Police Community Relations

Police Community Relations

Often, the community in which the police work is not accepting of the police or authority, making the police officer’s job more difficult.

Identify and discuss the barriers to a good police-community relationship. How would you avoid these issues or work to resolve them if you were a police administrator?  How would you avoid these issues or work to resolve them if you were head of a federal agency, state agency, sheriff’s office, or a municipal agency? (In addition to answering from a police administrator’s perspective, answer from the perspective of two of the aforementioned agencies.) Would your techniques be different for each type of agency? How and why?

Indiviuals response

I think that communication is the biggest hurdle that a department and administration has to get over when it comes to the community and department interaction.  The other issue I feel causes tension is the media only reporting part of the facts if any facts at all. To address these issues I feel that community oriented policing is a very good place to start. If the citizens can feel free to talk to officers and feel they are not getting the run around they will be able to get answers to their questions. I think programs like neighborhood watch and citizens’ academies allow positive interaction with the department and its members. I feel that the administration should be available to an extent for the public to speak with. In instances where there is a lot of media coverage I feel the PIO should get information to the media and answer questions often to keep them from making their own story about the incident.

I do not think there is any difference in how any of the agencies should handle the situations. Positive communication and information sharing is the key to slowing the problems and keeping everyone happy. Most of the public has no idea the differences between a deputy, officer, or trooper other than a different uniform. People do not often even recognize the officers are in different uniforms. Most people see a badge and call it a cop regardless of what agency the officer may be part of.