1. Presence of Community Policing at Longwood
Rebecca Doody - Longwood University
“Police alone cannot solve crime problems. Community support is necessary to overcome area-specific problems, and it is essential in every department regardless of its size.”
What is Community Policing?
Community policing has been defined by the U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services as “a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies, which support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques, to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime.”
3 key components:
Collaborative partnerships between the law enforcement agency and the individuals and organizations they serve to develop solutions to problems and increase trust.
The alignment of organizational management and structure to support community partnerships and proactive problem solving.
The process of engaging in proactive and systematic examinations of identified problems and evaluate effective responses through participating in community to see perspective.
Results
Discussion
Three major themes found from the officer interviews.
The officers strive to develop relationships with students.
“We try to put a more personal touch on the badge and the human behind the badge instead of making it just a medal people fear.”
“There are more foot patrols than vehicle, which opens up the opportunity to engage in conversation.”
They use discretion in problem solving and assigning consequences.
“The LUPD is more open to alternative means. It’s not as important to just crunch numbers and give out arrests. We are more open to see how they solve problems and reach solutions. This leadership is open to other means of finding solutions instead of just jail and tickets.”
“ We use the situation to determine the solution. We often hold students accountable in the community, such as sending them to conduct board, instead of having them be held as a criminal.”
The LUPD puts on programs and educates students to be more in order to be proactive.
“We Educate students on drinking. An officer is assigned to do the drunk goggles where they go and talk to the students about the importance of knowing their limits.”
The ATOD committee has trained fraternities, sororities, and athletes to be responsible when holding parties. This has killed the number of incidents for misuse of alcohol.”
Results show the strength of each key component of community policing on campus, as well as how the officer interviews compare to students’ responses.
Component 1 – Strong presence. Students generally trust and feel comfortable around the officers and perceive a mutually respectful relationship. This matches with officers’ reported efforts to develop relationships with students.
Component 2 – Low presence. Students do not perceive the LUPD officers as using their own discretion. This does not match the officer interviews.
Component 3 – Strong presence. Most students recognize LUPD involvement in many community events, and their participation is believed to make a positive difference in the way they engage and solve community problems. This matches interview responses.
66% of students reported they would attend a community forum to give input in solving community problems.
55% of participants expressed interest in giving input to the LUPD to help them identify problems within the community.
Results suggest that there is a relatively high presence of community policing at Longwood University. The majority of students perceive members of the LUPD in many ways the officers perceive themselves. Overall, although there is room for improvement, the Longwood University Police Department is actively and successfully participating in community policing practices.
Other Results
Research Questions
Does the Longwood University Police Department (LUPD) believe they use community policing practices?
How do the Longwood students perceive the LUPD?
Are student perspectives consistent with LUPD’s policing goals?
First key component
Second key component
Third key component
Methods
4 interviews with members of the LUPD to gauge understanding and participation in community policing practices. Some example questions:
What are some actions that the LUPD has taken to gain a relationship with Longwood students?
How does the LUPD’s organizational structure support the Longwood community? Are there particular programs or formal approaches the LUPD uses to support the goals of the Longwood community?
Researcher-made survey sent out to Longwood students.
17 Likert questions regarding knowledge and interactions with the LUPD
6 open-ended questions about LUPD participation within the Longwood community. *
Recommendations for Action
There are three actions that should be taken to increase the presence of community policing on campus:
A forum or way for students to give input to the LUPD. A majority of students reported being interested in this idea and giving the students more voice increases their empowerment and involvement within their community. It also gives officers and students another way to be collaborative and work together to increase a sense of community for all participants.
Creating programs and/or publications for problems identified in the community so students see their input being considered and how the LUPD are sponsoring events geared specifically to help the Longwood community.
LUPD should communicate with students on how they have decided on their solutions as well as highlighting how they often look for alternatives, such as a conduct board or honor board sentence, to arrests.
*this question was reverse coded
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
Participants
Open-ended student responses indicated:
Many positive interactions with the LUPD outside of legal matters and friendly interactions, such as a hello or a wave.
A lack of knowledge of any community partnerships LUPD participated in.
Awareness of different ways the LUPD participates within the community. (E.g., active Facebook page, joining student organizations or student-run events, and programs such as the self-defense class and Coffee with the Chief)
148 students (20 removed for incomplete surveys)
85% females
78% Caucasian, 14% African American, 8% other.
Mean number of years attended Longwood = 2.5
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