Officer Perspectives on Community Policing

Abstract

A survey of Queensland police officers showed strong support for community policing. However, there was disagreement about its meaning, use and impact; and the concept tended to be interpreted in terms of police-public relations. Dissonance was evident between officers' perceptions of high levels of Queensland Police Service involvement in community policing and low levels of respondent involvement. Perceptions of improved relations between the Service and the community, and of greater community involvement in policing, were also at odds with low levels of officers' personal involvement with the community. This detachment appeared to be strongest in the middle ranks and respondents held firmly to traditional law enforcement responses to crime problems. Officers also felt there was a low level of formal organisational support for community policing. These problems of implementation have resulted in increased external pressure for more determined and systematic implementation of community policing.