Community policing as a police strategy: effects and future outlook.

Abstract

COP as a police strategy has been widely discussed and commented, both in theory and in practice. Police research has indeed devoted a considerable amount of time in discussing the roots of this police strategy and in contemplating its effects. In this article, we aim to give the reader an overview of these discussions, focusing on the research into the effects of COP. After an introduction on COP as a police strategy and its backgrounds, we look at studies that have reviewed the impacts of this strategy on a number of levels: the impact on crime, on public opinion and on incivilities and fear of crime. These studies show that the research focus remains very narrow, looking at specific types of interventions, but often without taking the broader context into account. We conclude by referring to a number of positive results of community oriented policing and plead for more and specifically more long-term research into effects of police strategies and tactics.