Community policing is the most effective policing style in terms of its crime prevention capability for two key reasons. Each is rooted in the fact that our 21st century society, and ever-increasing levels of digital communications engagement, has fundamentally altered the way the people tend to perceive public institutions. Crime prevention is fundamentally driven by trust, a concept with two dimensions. The community must trust the police that its officers and philosophies are aligned with its own. In a world where communication is often remote and electronic, where police are a persistent, courteous physical presence, police correspondingly overcome modern digital communications barriers (Klingele, Scott & Dickey, 2010: 2-3). Community policing encourages a sense of physical oneness and interdependency between officers and citizens. Where there is frequent, positive personal police – citizen interactions, trust is more likely to follow. …show more content…
Where the community first accepts, and then welcomes a police presence as one committed to community well-being, the barriers previously imposed against effective crime prevention will also be reduced or altogether removed. A trusting public will be forthright in its dealings with police eager to provide the community with effective support. The large, impersonal institution is transformed in terms of public perception into an extension of the public itself (Bradford & Jackson, 246). Where the public is able to communicate instantaneously with respect to any community occurrence, a trusting, pro-police constituency is more likely to cooperate with police initiatives, than warn transgressors that the police are