When discussing crime and public safety, we all know that law enforcement cannot do this alone. One way to help them is through community partnerships and community policing. Community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies that support the systemic use of partnerships and problem solving techniques to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder, and fear of crime. Police – community partnerships and problem-solving are core elements of community policing.
Nassau has been country’s crime hotspot for years and safety of island citizens is one of everyone’s biggest concerns. We realized that our digital platform in public buses can be used to share safety messages, spread safety awareness and assist police with missing and wanted persons. This is exactly what we proposed to The Bahamas Police Defense Force to which they responded with great enthusiasm. Our partnership has been launched on spring 2018.
5 Reasons Police-Community & Individual Partnerships Are Valuable
Effective community partnerships are essential to a police department’s and community’s efforts to address crime. Partnerships can:
- Increase organizational accountability. Partners have the ability to hold each other accountable by reporting to each other and establishing performance measures and programmatic controls.
- Reduce fragmentation and duplication. When people and organizations work together, they can ensure that their efforts are coordinated and resources are used more effectively.
- Increase awareness of public safety strategies. This transparency can lead to more trust in the community. When community members know what the police department’s strategies are, they are more likely to cooperate with the police, report crime and even participate in implementing those strategies.
- Strengthen organizations. As organizations work together to solve problems, they leverage each other’s strength and become more effective.
- Permanently alter the way of doing business. As partners work together to address issues and begin to see successes, they realize that engaging in partnerships is an efficient and effective way to address different types of issues and problems.
Developing and maintaining effective police-community partnerships is not easy – it takes a lot of work and patience – but the benefits of effective partnerships greatly outweigh the costs.