becomes your reality. So all I remember my dad was he was in bed all the time and he was in outand  the hospital. you know I joined the band I started playing music at a really young age I did that all through school did jazz did concert and Marching band and it was because of my dad I remember him playing the clarinet and just loving music and I did that for my dad. But since he got sick I don't ever remember him coming to any of my rehearsals or concerts or marching shows. And that's something I had to deal with.

I was asked to do a slideshow for my dad's funeral. And so I put a notice on Facebook and I asked family and friends to send me photos of dad. And after about a week and a half two weeks I got all the pictures and I could use some more but I had enough you know and I started going through them. The first week when I didnt have the photos I was asking about what music did Dad like what are some of his favorite songs and I spent probably the first two weeks listening to different music you know the same songs by different artists. I finally came up with a set and I was like this is good but I waited for the photos and once I got those I started going through them. For the next week I wasn't working on the slideshow one because I'd issues with the programs but that's another story I just would look through the photos I was having fun see my dad in different light. I've looked through about 200 photos maybe 300 that my brother my aunt and my cousin sent me.

And I just learned two things about my dad well you could say I remembered you know it was it was in there but I forgot it you know anyways. Dad was happy. He loved to laugh and he loved to tell jokes and he was a goofy guy. There's pictures of him just having fun just enjoying life and that's what life is about it's about having fun in the moment and you know just being himself. Second thing I learned was my dad's love to everyone. he loved his family he loved his hida in his uncle's he loved his grandparents. And he really love my mom you could see you there. Loved my mom and she loved him. He loved his great-grandparents he loved family and every time he got the chance he would take us to go see them. His family came from Arkansas so every so often we would take the drive to go out to Arkansas and I remember that drive I remember going out there and watching for Fourth of July fireworks in Fayetteville. It probably wasn't Fayetteville but that's the only city I know and they were near that.

No me you know I love my brothers and I love my family. I just want everyone to know you know life may take us in different directions we may grow up differently but we're still family. And I still have love for each and everyone of you. And it was so great seeing the faces I haven't seen since I was a little kid. I do love you guys I miss you all.

The following is a link to my dad's celebration of life page on Facebook. You can see the slideshow under the. discussions

https://m.facebook.com/events/2406729432895019/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%222%22%2C%22ref_dashboard_filter%22%3A%22past%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22[%7B%5C%22surface%5C%22%3A%5C%22dashboard%5C%22%2C%5C%22mechanism%5C%22%3A%5C%22main_list%5C%22%2C%5C%22extra_data%5C%22%3A[]%7D]%22%7D

Grand Canyon LDS Branch Temple Trip

 This past weekend the Latter Day Saints branch at the Grand Canyon took a trip to the Phoenix temple. It was just supposed to be the young men and young women but it ended up being about 18 of us. And the branch only has about 35 regular members so pretty much about half of the Branch showed up and it was and exciting and very good day. Since to drive down there takes almost 3 hours we had a long talk with different people like the Branch President going there took us and then come back the Becca and Brady Harris brought us back so we had a long talk with all of them and it was very nice. I don't get to hang out with people very often because I rarely leave the house anymore but it was very fun and exciting I keep saying that.

Now when it comes to my disability I don't consider myself disabled. Because I can do anything you guys can do it'll just take me a bit longer. So I don't use my disability as a crutch or a excuse to get out of things. I know I can do it so I will find a way. Anyways there was a long stairwell in this temple and the elevator wasn't working and so that everyone is asking me if I needed help or if I wanted to I didn't have to and this stuff. Once I set my mind on something I do it and I was going down that big flight of stairs and everyone was worried that was up in fall or something but no Marty and Brady were there with me to make sure I didn't fall but I made it down the stairs and went to the baptismal font. And then it came time to my turn and I just did it you know like I said I don't try to make things difficult because I have disability I try to work through it and I did. And after we did the baptisms I was in so much awe and joy.

It was such a wonderful experience and feeling. I still consider myself a recent convert so let me state that there's a ton of misconceptions of what goes on in the temple. None of it is bad and none of it is satanic and it all glorifies God. This was my first temple trip and it was fantastic. Amber and I are working on being endowed and sealed together in the temple. And I cannot wait for that.

I realized I don't really talk about my religion that much. And it's because I grew up Pentecostal Christian and they're very anti-mormon. But there's a lot of misconceptions people have about us the LDS Church. And I just want people to know that we don't do anything different you know we worship God we worship Jesus Christ we believe in the Holy Spirit. The way I was taught growing up is Mormons do not believe in Jesus Christ and that they worship Joseph Smith as a god. This is false completely false our church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Says right there in the name we follow Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith was a prophet that is all. We believe he restored the Church unto the Earth by translating The Book of Mormon which is simply another Testament of Jesus Christ.

Living at the Grand Canyon

This post is meant to be informative. It is to show people how life at the Grand Canyon works.

     The national park system is made up of many national parks all over the country. While a lot of them are very similar in function there is a lot of differences in them. I am writing specifically on the Grand Canyon National Park as I've lived here for 2 and 1/2 years now. Along with the NPS Park Rangers there's also a few other companies that help run the park. Xanterra and Delaware North run the hotels and the gift shops here while the Grand Canyon Association runs other things for the residents here.
     We have running post office and General Store and we also have a clinic. If you have a major medical issue you have to go to the hospital in Flagstaff or Sedona whichever is closer. What sets Grand Canyon apart from the other parks is that we have our own School District here. And we have a few hundred students which are made up of families that live here and natives from the reservations nearby that go to school here. There's also a daycare/Preschool the Kaibab Learning Center which my wife Amber works for as a teacher.
     Including the J-1 students who come on work visas to work depending on the season There is close to three thousand people living here. A lot of people do not know that people actually live here to make this work but we do.
     Now The NPS Rangers they are in charge of and run the tours and informative shows that go on here. And if you are interested they also do scientific discovery at all the parks. That is ran and funded by the national park system. And they are also in charge of Forestry service, making sure that the forests are alive and healthy. And also that the wildlife and animals are doing what they need to be doing.
     Very recently I watched a show about the Yellowstone National Park and learned how the wildlife affect everything. And it's really crazy how a simple herd of animals can have such an impact on the entire ecosystem. But this and like I said taking care of the forest is what NPS does. And they're also in charge of the emergency here. So police fire those are handled by NPS.
     But overall my point is we have a functioning Community here. It is a pretty large one if you think about it.

2018 in retrospect

     Well it seems like I waited to the last possible moment to write this. I thought about writing this last week but it was like note that Year's not over yet so you waited all week and then I was going to ride earlier but I got distracted.

     This year has been really an emotional rollercoaster. And as I get older every year seems like it's the worst year that can't get harder but somehow it does. And then I realized we always get through it. We are here today you know and that's thanks to the people around us thanks to friends and family supporting us and thanks to Heavenly Father watching over us.
     If you've been following my blog this year yeah I write sporadically and I'm not constantly up-to-date and I'm sorry about that but Amber got pregnant and we found out this time last year. And very shortly after that found out she had gallstones. So that was a trial and a half in itself. And then one day when she was at the doctors I think for her surgery for the gallstones I broke my ankle at the hospital. So this summer wasn't fun for us but we had just started going back to church and they have been so nice helping us for the past year I don't know where we'd be if it wasn't for Ambers coworkers and the church.
     And then baby Carter came. And it is just both really awesome and a trial in and self taking care of a new baby and a 4 year old girl. But Livia loves her baby brother so much. We're really blessed with how much she loves and cares for him. It is just amazing to see her eyes filled with so much love for him. And then in September we got in a car accident. Really scared all of us, but we are all fine and none of us got majorly injured. Which I thank God everyday for because It could've turned out really bad but it didnt.
     And speaking of church Amber and I were once again called to be primary workers. And then Amber was just recently called to be counselor for the young women's. Which she is really excited about and she has always wanted to be part of the young women's program in church. And I love teaching kids in Church. There is just something about a child's eyes when they get scriptural Doctrine. And you can see them understand what they are being taught. It's a blessing in itself to know that the children understand. And to see them growing in their faith it's just amazing.
     Christmas came and went and I turned 32. And I don't know it feels different. When I had my 30th birthday it was kind of depressed because can I was turning 30 and I have no degree no Career no prospects under my belt and all my friends and I have no degree no Creer no prospects under my belt and all my friends I went to HighSchool with we're having you know really good jobs and good careers and they're just amazing and I'm proud of them. But then I graduated in 2017 with my AAS in paralegal studies. And this year I have a plan to go back to school and get my bachelor's most likely in Justice studies whith the emphasis of criminal justice. So hopefully that will only take me two more years if not a little bit longer will be fine. And I may or may not it depends on a lot of things but I may go to law school.

    So this next year we'll have a different set of challenges but I think we are ready to face them. And I just love my family. They are the best support system a man can ask for. I wish you all a Happy New Years and may this one bring you happiness.

This is a PSA to any Nintendo switch owners out there

If you have had your switch for a while then you are probably aware of the drifting joycon problem. And if you have not experienced it you will. It is not a question of if you will it is a matter of when you will. It is a design flaw of sorts of the Nintendo Joy con.

If you look at the joy con joystick underneath it is a little rubber flap that you can pull up with a Q-tip or something small and up this is very easy to trap dust particles hair and skin. And this is what causes the drifting joystick issue. But there is a simple remedy. Don't be like me and shell out sixty bucks for new joycons only for them to fall prey to the same issue. And I was also getting ready to purchase a wired Pro Controller because I was tired of these issues. But like I said there was a simple remedy a simple and easy fix.

All you have to do is get a Q-tip and some rubbing alcohol lightely dab the Q-tip in the rubbing alcohol and then apply it gently to your joycon. Get all around the inside of it and try to gently lift up the rubber flap and get underneath it because that is where the sensors are. If you do this properly it will fix your drifting joycon issue. If it doesn't there is something wrong with your joycon and it will need to be repaired or replace.

yes there are many many videos and blogs about this subject already but I felt like one more wouldn't hurt. :-)

Coconino County Fair

We went to Flagstaff for a checkup for baby Carter and he's perfectly healthy wonderful baby boy. The doctor had some reservations about his health but he's doing fine Olivia at the same problems but she's doing fine and almost every other baby I know has had weight gain Problems 2 weeks after birth but they're all okay so we're not worried. So we went to the fair and it was fun. When we got there we immediately got lunch and sat down to eat but we were sitting by a live band that was really freaking loud so we moved to another seating area and we got to watch a magic show and it was actually pretty cool. I mean this magician he seem corny at 1st and like whatever but he did some things I never seen for. And that is just crazy. Then we walked around looked at a bunch of vendors and stuff and then we took Livy to the rides. The first ride she went on was a little kids roller coaster it just goes around in a circle but it goes really fast and Livvie did not like it she was holding on to the bars like White Knuckles and she was so freaking scared and she gets off and she goes I did not like that at all. Me and Amber are mean parents we were laughing at her. But then she went on like four or five other rides and it was really neat seeing her getting to the cars herself buckling up herself enjoying herself I'm so fun. Then Amber Olivia and Grandma shell went to see the animals and they had a whole bunch. But my back was hurting so much and I cannot stand so I sat down with baby Carter and that they looked at all the animals. But they brought a couple by us cuz their pens were right behind where I was sitting and I got to see a couple of llamas and alpacas and camel couple other animals cool. And we're sitting right across from some very fluffy geese. I've never seen Keys like that before. And then only if I got to ride a pony and I'm sad that I wasn't there to take pictures but that's okay I was with Carter and I was holding him and cuz he was crying and singing to him if it was a bonding moment for me and Carter I think. And then we got some more snacks and headed home. It was a great day.

 Cowboy boot drink cup and kettle corn.
Also had deep fried oreos those were good.

 Livvy wanted this specific horse which was by other people so we couldn't get a good picture of just her there were like 30 other horses that were available by themselves...

 She really wanted the pink whale but some other girls got their first

This is living at her baby brother check up and she's reading a book. She loves reading I love that she loves reading. Anyone that knew me growing up I always had a book in my hand and one in my pocket.