Rapporten syftar till att undersöka hur medborgarlöften styr polisens lokala verksamhet. Datainsamlingen genomfördes med semistrukturerade intervjuer med kommunpoliser. I intervjuerna framkommer det att medborgarlöftena tas fram via en process som grundar sig i både statistiska data och medborgardialoger. Medborgarlöftenas huvudsakliga fokus ligger på tre punkter, ’Trygghet’, ’Brottsförebyggande’ och ’Ökad kontakt med lokalsamhället’. Utifrån dessa tre fokuspunkter styr medborgarlöftena polisens verksamhet genom att producera ett strategiskt och långsiktigt mål för den lokala polisverksamhetens brottsförebyggande och trygghetsskapande arbete.

Den stora Polisreformen 2015 benämns som den största omorganiseringen i modern tid. Medborgarlöften som syftar till att förebygga brott, öka tryggheten, stärka förtroendet för Polisen samt öka medborgarnas och lokalsamhällets delaktighet i det brottsförebyggande och trygghetsskapande arbetet, är en betydelsefull del av arbetet i den nya organisationen. Även att arbeta utifrån en tydlig problembild. Områdespoliser i Sverige är av stor vikt i detta arbete. Studien syftar till att belysa arbetssituationen för Områdespoliser i Sverige, huruvida förutsättningar finns för att till fullo uppfylla sina arbetsdirektiv samt belysa om arbetsuppdraget anses som tydligt. Kvalitativ design ligger till grund för berörd studie; resultaten baseras på fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer av områdespoliser från olika orter i Polisregion Syd med särskilt utsatta områden. Tidigare forskning kring organisationer, omorganisation, påverkan av denna på anställda, samt implementering av arbetsmetoder som Problem Oriented Policing (POP) och Community Policing (COP) ligger till grund för studien. Av resultatanalysen framgår att det i stort råder tydlighet kring arbetsbeskrivningen men att den subjektiva tolkningen och även arbetsledningens tolkning är av relevans. Områdespoliserna arbetar på bästa sätt utifrån de förutsättningar som idag finns men personalbrist leder till att områdespoliserna ofta blir kommenderade till att utföra andra polisiära uppdrag, vilket leder till brist på kontinuitet i arbetet. Av resultatet framgår även vikten av ledningsstöd. Stöd av tidigare forskning finnes avseende vikten av ett tydligt arbetsuppdrag för det polisiära arbetet, ledningsstöd, den anställdes subjektiva upplevelse av dennes arbetssituation, samt vikten av adekvat personal och att vid omorganisationer inkludera medarbetaren. Longitudinell framtida forskning kring påverkan av omorganisation hos anställda rekommenderas. Detta för möjlighet av insyn i såväl organisationens förändring samt anställds upplevelse därav. / The major police reform in 2015 is referred to as the largest reorganization in modern times. Citizens' pledges aimed at preventing crime, increasing security, strengthening confidence in the police and increasing citizens' and local communities' involvement in crime prevention and efforts aimed at increasing the perceived feeling of safety, are an important part of the work of the new organization. Also working from a clear problem description. Community police in Sweden are of great importance in this work. The study aims to shed light on the work situation for community police in Sweden, whether conditions allow them to fully comply with their role specification and to clarify whether the work assignment is considered clear. Qualitative design forms the basis of the study concerned; the results are based on four semi-structured interviews of community police from different locations in Police Region South with particularly vulnerable areas. The study is based on previous research of organizations, reorganization, the influence of reorganization on employees and the implementation of working methods such as Problem Oriented Policing (POP) and Community Policing (COP). The results show that there is general clarity about the stated work description but that the subjective interpretation and also the interpretation of the management is of relevance. The community police work in the best way on the basis of the conditions that exist today, but staff shortages lead to the community police often being commanded to carry out other tasks within the organization, which leads to a lack of continuity in the work. The results also show the importance of management support. The results largely confirm previous research. Support from previous research is found in the importance of a clear job description, the importance of management support, the importance of the employee's subjective experience of his work situation and the importance of adequate staff. Also the importance of including employees during reorganization. Longitudinal future research on the influence of reorganization among employees is recommended. This allows for the possibility of transparency in the organization's change as well as its impact on employees.

Thesis (M. A. (Criminology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2016 / Community Policing Forum is a forum established in terms of section 19(1) of the SAPS Act 68 of 1995 aimed at ensuring police accountability, transparency and effectiveness in the community. It was aimed at bridging the gap between the police and the community at large and builds a harmonious relationship between them. This study was aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of Community Policing Forums (CPF) in reducing crime in Makhwibidung village. Using structured and non-structured questionnaires, a total of 40 participants consisting of three groups, namely SAPS, CPF committee and residents, were conveniently selected to provide their knowledge of CPF in the above mentioned village. The findings revealed, by majority (82.50%) of respondents, identified lack of resources as the main challenge against the functioning of CPF, whilst 55% of 40 respondents pointed out poor relationship between the police and the community among other things. These challenges may therefore lead to the downfall of CPF, and thus showing that CPF still needs full support not only from the residents but from the provincial and national government. However, beside the challenges, the community and the police still manage to work jointly to fight against crime in their area as it is mandated by the Interim Constitution of 1993 that CPF must be established in each and every police station so that together they can fight crime. KEYWORDS: Policing. Effectiveness. Crime Prevention. Community Policing Forum. Community

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Klinger's (1997) ecological theory of policing addresses the intersection of environment and police organizational structure on police patrol practices. It argues that officer actions can be characterized along a continuum of formal authority ranging from vigorous to lenient, where arrest represents more vigor than non-arrest, filing a report more vigor than not filing a report, and so forth. The theory has the potential to explain the spatial patterning of police behavior by incorporating both formal and informal organizational practices and community characteristics. Although the theory has been cited extensively, evaluations have been limited. The single existing direct assessment of Klinger's theory was qualitative, on a small scale, and resulted in findings both consistent with, and in disagreement with, key theoretical postulates (Hassell, 2006). This dissertation is an extensive quantitative examination of this key policing theory, which addresses the following research question; "Is police response to calls for service and self-initiated activity influenced by the level of serious violent crime?" Police responsiveness was measured by the final disposition given to a case and the number of arrests made for low seriousness events; self-initiated activity was measured by the level of traffic enforcement. Additional questions are also addressed such as: Does the relationship between police workload and responsiveness and police workload and self-initiated activity vary over time? If there is a cross-sectional relationship found between these factors, is it contingent upon socio-demographic or land use characteristics of where the events occur? If Klinger's ecological theory of policing is correct it is expected that police will expend less vigor towards low seriousness events and self-initiated activity if there is a great deal of serious crime demanding their attention. The current work also extends the ecological theory in two ways: by expanding and clarifying the impact of environmental factors and by examining the proposed relationship between crime level and vigor within a longitudinal framework. These questions were addressed using data supplied by the Philadelphia Police Department, demographic data from the U.S. Census, and environmental data drawn from a number of sources. Three dependent variables quantified police vigor at different stages of case processing; (1) the number of incidents that resulted in a final disposition of unfounded; (2) the number of low seriousness incidents that ended in an arrest; and (3) the number of traffic stops. These count outcomes were measured at both the census block group level and at the police district level of aggregation. Low seriousness offenses present the greatest opportunities for officer discretion and, therefore, provide officers the most latitude in selecting the vigor of their response. These data were analyzed using both cross-sectional multilevel model (MLM) design and a repeated measure MLM design. Additionally, exploratory spatial data analyses (ESDA) investigated the spatial distributions of these dependent variables. Findings generally support key propositions of Klinger's ecological theory of variations in policing behavior. Vigor varied as a result of officer workload (the number of serious crime incidents) and resource constraint (the number of officer hours assigned to patrol duties). Yet other findings suggested that further conceptual development is still required. The relationship between vigor and key theoretical variables was frequently sensitive to the way vigor was operationalized. More problematically, variations in vigor were expected to be greatest in events of low seriousness. Yet, crime types fall along a continuum of seriousness and imposing arbitrary cut points between low seriousness events and high seriousness events was a difficult task that required either arbitrary distinctions between crime types or value judgments about the seriousness of a crime. Furthermore, these findings suggested that the spatial and temporal resolution through which vigor is investigated will have potentially dramatic impacts upon whether the findings support, or are in contradiction to, key theoretical relationships. These findings, taken a whole, suggest that the ecological theory of policing has strength and utility in explaining patterns of police activity but also that a number of issues could benefit from further conceptual development. / Criminal Justice

Maintaining order in the community may be considered one of the fundamental obligations of the contemporary state. It requires the policing of society in accordance with the law and therefore entails one of the most comprehensive manifestations of state power. It is aimed at protecting the state and the community against crime so that the individual member of society is not burdened with self-protection. It is, however, essential that the state engages in legitimate powers and force in order to provide stability within the community it polices. The traditional approach to policing requires that a state authority be appointed to maintain order in the community, to apply and enforce the law and to utilise legitimate procedures to protect the community. However, through the ages it became synonymous with oppressive and politically driven state authority. This created a wedge between the state and society and resulted in a crisis in police legitimacy. Before 1994 South Africa‘s policing system was based on the national security of the state that ensured absolute state authority through oppressive political practices. The democratisation process deviated from this approach by striving for the limitation of state power and the protection of the individual by means of fundamental rights. This democratisation process also had an impact on the policing system, which was required to transform accordingly, in order to reflect the democratic state, as well as the constitutional values, fundamental rights and legitimate state authority. The South African police therefore had to transform on both a structural and material level, but seems to have done so without the juridical basis. This re-established a crisis in legitimacy which caused society to view the police as an oppressive, corrupt and hostile state authority. It created a feeling of contempt and distrust in the police and undermined the police‘s role in society. To counter this lack in legitimacy the community reverted to a form of self-protection and took the law into their own hands, which resulted in the undermining of public order and the law in general. This study investigates the juridical foundation of the contemporary policing system in South Africa. It studies the structural and material composition of South African policing and whether it can really be considered a constitutional policing system. It endeavours to provide juridical answers to the current concerns in the legitimacy of policing, in order to harmonise the traditional policing approach with that of the constitutional era. / PhD (Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Maintaining order in the community may be considered one of the fundamental obligations of the contemporary state. It requires the policing of society in accordance with the law and therefore entails one of the most comprehensive manifestations of state power. It is aimed at protecting the state and the community against crime so that the individual member of society is not burdened with self-protection. It is, however, essential that the state engages in legitimate powers and force in order to provide stability within the community it polices. The traditional approach to policing requires that a state authority be appointed to maintain order in the community, to apply and enforce the law and to utilise legitimate procedures to protect the community. However, through the ages it became synonymous with oppressive and politically driven state authority. This created a wedge between the state and society and resulted in a crisis in police legitimacy. Before 1994 South Africa‘s policing system was based on the national security of the state that ensured absolute state authority through oppressive political practices. The democratisation process deviated from this approach by striving for the limitation of state power and the protection of the individual by means of fundamental rights. This democratisation process also had an impact on the policing system, which was required to transform accordingly, in order to reflect the democratic state, as well as the constitutional values, fundamental rights and legitimate state authority. The South African police therefore had to transform on both a structural and material level, but seems to have done so without the juridical basis. This re-established a crisis in legitimacy which caused society to view the police as an oppressive, corrupt and hostile state authority. It created a feeling of contempt and distrust in the police and undermined the police‘s role in society. To counter this lack in legitimacy the community reverted to a form of self-protection and took the law into their own hands, which resulted in the undermining of public order and the law in general. This study investigates the juridical foundation of the contemporary policing system in South Africa. It studies the structural and material composition of South African policing and whether it can really be considered a constitutional policing system. It endeavours to provide juridical answers to the current concerns in the legitimacy of policing, in order to harmonise the traditional policing approach with that of the constitutional era. / PhD (Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The study was designed to determine the influence of politics in policing in Ethiopia generally pre-1991 and post-1991 as this is the period that characterise the Ethiopian political system, which underwent tremendous changes taking along various initiatives in its move towards democratisation. It is important to note how policing was figured and reconfigured during this period in view of its critical role in the social and political system of the country. In fact, during turbulent and peaceful political changes in the country it was often used as an arm to safeguard or brutalise people. The study also indicates the extent to which the Ethiopian police as an institution has been mandated to maintain law and order while at the same time has undergone various structural and organisational changes in an attempt to move it away from undue political influence. Furthermore, the study indicates the extent to which policing is embedded into politics which by itself is a challenge because the police are expected to be professionally independent in order to uphold the rule of law while at the same time guaranteeing the safety and security of all the inhabitants of the country. This indicates the interconnectedness of policing and politics as the police are required to enforce the laws that are enacted by the government and influenced by the ruling party. Government policies are politically driven and formulated by the party in power, thus making politics to create and direct police institutions in the fulfilment of peace and security in the country. Despite the fact that the police should operate within certain degree of independence, they still have to take orders and direction from the politically established government. That is why the determination of the degree of influence is essential as it indicates whether there is undue influence or not. In view of the above inter-related issues, this thesis aims to analyse the influence of politics in policing in Ethiopia indicating how this has influenced policing in various eras. / Police Practice / D. Litt. et Phil. (Police Science)

In 1996, the New Orleans Police Department implemented the COMSTAT management and accountability style of policing. Within three years of that implementation, murder was cut by over fifty percent and violent crime fell by nearly the same amount; overall crime was cut by over one-third compared to just three years ago. This dissertation seeks to explore the reasons crime declined so rapidly in New Orleans post-COMSTAT implementation, compared to crime in the rest of the country. Drawing on political and criminological theories of policing as well as sociological theories, variables unique to each set of theories were identified and tested alone and against competing explanations. Utilizing higher-ordered time series methodology, two analyses were conducted. The first utilized interrupted time-series analysis to identify the nature of COMSTAT's impact on New Orleans' crime trends, measured as changes in the current quarter compared to the same quarter of the preceding year. The results show that while COMSTAT had a significant impact on the crime trends, the effects were short-lived. The second analysis utilized traditional time series methodology to examine the impacts of the individual variables on the overall crime trends. The results show that while policing variables and sociological variables have little effect on the overall crime trends both individually and when tested together, the findings indicate policing variables play a larger role than sociological variables when included together. As another independent test of the effects of crime, public opinion data obtained via the University of New Orleans' Survey Research Center from 1986-2004 show that the public was very positive towards the NOPD's efforts in dramatically reducing crime and fear of crime in New Orleans during this period. The overall results for policy makers then indicates that reductions in crime resonate positively with city residents and future policy decisions should be made with that goal in mind.

Community policing is an initiative that requires public cooperation and participation to be successful. Little is known, however, about police and citizens' perceptions of community policing and its impact on Richmond, Virginia neighborhoods. Using policy feedback theory as a lens, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and gain a better understanding of RPD's and Richmond citizens' perceptions of community-oriented policing strategies in Richmond neighborhoods. Research questions focused on how officers and citizens perceive the impact of community policing strategies and the specific strategies they viewed as most successful in building public trust. Data were collected from a purposeful sample of 7 police officers and 4 residents who participated in unstructured telephone interviews. Data were inductively coded and subjected to thematic analysis. Key findings revealed that both police and citizen participants believe community policing strategies have increased visibility of police and improved community trust and public support associated with crime, safety, transparency, and accountability between officers and citizens. Findings further revealed that participants believe that community policing has achieved the goal of removing barriers to community collaboration with law enforcement. Finally, officers in this study proposed the development of an additional unit focusing on government-funded housing areas in the City of Richmond with high crime rates. The results of this study contribute to positive social change by offering practical strategies and policy suggestions for stakeholders in Richmond who want to foster collaborative relationships between police officers and community members.