A new movement in community policing? From community policing to vulnerable people policing

Isabelle Bartkowiak-Theron, Anna Corbo Crehan

Research output: Book chapter/Published conference paperChapter (peer-reviewed)peer-review

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Abstract

Community policing has always fluctuated between being praised for its nature and importance in the field of policing, and being looked down on for its measurement difficulties. Despite the latter, which has been one of the principal reasons for the cyclical demise of community policing from both operational and tactical perspectives, its core principles keep coming back to the forefront of the political scene and to the vanguard of policing initiatives. The authors argue that in recent years, this comeback has taken a new form, with police forces placing a different spin on their approach to community policing and particularly, on their efforts at policing communities. Indeed, it seems that in a bid to address ongoing societal concerns for professionalism and ethical conduct, police forces have developed a new way to conceive of community policing. This new conception is based on a different understanding of community which is not only (in some cases, not at all) geographically-defined, but also determined by the shared vulnerabilities of some individuals. The coherence of such groupings is based on the 'strong identification of individual persons as group members by external observers' (May 1987, p. 115). Australian Aborigines, American Blacks, women, homeless people, etc. constitute the sorts of groups to which May is referring. So too do children, youth, many disabled people, many people from non-English speaking backgrounds and others who have been legally defined as vulnerable.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCommunity policing in Australia
EditorsJudy Putt
Place of PublicationCanberra
PublisherAustralian Institute of Criminology
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9781921532733
ISBN (Print)978192153272
Publication statusPublished - 2010

Publication series

NameAIC Reports, Research and Public Policy Series 111
PublisherAustralian Institute of Criminology

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