Community Relations with Police – Interacting with Kids in Schools

Introduction

The police force is given the mandate of taking care of the public. This care can be described as ensuring that there is enough safety for the public. The police force ensures that individuals are able to practice their freedom but in doing so, they don’t interfere with the rights of other people. The police force is also given the mandate of deterring crimes by arresting and presenting to the court of law anybody who is suspected to have committed a crime. In order to protect the citizens from the excesses that can be perpetrated by the police force, they are denied the right to prosecute the suspects. The judiciary is given the role of prosecution but with the assistance of the police force. Hence the role of the police force remains to investigate and present the evidence against a suspect before a judicial court.

In deterring crimes, police have a variety of ways which they can use but all which ensures that they don’t interfere with the rights of the suspect. One of the most effective ways that have been used by the police force in their work is situation crime prevention. This means that the police will use different strategies to deal with a crime in different situations when it occurs. Situation crime prevention management gives the police the ability to prevent a crime from happening rather than dealing with the consequences of the crime. This approach means that police must be aware of criminal activities that are happening in their area, how they are planned and executed and who actually carries out these activities in order to devise the best way to use to avoid them from being committed.

To be on top of crime, the police force must be aware of activities that are going on in their area of jurisdiction. For a long time, the police force has found it difficult to penetrate the inner cores of the society to understand patterns of crimes. This has made it difficult for the police force to operate since they lack fine details of crime patterns and those responsible of carrying out crime activities. Criminals are not naturally labeled and it is hard for the police to label somebody a criminal without tangible evidence. Police can be suspecting a person of being a criminal but without enough evidence to arrest that person. It becomes impossible for them police to arrest these people. (Ryan, 2004)

It is clear that in their work, police must collect the necessary evidence to take a suspect to court. Also the situation crime management calls for crime prevention rather than arrest. This is a difficult task that police are given. They must create the necessary networks in order to effectively carry out all these tasks. One of the most important factors in helping the police carry out their duties effectively is access to information. They must access the flow of information in the society in order to intercept criminals before they commit their crimes. This has two effects to the public. First when the police intercept criminals, the public gains confidence in the force.

Second this acts as a warning for other potential criminals. It has been proven that increased rates of crimes occur due to the seemingly inefficiency of the police force which encourages other to indulge in crime since they are assured of the incapability of the security system catching up with them.

Let us go back to the question of the police having an access to the necessary information. The police force is very small compared to the public. In order to have the necessary link for the flow of information in the society, there must be a degree of cooperation between the police and the public. The public must take the responsibility of informing the police about those who they suspect to be criminals so that the police can carry out further investigation on the suspects. The public has a duty of informing the police force of a crime that is happening or bound to happen. The collaboration between the police and the public is very necessary to ensure that the police force is on top of criminals.

For along time, the public and the police force has lived along like enemies. In some states in America, police officers have expressed their fears every time they pass along a street inhabited by black youths and at the same time black youths have expressed their fears every time they meet with the police. This is one instance where police and the public live along like enemies instead of collaborating to reduce the rate of crimes. Researches have shown that the collaboration between the police and the public can assist in reducing the rate crimes by a great percentage.

For along time now, the police force has collaborated with the members of the public to ensure that there is enhanced security in the neighborhood. Police have collaborated with different community members in their areas of work. The school has been one of the segments of the community that the police have targeted in their operations. The constitutionals Rights Foundation for Corps and Kids is one of the foundations which has been working for enhanced peace on the street.

This foundation was established in 1994 when a corps and kid’s conference was held in Los Angeles. This was due to concern by the teachers that there was a deteriorating relationship between the police and the youths. Researches has proven that bad perception of the police by the students was due to previous interaction between the police and the students in which there could have been mistreatment of the student by the police. This previous interaction could have left an everlasting scar on the relationship between the two parties which are carried on to subsequent years.

In enhancing the security system of the public, we have already mentioned that the police force is given the mandate to arrest and take to court people who are suspected of committing a crime. The judicial system is given the mandate to prosecute suspect and make a fair judgment as per the evidence produced before the court. The convict is then passed on to the police department for necessary reformation in behavior. There must be in place a system that will be used to punish the criminal.

This is called the criminal justice system. Criminal justice is a system that is used by national and local governments which helps in maintaining and controlling social behavior that may lead to reduced crimes. It puts in place a system of social control aimed at deterring and controlling crimes. It also provides a system of sanctioning those who are causing violation of laws. The criminal justice system gives the police and the judicial system the mandate to deals with crime activities and criminals.

Criminal Justice System

Criminal justice system put into place a framework that ensures that individual rights are not interfered with in the course of prosecution. It ensures that the government prosecutes suspects within a framework of the laws which gives individuals their rights. This system is bound to prevent individual suspects from the excesses of the police force and the judiciary. This is meant to ensure that suspects get faire trial process in a justice manner.

Up to date, the United States follows the 1967 President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice which came up with the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. This act is aimed at providing standards that would guide the conduct of individuals to protect other people and the community as well.

Criminal justice has evolved through history taking different forms in line with the development of human rights and changes in laws of the each country. But all over the world, there have been calls from all quarters of life to ensure that individual rights are respected all over the world. Radical changes in the criminal justice system have taken form of punishing the convicts, rights and freedom of offenders, and policing.

This has been due to the changing customs and practices reflected in political and economic ideals of the world. Notable among changes that has taken place in the criminal justice system is the form of punishment. It has changed from exile to payment of fines and currently to confinement in prison cells which decrease the extent of enjoyment of individual freedom to a great extent. However the issue of punishment still attracts fierce debates from many quarter especially human right activists. Various forms of capital punishment have been done away with but some still remain a great issue for debate.

Some punishments like mutilation, branding and flogging has been done away with but some like execution are still practiced in many parts of the world. China has one of the highest statistics of execution in the world. The recent execution of fallen dictator Saddam Hussein attracted ranging debates from human right activist. This was to be achieved through coordinated efforts of the police, the courts and the correction centers. (Sterling, 2004)

Another issue that still remains contentious about the criminal justice system is that involving the community responsibility on kids and the criminal justice system. Many professionals and general public is torn in a debate arguing how the criminal justice system can deal with the problem of juvenile delinquency. There are proponent and opponents of taking it tough on kids and locking them in prison cells and on the other hand there is a reverse on the argument. The reverse argues for the use of less restrictive means advocating for the use of a different paradigm of restorative justice.

The current literature has been advocating for the use of community treatment for the juveniles. This seems to dispute the institutional method that has been used for a long time now. The literature argues that community program will be more responsive to the needs of the kids, less costly and less disruptive to their family life and education. Moreover there is an argument that, eventually those kid who are taken to special institution for the change of behaviors eventually returns back to the community and if proper measure are not taken, they might have more problem integrating with the community again. The other argument against institutional punishment has been that confining kids with same kids who are there for breaking rules makes them graduate to hardcore criminals rather than changing them because of the influence.

It is in line with this argument that we go back and reason for the best method which can be used to deal with juvenile delinquency. Community policing eventually emerges as one of the best methods where kids can be corrected early in life before they become criminals. Community policing for kids can be carried out when the police with the kids at school and at home. The community has the overall duty of supporting the police in bringing about change in the kids instead of waiting until when the kids will be put in juvenile reform centers. In promoting juvenile justice, there has been a campaign aimed at bringing about restorative justice.

Restorative justice is primarily based on three principles. It implies that justice must ensure that there concerted effort is to heal the kids and the community that has been affected by the action of the kid. It also implies that kids must have an opportunity to get involved in the justice process as early as possible. The last principle emphasizes the role the community can play in the criminal justice system. If the above principles are employed in the justice system, there will be an easy integration between the police, community and kids at school and at home.

But the focus of criminal justice system in practicing policing and the community must emphasize the need for the interaction between the police, parents and the kids in school. Parents can play a big role in creating a positive perception about the police in the minds of the kids. At the same time the police can play a big role in informing the kids about their work and ethics of the work. There should be an understanding that kids will be the police and the community in years to come and community policing should start right at school.

There is another ideological issue that still dodges the criminal justice system. This is primary on the motive or the purpose of the system. Community justice policy is held by some motives or purpose which acts as strands on the policy is based. It stands as punitive through pain and denunciation and as communitarians through the improvement of moral and social aspects of the convict. Still the world has not achieved the full purpose of the criminal justice system this has been due to inefficiencies in the system.

The correction process is supposed to change the convict to a better person but on the contrary, it is graduating criminals to radicals. Many studies has also recorded a rising cases of lack of confidence on judicial system. Many people who are taken to court still doubt the partiality of the judicial system. Many still think that judges use their position to store personal scores and to serve the interest of other people in the governance system both economically and politically. Lack of faith in the court system has been greatly affected by the way in which the court has been used by politicians especially those in the ruling class to advance their political interest. (Meirs, 2001)

Take the example of the disputed election in America. Many people felt that the panel of judge that was presiding over the case made the judgment in favor of President Bush against his close opponent Al Gore in the disputed election. There have been many other instances in which the impartiality of the criminal justice system has been doubted by people leading to eroding faith on the court system. This has been a problem in the whole world. Many people feels that they are unfairly treated in the court with some having court cases pending for decades. The efficiency of the judicial system and lack of impartiality has eroded community confidence on the criminal justice system since the role of convicting or freeing a suspect remains solely with the judges sitting in the judicial courts.

The issue of policing has for a long time remained a thorny issue in the public domain. As has been mentioned before, the public and the police have lived like two great enemies. They both fear each other. With the police given authority over the public, the public tends to treat them as their enemies. It has been claimed that police usually use their authority over the public to settle personal scores with members of the community.

This has created enmity between both parties. However there have been efforts to change this image through the implementation of community policing. This is aimed at enhancing partnership and collaboration between the police and the public. Let us look closely at community policing and how long it can go in ensuring that the community develops confidence in the criminal justice system.

What is community policing?

Since the inception of the police force, it has been given the duty of protecting the public through any possible means at their disposal. The police force has been associated with the use of force in order to maintain social order and security. The police had been given the mandate of identifying those who are breaking the law and gathering evidence against them to be used in courts. After conviction, the police force is again given the mandate of ensuring that the convicts get the necessary punishment which is bound to change them. Convicts have considered themselves lucky getting few strokes of canes and hard labor if they don’t get the hangman waiting for them.

Eventually it has been found that those who are confined in jails come out more hardened than they entered the jail instead of reforming them to better person. Statistics have shown a high number of those in jails have been there for more than one time which means they usually commit crimes once they end their jail term. Our prison department has continued to produce prison mongers now and then. (Bayley, 2004)

It is due to the above inefficiency of the criminal justice system that made professionals and other stake holders come together and come up with a more effective system. They tried to come up with a system that would reduce the rate of crimes committed and a prison system aimed at reforming the convicts. They eventually came up with a community policing system which aimed at involving the community in policing. It sought to involve the whole community ranging from the school community to neighborhood in coming up with more upright citizens to reduce the rate of crimes. (Rutherford, 2003)

Community policing is a new philosophy that utilizes organization strategy that calls for creation of new partnership between the police and the public over which they are supposed to serve. It is a form of partnership in which the public and the police force forms a collaboration which ensures that police are provided with the necessary information that helps them to deter crime from happening. The public is entrusted with the duty of informing the police while police are entrusted with the duty of responding swiftly to public calls and carrying out further investigation on the suspects.

It is based on the principle that the public has more information about those who they live with and hence can have a more accurate information on their characters. The public works with the police in identifying, prioritizing and solving problems that they are facing like crimes, drugs and other forms of social disorders which poses a threat to the public security situation. A positive community policing has a role of reducing crimes in the neighborhood. It also has an impact o reducing the fear of crimes among the members of the public which makes them have more confidence on the security system.

This calls for partnership between the government, the police and community members. In order to solve security problems that the community is facing, the public is given the role of coming up with a comprehensive solution to the problem and the police force chips in to offer the necessary help. This framework ensures that public is given the overall ownership of their security situation. This is meant to change the earlier perception in which the public thought that the police are solely responsible for the security of the public. It has been proven that developing strong and self sufficient communities is necessary in order to have an atmosphere where serious crimes are cut in the bud. (Bereton, 2002)

A practical approach to community policing stresses the importance of community members taking the responsibility of ensuring that their neighbors have security. This has been considered to be a practical approach to the security situation because the police force is bound to spend less time chasing and investigating crimes and instead will use their time in coming up with other more efficient methods of combating more organized crimes. Community policing has changed ways in which the government has been offering security to the public and also has led to reduced crimes in areas where this approach has been used. (Crawford, 2004)

Effective community policing is based on certain principles which ensures that there is a cordial relationship between the police and the members of the community. One of the most important principles is that the community members must pass information to the police about suspects who must be arrested. This ensures that crimes are prevented and neighborhoods are made safer. Arresting criminals ensures acts as an assurance to the member of community that there is security machinery on the ground and also acts as a danger to the potential criminals. Arresting those responsible of crimes ensures that they are deterred from repeating the same crimes again. (Pratt, 2002)

It is based on the principle that, preventing crimes serves that same purpose as arresting criminals. This takes a preventative approach which calls for prevention of occurrence of crimes instead of dealing with the results of crimes. Crime prevention is sometimes cheaper than the investigations, prosecutions and jailing that follows the commitment of a crime. Researchers have found crime prevention to be one of the most important aspects that can be used to enhance security. The principle of prevention of disorders follows this principle of crime prevention. This principle states that preventing disorders serves the same purpose as preventing crime. (Cordner, 1998)

Preventing disorder goes deeper in crippling the graduation of potential criminals to full grown criminals. This principle calls for avoidance of disorder like excessive drinking, drugs abuse and others which are precursors of crimes. This is a more analytical approach to crime which goes deep to deal with causes of crime. This principle has been argued for by psychologists who try to unravel reasons why people commit crimes. (Fielding, 1995)

The last principle which forms the core bases of community policing states that in order to reduce crimes and disorders, the police must work in cooperation with the people in the neighborhoods. This will help the police to identify the public concerns and for a partnership with them in order to solve these problems. However the solution to these problems is arrived at by the public and the police chip in to offer their much needed help.

Community policing as discussed above is supposed to provide remedies for some outstanding issues that have been there for along time. One of the greatest issues it is supposed to address is that of the collaboration between the police and the public. Here it is designed to give the public more responsibilities to the issue concerning their security and depart from the traditional approach in which the police were entitled with the duty of keeping the security for the public. This has been one of the catalysts of increased crimes in the world. (Ericson & Haggerty, 1997)

It is also supposed to address the issue of the passion for crime that seems to be the solution of most youths who do not make their ends meet. It is supposed to address the route causes of problems and change the perception of the potential perpetrator of crimes. It is bound to change perception of crime as unworthy and unprofitable. This is why community policing should be aimed at the kids in school who need to get the culture of unworthiness and unprofitability of the crimes. Since they are easily influenced, they can fear committing crimes every time they see criminals being caught by police through the collaboration of the public. The aim of the policy is to ensure that the community takes the first position in denouncing criminal activities in order to ensure that children grow up morally and socially upright.

Community policing also seeks to integrate the freed convicts back to the community and ensure that they are appropriately reformed. After their release, convicts usually face isolation from community members. This social isolation makes them unacceptable and they end up committing crimes in order to go back to jails where they can live with people of their caliber. The community is supposed to welcome back the convicts and help them continue with their life as usual. Hence it calls for a comprehensive reform system that integrates the convict back to the society in an acceptable manner while at the same time the police keep an eye on the released convicts to prevent them from committing another crime.

One of the greatest challenges that community policing has had to deal with is that of the youth. Many community policing models uses the youths as pillars of the policy. There have been challenges in dealing with that youth since many of them are implicated with crimes. The use of youths in policing have been found to be one of the most effective way of ensuring that there is safe neighborhoods. But at the same time, the youths are the one who are engaged in criminal activities.

Hence one of the challenges that the policy is facing in the way in which it will integrates youths in the program to ensure that they are positive participants in maintaining the security of the neighborhoods. The policy is also hurt by the relationship that exists between the police and the youths. The hatred between the two sides has been difficult to overcome even through improved interaction of the two. The increased use of drugs among the youths has been one of the greatest challenges that are facing the implementation of the program among the youths.

Organizational strategy in community policing

Many policing organizations have adopted community policing as one of the best approaches in maintaining security in the neighborhoods. It has been found to be successful and giving enough time to the organization to organize their work. However, this does not signal the abandonment of previously used policing methods. Traditionally police have been carrying out response based investigative methods in deterring crimes. It has been found that community policing is most effective when combined with the traditional policing functions. It is not effective alone since the community cannot be responsible for caring out investigations and aligning suspects in court.

The police force is still left with the burden of investigating those who are suspected by community members of committing crimes and consequently aligning them in court and reforming the convicts respectively. There must be a balance between the demands of emergency calls and rapid responses that the police have been carrying out, and the close attention to be paid to details of implementing community policing.

As an organization, the police should realize that community policing stemmed from their earlier roles of maintaining security. The only difference is that the community was now more involved in ensuring safe neighborhoods. In line with community policing, other strategies like intelligence led policing and policing that is problem oriented have also emerged. If these new policing demands are carefully integrated to community policing, it can become an effective method of deterring crimes.

Taking central policing as central paradigm, police can be able to put in place other initiatives and strategies which will allow for creating a cohesive partnership between the public and the police. Intelligence led policing should be a strategy aimed at increasing the intelligence and understanding of the community by the police in order to enhance good relationship between the two.

Although the evidence base has increased with the current development in community policing, many researchers have stressed the need for the policing organization to ensure that they understand what is going on in their environment. The organization must develop a capacity to get more insight in the community in order to validate the evidence that is given to the police. The police must use the gained knowledge about the working of the community in order to be able to convince community members to come forward and give evidence in a situation where there will be guaranteed safety for the public who come forward to give the evidence. There must be a mechanism which takes care of public accountability.

The same should happen when police are dealing with kids. As was mentioned earlier the school organization is very important for the police force if it has to make sure that a community policing program is sustained. Still there are no laid down procedures in which the police can interact actively with all the kids at school. This interaction sometimes happens in particular schools only and through special arrangement. Ensuring that there is organization between the education and policing organizations is very crucial in ensuring that community policing succeeds. Kids can as well be a crucial source of information that can be used as evidence in courts. However there must be laid down procedures that will be used when kids are giving their evidence in courts.

There are some strategies that clearly come out in the course of implementing community policing. More emphases should be laid on strengthening these strategies if the program will achieve its goals of ensuring safe neighborhood. These strategies are the key operational concepts which enable the translation of philosophy into action in the implementation of the program. Community policing is enabled by results stemming from strategic direction and operations carried out by policing organizations through many ways.

By expanding the role and duties of the police, they are able to think more laterally. This broadens their thinking capacity in coming up with new measures that can be used to reach more members of the community to solve security problem. They are able to carry out proactive and follow-up activities which ensure that they provide more personalized services to the public.

Another strategic move in the program leads to redeveloping activities and operations that are undertaken by police. This can be through reorienting their operations to put more focus on solving community problems rather than putting more emphases on patrolling the streets. Community policing gives them more time to carry out crime prevention programs with kids at school and helping to build positive relationships with the youths and other community members. (Liebling and Arnold, 2004)

Another strategy that is used by the police is that of putting more weight on preventing crimes. They become more focused on long term benefits of policing work. This is one reason why police should interact more with kids and focus more of their energy on educating kids in school on crime prevention strategies. This also helps them to focus more on how the effectiveness of their work can be assessed in the community except in rates of crimes. They can assess how the public perception of safety and their attitude is towards the police.

Community policing strategies in developing localized police officers who are more focused to the community problems. This ensures that the police become more accountable and responsible in specific areas of the program. Police duties are valid and sometimes it is better to create their specialty in line of carrying out their work.

Policing organization ensures that it decentralizes police service in order to give more power to the police officer. They are given the power to work independently in the field to ensure that the decision they make comes from the situation that they see on the ground. This ensures that there is a connection between the decisions police make and the reality on the ground. (Joseph, 1996)

The management role is further extended to include the roles of mentoring and close supervisions of the juniors. In this regard, those in the management are taken for further training on the relationship that should exist between the police and the public. They are then supposed to play the role of mentoring their junior to perform in line with the requirement of the program. The management is also given the mandate to shift its focus and take in more qualitative information for evaluation processes rather that using quantitative indicators. This means that the effectiveness of the police force is not assessed on the number of arrests made or crime statistics but rather on the knowledge of the public about the need to have a crime free society. This further includes putting in place performance appraisals for the police force.

However it is noted that police have been reluctant in implementing the use of recent technologies in security. It is worth noting that in some states, monitoring cameras have been successfully used to reduce the rate of crimes especially among the youths. Most of the youths who have ended their jail terms are monitored using technological instruments in order to avoid them from committing further crimes. The use of cameras has been one of the pillars that have beefed up security in many areas although there is need of community collaboration in maintenance of these cameras.

These are some of the strategies that have been employed by the police force in ensuring that the community policing model succeeds. Most of the strategies have indeed helped to improve the way in which the police carry out their duties in the program with a broad approach to the community to include even kids at school. These strategies are aimed at addressing the issues arising from policing in the community in the traditional approach and the modern approach.

Decision making process in developing proposed criminal justice policy

The new policing policy that is being developed should follow a clear theoretical framework that will ensure that policing make use of the new technology in the market and adheres to the ethical framework that guide to the decision making. The new policy should address the whole spectrum of criminal justice. It should use a theoretical framework that comes with measure to prevent crimes. It should also address matters concerning how suspects will the held, tried and punished.

It should also seek to address the rehabilitation system especially for the youths. In the new policy, there is need to the participants to focus on integrating information technology in community policing. This means that the police need to be equipped with new intelligence equipments which should be linked to the community. The new policy should come up with a framework that will ensure that there are leaders in the community who have technological equipments to help them communicate with the police. In order to tackle the issue of juvenile crimes, the use of monitoring equipments should be integrated in the rehabilitation system as one of the most important step in reducing their graduation to radical criminals.

In the new policy parents should be give a role in monitoring their children to ensure that we de-link the current generation from the future crimes. This means it should have a long term approach. The new policy should also come up with a decision making framework which will ensure that there is professionalism in their work. This will enhance their relationship with the community. (Tafoya, 2007)

At the same time research should be an integral part of in coming up with the new policy. Participants should ensure that they base the new policy on a gathered data research which stipulates the measures that can be used to ensure that the rates of crimes are lowered through the integration of police force and the community. Such data is important since it puts into test the hypothesis that we stipulate about how community policing can work. A theoretical framework should be put into test in a research before it is put into practice as the new policy.

Decision making process that can be used to develop a criminal justice police should be centered on the problem that needs to be addressed. The policy should not be more focused on the presumably responsibility of the public without putting in consideration the need for a fair criminal justice system. The proposed criminal justice policy should not overlook the provisions of the constitution that has led the country for a long time and lean more on human rights.

It has become a matter of concern not only for this country but all over the world that human rights organizations have gone to an extent of campaigning for human rights without taking into consideration the rights of other people as well. To make a good policy that will address the need for a fair and just criminal justice system the participant must go through the following steps in developing the frame work for the policy and as far as the police are supposed follow in making their decisions. (Mark, 2004)

The first step is identifying the problem at hand. All of us cannot criticize the current criminal justice system. It has been efficient for this long and has enabled the development of the current community policing. The current frame should be considered as the base for development of the proposed system and hence the participants should focus of the problems in the system and find ways of addressing them in the new policy. The new policy should be aimed at addressing the weakness of the current system and not revolutionizing the whole system which may end up creating disharmony in the system.

The next step should be focusing on the issues that need to be addressed. The new policy is supposed to include issues that have been found to possibly make the criminal justice more fair and just. Issues that we have listed above like lack of confidence in the judicial system, poor relationship between the police and the public, a reform system that does not meet the expectations and others should be the center of focus for the new policy. An issue focused policy should be the guiding approach for all the participants who are drafting the policy.

The new policy should consider carefully the stakeholder in the criminal justice system. It should then review the efficiency of all the stakeholders in the system and look into areas through which they can be improved. It should look into ways in which the police force can be changed to be more responsive to the needs of the public. It should also look into ways in which judges can be elected to their posts in order to ensure that the public has more confidence in the bench. This approach will ensure that the new policy addresses the thorny issue that has eroded public confidence in the criminal justice system.

After considering the above steps, the participants should then assess all the viable options in which they can introduce reforms in the criminal justice system. They should take into consideration all the possible ways in which the problems can be addressed. This will ensure that they have a list from which they can make a decision on the way to follow. In solving the above listed problems, there can be many options that can be used. It is the duty of the participants to put into consideration all the possible options and choose the one which will have majority of support from the people. The aim of the participants is to come up with a policy that will be accepted by all people and that will help improve the image of the criminal justice system to restore the confidence of the public by resolving the issues surrounding it. (Stolz, 2002)

Participants should then carry out a deep discussion on the listed options and finally make a choice of the best one to follow. Participants should ensure that they consider all aspects of the listed choices to make sure that they all agree with the constitution of the land and with the wish of the people. If possible, there should be public consultation forum before arriving at the final decision. This will ensure that participants get to know of the needs and the reaction of the public about the listed charges that they wish to make on the existing system. That way, it will be easy to know if the new policy will be favorable with the people or not.

The last step in decision making concerning the new policy will be coming up with the new policy. Participants must be careful not to include a clause that will conflict the existing constitution which will further destroy the image of the criminal justice system as led by the current policy. As has been mentioned the aim of the policy should be to make it better for the system to serve the people and to restore the confidence of the public on the system by solving the issue that makes it unfavorable to the public. Hence participation must make sure that they come up with a policy that will address effectively the above listed issues. (Page, 2004)

Before the new policy is enacted it should undergo careful scrutiny of the law makers to make sure that it will be effective in serving the public. Putting in place a conflicting policy may end up being more harmful than continuing with the current system.

Conclusion

The criminal justice system has been helpful in ensuring that it protects the life of the public and their property. It has served the public for a long time. Although it has been found to be inefficient in some ways, it cannot be done away at once and come up what a completely new system. There is need to implement stepwise changes in the system to ensure that we develop a working system at the end. Introduction of community policing has been one of the ways in which the country has responded to introduce changes in the system.

Community policing has been found to be successful although there are changes that need to be made in the implementation of the program. The interaction of the police and kids at school is one of the most important approaches that can be used to make the program become more effective in the long term. This is because it will be focused on the long term effect of reducing crime in the community.

Reference

Bayley, A. (2004). Future Police. New York: Oxford University Press.

Bereton, D. (2004). Policing and Crime Prevention. New York: Wiley.

Cordener, G. (1998). Elements and Fact of Community Policing. Illinois: Waveland Press.

Crawford, D. (2004). Community Policing and Crime Prevention. Journal of Crime, Law and Social Change, Vol. 22(3): 89-97.

Ericson, G. and Haggerty, J. (1997): Risk Society and Policing. Toronto: University Press.

Fielding, N. (1995). Community Policing. Oxford: Oxford University.

Josephy, E. L. (1996). Crime and Public Policy. Illinois: University of Illinois Press.

Liebling, A. & Arnold, H. (2004). Moral Performance of Prisoners. Oxford: Oxford University.

Mark, N. (2004). History of Police Power. London: Pluto Press.

Meir, D. (2001). Restorative Justice. London: Sage.

Prat, J. (2002). Prison in Modern Civilization. London: Sage.

Rutherford, B. (2003). Criminal Justice. Winchester: Waterside Press.

Ryan, N. (2004). Political and penal policy; Winchester: Waterside Press.

Sterling, A. (2004). Concepts of Justice: Past and Present. New York: Wiley.

Stolz, B. (2002). Role of interest groups in US criminal justice policy making. Criminal Justice, Issue 2.1.

Wake, R. (2004): Public confidence and criminal justice system. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Tafoya, W. (2007). Policing High Tech Crimes. Journal of Crime and Justice, Vol. 3(4): 78-89.

Great 1st attempt. Here is what is still missing from the assignment.

Activity: Indicates how you would apply theoretical concepts and research to the development of new policy. Not Achieved

I did not see any discussion of theoretical implications in your draft.

Activity: Addresses technological developments that promise improvements in police service delivery and communications. Not Achieved

I did not see where you addressed technology in your draft. Insure you include a component in your final project.

Overall comments

This is well written, but I would like to see you clearly define the objectives of the paper in more detail…..what are the issues and challenges of community policing and youth, and what strategies would you recommend to address them, based on the theoretical constructs you identify (insure there is discussion of some in your final paper) and research in terms of effectiveness? Include more empirical articles in your final project. Work on APA format for journal citations in reference list and for books.

Attached is the paper. I proof read it and corrected several spelling errors. If you can put your revisions on my copy so I won’t have to correct the spelling all over again. If not, it’s ok and I’ll just do it again.