Albemarle Tradewinds October 2016 Final

Dear Dr. Crime
Michael P. Sanders
Attorney at Law
Serving the Albemarle Region
and the Outer Banks since 1990.
Criminal and Traffic Law, Catastrophic Personal
Injury and Wrongful Death, General Practice.
406A-1 South Griffin Street
Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Office (252) 331-1628
Fax (252) 331-1657
msanders@michaelsanderslaw.com
www.michaelsanderslaw.com
Dr. Crime is a pseudonym for a social scientist holding
a Ph.D. degree in sociology and in criminology. He
has worked in all major parts of the criminal justice
system. Drop him a note at the website www.keepkidshome.net
If you or your child is in trouble, he
may be able to help, give him a call (2523390000) or
E-mail at
reedadams@yahoo.com
Dear Dr. Crime: What is community policing and does
it cut crime? Pastor X
Dear Pastor:
Your questions are highly relevant to the current problems
facing the community and the police profession.
Anyone watching the news is aware of the need to address
the issue of the relationship between the police
and community residents in a number of jurisdictions.
The journal Police Chief recently reviewed the elements
of community policing as a strategy for building trust and
cooperation between law enforcement agencies and the
communities they serve. When I served as a criminologist
for the Cornelius NC Police Department I researched
the impact of the introduction of community policing into
that community. Note that community policing is defined
as a cooperative arrangement of the police and community
to advance both public safety and quality of life. This
is not the riot conditions caused by citizens with anger
towards police as shown on TV. Rather, a collaborative
partnership between police and community constituencies
once created and built on trust and confidence in
the ideals, policies, and practices of the police can build
a good condition for all groups. The recent report in Police
Chief reviewed evaluations of community policing
practices and found them to be inconclusive. Yet they
noted that both anecdotal and empirical evidence to date
indicate that practices of police-community cooperation
that is reflective of community policing principles do promote
police-community partnerships. In the case of my
research we found that elements of “Community Policing”
we reviewed were lacking in clarity, and that difficulty
continues. In our case, we found that our introduction of
community policing, involving the increased interaction
of police with citizens around non-criminal matters, was
association with a reduction in crime, and the same was
seen in other research studies. As the Police Chief report
noted, the “future of community policing as a model
for improving police-community cooperation will depend
on its translation as a policing philosophy into well-developed
strategies of police-community cooperative actions”.
We must have a standard and clear concept of
community policing and evaluations. We can provide a
police culture of accountability along with accountability
on the part of citizens. We can reduce crime but we must
work together.
Monday - Friday 10 to 5
Saturday 10 to 4
Clown ‘n’ Around
209 Charles St,
Elizabeth City, NC 27909
Phone: (252) 331-2250
“Nothing truly valuable arises from ambition
or from a mere sense of duty; it stems rather
from love and devotion towards men and towards
objective things.” -- Albert Einstein
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