Community-Oriented Policing
in Concord

 

What is Community-Oriented Policing?

Community Policing is an organizational philosophy that promotes community, government and police partnerships; proactive problem solving and community engagement to address causes of crime, fear of crime, and community issues.

National Recognition

Concord's Community Policing Program is an award-winning program that serves as an example to other local city governments:

  • Awarded federal grant to operate as CP Demonstration Center for 9 cities from across the nation
  • Staff members from other city departments participate on site visit teams
  • Concord is the proud recipient of the James Q. Wilson award for Community Policing and the IACP-ITT International Community Policing Award

How does Community Policing Work?

  • A focus of Community Policing is problem solving. Police will still respond to emergencies.
  • However, many calls to the police are not police related. They are more effectively handled by other agencies.
  • As the number of these non-emergency calls decrease, Officers are able to spend more time working with citizens to solve crime and disorder problems.
  • With better police-citizen communication, officers can more effectively use and share crime information with the public.
  • Officers who know both a community's problems and its residents can link people with other public and private agencies that can help solve community concerns.
  • No single agency can solve complex social problems alone. A combined community-police effort restores the safety of our neighborhoods and business districts.

Community Policing vs. Traditional Policing

Community Policing

Traditional Policing

  • Proactive Response
  • Customer Driven
  • Decentralized Decision Making
  • Treat Causes of Crime and Fear of Crime
  • Problem Solving and Empowerment
  • Reactive Response
  • Incident Driven
  • Centralized Decision Making
  • Treat Crime Symptoms - Reports and Arrests
  • Rule and Policy Driven