Giovanna Dematteo
Criminal Justice Assignment 3
Many communities, specifically impoverished communities and those
containing predominantly minority populations, have struggled for years to
maintain any semblance of a positive relationship with their police departments.
Many believe this is due to the police’s desire to keep the status quo, build the
thin blue line, and protect property more than the citizens they serve. As
explained more thoroughly below, community policing cannot begin to address or
quell these issues; while it is a useful tool in developing positive relations
between the police and the communities they serve, it cannot act as a solution to
the issues inherent in American societies today.
Community policing is defined as “a strategy of policing that focuses on
building ties and working closely with members of the communities. The main
idea is to allow police to feel like the public can trust them.” While police
departments may believe this strategy can work to develop positive relations
with the residents inside their communities, an inherent issue with this notion is
the fact that most police do not live in the communities they police. As
