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Community Policing Models

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There are multiple approaches to engaging a police force with the community in order to most effectively prevent and respond to crime, and considering the relative strengths and weakness of each of these strategic models will demonstrate how models can impact the operation of daily policing practices and activities. The model under discussion here is called community oriented policing (COP), and focuses on building relationships and rapport between officers and the community in order to more effectively prevent crime. It is augmented by a model called problem solving policing (PSP), and depends upon rank-and-file officers identifying community problem areas through direct observation and analysis. Each model excels at slightly different things, and in practice most police agencies deploy a mix of models. By examining the Miami-Dade Police Department's handbook for school resource officers, it will be possible to view a COP/PSP policy in action in order to better understand how these models practically affect policing. To begin, it is necessary to explicate the concept of a policing model, in order to better contextualize this discussion of community-oriented and problem-solving models in particular. Policing models are used by researchers and police departments alike in order to describe the complex set of motivations, intentions, and strategies used to determine policing policy. Police models "are central entities of thoughts and ideas on policing," and for the most part

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