Crime and Community Policing (Criminal Justice: Recent Scholarship)

Sozer examines whether community policing reduces the crime. He finds that community policing, as implemented in the U.S., does not reduce crime and that it, unfortunately, does not, in practice, involve the community. Although community contribution and participation are considered to be most the important dimensions of community policing, they are the least practiced ones. In practice, the implementation of community policing is no different than traditional policing. On the other hand, community dynamics such as residential mobility, urban population, and poverty are stronger factors affecting crime. Thus, Sozer's results support social disorganization theory.